How Many Red Bulls Does It Take To Get To The Center Of A Heart Attack?

I can hear colors

and they're screaming

I can see music

and it's all off-kilter

I can taste the rainbow

and it doesn't taste a !@#$%^& like Skittles

I can touch the heart of darkness

and that feels pretty good

May 1, 2019

Red Bull energy drink

Skittles candy

Skittles "taste the rainbow" commercial

Tootsie Pop "how many licks" commercial

Image of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, 

and no offense intended.

Power

Global Poetry Writing Month 2019

National Poetry Writing Month 2019 

April 31st extra

Reusing the Day 30 Prompt: 

... a minimalist poem ... quickly and simply capture an image or an emotion ... 

an extreme style of minimalism in the form of one word and other "highly compressed" poems.

Image of unknown origin, used without permission, with no credit taken, no profit made, 

and no offense intended.

Relief

The last stanza 

The last line 

The last letter 

The last day 

April 30, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 30 Prompt: write a minimalist poem.

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Alphabet Anxiety

More than needed 

I can do this 

Or so it seems 

at the beginning 

But isn’t that always the way 

You set it aside 

you wait 

because you think you have enough 

But time doesn’t stop marching 

when you push it aside 

or forget about it 

And the letters won’t form words 

just because you’re now ready 

to put ass to seat 

If you starve the ink 

you can’t expect it 

to burn on command 

You’d better get ready 

to beg 

April 29, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 29

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

About Poetry

To crawl into another’s soul

and sail through stanzas there 

I cannot do 

To slip into another’s heart 

and caress the verses there 

I cannot do 

To meld into another’s mind 

and read the words there 

I cannot do 

My poetry 

about my poetry 

I can do 

My poetry 

can make me drunker than midori sours 

and black samuca chasers 

straight up 

My poetry 

is my strongest antidepressant 

My poetry 

makes me almost as happy as Robin Williams’ stand-up 

almost 

My poetry 

fills me up more than pizza 

(and is certainly healthier) 

My poetry 

is like Star Trek 

was there at my beginning 

will be there at my end 

April 28, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 28 Prompt: write a meta-poem, a poem about poetry.

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Midori Sour: Midori liquor and sour mix

Romana Black Sambuca

Robin Williams

Star Trek

The Prince Sees Cinderella For The First Time

I sat 

deep in the shadow 

on my way to being drunk 

watching the ballroom 

not people 

but hangers for clothes 

dress after garish dress 

and an enormous diamond on every breast 

no joy in the dance 

just the vanity 

just the grasping for position 

it could drive one to scream 

(it has already driven me to drink) 

until on the open balcony 

the guard stood back to reveal 

a white moon 

and before it 

her 

April 27, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 27 

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Pulled ten words blind from Magnetic Poetry and used them for inspiration; I was writing the third line when I got the idea for the poem - breast, diamond, dress, drive, drunk, enormous, moon, reveal, scream, shadow.

Cease Developing

Growing old 

fearing death 

growing old 

finding god 

growing old 

calling it wisdom 

April 26, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 26 Prompt: write a poem that uses repetition, write a pome that uses repetition.

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Autumn For This Masshole

Getting colder 

covering the windows in slippery plastic 

covering myself in scratchy wool 

The birds in the park 

are all but gone 

and those that stay 

have changed their tune 

Pumpkin spice in freaking everything 

The leaves change and fall 

and the smell of woods 

is of colorful death 

How long until Halloween? 

April 25, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 25 Prompt: write a poem specific to a season, imagery that relates to all five senses, include a rhetorical question

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Masshole: a contemptuous term for a native or inhabitant of the state of Massachusetts.

Swimming Against The Tide

The average, adult, human body is made up of 60% water. 

Is that why so many of us seem to drown in ourselves? 

We become rusalki of the people we hoped we’d be 

We drown in debt 

we tread water at work, at school 

we drown in our emotions 

to reach our goals we must swim to shore 

We float on our lives 

until we really do become a rusalka 

Pulling against 60% of our nature 

April 24, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 24

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Rusalka, Rusalki - ghost, ghosts of those who drowned

House Cat

Sleeps 

yawns 

stretches 

sleeps 

eats 

sits like the sphinx 

occasionally deigning to look 

disinterested as a god-pharoah 

shits 

sleeps 

eats 

gets high 

spins around for twenty minutes 

stares at own foot for ten 

eats 

stretches 

yawns 

sleeps 

April 23, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 23 Prompt: write a poem about an animal.

