Road Trip Blip

Behind us, superfluous

feral cats yowl, owls
hoot, trains maintain
distance resistance,
drivers in the fast lane complain.

[This is an Echo Verse poem.]

Admire the View, Crew

Today is our second Two-for-Tuesday prompt day. Pick one prompt for your poem today, or write a poem for each prompt, or write one poem that works with both. Today’s prompts are:

1. Write a form poem (here’s a list of 100 poetic forms for reference), and/or…
2. Write an anti-form poem.

* * *

The Art of the Cycle

Arrive.
Become.
Swim through
Acts One, Two, and Three
of your life.
Endure
your demise.
Vanish.
Wonder
if you ever
existed.
Arrive.

Enlightenment Can Break the Cycle

Here is the prompt for Day Twelve (copied from Writer's Digest):

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “The Art of (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “The Art of Writing,” “The Art of Painting,” “The Art of Showing Up to Parties Fashionably Late,” and/or “The Art of Being Awesome.”

*****

Freedom (A Poem for Day Twelve of PAD)

For today’s prompt (day twelve), write a lament poem. Maybe you lament a relationship or a missed opportunity. Or maybe it’s that doughnut (maybe speaking from personal experience). Whatever it is, today is the day to let it all out–in poem form, of course.

Your Money or Your Life

Freedom

The citizens lamented
something had gone
terribly wrong but couldn’t
quite put their finger on it.

Darren said the local
discount stores had gone
out of business,
and the water commission
had made new provisions
of sprinkling only on
Tuesdays, three to five.

Johnny added that records
showed little Theresa’s
mother failed to pay,
had her daughter’s
hot lunch taken away.
 
Beth repeated evening news—
commuters on downtown
streets would soon
be tolled; and later,
those just out for a stroll
would pay to cruise
city sidewalks.  

The lunch bell rang
and off they hoofed
back to their stalls
where bosses
monitored every call
and email they received
and sent. After all,

they were being paid
for those jobs,
and those in charge
needed assurance
they were worth
every cent.

*****

[Please note that all prompts have been copied from the Writer's Digest Poetic Asides website.]

I Need Someone New in My Life - a Poem for Day Twelve of PAD

Here is the prompt for day twelve of the April PAD Challenge:

For today’s prompt, write a guilty poem. The poem can be written from the perspective of someone who is (or feels) guilty, or it can be about someone (or something) else that’s guilty. But guilty of what? Cheating on a test? Or a spouse? Or a diet? Only you know, and only your poem can reveal the truth.

I'm Still Here

I Need Someone New in My Life

I’m off to build a new life story.

Scrubbed twenty years
of tears imbedded
in my wall-to-wall carpet.
     Then ripped it out.

Torched forty-five years
of journal entries
in a backyard bonfire.
     Then grabbed an armful
     of binders at the Dollar Tree
     to pen forty-five years
     of new memories.

Dyed my hair.
     Chopped it off.

Crashed my car.
     Bought a scooter.

Donated my faded
clothes
to the county dump.
     Tattooed wings
    on my shoulder blades.

But later I caught myself
in that same old mirror and
though I looked distraught—
     not going to feel guilty—
I still saw me.

***

The Seamstress and Her Tailor (a Poem for Day Twelve of PAD)

The prompt for day twelve is to write a damage poem. My poem is below.

You're Handy with a Needle

The Seamstress and Her Tailor

My scissor collection—

once hanging innocently
on the wall above where
we stitched our tears—
is now scattered throughout
this old house full
of neglected remnants.
My favorite pair now rests
carefully inside a utility
drawer like an ancient
épée on display for
future textile patrons,
those that, like you, long
to touch, but deny
their impulses.
You threaded
all my spools.
You’re hazardous
to my materials now. 

*****