30 Poems in 30 Days (Redux)

[Angeline]

1-28

Turn, Turn, Turn

To everything there is a season and baseball's will be back next March.

 

[Angeline]

1-29

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Modal lines unfurl in lonely ribbons: clear sailing into the void.

 

[Angeline]

1-30

Suppertime at Congo Square

There are no baobab or fever trees here.
The same sky droops, same sun warms
humid air and the ground is made bare

by feet that leap to talk stories with hands
beating drums. Sundays come. The dance
raises spirits from dust. All things change

with time, but this must be a sacred space
that simmers years and place into dark
rich gumbo the whole world wants to taste.

 

[Remec]

7 - 1

To a love never forgotten

Ya know how we braved the
nippy evening wind 'cause you said
you needed "to talk" to me?

How we walked your dog around
the neighborhood until we found a
bench on which to sit and finish

our chatting with a lingering first
kiss that became more than just
a couple and then we got back

to your place and your best friend
was in near hysterics 'cause your
husband had flown off the handle

at us being gone for almost three
hours and the sun had gone down
and his mind had us all shacked up

together in some hidden corner of
the neighborhood away from the
prying eyes of busybodies and their

children? I do. Like it was yesterday.
And even after you dropped me for
another friend 'cause you were more

of a size queen than I had thought,
and blamed me for losing what might
have been our kid--always a matter

for debate, and avoidance--to the
point that I considered doing violence
to most of the people involved. Me,

you, him, both hims for that matter.
Even after all of that, I see your name,
or smell your perfume and there's nothing

I can do except be honest with both
myself as well as with you and admit
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-1

Travelling the Tarmac

Seven hundred miles between us
Three thousand miles slowly
slipping away in my rear-view
mirroring our letting go

Wasn't trying to drive you away
just appreciated the distance
between you and your I do
wish you well my love

Whispered goodbyes into the canyon
such beauty in emptiness
and the beginnings of peace
took a deep breath when I reached the bay
you always loved the sea

 

[Remec]

7 - 2 100 word challenge

.....The sun was oddly golden as it settled into wherever the sun goes after setting. The soft yellow-orange orb cast off the smallest bit of its colour into the late afternoon sky; long shadows stretched out from anything out in that slowly faltering light—stetched themselves like phantasms across the camp site and danced as the breeze jiggled the tents and the blankets hung out to dry from last night’s thunderstorm.
.....I lounged in the not-quite-twilight-yet and watched everyone finishing their preparations for the ritual we were doing. I mentally reviewed my prepared speech yet again waiting for the signal….Showtime!

 

[Lyricalli]

1-2

I missed you before we met
Impossible, you say?
Then please explain the way I sighed
relief when we came together
a puzzle finally complete
you the missing piece

And I confess
that I get that it may
sound a little strange
that I had a place for you
before I ever knew your name

Though it may ache
on days when you're away
in this space where you fit
it's with no bit of regret
I never forget, you see, that
I missed you before we met



I decided to do a reading on this one:
https://soundcloud.com/lyricalli/missed-you-before-we-met

 

[Remec]

7 - 3

On Leaving an Oven Running

Something was off, I could tell
even without the fleeing forest
critters who passed me by without
any worry of what I might do to them
as they moved through an arm's reach
of me. I moved towards where they
had come, clothes and skin becoming
damp with the morning dew and that
mist that rolls off the mountain at
that time of the day. I could smell it
long before I saw it...burned flesh
mingled with the sweetness of caramel
and melted sugar. The fire had not long
gone out, and the cottage still smoldered,
but whomever had been inside had fled
like the devil was chasing them...the
flow of syrup through the yard was marked
with the splash of footprints that disappeared
among the wild honeysuckle and morning glory
that draped the entrance to the forest and
hid the cottage from stray passersby.
I watched as walls began to finally give way
to the heat and the whole thing fell in on
itself, raising a fine burst of deliciousness
that had me licking my lips and wondering
why it tasted of gingerbread.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-3

To my parents' other child:

I wonder, though not often anymore
because rage isn't healthy
how you remember that day
standing by her bed
her ATM card tucked into your wallet
all of us staying
for that last breath
when you fled from the room
seeking, as always, to take care of you
you
you
know what came next
cash in hand again
and again
doing what you do best
(is it still heroin?)

