Day 30 - After Leaving Here

For today's prompt, write an "after leaving here" poem. This poem could be about leaving an actual place, a relationship, or even this challenge. We leave many places and things every day without much ado, including rooms, vehicles, people (both those we know and complete strangers), etc. And to make this poem even more interesting is that there is presumably something that will be done after the leaving, whether that's something fun, sad, hopeful, or whatever.

So here's mine:

After Leaving Here

We’ll have cake
with fondant clams
And peppermint pearls
We’ll have a
wheelchair race; I’ll
let you win

And after that
They’ll wheel us
To the seawall
Where we’ll hear
A band play
The Southern Cross
As rockets drift
On soundless pillars
Of sparkling sparks
Above the sea

You and me
Hand in hand
Won’t see our
Wisps of hair
We won’t spot
Our spotted hands
We won’t remark
Upon our scars

Instead we’ll see
An atlas spread
Beneath our feet
We’ll breathe in
The promise of
An ocean that
Folds and unfolds,
A treasure map
Blown by whispers
That call us
Ever home, ever
Loser to some
Endless horizon
Where we’ll know
No more sorrow
Not for us
After leaving here.

Day 29 - 100 (off prompt)

The prompt for yesterday was to write an ode. Maybe I'll write one later today. This one comes from Day 10's form challenge, to write a poem of 10 lines with 10 syllables in each line. I couldn't quite get what I wanted on that day, but managed this morning:

100

Inside, I’ve tried to keep some kind of strength
Inside, the voice whispers, “it’s all unreal.”
Inside, I wonder if life continues
Beyond this existence, beyond our small cells
Inside this pattern of experience.

Outside, I’ve tried to maintain a façade
Outside, others claim to know the answers
Outside, I wonder if something I’ve missed
Beyond what we feel, beyond what we see
Outside will unlock all this emptiness.

Day 28 - Swan Dive

Day 28 - Posted by Robert

We're only 3 days from the finish line--actually 2 days after you finish today's prompt. Yay!

For today's prompt, write a "the world without something else" poem. If you remember on Day 3, I had everyone write a "the world without me" poem. This prompt imagines the world without something else, whether a person, place, thing, etc.

This one was going to be titled "World Without Windows", but midway through writing it, the poem morphed into something else. I was thinking about the sky diving trip we took two years ago, and that, combined with listening to "Coming Around" by A Fine Frenzy, produced this:

Swan Dive

Faster
Falling faster
Fight to untangle
From this latest
Disaster

Bleeding
I am bleeding
From these old wounds
I’m in need of
Soul treating

Taking
Big risk taking
Soar without struggle
Hesitation
Or faking

Falling
I’m falling down
To the world
Through the clouds
And I’m—

Screaming
I am laughing
Becoming unraveled
It’s not as bad
As I’d imagined
And now I’m

Free.

Day 27 - In the Stitch of the Lie

Day 27 - Posted by Robert

For today's prompt, take the phrase "In the (blank) of (blank)," replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Some possible titles might include: "In the Heat of the Night," "In the Heat of the Moment," "In the Middle of a Heated Argument," etc. Of course, you don't have to use the word "heat" in your poem title; blame my fever for coming up with all those sample titles.

Here's mine, written after a harrowing moment during the TAKS administration on Thursday. The scary moment had nothing to do with lying but had the effect of shaking loose some creative ideas.

In the Stitch of the Lie

It unravels
At the seams
Where it is weakest
This fibril notion,
These tendril threads
Of trust
Unravel when tugged
Leaving
Us
Bare.

Day 26 - Sociopath (Catching up)

Day 26 - Posted by Robert

Today is the final "Two for Tuesday" prompt(s) of the month:

Write a leader poem.
Write a follower poem.

I'll leave it up to you to decide what a leader or follower poem might be. You can either lead the way in figuring that out, or follow the lead of another.

I wrote this on Tuesday, after reading the first few chapters of The Sociopath Next Door, by Martha Stout

It's a villanelle. Or should I say, villain-elle?

Sociopath

He does not wish for conscience
He tied her to a kitchen chair
Remorse to him makes little sense

He does not wish for conscience,
Delights in causing her despair
Remorse to him makes little sense

Feels no desire for recompense
He’s caught her in his snare
Remorse to him makes little sense

Savors each tear, each tiny wince
No cruelty does he leave to spare
He does not wish for conscience

Dismantles every last defense
With cold and penetrating stare
Remorse to him makes little sense

Each slice he makes with precise care
Indifferent, he leaves her there
He does not wish for conscience
Remorse to him makes little sense.

Day 25 - Little Cat

The source of last night's insomnia:



Combined with today's prompt:

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2011/04/25/2011AprilPADChallengeDay25.aspxFor today's prompt, write a falling poem. This could be about the physical act of falling (like someone tying your shoelaces together), or it could be symbolic falling (such as falling in love). With only five days left (after today), we're quickly falling out of another poem-a-day challenge. Make these last few days count, or at least, fall forward toward the finish line.

And so, I wrote a poem for her because I was not falling asleep.

Little Cat

Little cat
We are well-trained
Please stop driving
Everyone insane
Please stop scratching
At my door
I don’t want to feed you
Any more.

Little cat
Now that’s enough
Please stop gnawing
On my stuff
Please stop hauling
Out my socks
Please don’t make me
Change my locks

Little cat
Now don’t you think
Your toys don’t go
Inside my sink
And neither do
Those lizard bits
One more time,
I’ll call it quits

Little cat
It’s half past three
Why must you always
Do this to me?
I have to work
To buy your fish,
Your catnip mice,
Your every wish.
I need to sleep
Now go away.
You never need me
In the day.

Now don’t you give
That glum grimace
I’m already in my bed
Get off my pillow,
get off my face
Please don’t lie
Upon my head.

Little cat
You win this round
To you I will concede
And I’ll be bound
Forever more to serve
Your every need.

Day 23 - Tinner's Rabbit

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2011/04/23/2011AprilPADChallengeDay23.aspxPosted by Robert

For today's prompt, write a quit doing what you're doing poem. This could be about something you need to quit doing or that someone or something else should quit doing.

I decided to attempt a Bop Poem today, my first ever in this form. Here's more information about Bop Poetry: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5773

Tinner’s Rabbit

Within the night, the walls draw in
I lock the doors, remove my shoes
And burrow deep inside myself
Into the tunnels of my mind
You call down, your voice an echo
You’re always waving your white flag

And sometimes I get lost, it’s true
But there really is no place for you

In the morning, I scrub the floors
and bang the dust from all the rugs
and let the wind scour my walls.
I make myself dizzy busy
While within, a tempest builds,
bubbling to a cauldron of dread.
The warren is presentable
But I cannot invite you in

And sometimes I get lost, it’s true
But there really is no place for you.

I know I have many treasures
That I should be willing to share
And you wait with gallant patience
Beyond my borders, beyond hope
I am not your Tinner’s rabbit
I do not wish to change at all

And sometimes I get lost, it’s true
But there really is no place for you.