Reality Walking

Mish is hosting Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub ~ 'tis the season of scary stuff ~ Mish provided us with ten lines from really scary films ~ we are to choose one, make it the first line of our poem!!!

Ben Willis, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

I know what you did last summer

you were barefoot on his porch

his laughter in your hair

your shadow tangled with his on the beach

where he once swore 'forever' to me 

I can see it now

lazy afternoons stitched with deceit

lips rehearsing for your return 

when you would look at me and exclaim 

"I've missed you so much, Roomie"

When reality walks into the room

It hums, trembles, cuts

I don't need your reasons

there are none that fit the

shape of what you broke 

Octogenarians Frolicking

 

Melissa is hosting Poetics Tuesday ~ Picasso and Summertime are the theme. 

Picasso ~ "Figures at the Seaside" ~ 1931

It's Sunday at the seashore

the beach is all elbows and angles

Helen adjusts her swimsuit

[held together by sheer optimism]

her breasts now located somewhere

in the vicinity of her left knee

Benjy sunburned in hexagons

poses like an abstract god

one knee jutting east

his elbow forming a perfect

right angle to nowhere

[he says it helps with arthritis]

Picasso would have loved them

bodies like broken furniture

rearranged for joy

laughing, snorting, wheezing

a symphony of age and sunscreen

 

and for a moment they are 

angles and light, perfect subjects

in an imperfect world

sunburned, silly, entirely alive

Fight or Flight

 It's Tuesday in the dVerse Poets Pub ~ time for Poetics ~ Kim challenges us to write poems beginning with a "hook line" ~ guaranteed to draw the reader in! 

Visceral reactions / trying to squash them / next to impossible

fist clenches / air goes thick  / with heat of withheld words

my world tilts / men scream into microphones

careless words / tossed like stones

ice caps / leak into oceans

children slam doors / on futures they cannot name

Visceral reactions / trying to squash them / next to impossible

I say to myself / be reasonable / stay rational

but my bones know better / humming with age old alarm

fires i'd hoped we'd extinguished / my body remembers

my mind / begs for peace

demanding much more / than patient endurance

Regrets ~ I've Had A Few

 Mish hosts Poetics in the Pub ~ and it's all about 'abstraction'

regret walks the halls 

an old man in a tattered coat

pockets heavy with the stones of yesterday

pacing at night

his fingers tracing the chipped edges

of doors he never dared open

his voice a whisper in the dark

~ 'should have'  'could have'  'didn't' ~

snaking through cracks in walls

curling under beds

slipping into dreams of those who

swore they had made peace with him

sometimes he knocks sometimes he lingers

in the corner of your eye

a hand on your shoulder

when you thought you were alone

he is not cruel only persistent

patient, waiting for you to stop

to turn, to listen 

 

Margins

Time for Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub. Dora asks us to consider "margins" ~ compose a poem that reflects our thoughts. My book club read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" several months ago ~ a collection of short stories about the Vietnam War that certainly made an impact on all of us.  

Crossing Over

there is no chalk line in the jungle

just green that bleeds into green

boundaries sketched by the crack of rifle fire

shouts muffled by wet, heavy air

they said the Tet Offensive was a dividing line

between who they were and who they became

kids with baseball gloves back home

men who had to kill to breathe

margins, boundaries

men brave enough to cross over

 

The Sea Beckons

Lillian is hosting ~~ high time/tide for 'Poetics' in the dVerse Poets Pub!

The ocean calls me, vast and deep

pulling me close, pushing me away

its waves crash with the voice of thunder

reminding me of all that I fear ~~

depths unknown, currents unseen

darkness that swallows.

Swells rise, threaten to pull me under

I stand at the shore, toes sinking in the sand

silent edge where fear meets courage.

Water's touch teases my skin

a shiver of hesitation

but also a whisper ~~

Dare to step in .. dare to step in.

WARNING! WARNING!

 Today is Tuesday ~ Time for Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub! Lillian offers four paintings from the works of Catrin Welz-Stein ~ we are to choose one as inspiration for our poems!  