For you, I guess
that day is laid to rest
convinced she'd understand
and forgive
again
like our father did

But, one of us can't forget
the betrayal you'll never outdo
congratulations on your masterpiece
you even made our mother's death
all about you

 

[Trixareforkids]

3-4

Removed

 

[Remec]

7 - 4 An Early Lesson (A.S.)

I found Justice could be as swift and unswerving as a nun's ruler.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-4 (What Color is Your Challenge?)

I peered into hazel
and found your blue
buried beneath
your mirth
and easy confidence
hiding stories untold

Your sunny disposition
may bathe the world
around you in gold
But I've looked deep
enough to see
the bruises on your soul

 

[Remec]

7 - 5 Idling

When it comes to Love, there are many ways
to both do it and say it. You may have found I'm
not really an expert on any of them. From here,

today, to there, whenever, wherever--you are here
with me even when you're not. There are just so many ways
that everyday things remind me of you, and I'm

certain that they always will. It's not that I'm
obsessed, mind you, you're just always here
in my thoughts, in spite of the parting of our ways.

We've long gone our separate ways, but I'm still here.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-5

In the dawning hours
thoughts of you
possess me

spreading under skin
that begins to feel
too tight
as demons you unleashed
seek to be freed
and an itch
becomes a need

fingers find the flood
that rises to quench
the fire of you
that burns through me

desire crests
amidst calls to the diety
convulsions casting out
this hunger that haunts me

and I briefly wonder
if you can feel
my temporary exorcism
from there

 

[Lyricalli]

1-6

Too long since fingers stretched, flexed, and moved
over the black and white keys of
happiness and melody
muscle memory comes
back slowly and I
remember when
I played my
songs for
you

 

[Remec]

7 -6 Rashomon

"There once was a man from Nantucket"?
That's one way the story is told,
but we both know of others,
some direct. some obscure,
that's just how it is
when considering
exactly
what is
Truth.

 

[Remec]

7 - 7 Regret (A sedoka)

When I think of you,
it's like there's nothing left in
the world besides you and me;

Just two ex-lovers,
both of whom finally moved
to what seemed a better fit.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-7

His house empties into mine: memories of my mother in boxes.

 

[Remec]

7 - 8 Heartache (mirror sestet)

I miss my love such that I must fly,
Fly across distance and any obstacles between I
and Her. I would move over oceans, over sand;
Sand is no barrier to me. Neither is wind and
rain. No storm will impede me, no matter the strain
Strain is nothing but emptiness, like tears in rain.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-8 (Alliterisen)

How I crave and curse your silence
Revel in moments of quiet comfort
And sink safely into you
Distant doubts slowly surface again
To tempt my troubled mind
Fears fill the void of your voice 'til
You quietly quell them, laughing

 

[Remec]

7 - 9 Voices

The noises around me is nothing compared to the noise within me.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-9

It only took a little time, just a month or (really) nine.
Then maybe a gentle push, perhaps a bit of a shove.
Now, I've been prodded to write some rhymes and poetic lines.
Wonder at how they've become my labour of love.
Right? Yes, you were, as you cheerfully remind.
That's okay, you can play smug; truth be told, I like that you're chuffed.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

1 - 1

Lost and Found

In the hurly-burly
Christmas mall, the rush to spend,
to give, to take,
sudden realisation
morphing into full-blown
panic.

A child has disappeared.

The small hand is no longer here,
slipped away, perhaps,
distracted, entranced,
drawn to some magnet
any child would find irresistible.
A seductive display of Leggo
or the candyfloss machine but,
no.

Eyes scan frantic
for a glimpse of the striped t-shirt
he insisted he wear that morning.
Heads turn at the sound
of the calls for him
getting shriller with each cry.

Concern expands, sympathy spreads,
Time stretches, elastic minutes
seeming hours. Every second agony.

Then he’s there!

In the over-looked mechanical car,
silent and still with no coin,
he sits sheepish at the fuss.

Relief tempers anger,
hugs instead of haranguing,
that will come later
while the panic still hurts.

 

[Lyricalli]

1-10 Fibonacci Sequence Poem (Insomnia Edition)

Sleep,
please
come back
to me. You've
been away too long.
Take me into your warm embrace
Wrap me in arms of darkness, enfold me in the night
Slide inside my willing flesh; fill me with your sweet release. Let me fall into your peace.

 

[Remec]

7 - 10 Morpheus is not uncaring

She
calls,
entreats
me like I
was a heartless beast
who had wandered slipshod over
her without care for the damage
my passing by caused,
I hear her
and say,
"Peace,
sleep."