Summer Challenge thread

butters

High on a Hill
Joined
Jul 2, 2009
Posts
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A double-twist to this one, just for fun. :devil:

You have till next wednesday to write a piece no longer than 30 lines.

Conjure up something of summer - a moment, a memory, a feeling, a contrast.... But i'd like to see you approach this obliquely, avoiding as much as possible direct mentions of heat, sun and the usual cliché-casualties.

Then, when you feel your piece has sweated enough to absolutely need a popsicle, send them to me by pm. When i have them all here (cut-off time wednesday night), i'll post them all here without their author names and you can all have fun trying to guess who wrote which piece.

Have fun :cool:
 
Wishing for the Storm

Today brings a difference.
Morning haze tainted with browns
and black that prove umber
is a temperature and eighty
can bloom to a colour rare

in winter. It carries a scent
of bitter sting while the breeze
whips into a wind and brings it south
and east to my nose. A stench of flame
seared, leftover, dead fall; dry
from winter's dehydration.

Noon is early enough in the northern
daylight to wish for afternoon
rain and evening cool, fresh washed
air and atmosphere, rinsed clean
of dust and smut, drizzled
into creeks flowing away
with the humidity and the sun.

Both fall over opposite horizons
painted red and purple, east
a reflection of the spectacle
to the west. Nights are never black
in this season, merely indigo hued
twilights that turn into dawn
well before nocturnal life
has sated its hunger. Too soon
for lovers to have fallen asleep.
 
ok, lol - so you're making up your own rules, fair enough :D
 
here we go, then :)

first, a list of all the contributors:

Remec

Annie

Tsotha

HarryHill

Des Esseintes

Trixareforkids

Todski

Twelveoone

Champagne

greenmountaineer

BBG1970

Pelegrino

butters


now i'm going to post each poem in a new post - that way it's easy to identify by number even those without titles, and you can all have the best time reading them and trying to guess who wrote which piece. a huge thankyou to all who found the time and inspiration to submit writes; it's been fun! :cool:
 
summer challenge no. 1

Bench Warmers

Robin's pop worked maintenance
on the boardwalk rides
We were his test crew
but spent most of our time
warming a bench
with grit between our toes.
Watching people passing by,
cracking ourselves up
telling their stories.
We liked the little old handholders best.
Over dried prunes
doing the boardwalk shuffle
in sweaters and slacks
or teeny bikinis and banana slings.
They shared their strange and interesting lives
just by strolling past our bench.
 
summer challenge no. 2

'Prelude for Winter'

It began 12 hours ago,
dressed in denim and thin cotton,
hand in hand at the farmer's market,
strolling booths in the cool morning
she mimed fellatio with a zucchini
you laughed, her eyes promised,
It's going to be a hot one

A long breezy drive down back roads,
side by side on the edge of a bridge,
gravel tossed at water spiders, giggles
grab ass wading, squeals, splashes,
running from minnows nibbling toes,
watercress plucked from the creek,
go further

Green and shadowed up to valley top
lover's watch, the river below
head to head 'til evening falls
cruise to the park, radio blaring
a quilt on the grass far from folks,
basket full of beer and fruit
cheers as the first pop's heard

Laid out on backs, face to the sky,
a shoulder for a pillow, rare sight,
fire flowers bloom above in the night,
stars dance in her eyes and his
all goes dark and fuzzy, sweet as peach
eaten in June
 
summer challenge no. 3

Seasoning

As the year ages, it dawns
on a thought that I
do the same. My new
life won't come as fast
as the year's, but time
compresses, as do our spines.
Freshening smiles of an idea
that this season offers
a burst of energy during long
days, a certain quality
of atmosphere, and the wet
of drops - shivered on submersion,
into the cold at the lake.
 
summer challenge no. 4

air broods
imminent
heavy as a writer longing for winter
the deep nights
where words form like fog
in a moon's diffuse light
glisten in damp canyons of a mind
bead fingers
in creativity
not
like
this gritty
thick humidity
that coats sticky skin in
moods of wet concrete
compresses thought
weighs on ribs where
lungs ache to breathe a blue
way beyond reach
of a sky waiting to crack
 
summer challenge no. 5

Up and down, afloat amidst waves
I long for the one that will carry me
and the day goes by in a haze of ups
downs and breathe and hold breath -

Far behind me, where children play
faint voices fade away, people leave
for the day. Enough sun, sweat, sand,
they'll not stay, the sky turns grey.

