2015 Poem A Day, Day Twenty:

Prompt for Day Twenty:

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “My (blank), the (blank),” replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “My Dentist, the Torture Expert,” “My Lunch, the Thing I Got Out of the Vending Machine,” “My Father, the Comedian,” or “My Life, the Punchline.”

I am playing catch-up, so this one of the two poems I wrote on Day Twenty One. It wasn't finished on the day, so I'm posting it for Day Twenty, because I couldn't feel that prompt.

This was inspired by a conversation with a friend with whom I'd stayed up way too late.

I Am Not

I am not your princess

I am not your muse

I was not put upon the earth

to aid and comfort you

I am a human being

I have got my plans

They have nothing to do

with your boring, idle hands

I don't care if you are listening

I'm not worried if you care

I'm a woman, goddammit,

Walk beside me if you dare.

Operation Smoke Free, Day Two

Though I didn't get my poem done for today, pushing me further from my Poem A Day goal, I did write 1,200 words on the novel. My Aunt Ava and I went grocery shopping, effectively keeping her too busy to worry about smoking.

My great aunt, Avonne (I'm her namesake, hence my penname, Celeste Avonne), lives with Aunt Ava. Aunt Avonne is witty, kind, funny, and thoughtful. She has diabetes and is confined to a wheelchair. She tries really hard to be independent, because I think she is afraid of overburdening my Aunt Ava. Even so, Aunt Avonne needs help. Like this morning, when she was getting out of her shower, her useless bathmat slipped in the tub and she fell.

Ava immediately dialed 911. An ambulance came right out, checked Aunt Avonne for injuries and helped her get back into her chair.

The whole time, Ava was so calm and composed, I felt like she totally had the situation completely under control. We went about the rest of our day as if everything as A-Okay, normal street. And it was. When we got back from grocery shopping, Aunt Avonne was peacefully reading her suspense thriller novel and Katrina was doing her online RPG responses.

I cooked supper - positively Paleo peppers. They were delicious. Then it was time for Katrina to begin her classes (she starts them at 9 p.m. - oh, the benefits of home school!)

Even if Aunt Ava doesn't quit smoking in the next two weeks -- I hope she does -- something else good will come of it in the form of a heightened awareness of what my Aunt Ava experiences day to day taking care of Aunt Avonne. Also, Aunt Ava is kind of a badass for the way she handled that situation with such cool grace.

Wish us luck as we enter day two of the Operation Smoke Free. I still don't have a clever title for this endeavor.

2015 Poem A Day, Day Eleven

Prompt for Day Eleven:

For today’s prompt, write a seasonal poem. This should be a snap for haiku poets; after all, inserting seasonal words is a rule for the form. However, you don’t have to write haiku to write a poem that references or happens in one of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Pick a season or include them all.

I didn't want to write a rhyming poem today, even though that's been the mode for my poet mind since the beginning of this challenge. For this prompt, I opened Writing Down the Bones and read the chapter titled A New Moment. In this chapter, she writes about how it is important not to rest long on our successes or failures, but to keep the pen moving, to keep writing.

I found inspiration in the lines that went: “Continue under all circumstances. It will keep you healthy and alive.”

I love that. Creativity is a force that helps us meet challenges. It helps us work through insecurities and anxieties. It gives us hope and helps us meet our grief eye to eye. Goldberg goes on to write about not needing a reason to continue beyond our own will to create. Creation is reason enough.

So here is my seasonal poem, nurtured into existence by Natalie Goldberg, the small birds nesting on our patio, and a time I climbed Gwanaksan Mountain in Seoul, South Korea.

Each to Its Own

Suns rise

Kingdoms fall

Hearts break

Birds nest

In the spring,

new buds bloom

In the fall,

they gray

and wither

You may have stood atop

Gwanaksan

You may have flung

your arms wide

You may have been

an echo loud

against the wall

of time

It is not the same mountain now

New rains fell

bearing stones

and seeds

and sand

At mountain's base,

the city springs:

Each day new

and tomorrow old.

Yet the young

walk her streets

Alive and amazed.

From space we see

the churning veils

of illusive storms

Our cities etched

in the face of earth

like sandcastles

in the rain.

Season after season

we spin and spin

as we have always spun

in the dance

of the earth and the sun.

Setback and bounce back

A little bummed tonight. I learned this morning that my claim for unemployment was rejected because I was not fired from my last job. Curse my impeccable work record!

That part is a joke, of course. I value a solid work ethic, but I had the possibility of getting a set amount of money each week for nine months, which meant that we could live our writer's life for the better part of a year. I could work four to six hours a day uninterrupted on writing, editing, and submitting, which is what it takes to really do the writing thing right.

Bonus, though: the editor at Ease Magazine accepted my latest travel article on Disney theme parks. That will be out at the beginning of May, and it's a legitimate paid writing gig that I truly enjoy.

In the meantime, I need to step up my efforts to find work.

2015 Poem A Day, Day Eight

Prompt for Day Eight:

For today’s prompt, write a dare poem. This poem could be written as a dare to someone. It could make a daring proclamation. It could involve a dare that someone has accepted…or refused. In a way, each day of this challenge is a dare to write a poem. Are you ready for the challenge?

This one was just fun. May you continue to dare, as I am right now with this writer's life!

Triple Dog Dare

When we were kids

it was a taunt:

Get in the water

Jump off the side

Climb into the branches

Don't try to hide.

Teenagers morphed us

into mouthy hooligans:

I dare you to kiss him

I dare you to try.

Then came college,

Then came life.

Then came bills

and marriage

and kids

and bills

and student loans

and heartbreak

and death.

Then it was

a four-letter word:

the dominion

of swaggering

children

and fools

Should I risk it?

Don't you dare.

But I do.

I dare you

I triple dog dare you:

Get out

Get up

Get busy

I dare you to do

what frightens you

I dare you

I dare you

I dare.

This one is for my awesome brother, my partner-in-dare. Love you <3 p="">