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

What Vincent Sees

I see 

stars 

He paints 

night suns 

swirls 

mazes 

I see 

people and water 

He paints 

love and lovers 

reflections and depths 

I see an early, outdoor Starbucks 

He paints 

friendship 

breaking bread 

drinking wine 

the joys of life 

I cannot see 

what he sees 

until his brush rests 

April 22, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 22 Prompt: write a poem that engages with another art form.

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Vincent Van Gogh

How Deep

Dancing in a gym in a city hall 

passing the girl in mime make-up 

who can’t be saved 

and grabbing some stranger 

The dead girl tells us to hurry 

she knows she can’t go 

lost in hallways of a huge apartment building 

lost and lost and lost 

until outside 

in my yard 

the sharks coming in on the next wave 

that turns out to only be ankle deep 

April 21, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 21 Prompt: write a poem that incorporates wild, surreal images.

#ShutUpWrite Challenge

T Train Idiot

Do you thing god exists? 

Which one? 

The only one. 

There’s been about 3,000 worshipped so there isn’t an ‘only one’. 

You know who I’m talking about. 

No, I can guess, but that’s not the same as knowing. 

You think god is a joke? 

I think whether or not there is some kind of god or goddess or gods and goddesses is too important a question to presume what someone else thinks. 

Are you a Satanist? 

No. Are you? 

How dare you! 

Is that a ‘no’? 

You’re going to burn in hell for your blasphemy. 

Only the religious can commit blasphemy. 

(throws a Chick Tract in my lap as they get up to exit) You better take Jesus into your heart! 

Have a nice day! 

April 20, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 20 Prompt: write a poem that "talks".

#ShutUpWrite Challenge

T Train

Chick Tracts

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet poem 

bowl full of letters 

chaos swirls 

depth unknown 

emptiness to be seen 

filling with feeling 

gorging 

hot with hope 

I write 

joltingly 

klutzily 

lovingly 

making moments 

no to inner critic 

opening 

pouring 

quietly 

roughly 

stirring spices 

tasting topics 

universal 

voracious hunger 

words 

xeroxing my mind for 

you to eat 

zen full 

April 19, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 19 Prompt: write an abecedarian poem - a poem in which the word choices follows the order of the alphabet

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Cappy's Workshop

Cut wood 

and old dirt 

Cobwebs 

and sharp light 

Shadows 

and outlines 

of fifty years 

refurbishing 

rebuilding 

technical 

toys 

He held a whole house together 

he held lives together 

The wood stove’s cold now 

the light bulbs burned out 

We should’ve mixed his ashes 

in the sand of the floor 

and the bottom of the stove 

so he could help support the next family 

April 18, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 18 Prompt: make concrete the wild abstraction of a feeling like grief

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Cappy was my grandfather (2 February 1917 - 28 April 2000)

Bottled

We’re meant to be eaten 

pluck off the vine 

pop in the mouth 

But that wasn’t good enough 

for you 

Peel us 

crush us 

mix us with toxins 

that mutate us 

you don’t care 

you can’t hear us scream 

locked away 

for years 

for centuries 

You create a dogma 

around us 

elite 

rich 

And what was good of us 

the natural joy 

is gone 

and replaced 

with drunken snobbery 

you clink you fine crystal 

When we should be 

outside 

sunset 

long day with friends 

popped in your mouth 

April 17, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 17 Prompt: a poem that presents a situation from an unusual point of view.

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Lucy, In Space, Is A Diamond

It’s not a horn that will be heard

at the end

but a gong

And it won’t be

the sound of thunder

but the hooves of Centarus

Little moon

crystalized

she’ll be

her own best friend

April 16, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 16

#ShutUpWrite Challenge

White dwarf star

Little Helpers

Small ones in the morning 

that have a rising sun 

packed into their little, missile forms 

Big ones in the evening 

that have a thousand head of tired sheep 

corralled into their thick, round forms 

In between 

stimulants of a liquid, legal kind 

to keep my lids from lowering 

and the tips of my fingers 

tap-tap-tappiting 

on the keyboard of my paycheck 

April 15, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 15

#ShutUpWrite3019 Challenge

Knite One The Toon

I read my big, red book 

wile I decide watt to where 

and wear two go 

It was a late knight 

I whent hear, their, and everywere 

To many dinks 

I didn’t no 

when too say wren 

Made it holmes 

in won peace 

Feel asleep 

redding my big, read book 

April 14, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 14 Prompt: make productive use of English's ridiculously complex spelling rules, mis-hearings, mis-readings.