And I, turn around to meet the wind
head on, unafraid. That will change.
Darkened sky a mantle of lightning
a storm came, gained from inland

So now, threatened to be washed
and blown away, strong arms fight
the entire ocean trying to kill me.
Row, row, row - head down, now

Look up, despair: the shore moves away
So repeat, try again, and try harder,
c'mon, arms and legs, you had one job
to get me there and back again, safe

The moment you notice every wave
moving in reverse, and you're caught
by rain, and your feet can't touch sand
and your body is cold and strained

'I am going to die', you realize.
So two choices: to stay, and float and pray
or to jump off, and swim again against odds
and the current trying to drown you.

Crawl out of the water, hands and knees
scrape, beg for a minute more of strength
to drag yourself to the sand. Confused,
weakened, ill, sick, marked for life, wiser.
 
summer challenge no. 6

Only a straw hat on a rattan chair
shows she passed this way,
and carelessly tossed it to one side,
before wandering barefoot
across cool wooden floors.
Just a whisper of flowery perfume
distilled in the warmth of a memory,
remains of the Ghost of Summers past.
 
summer challenge no. 7

GANGBANG FOURSOME-PART 1

Failure to notice fog,
surrounded by it,
watching through it
how clear shapes form…
ah, just prick teasers.

If I was you
I'd appreciate
what's on offer,
I mean, fresh fruit, man,
no harm in watching.

Je ne suis pas un voyeur,
Michelle, my belle of Dingly Dell,
how can a woman take three men?
No harm in trying, I suppose,
stiff perpendicular coordinates.

Don’t worry, nature has provided,
steady hands, boy,
don’t shake those photos,
paparazzi… paparazzi…
ah, that feels nice!

She means, "journalists", you idiot,
it's not what you thought,
still it makes sense,
here, I'm done,
pass me the camera.

One by one I fall in love,
one by two I like it more,
one by three I've been gang fucked,
I told you: nature has provided,
let's roll a joint.

(repeat ad libidum & fade out :)

The fog on the Tyne is all mine, all mine,
the fog on the Tyne is all mine...
 
summer challenge no. 8

( / denotes end first line as it's longer than the page allows)

Would it be blood ad hoc


Fireflies rise from grass through the hades of indigo
land enmass in a neighbors tree, all Christmasey.
Luciferase, their pheromonic lights light reminds me of long ago,/
the city, the subway riding back from a day at the freak show,
the lady with the snake, standing on the shore, sun on my back,
blisters on my arm.
I an Adonis or so I was told and she my Persephone ,
my guide, drunk! That has to be the Hudson my dear,
not the river Lethe. Rare, a blood moon in June.
Somehow we made it back to the Oranges.

Her breasts, perfect in size and symmetry
and if
I was a composer, I'd compose a symphony
and if
there was a vocal, solo, not two part harmony
I don't go for that shit, somehow
let 'em jiggle just for me.

It was all just a memory
pulled as tangled vines
still somewhat sensory
these wisps of happier times.

Enough of this purple, I admit at first
it scared the shit out of me -
Porphyria, O, euphoria I won't die.

A river runs red, not blood, for I bloodless
and pale now. live the summer without the sun
And the night which became you, never overcame us,
I now wear as a himation, conjuring memories
like some kid with fireflies in a jar,
blinking out against a glass. Cold light.

Salutations from hell.
 
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summer challenge no. 9

Water Wings

I do not part the waters
I merge and meld with them
Begin my transformation
Into a mermaid
Surfacing only at direst need
Hoping each time will be the last
Before returning to the depths
Where I hope this time to stay
To view the world through dancing
Light that seems to go on forever
 
summer challenge no. 10

Tink,
Tink,
Tiink
moths and mosquitoes
drum beat incandescent
globes
naked sighs hang a weight
off the full moon's promise
that night could bring a breeze
to ease the life that pours out
of the holes in us

my fingers run through a tiny bead
of dew that grew in a few breathless
seconds, where you collided
with me, liquid cool dive
of soft

let me guide you to an oasis
of fresh palm tree illusion
come
take my hand
let the fall of cloud splash
ease the flames rage
to ember glow
before we stoke the fire

I bite your lip
lead you with my teeth
to shower you in kisses
 
summer challenge no. 11

Frank O' Hara Wakes Up.

