Serenity is all I need, a verb I can make be. Serenity is bliss.
Serenity is what color? Not raging red nor egregious green. Pastel me serene.
Serenity is far away, not freedom from the storm. Serenity is a firefly flitting out of reach,
on and off, off and on, reminding me. Serenity is a verb I can make be.
Today Bjorn is hosting MTB (Meet the Bar) at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. He prompts us to “use the google autocomplete functionality as a trigger to create lists to trigger poems . . . for instance what happens when I try to google ‘love is.’” In this case, I googled Serenity is… The lines italicized in the poem are some that came up with my query. Photo is from last year’s visit to our beloved Provincetown: no photoshopping…the sky looked like this! Color me serene.
I am a product of white privilege. I hula-hooped and pogo-sticked through youth scholarshipped through college on the debate team married, bought a house, and had two children. We had two dogs who roamed our big back yard. a vegetable garden and raspberry bushes. Our kids had good friends, played board games took music lessons, learned to drive, went to high school swing choir competitions. They went to college, married, bought a house, and had kids who took music lessons and walked to school. None of us had the proverbial picket fence, but sure seemed we had everything else. I had no idea there was a Green Book.
At seventy-three, I am appalled, frightened, and petrified for this country. I applaud all who take a knee and decry the knee that pressed, without mercy, on George Floyd’s neck – 8 minutes and 15 seconds of deliberate hell. I decry the lack of justice for Breonna Taylor. I decry the narcissistic occupant whose utter disregard for science, truth, the environment, the letter of the law, sacrifices made by our armed forces, has decimated the moral fiber of this country, left us with 200,000 lives lost to Covid. And the number grows. Yet people follow this self-centered prat, gather in enclosed spaces no masks, no social distance, cheer on this person masquerading as our president. The occupant who doesn’t give a rip about them ~ except to keep him in power. I write, I speak, I donate to senate contests, and I WILL VOTE. I maintain hope in the good. That is my protest.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe, where today Grace asks us to consider protest poetry.
Alone his last weeks, squirreled away in abandoned dune shack sole window open to ocean’s ebb and flow. Easel, sawhorse-table, canned goods, sleeping bag and brushes. Minimal décor.
She’d left him years ago, but each day she came closer. Porcelain skin, barely blushed cheeks velvet brown eyes as he remembered them, brimming love.
Pale coral tinted mouth, retouched each day. Gently he brushes her lips, moistens them as mornings dawn, heart searing, needing her.
Ribboned strapless sheath painted to reveal sultry throat, soft shoulders. Delicate fingers hold blooming vine. Each rose carefully painted, petaled to life.
Until at last he smells her scent, roses permeate his soul. One last rose lovingly placed centered within her crowning hair, her essence complete.
And so he sleeps his final sleep as gulls squall in the distance and waves create his elegy. His bluing lips smile in repose, knowing she is nearby.
I am hosting at dVerse today, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. I’m delighted to have reconnected with artist Catrin Welz-Stein who is graciously allowing us to select one of four provided images as motivation for our poetic creations today. I’ve chosen the beautiful image above – it was hard to choose as all four are magical in my opinion. You can find more of her work here: Catrin Welz-Stein, Join us today to see art-inspired poetry – what is called ekphrasticpoetry.
Clown me, please. Paint a smile on my face and give me huge clodhoppers. Stomp with me through muck and lies. This bulbous red nose? Not from weeping. It toots raucously – my exclamation point to your inane arguments. Living in this three-ring circus it’s the only way to survive. Clown me, please.
Written for Tuesday Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets across the globe. Today we’re asked to write a poem that somehow uses the word “clown” or deals with a clown. Image from Pixabay.com.
You loved me Joe
braggadocio
impresario,
only to go.
I’m singin’ these blues,
you still my muse.
But I remember long ago
I pleaded, don’t go.
But you left me alone
strummin’ the twelve-bar blues.
My spirit so damn low,
heart’s dyin’ like indigo.
I had fun with this one…..tried to write a poem as a 12-bar blues composition. The chord progress of a 12-bar blues is I – I – I – I – IV – IV – I – I – V – IV – I – I Translated to a rhyme scheme, I used AAAA-BBAA-CBAA.
The video is a short description of how to create and play the 12-bar blues chord progression. Fun to listen to.
Written for Quadrille Monday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. Kim hosts and asks us to include the word BLUE or a form of the word in our poem of exactly 44 words, sans title.
You are depressing us
with your despicable views
untruths, divisive directives.
Can you step back from yourself,
walk in the shoes of those you call others?
Can you listen rather than spew incoherently?
The world watches as you blunder defiantly.
Man, woman he, she. Human humanity their, heir inhumanity. Manual workmen and man hours. Policeman, fireman chairman too. Language affects action. Live, love, be.
Written for Tuesday’s Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. Anmol hosts and asks us to write a poem about “pride, gender, fluidity, sexuality, protest . . .” Image from Pixabay.com
Believe in Love. Actually begin to Comprehend, Knowingly. Live today Inquiring, searching. View Equality as Something Meant for, but not given to All. Take time To Explore white privilege as Reality. And understand,
ACROSTIC: poem in which the first letter of each line, when read from top to bottom, has meaning. Sharing with OLN at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets.
TO READ THIS POEM: 1. Read as you would a normal poem, noting the last line ends with a comma, 2. so continue reading by going to the first letter of each line (bolded) and puting these letters together, you have the actual ending of the poem.