"The The Impotence Of Proofreading" by Taylor Mali

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Who Wants To Live Forever

We create vampires 

because the blood is the life 

We create witches 

because we hope spells work when surgeons don’t 

We create werewolves 

because we fear the beasts we can be 

We create a monster 

for the same reason 

we birth offspring 

we want to live forever 

even if it’s just a cell 

in someone else’s 

reanimated corpse 

April 13, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 13 Prompt: spooky, mysterious quality of being alive.

#ShutUpWrite Challenge

When I Came Back And When I Moved

Dull things 

they don’t feed, clothe, or shelter me 

they can’t cure me when I’m ill 

many find them boring 

yet they are 

Significant things 

they fill my mind 

wrap me in joy 

house me in knowledge and imagination 

and help me through sickness 

many find them cumbersome 

burdensome 

wastes of space 

Twice I’ve sold, donated, given away 

large portions of my books and movies 

I’ve thrown away companions 

because someone else didn’t like them 

April 12, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 12 Prompt: significant and dull objects

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

From

I am from a womb 

that should’ve been cemented shut 

I am from a woman 

who wanted obedience 

and worship 

I am from a family 

of silence 

I am from indoctrination 

what to believe 

not 

how to think 

I am from books and movies 

not places 

not people 

I am from a small bedroom 

to a rocking chair 

April 11, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 11 Prompt: origin poem

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

A Scorcher

The weight of the heat bearing down 

he holds your wrists back 

The burning in your eyes behind closed lids 

in the dark he tries to slip a dildo in your ass 

after you’ve told him no 

The sweat pooling on your body 

his smirk of a smile after he belittles you 

with the “honest truth” 

The oppressive humidity making you dizzy 

his brutal, quick speeches that make you 

question yourself 

Can’t take in enough fluid 

to balance what’s pouring out 

you faint 

he steps over you and leaves 

April 10, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 10 Prompt: inspiration from a regional weather phrase.

#ShutUpWrite Challenge

These Things

Little glass bottles 

all colors 

some never before 

seen in nature 

all textures 

smooth as a love’s midnight moan 

rough as a lover’s angry words 

empty of liquid 

filled with the sun 

as they line at attention 

near a window 

these small, delicate things 

hold my grandparents’ kitchen 

their siblings lined along the sink’s window sill 

rays of rainbowed sunlight 

spray across the sink and stove 

mixing with the scents of brewing coffee and frying peppers and onions 

tiny containers of time 

April 9, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 9 Prompt: list of things

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

ATGNI (all the gear no idea)

I’m a notorious collector 

a new obsession 

a new collection 

and a new devotion 

to learn all I can 

Money spent 

education at the ready 

and the fire dies 

fizzles faster 

than it flamed 

the passion’s dead 

the interest’s a memory 

and one more collection to box up 

in the empty hope 

discipline wins a future 

April 8, 2019

#GloPoWriMo2019 #NaPoWriMo2019 Day 8 Prompt: use professional slang as n inspiration 

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Gifts & Joy

I’d give myself 

Stamina 

by the body full 

Discipline 

by the mind full 

Balance 

by the cell full 

with these gifts I could rule myself 

and the world would surely follow 

I’d give someone 

an apartment in Paris 

where else should light live 

Paris Joyeux 

April 7, 2019

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 7 Prompt

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

A Two Red Bull Day

One can for each 

barely open eye 

And now I can 

hear color 

the scream of yellow on a coworker 

the moan of red on your lover tonight 

the lullaby of black you’re trying to avoid 

taste music 

the hot sharps that keep you bouncing 

the bitter flats you switch stations on 

see heartbeats 

in very door held by a stranger 

in every car that cuts you off 

touch light 

the cold of office fluorescents 

the warmth of the sun at lunch break 

and smell 

the migraine I am forever trying to avoid 

April 6, 2019

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 6

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge
Red Bull brand name used without permission, with no credit taken, with no profit made, and no offense intended.

Hail and farewell Mary

Hail Mary 

trapped in poverty, ignorance, and submissive traditions 

Full Of Grace 

and all that might have been 

The Lord Is With Thee 

whether you want him or not 

Blessed Art Thou Among Women 

it’s not rape if you’re anointed first 

And Blessed Is The Fruit Of Thy Womb 

because your worth 

is all about your uterus 

and what it does or does not do 

Jesus 

fucking christ 

Holy Mary 

because “molested Mary” 

is too long an etching for a stained glass window 

Mother Of God 

because “child victim of a sex crime” 

is almost a given in christ’s church 

Pray For Us Sinners 

all the Marys – get off your knees 

Now 

right now 

And At The Hour Of Our Death 

and all the hours before 

we stand and we say 

no 

Amen

April 5, 2019

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 5 Prompt

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Idea for using a prayer from "Call and Response" By Kyle Dargan

