LAVISH GLOAMING

Lavish Gloaming

Sloughing off the day 

as the light 

burns away 

I strip down 

removing what time 

has covered me in 

and step into 

rain 

tears 

whatever I need 

my evening cleaning 

to be 

Exfoliating 

fresh 

focused 

Ready to dream 

to wake 

to start 

renewed

April 30, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 prompt 30: write a poem about something that happens again and again.

Image of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit, and no offense intended.

MONSTER

Monster

Made of all the parts
starlight
stardust
bones
blood
flesh
fever

Made with different passion
ego
envy
devious
desire
apathy
arrogance

Living with no distinctions
hungry
ubiquitous
mortal
alone
normal

April 29, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 prompt 29: take a noun form a favorite poem, free write associations on that word for five minutes, create new poem. 

Favorite poem: "I Went To The Movies Hoping Just Once The Monster Got The Girl" by Ronald Koertge. 

Image is of Luke Goss as Frankenstein's Monster in tv mini-series "Frankenstein", used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended.

NECROHISTRIOPHILIA

Necrohistriophilia

A fire captured on nitrate

dancing around a code of conduct

on pre-dawn stock

he added the color

painting by performance

He burns through time

burns through death

demanding attention
commanding respect

igniting desire

warming life

Heartbeats

professional and personal

echo and living

touching yet never touched

held together by present tense

Sentient in the moment

obsesses

sentient on the film

reeling

every caught breath

every clenched word

every captured touch

to be run

over

and over

again

till present tense

becomes past

and the only thing left

is transferred to digital

April 28, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 prompt 18: write a poem that incorporates a neologism (a made-up word). 

My neologism - 

Necrohistriophilia

(neck-row-hiss-tree-oh-fill-ee-ah)

from - 

Necro: those that are dead

Histrio: actor

Philia: abnormal liking for

meaning -

obsessed with a deceased actor

Google search results for Necrohistriophilia: did not match any documents.

Image is of Fredric March as Death from the movie "Death Takes A Holiday": used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended.

EATING LIFE

Eating Life

The strong sweetness

of favorite songs

The solid sourness

of duties done

The sharp saltiness

of nibbling on books

The bass bitterness

of deep losses

The sound savoriness

of luscious bites into a heart

April 27, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 prompt 27: write a poem that explores your sense of taste.

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STARS AT NIGHT

Stars At Night

The mundane

the magical

the madness

in the grounded dwellings that protect

in the bright swirls through nocturnal darkness

in the green spires aiming too high

April 26, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 prompt 24: poem inspired by a work of art.

Image is of "Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended.

A SMALL SPACE

A Small Space

How a species continues

How half a species is supposed to act

to speak

to dress

to tolerate

A tunnel of flesh

pleasure in

life out

that which bleeds

in so many ways

that which dies

in so many ways

Told to accept

the limitations

told to accept

the violations

as the natural order

Plug it up

Plug
us 

up

April 25, 2017

NaPoWriMo prompt 25: write a poem that explores a small, defined space.

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DEMARCATES

Demarcates

My Mr. Hyde

always behind

the light

My Dorian Gray portrait

painted with

the absence of color

My only visual

of the enemy within

transported by sun beam

Is that what

you are of me

a black-hole body outline

that widens and lengthens

by day

with my hidden doings

by night

Would you fall

to nothingness

if there was 

only night

Would I burn

to nothingness

if there was

only day

You are my shade

I am your pale silhouette

neither whole

April 24, 2017

Creative Writing Now prompt 4 - write about your shadow.

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NIGHT BIRDS

Night Birds

I’ve stayed up

deep into the dark

trying to find

the proper order

for words

and I’ve been kept company

by hours of avian conversation 

It’s a busy city

outside my window

multiple voices

multi-lingual

the exchange of information

the best trees to next

the best lawns for insects

the best parks for seeds

Do they gossip about us

Do they pass on stats

of which will feed them

and which they should

toilet their windshield

Do they ever shut up

Do we

April 23, 2017

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UNDER A CONSTELLATION OF CRANBERRY CONTRADICTION

Under A Constellation Of Cranberry Contradiction

Demure and decorous by day

under an amber moon

that shone red across the stars

we bamboozled our way

into the secret library

Filled with a bloodlust for knowledge

we pulled every tome on our bibliography

and took them out

to read and share

by a bonfire

deep in the embrace

of their mother forest

April 22, 2017

Creative Writing Now prompt 17 - Write a poem that includes these words: bamboozled, bloodlust, bibliography. Have the title included one of these words: contradiction, constellation, cranberry.

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THE SECRET TO A LONG MARRIAGE

The Secret To A Long Marriage

After a surgery to clear

a lifetime of bacon and eggs

from aging arteries

my anesthesia-drunk grandfather

wanted to share

his Doctor’s graffiti 

with his wife and daughter

So he whipped off

his post-op bed sheet

to reveal

not just the Doctor’s work

but Nature’s as well

with not even a thin, hospital johnny

to act as treasure chest

for his family jewels

My grandmother created

new shades of red

My mother

turned to her mother

and said

“So

that’s

why

you

stayed

with

him

all

these

years”

April 21, 2017

Image is of my grandparents (married 57 years).

