Category Archives: Poetry

Purple Finery

All the
Latest  lavender ladies
Tarted up in lacy finery
Golden tipped they dip
And sway in summer breeze
They please the eye and
Sidle closer please the nose
Their perfume lures assures
That though demurely standing there
Their leaves go prancing in the air
And give a glimpse of branch
How brazen still we smile
It is their season
To be young and fine
And strong
Til sun bleached heat
Leached then they’re gone

 

Image Credit Tommy Stone

 

Sunflower Lesson

 

whirly twirly seeds of sun
leaning gleaning coriolis
shaky droplets feed the need
elementary excitation just a myth
stare long enough to be eclipsed
drawn to vortex orange and gold
the pseudo forces run their courses
flaming torch against the blue
framed in greening preening
leaflets guaranteed to tower over
feed the birds and seed the earth
for next years crop will
be assured faces seeking
glory peeking at the light
axis spinning earth is twinning
all rotating orbit waiting
all the planets
crashing down a single flower
all the knowledge all the science
photosynthesis in compliance
with the books the pundits say
but you and I know a better way
to stand as still and yet align
my face to follow summer shine
to spend a life in wind or rain
turn to the light again and again

 

image credit Tommy Stone

 

Eclipse

 

Though flames took sky
and melted clouds
to shadows dripping over trees
the moon took on the
daunting task
pale and scarred
from years and years
of pulling oceans to and fro
she drug herself once more
to shield our burning eyes
from star shot heat
a darkness sweet
would cover us
in daylight dreams
just like the night
no sound was heard
no flash occurred
a kiss surrounding space
penumbra placed just so
for beauty of a mystery
the history of a galaxy

 

Photo credit: Tommy Stone

 

For Emily

I read the words
and sucked in a breath
and then thought about
that breath
did you do the same as you
rounded the point
and saw the ocean
stretched out in front of you
until it fell off the edge of the earth
felt your heart race
and the sea air wash over you
filling your lungs with
the possibilities
of what lie ahead
as the tethered memories
let you go with a snap
sinking your feet into the deck
with the rightness
of the moment
was the poem already forming
on salty lips
as you quietly smiled
in exultation

 

 

Air

 

there is no air
it has been sucked out by the world
by the whirled smoke of a thousand
burning buildings
by the raised eyebrow
of the man down the street
by the grains of sand on the beach
that no one walks on
by the broken heart
silent and dark
beaten, not beating
by the balloons filled
and sated, now soaring
on the end of a thin string
by the attitude of the altitude
of the head in the clouds
by the house all alone
at the edge of the world
vacant windows flung wide
as the wind would rush through
if it could
but there is no air

and I am hungry for it
starving for lung filling
skin cooling
something to walk on
conditioned
or kite filled
like milk spilled
can’t cry for it
eyes dried by it
hair lifted
like wings floating
bubbling brooks
pages in books flip for it
leaves fall through
cushions of pockets of
holding it til you turn blue
for it
breathe in and out
sigh for it die without
sing about
give a shout
all needing air
as I climb
I am out of it
out of the clouds
there is sky
filled with sails
I would spin til
I’m dizzy with
drunk on
the wind

Poetic Asides prompt: vacuum

image: http://www.timgagnonstudio.com/storage/meetmeweb.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1334635176065

Dreaming

there was a time when I was huge
big as the world I filled the sky
years go by and as each passes
I become less and the world
shrinks with me
and more and more
I find myself
lost inside
my head
dreaming

 

NaPoMo 30 Poetic Asides prompt: fading away

 

Not happy with this but glad to have completed the challenge.

Unarmed

I am unarmed
Except for words
Naked in the storm
I wrap them around me
For warmth on this night
Lightening flashes
Reveals one thought
Thunder shatters me
And the thought splinters
Into pieces like raindrops
Like diamonds, like glass
hail stings my skin and bounces
All around my feet
Steam rises from warm rain
Heated by the sun of
Yesterday afternoon
That is gone but leaves
A memory of light
I huddle in the dark
Hoping for the flash of light
Fearing it too
Feeling exposed by it
Corners illuminated
Where puddles hide
The ground
How deep
How dark
How long
Howl

 

Sunday Scribblings Prompt: Storm

 