Just Fly

So what if your wings are borrowed 

as long as your heart beats fiercely 

not just ticks 

Work through tragedies 

and aim for the delights that always follow 

so close sometimes 

almost hand in hand 

If you can’t be 

the unexpected beauty 

be the sparkle in the stone 

April 4, 2019

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 4

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

A Pistachio Ice Cream Person

Fresh 

and a little nutty 

Subtle 

and mixes well with others 

Until heated 

Then the color fades 

drains 

and good taste 

gets lost in the boil 

A little 

artificial sweetener 

and color dye 

and all looks good 

and all tastes good 

and that’s all 

that matters 

April 3, 2019

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 3

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

?

~ is happening? 

Is it always this loud? 

What is “world”? 

What is “god”? 

How many? 

I’m supposed to believe WHAT? 

So, this is “adult”? 

Everyone else does, so I should too? 

Am I insane and just don’t know it? 

Why does there have to be a “purpose”? 

Well, don’t we each make our own “meaning”? 

I am insane, aren’t I? 

How did I get so old so fast? 

Dead means dead, doesn’t it? 

What is happe~ 

April 2, 2019

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 2 Prompt

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Noble

I endeavored to fight a mad man 

with others of hesitant hearts 

and one with coward’s tongue 

Neither fury nor fire 

nor blows nor rack 

could beat or burn 

names from my bleeding lips 

We each have a point 

where torture talks 

so I hung mine 

before my broken bones betrayed us 

April 1, 2019

Epicharis: freedwoman who was part of a failed revolt against Roman Emperor Nero; after days of torture she hung herself on her sedan chair while being carried to continued torture (her arms and legs were already broken, she used her girdle as a noose) - she ended her life before risking betraying her co-conspirators (and herself).

#NaPoWriMo2019 #GloPoWriMo2019 Day 1 Early Bird Prompt 

#ShutUpWrite2019 Challenge

Rum 'n' Raspberries

It’s said the center of the universe 

is awash with ethyl formate 

C to the 3 to the H to the 6 to the O to the 2 

In 

other 

words 

the heart of reality 

smells of rum 

and tastes of raspberries 

Could 

it 

then 

be 

that the creator 

is nothing but a grogged-up pirate 

Captain Ethyl 

and her not-so-scurvy mates 

sailing the ‘verses 

on the dread ship Big Bang 

And 

what 

we 

call 

god 

is nothing but the jolly roger 

waving in the galactic winds 

of booze ‘n’ fruit 

March 28, 2019

Rum and Raspberries in Space

Tales From The Thick Thighs

Yeah, I’ve got V-shaped legs 

those upside-down bells 

and cellulite to spare 

And, what else I’ve got? 

Tongue-explored dimples 

some seriously hot acreage 

that’ll just kill you 

one sweat-covered shiver at a time 

Yeah, I’ve got limbs like tree trunks 

and they’ll bring you down 

March 18, 2019

Etched Glass

Vocabulary’s carved 

there’s no more double negatives 

the words hang like beads 

strung on the air 

and like an infinity piece 

it eats itself 

just as clear 

and convoluted 

as it ever was 

and just the same 

March 11, 2019

My Future's Past

Barely 

barely speak to anyone 

barely touch the door 

Call for delivery? 

What if someone answers? 

Every knock a possible mistake 

every voice a word away from abuser 

another wrong turn 

another nightmare 

another memory to come haunting 

Fear to commit 

for fear the past commits the future 

In exile 

in home 

incomplete 

March 4, 2019

Displacer Of Air

Ever meet someone 

who just sucks the oxygen 

out of a room 

yet still is able 

to not shut up 

They feed on the discomfort of others 

like a vampiric hemophiliac 

ingesting forced attention 

excreting a load of themselves 

The room is filled with muddy water 

a get-a-way is slogging at best 

and they move through it freely 

oblivious 

gluttonous 

gorged 

February 25, 2019

Someone Else's Escape

Then the flattened trees 

flipping from one to the other 

following drops of pigment 

placed carefully 

symbols that became a trail 

a journey laid out 

maybe long ago 

maybe last year 

And how many went before 

then passed this second-hand path on 

to be sold on the cheap 

to bound escape-artist junkies 

February 18, 2019

Bed & Bone

We fight getting in it

then

it’s where we please ourselves

and please others

it holds us

when we’re ill

hides us

when there’s nothing

we want to face

It supports our outsides

breaks occasionally

like our insides

grows old

grows brittle

and when we’re lucky

we die together

February 11, 2019