30 Poems in 30 Days (Redux)

[Mrtenant]

04/18 day 1

The Spring visitors have arrived
Angry gray swirls tell their mood
As mountains clash across the leaden sky
What will it be this year
Threats and drumrolls, your lightshow again
Will you hurl peas, golfballs, maybe baseballs
What will you bring with your visit
Raging winds death and destruction
Not today, no, not tonight I pray
Your fury is noted now go on home
You may take me with you one day
Gratefully, it is not today

 

[UnderYourSpell]

gkhm - 15 half way!!

A mighty river has small beginnings,
of water tinkling merrily over stones
where the Dipper makes her nest
and Kingfishers dart for minnows.
Otters leave secret footprints
on muddy banks and Weasels play.

Isis meanders through the countryside
to become the mighty Thames,
throughout London to the North Sea.

 

[cascadiabound]

Aprilyn 2:2

sauna

Submit to the sauna's sweet heat. Sand timer trickles in the darkness.

American sentence my new best friend​

 

[UnderYourSpell]

gkhm - 16

Sitting on the back doorstep,
in flowered sundress and scuffed plimsolls,
hours spent in playing five stones.
Each little star-shaped metal piece thrown
to fall just so, bouncing the rubber ball
and snatching up the pieces
before the ball fell into my clutching hand.
My sister was better than I and scoffed
at my attempts, but she was five years older
had already mastered roller skates, whereas
I tumbled onto already scabbed knees
only to pick myself up and try again.
Father running behind with his hand
on the saddle, as I learnt to ride a bike
only to realise he'd let go a while back,
more tumbles, more scabbed knees,
Tough love? Maybe, but that was
independence, learning to let go of the hand.

 

[todski28]

2.1 missed a day starting again

Falling is fun

gravity has a way of bringing reality
crashing in
pulled to an epicentre
a point where you and I smashed
into eachother
locked in a struggle of give and take

your nails on my back
were the crescendo of something
bigger than me and you
meaning is in the struggle
to hold on
to let go

we stained eachother with fluids
and even now hours later
I still stink of you
and I know I should shower
but I don’t want to lose that moment
as it fades into memory

but when I close my eyes I can still feel you
writing crying out
and in that moment I only had one responsibility
feel everything for it’s own sake

 

[Mrtenant]

1-2

04/19 1-2


There is a beer for everyone here
Take a sip, take a chug, drain that mug
A rich dark brown or a golden crown
Bring me that one Fred, a Drop Dead Red
Foam in my beard, ain't so weird
Pass me another, meet my brother
Next rounds on me, lord I have to pee!

 

[cascadiabound]

Aprilyn 2:3

in the bar

candle glows warmly
Sweet ginger tickles my tongue
Awaiting a kiss

 

[todski28]

Danger dances on steel,
a strop to hone
lick the edge until it’s sharp
the slightest flick
and hair rains down
till skin is flush
bared the way fangs are bared
by a beast stretching its jaws
before the hunt

taut
straining against the chains
of humanity
the masks we wear
slip
away
because here in this time and place
we are beholden only to
the machinations of
how we contort to each others limbs

blood is dancing below the surface
freedom is
entwined in breathless wonder
the crack of bones
the ligatures of your spine
beg to bend against me
fingers plunge into your hair
into your most intimate places
slicked

until we both pant with need
crushing hardness slips
into a depth of liquid heat
attached to a snarling mass
of life
pounded into the bed head
scribed the epitaph of us
into the pillow
and later
when I read the lines of our sweat
I can say we fucking lived

 

[UnderYourSpell]

gkhm - 17

Today you get two for the price of one. After writing the first one I was challenged to turn it into a Tanka
First the original

Where once in fine abundance grew,
a head of hair born blonde, then brown,
now turns to a far more sexy hue,
I love the silver fox beard, soft as down.

then the Tanka

Love the silver fox beard,
born ash blonde, then brown, it turned
to a far more sexy shade,
now in fine abundance grown
soft as down, distinguished.

 

[Mrtenant]

1-3

In the shadows of dreams
Her gothic hunger breathes
Stripped and exposed
Bound firmly and obscenely
Relishing the delivered pain
Craving him in all ways
At his feet deep in darkness
Lives her mysteries
With shrieks and gasps
Cries and declarations of love
In the warmth of velvet night
And a sheltered wicked climax

 

[cascadiabound]

Aprilyn 2:4

Cotton Palette

Lime swirl, revolutionary red
Lemon metallic bars on white
Earthy textured brown
Watery aqua blues
each washed and dried
soft cotton in my hands
folded with care
piled into colorways
shelf upon shelf.
A palette so rich and varied
it must be full of calories
sating my soul
as my color pencils dance.
sharp cutting wheel
scissors too
needle, thread and pins
to create again

 

[Lyricalli]

4-1

Power Outage Aftermath

Holding tight to the stainless
freezer door
half-emptied of non-frozen food

Your hands slipping up my thighs
and I'm dripping
more than the ice melting off the shelves

And you think you're funny
whispering that fucking song in my ear

"Lightning and the thunder
Thunder, feel the thunder"

Sliding into me
a metallic tang on my tongue
from bitten lip
stifled laughter
turns to gutteral groans

Things are turning back on
and the faint scent
of burning plastic
might concern us
when we're done





*Popped into the Five Senses thread to help me jump start something. Sorely out of practice doing this stuff.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

gkhm - 18

Today is the day of clearing out,
it's been put off too long.
In the long shed I hear Patty Sue clad
in denim dungarees, squeal
then a distant clanging.
Opening the door to what was once
the chicken shed, I'm met by a rush
of stale air and a smell
difficult to decipher, sort of a cross
between fruit and rubbing alcohol,
and there's that hole in the wall
where Grandpa (God rest his soul)
proved giving hammers
to kids wasn't his best idea.

