30 Poems in 30 Days (Redux)

[butters]

1-24

wanted to write something
good
something
meaningful
head full of Reed and glorious latin
but ugly got in the way
bangs head against desk
phone handy
police on speed dial

ugh

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

3/17 - Ghazal for shakey unions

Now’s our chance for resolution, starting over
At a glance, a new solution starting over.

You and I and marriage counsel, well, we’re trying
She’s a bright one we can tell, she’s starting over

Seated separate by the bickering, I’m not crying
but uncertain, shyly snickering but we’re starting over

Your arm’s around me gathering in the crumbs of marriage
Scattered in a trail of dumbness but we’re starting over

“When we’re finished you’ll be kissing, don’t disparage”
Says Ms. Twinkle, I feel like dissing this starting over.

We prevailed, no lack of trying to save this dying
Bond but, success! We’re back in love and starting over.

 

[champagne1982]

2-14

Poinsettia

Your brilliant red or pale
green-tinted white leaves
colour our northern homes
with South American jungle
shades that change, dark
green foliage to fragrant humus.

 

[Tsotha]

1-22

There is a fool within each one of us
he begs and pleads to be set free
to roam around doing cartwheels
and flippity flop, down the stair you go
flying through the air like a brick,
flailing like a crash test wildcat,
landing on your back like soft strawberry jello.
Shrug it off, stand up, start again,
A silly smile on your face, like a king.

 

[Neonurotic]

1-25

Upstairs Downstairs

It's because it is too cold upstairs
I don't bunk in that morgue,
instead, I sleep on the sofa.
It's because the climb is too steep;
it pains the knees with the up down.
I live on the main floor.
But really it's not. It's the oneness,
the empty bed, I can't lie and dream.

 

[Tzara]

1-25

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/11295078/Xaica_Hibiscus_Liqueur.jpg

Xaica
And which had drowsed along the bony shores,
Shut to the blather that the water made,
Rose up besprent and sought the flaming red
—Wallace Stevens, "Hibiscus on the Sleeping Shores"


Would I were a moth
Who had drowsed along the bony shores
Of your soft flesh, following

The long line of your femur,
Shut to the blather that the water made
As the moon pulled it close to us.

Fluttering through the drifting spray,
I rise up besprent and seek your flaming red.
For a moth but lives on opened bloom.



.

 

[Angeline]

1-24

I dreamt I went to Manderley perhaps
it was Byzantium a tower not a castle

an old man not a housekeeper no
menace but a long still pause as

might be in an empty room where
motes of Sun shift undisturbed where

evening never comes too soon and
there a maid upon a vase is fleet

of foot there a young man bounds
a marble of pursuit ever raptured.

 

[Desejo]

1-24

Goodreads, Goodgrief

Often our conversations open
in book recommendations, then
degenerate to other sorts of
provocations.

So today, though I have
sworn off such flirtation,
I sent out a tongue in cheek
invitation to parlay:

Imagine his excitation and
mystification upon my
electronic notification that
I “want to read” a book on
public adulation of his favorite
Football team.

Yay, Rah.

I think what I most want
is to see whether he pays attention at all.

 

[Tsotha]

1-23

Half is not enough to walk on fire
/ is far too much to tread softly
Better move away, or give in,
but never doubt, never falter.
Keep the smile.
Kiss the woman, kiss the lip,
lick the venom lovingly.
When you walk on fire, tread softly,
'cause it's hard to keep the poison out.
It's a journey through the dark,
down streets you never saw in daylight.
No light, no spotlight, night walker.
Feet on damp earth, unsteady soil gives
knees scraped, hands bleed.
Better crawl up from that hollow.
Such a long way to go
home, through the front door.
Your mother asks you,
Are you hurt? Did you fight?
Well, am I? Did I?
Can I?
Maybe, when you're of two minds,
but one soul, ready to tear apart.
Until then, kiss the woman, kiss the lip.
Lick the venom lovingly.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

1-1

The naked earth
stripped and plundered;
weeps blood diamonds.

 

[todski28]

1-24

sneaky cheating times,
hidden behind coquettish smiles
demure eyes, crooked wiles
where lies are told as truth
adamant conviction
that you are ok,
that we are ok
that it is all ok

a glance inside that tricksy thing
it's ring and bling hides a truth
with Pandora's box open spread
as you were spread
in that picture sent to HIM
please and plea's yearning's
for a piece of that filth
if it was someone better
of higher status or stature
with something to offer other
than a cock and a load
of bullshit, he makes you feel
special,
you are special, special needs,

you jumped into that river bitch
drown or swim, because I get the kids,
you left me
you left the family home
for a dog and his bone
be a dog, you lousy rutting cunt


yet if you said yes
if you would just...
just,
I would.............
I would take you back

(more fool me)......

 

[butters]

1-25

spent a lot of time
waiting for the bus
stuck in one place

rain or shine
wait out the dead time

mind's a greedy creature
gorges on the structure of clouds
the anatomy of trees
birds crossing the void

not speaking
because i've spent too long
bus comes when it comes

 

[champagne1982]

2-15

Or Else We Lose It

You ignore the spatter of fat and steam
the overflow of starch and cream
the oozing spill of melted cheese
but now dear friend,
CLEAN THE MICROWAVE PLEASE!

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

3/18 - Black

Back in them days we
wasn’t welcome, heck,
wasn’t even allowed in
to hotels or eateries
less’n we ate out back.