Time

I have a problem with time
it is linear and I am not
I rebound from what caught my attention
five seconds ago
and bounce back to the present
with a smack that shakes
me to my toes
and leaves me confused
seduced by a shiny thought
then ducking back into the shadow
to dream about yesterday’s double
entendre to ponder
but then the commercial breaks
and my attention spans the synapses
and sparks are flying
because emotions ran rough-shod
over logic I am not cognizant of
any reason for this other
than I just can’t keep the thought
train on the tracks
and there are cracks that I refuse to step on
as I procrastinate the dates fly by
as calendar pages ripped and tossed
and crossed to yes another year
they come with frequency
unpredicted
conflicted but still I sit
and write
when I should be
working

 

NaPoMo 28 Poetic Asides prompt: Write about a problem

 

The Trouble With Writing Prompts

the trouble with writing prompts
is that they can inspire
lead you down foreign roads
of brain grooves unmapped
navigating rapids and canyon
surfing verbage as you hold your arms
straight out for balance
…and fall anyway
because the heart does not
understand gravity
and sometimes the poem
skips a few steps
and skids onto the paper
shocked to find
itself breathing



poetic asides prompt: Begin a poem with “The trouble with…”



NaPoMo 27

There Is A Blue (Morgan Price artist)

There is a blue
Uncommon intensity
Laid next to buttery glow
Of lamplight anticipation
Evening out all the sharp edges
Of a day as dark cars ease down
Lanes of eateries and shops
Lit to entice
To excite and lure
With the promise of
Holding off a night



http://www.winterparkpaintout.org/imagearea/MorganSamuelPrice_2012_EveningLight_OilonBoard_8x10_img.jpg
www.winterparkpaintout.org



www.polasek.org

Hui Lai Chong A Painter Paints

Artist unknowing
Becomes art
Becomes landscape fodder
For a hungry brush
That speeds across time
And space
With no other thoughts
Than light, shadow, color
Dip, stroke, show
Don’t tell (shh)
Sneak up from the side
And you can almost catch
A wind tossed Sky
Through rustling green





http://www.winterparkpaintout.org/imagearea/HiuLaiChong_2012_ADayatKraftAzaleaGarden_OilonBoard_9x12_img.jpg
www.winterparkpaintout.org


www.polasek.org

NaPoMo 27

Killarney Sunset Hui Lai Chong

there is fire on the lake tonight
the mist is tangerine and heavy with smoke
I breathe it in as though I could exhale the sun
dipping into shadows of purple
the coolness mocks the sky
my feet want to wade in the blue
but I am rooted on the shore
afraid to burn
waiting for the moon
to extinguish the flames

“The Winter Park Paint Out 2012 – International Poetry Competition hosted by Mark Andrew J. Terry as a poetic extension of the Winter Park Paint Out where twenty-six artists who specialize in en plein air painting come to Winter Park, Florida, USA and paint. This poetry competition allows a poet to pair with an artist and respond to a painting with poetry in this unique cooperative and hopefully complimentary competition.”

www.WinterParkPaintOut.org

http://www.winterparkpaintout.org/imagearea/HiuLaiChong_2012_killarneySunset_OilonBoard_6x8_img.jpg

Teeth

The lions are loose
In the streets tonight
Devouring moonlight as it spills
And flows down lane and alley
Chewing up the light
Leaving dark, leaving nothing
But empty shadows
And the sound of 
Of growling and gnashing
Of teeth

NaPoMo 26 poetic asides prompt:animals

Moonlight

boneless I melt
into the pool
at the base of the trees
nightbird songs caress
lunar insanity
seeping from pores

allpoetry prompt 20 words, Description & Prompts

“the moon lives in the lining of your skin.”

~Pablo Neruda

Sno-Cones

 

Blond girl
In summer sun
A field of kids
Run like guinea hens
After the ball
Except for you
You sit in green grass
Blowing dandelion fluff
Corona around curls
Into a sweet breeze
t-ball days
Afternoon haze
Waiting for the end
And sno-cones





NaPoMo 25 poetic asides prompt: sports

Love

 

I tell him to remind me

To pick up the dry cleaning
He tells me to remind him
To take out the trash
We laugh
Each can blame the other
For forgetting
This is what it’s like
To grow old together
NaPoMo 24 poetic asides prompt: love

Morning

I wake before the alarm
most mornings
and lie still
listening for the birds
in the pre-dawn moments
I stand at the kitchen window
waiting as the smell of coffee
takes over the kitchen
watching the light
take over the yard
and day begins

 

NaPoMo 23 poetic asides prompt: morning

Not happy with this at all – I am tired and the muse evidently went to bed an hour ago. Will re-vist later.

A friend told me that William Stafford is quoted as saying ( when asked for a solution to writer’s block ) ” I just lower my standards and keep on going.”

This is me lowering my standards….