Family gathering
love, laughter, reminiscing.
Like the inevitability of spring,
our connections bloom again.
Written off-prompt, for NaPoWriMo. It’s National Poetry Writing and the challenge is to write a poem every day in April.
Written today, on the occasion of a family gathering this weekend in Chicago, to celebrate the lives of Joanne and Ed Schnackenbeck.
Do not come round me
with doom and gloom,
tales of burnt toast, Trumpian despair,
woe-is-me whines about this country.
I desperately want instead,
to believe happiness lives.
Let us walk outside.
Look for children skipping rope,
sharing colored chalk,
drawing sidewalk art
that regales the urban streets.
Let us look for smiles.
You do know we can vote?
We can demonstrate.
We can share our thoughts
in poetry and blogs, letters
and chats with our neighbors.
We can choose to spread the good.
When you come to visit me,
bring into my home a jubilant spirit.
In return, I shall give you a welcome gift,
bundles of daffodils tied in crimson ribbons.
Can you see the joyfulness in that?
Together, we can concentrate on hope.
Written for dVerse the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Sanaa is hosting, offering up a new poetic form for us to consider called Line Messaging. “Line messaging is a poetry form created by Angel Favazza where the poet seeks to utilize the last line of each stanza to bring forth and represent an idea, a thought and notion . . . the last line of each stanza, when read separately from the poem, should deliver an independent messsage or be a poem all on its own.”
Thus the last lines of each stanza above create the following much shorter poem:
Hope Lives:
To believe happiness lives
let us look for smiles.
We can choose to spread the good.
Together, we can concentrate on hope.
Photo from Pixabay.com
Occasionally,
I think back to those times.
Friendship spoiled like aged milk.
Curdled putrid,
far beyond its best-used-by date.
I was impressed at first,
by your confidence, laughter,
your louder-than-life self.
We became best friends,
roommates two years in school.
Slowly I realized
you craved attention.
Demanded the spotlight.
Used people
to make yourself the star.
Life’s circumstances
sent us to different cities.
We married, had children,
successful careers. And then,
we were thrown together again.
You relocated to where we were.
Kids in the same school, same grades,
same interests. Old times linked us
in others’ minds,
at church and kids’ events.
But you lived in the Heights,
we lived in the Flats.
You paraded that, flaunted it.
I was okay with that,
merely irritated.
Your husband
exhausted by your demands,
your goal to shine,
became more than irritated.
Driven to depression and anger,
he fled to the arms of another.
So you, ever the diva, consumed by ego,
picked up a knife, stabbed him.
Just once.
He gave you the spotlight.
He died.
On parole, you called me.
Went on and on
about his indiscretion.
Claimed it was self-defense.
Practiced your defense on me.
I hung up that day. Done.
You went to prison.
I went on living,
loving my husband, my family,
and our life.
Just shows you I supppose,
some friendships
were never meant to be.
Written for dVerse where today we’re asked to a) write about friendship and b) begin our poem with the first line of another poet’s poem posted on dVerse. My first line, “Occasionally” is from Christine Bolton’s Senryu. Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
I was born to die
pushed out into life
as were you,
screaming curdling wails.
Each night we bid goodbye
slipping off to sleep.
Each day we greet anew,
seek love amidst our trails.
I simply want to clarify,
all one species are we.
Pray tell and think it through.
Reject bigotry, all else that ails.
Hatred twists judgement awry.
Respect provides a healthier view.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Bjorn is hosting and introduces us to a new form, the Bref Double. It consists of three quatrains (stanzas of 4 lines) and an ending couplet. The rhyme scheme is axbc, axbc, axbc, ab BUT the second lines in each of the quatrains do not have any rhyme, hence the x designation. Image from Pixabay.com
She falters, steps lightly,
lightly asserting herself again.
Again he beats her, denies her being.
Being a brute, how can she win?
How did this happen,
happen to her, create such fear?
Fear is the impetus she finally needs.
Needs to act quickly, her path is clear.
Miles away she laughs aloud,
a loud guffaw that signals she’s free.
Free of his violence, while he lies dead,
dead by her deed near the old oak tree.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Grace asks us to consider Loop Poetry, a form created by Hellon. There are no restrictions on the number of stanzas nor on the syllable count for each line. However, in each stanza, the last word of the line 1 becomes the first word of line 2. The last word of line 2 becomes the first word of line 3. The last word of line 3 becomes the first word of line 4. This is followed for each stanza (4 line stanzas). The rhyme scheme is abcb. Tricky. Took me a while to get in the rhythm of it and for some reason, this poem from the dark side was the result.
Like young colts
galloping through wildflowered fields,
all legs in a blur.
These teenage grandchildren rush in
laughing, talking,
a whirlwind of energy.
Fast hugs for me,
quick words of endearment
and they’re out the door.
I sit down, coffee cup in hand,
and chuckle at what just was.
I marvel, smiling,
at what is to come and what will be.
The world is theirs to explore,
to grapple with, to improve,
to endure.
But for now,
let them gallop in the wildflowered fields.
Posted for Open Link Night at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. AND we are LIVE today from 3 to 4 PM Boston time. Read below how to join us!
EXCITING NEWS FOR dVERSE! Mr. Samuel Peralta announced the selection of dVerse Anthology, Chiaroscuro, for inclusion in the LunarCodex Polaris time capsule going to the moon in 2023! It’s true! Not a hoax! Chiaroscuro will be on the moon — I have six poems in the anthology! I’m going to be on the moon! Go to lunarcodex.com to learn more. At the Menu on the right click on MORE….scroll down and you’ll come to an image of Chiaroscuro! Mr. Peralta is interviewed on YouTube about the technology. Google “We”re flying to the moon samuel Peralta” you’ll find it. It’s rather lengthy, but very interesting to read about the technology!
What is OLN LIVE?
Go to https://dversepoets.com at 3 PM or shortly thereafter. There will be a link right at the top of the page…Click on it and it will take you to the dVerse pub! You’ll meet many of the dVersers who post here weekly, and some who just come when the spirit moves them (or the prompt does!). Each attendee has the opportunity to read one poem aloud as others listen and appreciate. Alternatively, if you are not comfortable reading for the group, simply join us and listen in! The more the merrier!
I hope to see you at the pub today!!! https://dversepoets.com at 3 PM Boston time or shortly thereafter. We’ll be live until 4 PM.
lillian the home poet 