Gig’d see us sleepin’ on
folks floors, whole band
lined up like catfish on a
slab snorin’ an’ groanin’.
If a sofa was on offer we’d
toss for a night’s good rest.

Things have changed now,
ain’t nowhere’ll turn away
a ‘sepectable black man
and we’s famous ‘nuff that
we recognised all over. We
even get mistuh ‘front our name.

 

[Angeline]

1-25

And since then I’ve been bathing in the poem
lifting her shadowy flowers up for me,
and hurled by hurricanes to a birdless place
~Ted Berrigan, Sonnet III

I've been letting it be some version
of seem considering the ice the brittle
trees the shattering of rock pebbling
down the mountain and the fire inside
almost warm bathing in the poem c'est
vrai I invite wild melancholy vous venez
if she will play a minor chord for me
lifting her shadowy flowers ça va show
me Paris show me Copenhagen some
tall ghostly memory of smoke and ice
bending to a reed or key breaking
like a wave crash and effervesce away
tossing me through time and space
hurled by hurricanes to a birdless place

 

[Remec]

2-1 Lunacy

They say it's not
the voices you have to
be worried about, at least,
not hearing the voices.
We all hear voices.
'specially around here.

Trouble comes from
answering them back, or
worse, in letting them
entice you into an argument;
displaying for all of us what
sort of temperament you
really have and cluing us to
the basic fact you're most
afraid of.

That you belong here.

But it's okay to be fearful,
just don't mind the echoes
(that aren't echoes),
relax and voice that thought,
"I must be MAD!", because
we've all been there, darlin',
ain't nuthin' we're not used to.

Welcome to the nuthouse.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

1-2

In this bleakest of rain lashed nights,
unbelievably a robin sings.
Notes soar aloft as wind demons howl,
seeking to rip him from the bough,
but still he clings pouring his song
of defiance into the darkness.

 

[Desejo]

1-25

And Eve created Terracotta


We do not know why she
bows down to scoop
up handfuls of red clay
from the world's heart
into her empty
calebasse

Home, she holds it,
warm and sticky as a slain
animal, and feels her fingers
Pull the women out, to

expose tightly coiled hair
strong calves and always
swollen bellies, strange and
magical

such as demands houses
Of straw and mud, and bush
taxis and rabbits and
sometimes the women
stand on each others shoulders
to reach the sky.

These, her only children, she
consecrates in fire
Flames dance orange -- too
high for a widow’s fire
and palm fronds whisper
sorcière

when the ash cools
she cradles them, admiring
their perfect ochre skin.

 

[Tzara]

1-26

http://www.cocktailsdrinkrecipes.com/images/snake-bite.jpg

Yukon Jack

I always thought you applied a tourniquet
above a snake bite
to keep the venom away

from the heart.
But her fangs sank in under my tongue,
and then I knew I'd end up dead.



.

 

[Neonurotic]

1-26

I can see what they felt today
as they went to the county clerk
to get that license only to be denied.

I bet that lazy slob in Utah county
didn't need his clarification like he
did weeks ago denying licenses
because he wasn't ordered to.

That porkpie waddled as fast as he could
when heard of the stay. Going so fast
he started a fire with his ham thighs,
crazy with glee, singing,
Marriage is between a man and a woman,
not man to man or woman to woman!"

Ya I bet he did. I can imagine.
I'm ashamed of being a Utahn today.

 

[todski28]

1-25

despite the need for respite
a broken bodied weary soul
the toll of trying to keep it real
to feel in this place a sense
of more than just existence

to chase and trace the dollar
that hollers in seduction
for your destruction
the colour of green,
green envied coincidence

looking for passion red
for cool clear blue
a splash of gaudy yellow
whispy clouds
that shroud the sun
creating shadows
tints and hues
daring beauty that smiles
pearl white on pretty pink

march on colour blind to it all
calls that fall on deaf ears
amidst fears that dead
lines wont be met
worry and fret

customers demand satisfaction
and care not the blood on their
hands because it's just a metaphor

at least to them.

 

[Tsotha]

1-24

Hello, you say,
then you open the car's door
to threaten a stranger passing by.
Half a breath, half a hair's
breadth to hack 'n slash.
What a lovely human being you are,
making way through the crowd,
muscles bulging too much for the little
man you are, proudly waving that cattle prod
like it's your cock.
I wish you could see yourself, super-hero.
You'd be much improved by a super-ego,
or some sort of system shock.

 

[champagne1982]

2-16

<snip>crazy with glee, singing,
Marriage is between a man and a woman,
not man to man or woman to woman!"

Ya I bet he did. I can imagine.
I'm ashamed of being a Utahn today.

My sister doesn't need a wedding
to prove her love
she is there
for richer or poorer
in sickness and in health
until death parts her
from the woman she loves.

You only have one vote, it's hard to win a referendum being a minority in a state of prudes

 

[butters]

1-26

there are days
when i wish

and then feel guilty for the wishing

guess it all depends
on what i wish

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

3/19 - Poem about pain

This is a poem about pain.

Not my pain or yours
just pain.

The stubbed toe or
feelings, the pinched
finger or heart.

Visible or
hidden
born stoically or
railed against with
complaints and tears.

Electrified nerves, rebellious blood
throbbing brain, arthritic joints.

I wonder
which is borne more easily.
Physical?
Emotional? Heartburn or
heartbreak.

Time might heal
or kill

slowly

something I don’t like
to think about.