Today is the day of clearing out,
throwing out is another matter.

 

[Mrtenant]

1-4

Peering from the porch
Watching the flowers grow
Their leaves in emerald hues
Satiny petals all argentum bright
Soft velvety drops bled from rubies
Bold with adventure, sapphire dreams
Shades of topaz against amethystine pearls
They grow amidst the earthen richness
Deep walnut and ebony, soil and stone
These blooms flush with rays of gold
In the springtime of their unfolding
Inspiring poets and gardeners
Lovers, family, and friends​

 

[Lyricalli]

4-2

Trading dormant brown
for lush, fresh green
front lawn a prairie
grass tall, blooming to seed
weeds are wildflowers
enticing bunnies, birds, bees

a thriving suburban landscape
fined by the city
breaking residential codes

he used to keep it tidy
trimmed to proper height
blossoms in curated beds

she likes this new wildness
bursting of spring
serenity absent since his passing

checks made to the town treasury
signed with a smile
flowers dot each "i"

 

[todski28]

I've staked my life on the affections
of vandalized women
more times than "I told you so's"
would dare dream of

because she loves you fierce
hard and rough in the right places
a Jackson pollock in a suicide bombers last place of residence
smoking charred beauty
a sinister ride on a haunted highway
the adrenaline straining
thrumming against the skin
from zero to naked before you realise
she has the pretty pin between her teeth
and she's taking you to hell with her

grace giving credence to the ruins
cigarette in one hand
my heart in the other
cock in her mouth
sanity left somewhere on the highway
the sound of steel tinkling on concrete
waiting for the explosion

 

[UnderYourSpell]

gkhm - 19

Nobody knows you're there, watching over me,
fighting my own battles, but in the background
though few know it, you're a quiet presence
holding my heart, the discreet lover I've found.

Though I want to shout love from the roof tops,
there'll be no scandalous gossip from our friends,
I doubt that they'd believe it's you and me, us,
I write the poetry, you never speak of dividends.

Neither free to consummate all consuming love, it
hurts but I wouldn't miss these feelings for the moon.
The stars are already in my eyes, and also in yours
for our stolen moments, he says baby doll ring soon.

 

[Mrtenant]

1-5

Another walk down the old stone pier
The dark gas lamplights are lit for night
A ships deep sonorous horn sounds
Water laps steadily against the pylons
Amusing are my musings of the day
So fortunate am I to have finished my work
With that skinflint employer and his fortune
Out of the seaside blanket of clouds
She sways, strides, shimmers towards me
It is her, she of middlin age and height
A sparkle of mystery in her nebula's eye
Clothed in burgundy with porcelain skin
"Good eventide" she whispers with a nod
Good eventide! Good eventide! She spake
My heart soars above the northern night fog
Good eventide! Flying into realm of starlight
Above the clouds, she said Good eventide!
Witnessed by the blue silver lunar glow
She said Good eventide! Good eventide!
How I have longed for anything. Good eventide!
What mysteries may emerge from my dreams
A smile and a nod "Good eventide" I do reply

 

[cascadiabound]

Aprilyn 2:5

Earthday

Earthday birthday
Circling the equinox
Leaves unfurling
Revealing vibrant
shades of verdant green
Pink cherry petals swirl
into polka dotted asphalt

good eventide my luv. this day and every day. xoxoxo​

 

[todski28]

ive tasted the honesty
You tried to hide
behind your smile
when flirtatious was a
perfume you wore

 

[cascadiabound]

Aprilyn 2:6

Quilt by Janet Kurjan ​

crimson, ruby, scarlet
geometry of blood
and oil
inky black
sliced through
cutting my heart
into pieces

bind sticks and stones
weeping vermilion
rhodie blossoms
against dark leaves

a salve
for my fears
and pain

 

[Froya]

.....

 

[Lyricalli]

4-3

One day
perhaps
a poem can be crafted
to do some small justice
for the beautiful soul
that you were

Today
my vocabulary is lost
words seem trite
brittle
and this is all I can do
just to keep going

 

[UnderYourSpell]

gkhm -20

From the parched river or beast teeming plains.
dance to the tightened carcass of a drum,
where I can feel the sun on my back
and the mountains touch the skies of blue
the bushveld wears a coat of beige.
This is the place of wilderness, freedom
and death, yet where life began
and mankind stood first, where journeys start
and sunsets glow blood red.
When the story of this land is told
her destiny and mine are as one.

 

[Mrtenant]

1-6

Flying amongst clouds
The raven soars in her dreams
In love and wisdom