THE LIGHT OF THE DAWN

The Light Of The Dawn

He loved them

those confused

beautiful creatures

his brother brought to life

to feed his hideous vanity

He dove into the dawn

to escape his sibling’s

forced ignorance

And others followed him

Now his brother breathed dust

gave it intelligence

but not knowledge

split it in two

granted self-awareness

but not education

They had such potential

those dark, strong beings

but no spark

to thaw their blind faith

So he hid

facts in fruit

disguised himself

as a loner snake

climbed a tree

and spoke to them

the truth

sweet as honey

And they ate

And they ran 

from his angry brother

furious that he

would have to work harder

to quiet his hunger

He’d help them

in his next form

he’d give them fire 

April 20, 2017

Creative Writing Now prompt 8 - write a poem using all of the following words: snake, honey, thaw.

Image of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended. 

FIRST BIRTH

First Birth

Nothing

a blink

another

more

Then movement

swimming

expanding

stretching the edges

of nothing

into a sea of something

Growing

center filling

more creation

Exploding 

everything

existing

spreading

like galloping horses

becoming

becoming

still becoming

April 19, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 Day 19 prompt: write a creation myth.

GIF of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken,  no profit made, and no offense intended.

ONE FOOT IN

One Foot In

From medicine to missionary

in one divine evening

he altered his life

and hers

He molded her

not for love

of who she was

but who he wanted

her to be

A supportive shadow

the cloth of her life

kept dull

to quiet parish gossip

her home

an echo of pews

designed to bend

under the knees of others

Children

scriptually stifled

extended shadows

of the pastorial collar

He sermonized their moves

a shepherd with

new flocks

new meadows

reworn trials

reworn tribulations

A testament

to serial sacred

One day he stopped

and built a church

a home

out of twisted rumors

Finally

he gave

then pulled his bible

out from under them

All done for

the glory of god in

heaven

April 18, 2017

Image of Fredric March in "One Foot In Heaven", of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit make, and offense intended.

GLORY ROAD

Glory Road

Land and loves split

along arbitrary lines

Bloated birds of prey

with their poisonous pellets

ripping apart hearths

throwing together hearts

So dark

the shadow of affection

is brighter 

than the ashen daylight

and when intimacy does come

even on the dusty keys

of tuned out pianos 

it runs to the core of the earth

with the blood

The songs of desperate passion

the dirges of slow, barbed death

serenade the brothers in bunkers

and hasty graves

Fathers and sons

mistresses and lovers

all die

along the way

April 17, 2017

Image of Fredric March and June Lang in "The Road To Glory", from unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended.

EVER YOURS, B.

Ever Yours, B.

He heard her through her work 

the promise of sunshine in a storm 

and he began to love her 

in letters 

She had been with him 

alone in her room 

in his works 

and now his lines 

embraced her 

She hesitated at his ink’s intensity 

for she knew her pages 

would not be many 

He did not care the amount 

as long as the book of their life 

was written full 

no margins 

So they left her invalid’s tomb 

and her father 

who wanted devotion to death 

and ran to wine and warmth 

their future’s poetry

April 16, 2017

Inspired by the NaPoWriMo Prompt: take your inspiration from the act of letter writing, in the form of a letter to a person place, thing, or in the form of back and forth correspondence,
the movie "The Barretts Of Wimpole Street",
and the book "The Love Letters Of Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning".
Image of Fredric March and Norma Shearer is from the movie "The Barretts Of Wimpole Street", of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended.

LIKE THE DRINK

Like The Drink

Every light
pulled me into consciousness
as the house began to shake
I sat up
and saw him

A huge human
dark like a beautiful black hole
busting full of everything
and glowing with the aura
of sweet innocence

“Don’t you be scared now,”
he spoke in softness
as he knelt by my bed
“I just needs ya to watch over a friend.”

He smiled with purity of friendship
then left
taking the light
and stilling my world

I looked over the edge of my bed

“Mr. Jingles…”

April 15, 2017

Prompt #25: write a poem where a literary figure shows up and tells you something and/or gives you something.
Literary figure(s): John Coffey (and Mr. Jingles) from "The Green Mile" by Stephen King.

TWENTY FINGERS FREDDY

Twenty Fingers Freddy

Fredric March

loved all the ladies

but didn’t make any babies

and in front of his wife he was starch

April 14, 2017

NaPoWriMo2017 Prompt: write a clerihew: a 4 line biographical poem that satirizes a famous person.
Image: Fredric March and Claudette Colbert, of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, and no offense intended.
Title restructured from Claudette Colbert's story about Fredric March.
Second definition of starch used: a stiff, formal manner.