I got my eyes on you / know you're playing games

nothing but a playboy / i'm onto your false claims

 saw you with that blonde last week / pretending you're just friends 

by the time i'm thru with her  / she'll wish for those split ends  

think you're sly with secret texts / those whispers in the night

  

my eyes have xray vision /  you're really not so bright 

late night business meetings / gym trips that never end

i tracked your steps / i hacked your phone / i know the facts you bend

you've had your fun / and played your games / but now the jig is up

remember dear i got these eyes / start drinking from MY cup

eyes are focused on you alone / so cherish what we got

or soon you'll find your toothbrush / scrubbing places it best not  !!

Rant

said i had a surprise

meet me in the park, usual place 

[last chance]

shopped hours for the

 perfect hat, loving smile exposed

[for you] 

plastered myself all

over that stupid billboard

[for you]

watched from close by

waited for a glance, a reaction  

[from you] 

could you not sense my energy

my aura, my perfume

[from me]

what were you reading, the usual

 sports, stock market, opinions 

[for you]

 you finished, folded the paper 

stood and simply walked away

[i'm through]

 Tuesday in the dVerse Poets Pub and time for Poetics!!! Dora is host and requests a poem, in our own voices, about being stood up, ghosted, jilted, left dangling!!

  

Helen Meets Helen

13 Year Old Me

innocent child i was once you 

a tender bud in bloom

i know the fears that dance

within your soul, the whispers

of uncertainty, questions rising

like waves upon the shore

precious child

i have walked the path

though the road was sometimes

obscured, i found the light within

my guiding star, embrace your journey

every twist and turn, do not be afraid

to stumble, in falling you will discover strength

in breaking you will be born anew, i wish i were there 

to guide you, hold fast to love, our greatest gift of all

darling child

you will always be

“enough” just as you are

born to fly, dance, sing

paint the world in colors

bold and bright, living your authentic life

Poetics Tuesday in dVerse Poets Pub ~ Sanaa asks us to write a "Conversation Poem" in the style of Poet Maggie Smith ~ a  poem "addressing" an absent person or thing ~ essentially a monologue.

A Day In Memory Care

For Open Link night In the dVerse Poets Pub! On Tuesday Kim asked us to write about a building that holds a special place in our memories, in our lives ~  I chose Aspen Ridge Memory Care in Bend Oregon where my mother lived for two years, I spent time with her nearly every day, until the day she passed away in my arms ~ in this building.

prediction: a bittersweet

[at best] day on tap

damn!! morning coffee so hot

it burnt my mouth

yes! mother is out of bed

away from her room

waiting with others for

morning chair exercise class

music from the 40s has

residents doing a quasi tap routine

standing not allowed

lest a precious soul lose balance

reality: 'tis a beautiful thing 

when i am wrong - the day is good 

my footsteps morph from clomp to skip

a goofy smile criss-crosses my face

guaranteed: tomorrow's java jolt 

a beany perfection - temp just right

headed over to Aspen Ridge

because Mother is there 

Going Going Gone

 Tuesday in dVerse Poets Pub means it's time for Poetics!! Melissa shares several of René Magritte's paintings, inspiration for us as we compose our poems. 

Magritte got the name for this painting from his poet friend Louis Scutenaire who often helped him find names for his paintings. In this case, the name Golconda refers to a city in India, which was the seat for two different kingdoms from the 14th to 17th centuries.

Golconda ~ 1953

in city streets

these figures swarm

each face a mask

each soul a form

behind facade 

of wealth's embrace

deep longing

 for a quiet place

in midst of chaos

they search for more

outshine the neighbor

settle a score

in the rush

to rise above

losing sight

of all they love

Slowly, Counting Backward

Time for Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub ~~ Dora challenges us to use an animal of our choice as a metaphor for how ideas and words take shape on a blank page ..  in our minds ~~ in our dreams.

pinterest

In twilight's realm 

where dreams softly tread

flocks of inspiration

graze about my head

Counting ideas  

instead of sheep

fragments of poems 

dreamt as I sleep

Thankful for sheep

who wander and roam

 my muse is awakened 

this shepherd comes home 

Post Mortem

 

“Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.”

–Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh, Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette (1886), © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Bone structure doesn't lie. He was handsome, a bon vivant

'man about town' who knew things about life ~ about

 women, whiskey, tobacco. That strong jawline, cig

 dangling from his lips suggest more than a few times

 'round the old block. I am intrigued. Dare I say

 libidinous? Fantasies of James Dean, Marlon Brando,

 Leonard Cohen begin to surface. The  antidote to fantasy

must be reality ~ I  walk away.

Melissa is our host today in the dVerse Poets Pub  ~ we are to focus our poetry on the often haunted souls of artists and poets.

Fever!

when the night is nearly over

while our bed is warm with sweat

still your touch is on my body

still the taste of you is set 

you make me crazy // over take me 

crazy when you won't let go 

so hot!! in the morning

crazy! oh don't you know

when the dawn begins to color

all the edges of the sky

still your presence lingers with me 

like a melody of times gone by 

you make me crazy / / over take me 

crazy I cannot let go  

so hot!! in the morning

crazy! oh don't you know

when you brush against my shoulder

heat comes rising through my skin

every breath we take grows bolder

pulls us where we've always been

you make me crazy // overtake me

crazy when you won't let go

so hot!! in the morning

crazy! oh don't you know

when you whisper in that low voice

up against my waiting ear

i can't think of any good choice

but to pull your sexy body near 

you make me crazy // overtake me 

crazy when you won't let go

so hot!! in the morning

crazy! oh don't you know

crazy! oh don't you know ....

crazy! oh don't you know ....

crazy! oh don't you know.

 

 

Remembering

let scent be your guide

carefully finger-trace

my curves

intricate patterns

meandering paths 

explore every facet of my terrain

mountains, valleys, oceans, planes

you will not lose the way 

you know my scent well

Candy is Dandy

wikipedia

Ogden Nash wrote  ~~

candy is dandy

but liquor is quicker 

I'm feelin' randy

no time to bicker

time's sure a wastin'

lips are for tastin'

mine taste like cherry

come let's make merry

takin' my chances 

makin' advances

sharin' my candy

no rum no brandy

love is my plan 

sweet candy man 

 

It's Poetics Tuesday!!

~~~ imagine a moment of pausing, a still point of epiphany in the midst of chaos, hustle and bustle ~~  

This morning I decide:

1. not watch or listen to news

2. not read the newspaper or open social media apps

3. blot out all political drama 

 

I drink coffee, make cinnamon toast, find our Holiday CDs, gather ingredients for the 'annual fruit/cake/bake' extravaganza. { We love fruitcake! Doesn't everyone? }

Ah yes, the children .. they know 'tis the season to be jolly. Snow is in the air, snow is on our mountain, snow is everywhere!! I grab my sled .. and "yippee wheee" away I go! Baking can wait along with the news.

Blueberry Girl

A voluptuous girl Sweet Berry

evidenced by ample girth

maneuvering feels quite scary 

warning, warning ~ requires a wide berth!

A voluminous girl so lovely and lush

blueberry fueled ~ she's grown so plump

chock-full of juice ~ she's ready to gush

true test they say ~ just give her a thump!

 

A vociferous girl she is indeed

‘measure my belly’ as she screams

wanting to look thin as a reed

imagines it clearly each night in her dreams!

 

Off to the juicer we wish you sweet dreams

painless they tell her ~ no worries at all

already you're falling apart at the seams

 when squeezing has ended .. you WILL be quite small!

Poetics: The Proverbial

With age comes wisdom ~~~ 

Ladies in their eighties. Do NOT dismiss us! we

 know how to live, we know how to laugh, how to love. wE know what we want AND HOW TO GET IT!

Decade after decade  we've learned from our mistakes, honed our skills, left lovers behind ~ ranted, danced, protested, cried, raged, loved, created, explored, nurtured .. evolved. We ignore the aches, kick up our heels, laugh .. thankful to be alive.

And now that we're damned near close to perfection, it would be a crying shame to write us off!