It's 5:00 o' clock in the morning.
I know because the sea gulls sing,
staking territory, making love
in shades of grey on Fire Island

where the blood red sun will set soon enough
for Adonis or Narcissus
and moths with a paper thin body
that fly into incandescent heat.

Émile calls it "les petit morts"
for which we die a thousand times
in the frenzy of our beds.

No matter. I hear the plainsong now
and lean your way while you sleep,
naked on our queen size beach,
to give you a modest kiss on the cheek.
 
summer challenge no. 12

Shoot the Moon

Wild berries and grain alcohol
Dust in clouds on rediscovered tracks
Coolers and beach towels
Line the creek while nearly naked bodies
Bob in tubes or cannonball from rope swings
And I can't decide what is brighter
The day sky or all the quarter, half and full moons
Rising from the water like shooting stars in reverse
 
summer challenge no. 13

An umbrella of shade above
Prickly grass below
Pencils and pad forgotten
As I watch the Spanish moss
Dangle with half lidded eyes
Thinking of stripping down
Doing a dance
To call the fickle zephyrs
To play with my hair
Or simply running arms wide
Through the field creating
My own breeze
To dry the damp that drains
Rather than refreshes
 
summer challenge no. 14

The lights are dimmed, the water glowing green,
As if the bath lay in some fern-strewn pool
A thousand miles south. Shadows criss-cross hands,
Which criss-cross each other: a cat’s cradle
Of slow desire with every languid drop
A promise. Candle wax trembles, pauses;
At last cascades down itself in soft streams.
The room’s silence is another caress.

The lovers, lost in deeper pools by far
Merge, fall away, merge now more urgently,
Each movement calls to life a waterfall
And mighty rivers fall down breathless backs
To feed the fretful waters. Lips and tongues
Dance in perfect time to waltzing heartbeats
Or fall back, entranced with their own magic.

The bath would long ago have grown too cold
Except the gods, who have made it their sea,
Draw fresh heat from each other’s seeking hands,
Which warmth, in turn, suffuses every wave
Their movements rouse. The door remains unlocked;
For who would dare disturb this privacy?

Each gasp is greater than the last, until
The tortured waters rise over the side
To spill, heedless, across the wooden beach.
Amidst the tumult, Neptune and his bride
Rise up and fall, and rise and fall again
Until their mouths, though locked together still
Cry out that joy which dwells so close to pain
So each breathes in the other’s ecstasy.

Outside, the grapes have shriveled on the vine.
 
summer challenge no. 15

End of Day


Snapshot within my mind,
colours fresh as yesterday or
this morning, pale sky that
remains lit many hours past
sunset, not full of the
oranges, reds, yellows that
had been there, but just
a mellow sort of glow
highlighting the clouds,
vapor trails, and assorted
flocks lazily winging their
way along.

I know that feeling,

It echoes throughout the
neighborhood, in the soft
thuds of jump ropes and
basketballs, the call of
ice cream trucks rolling
slowly down the street,
and the hidden chirps of
crickets and frogs laying
counterpoint to the flash
of lightning bugs.
 
summer challenge no. 16

The sweet smell of grass is a slim reward indeed
My beads of sweat flow while I rest under a tree.
The wind rises in a swirl and the leaves begin a dance.
It reminds me of a time an evening of romance.

I close my eyes and behold what I see
A youthful but less handsome version of me.
Japanese lanterns hanging all in a row
A light ocean breeze a young womans soft glow

Perfectly pink lips they beckon a taste
She's everyones fancy all hearts doomed to race.
A murmur of voices like an echo of the past
Wake me from my dream I finished the grass.
 
summer challenge no. 17

Ch ch-ch

Shuffle your feet
to tha' mungo jerry beat
if you get real high
touch sky, touch sky
sky won't mind
'cos it's singin'
'cos it's singin' summer blues

ch-chch ch ch chch ch ch

when you're up there flyin' high
in the happy smilin' sky
and the grass is deep
feel it grow beneath your feet
wave your arms, c'c'mon
wave 'em like a windmill blowin' by

you can sink, you can fly
windmills spinnin' lovin' in the sky

ch-ch ch

buzz'd lika fly
flowers growin' high
you got lovin'
you got lovin' on your mind

you can laugh till you cry
you got lovin'
you got lovin' on your mind
 
That's all, folks :D

what a diverse bunch of writings!

so come on in and add your comments, guesses, kudos or raspberries; gotta run! :kiss:
 
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