Sonnet

Today’s prompt was to write a sonnet. I was also, coincidentally, thinking about how much my great-grandma would have loved living in the future. She would be about 109 years old at this point, but I know she would have loved seeing (and using!) everything technology has brought to pass. I think e-readers would have been her favorite. ^_^

Betty

What if, I sometimes wonder,
what if you were still alive?
To see computers, hard drives?
Technology you’d plunder
with gleeful sense of wonder,
I just know that you would thrive;
in the future, you’d arrive
with whole heart open, loving
science fiction come to pass.
You’d embrace it all with class,
and adopt it all en masse;
striving, learning, achieving.
I wish you’d made it, grandma.

Post

Today’s prompt was to write a poem using the word “post.” Much to do today, this is my offering:

***

…As a Post

My mother’s husband,
his last name is Post.
And the grandchildren love to poke fun.
When grandpa can’t hear them
they giggle and boast, and say,
“Grandpa is deaf as a…”

No, no, little children,
you shouldn’t mock,
don’t laugh at grandpa,
and don’t put up a squawk.

Their little dog, Poppy,
will run wild and bark
and can easily get quite confused.
She acts so goofy,
the kids laugh and point, and say,
“Poppy is dumb as a … “

No, no little children,
you shouldn’t be mean.
Poppy’s a good dog,
so please don’t demean.

Their cat is named Jean Claude,
He’s sleek and well groomed.
He’s a hunter who likes to catch mice.
And when he presents them
the kids solemnly say,
“That mouse is dead as a …”

No, no little children,
you don’t want to offend.
Let’s all just say that
this mouse met his end.

Thank goodness my mother
and her husband, dear,
have a sense of humor about it.
They easily laugh off
the kids poking fun, saying,
“Those kids are a cute as a Post.”

Tentative

The challenge for this third day of April poetry month was to write a tentative poem.

Whisper Soft

When I look back to the
younger version of me,
I sometimes wonder how
I got by at all.

Who was that uncertain,
shy, whisper soft,
bewildered girl?

Who was this stranger
who didn’t know
who she was
or what she wanted
or how much she could do?

Who was this person
who let others walk
over her and who
actually listened when they
told her how to live
her life?

The very trials that
were the torment of that life
turn out to be
the very things
that made me into the
confident,
happy,
energized,
strong,
interested,
loving
soul
that I am now.

How I wish I could
whisper soft in my own ear
the encouragement
I needed
back then.

Last

This is the last prompt before the mania of the April Poem-a-Day challenge begins. ^_^ Here is my offering;

Last

Aged, infirm, she was half-crippled with
arthritis. Still, her blue eyes were sharp.
She glowed as brightly as the one hun
-dred candles on her lit birthday cake.
(She was half-lit herself, according
to her nephew, a ripe eighty-nine,
himself.) She mused aloud about the
past, her siblings, all long gone now. We
all bent in eagerly to hear her
words, softly whispered, but with such imp
-ish good humor: “They always wanted
to go first, we drew broom straws to see
which had to be ‘it’ and who had to
go last on the pony.” She pauses,
“I didn’t know I’d drawn the short straw
this time; now they’ve all gone before me.”

Don’t Forget

Today’s prompt was to begin with the phrase “Don’t Forget…” and go from there. I remember so many who’ve gone on, this seemed a good way to memorialize them.

Betty and Patricia

***

Don’t Forget

Those ones you treasured
while they were here,
the ones that passed before;
their memories hold
and keep them near,
for they won’t pass here more.

The things they taught you,
both good and ill,
can guide you in your life.
Remember well
each pain, each thrill,
their lifelong joys and strife.

If you keep them close
and in your heart,
they’re never far away.
Their lessons shared,
their life, their art,
will bless you every day.

***

***

***The picture is of my great-grandmother and her daughter, my grandmother. They have both passed on and both have taught me so many lessons I’ll never forget, both for good and ill. Part of knowing what to do is knowing what not to do, and much as I love them, there is always that. As much as I can, I carry them with me every day.

Opposite – November PaD day 25

“Write from the opposite perspective” of one of your earlier poems this month. I chose to write the opposite perspective of my “How To” poem from day 17.

This is taken from actual experience, both as a child and as an adult, watching people managing their relationships. Some of these relationships were close to family members, so I got an eyeful on occasion. O_o

Venom

You’re fooling around, I know it!
You must be!!
So I’m gonna go through
everything you own,
just to find PROOF
of what I think is actually happening.

And if I do find that “proof,”
(A restaurant receipt? A hotel room?
A gift to someone I don’t know?)
then I’m gonna call
and harangue you
all day at work. I will
never let you go. Ever.
I will always be
shrill and angry.
You will always have to
hang up on me,
fueling my rage even further.

I might insist that you
buy me presents
or take me places
or quit your job
because there are too many
beautiful people that you might like
who I see as threatening.

I will never look inside myself
to find that something might
be wrong,
I will always blame you
and despise you
and drag you down
into this morass of
loathing
with me.

This is how I will
prove my love to you.
This is how I can keep you
forever, even though
I hate you.

Play List – November PaD, day 21

My silly, sleepy muse escaped me all day. I read the prompt early—to write a poem using the titles of five songs—and I was literally blank until just now, flossing my teeth and getting ready for bed. Silly, but the ideas started to flow, and instead of sleeping, I am writing.

This is the direction my absent-until-now muse led:

Ringo, John, Paul, George

Traveling With the Beatles

In my life
The Beatles
have been a part of me.

From my earliest memories,
Paul, John, George and Ringo
have sung to me of places
and things
I never would have dreamed
or imagined
without them.

Before I even knew what country
I lived in, I sang along to Penny Lane,
wondering if there were pennies
there, and that’s why
it was named that.

Strawberry Fields, must be
just like the fields and yard
I played in, only with more
strawberries,
naturally.

I’ve been Across the Universe,
Back in the U.S.S.R., and
even in an Octopus’s Garden,
(probably in my Yellow Submarine)
all due to the
poetry
put to music
that they played,
a soundtrack to my
childhood.

And what a
Long and Winding Road
it has been.

Thank you, fellas.

Last Line First – November PaD day 16

The prompt today was to use the last line from yesterday’s poem, and make that into a poem. I took the last line, turned it into a title, and ran with it. This was really fun.

Totally Worth It

Pets
Naps
Croup
Picnics
Stitches
Teething
Camping
Old Maid
Bike rides
The circus
Black eyes
Disneyland
Class mom
Science fair
Sleep-overs
Art museum
Chicken pox
Cotton candy
Board games
Potty training
Carnival rides
Science Center
Baking cookies
Bedtime stories
Birthday parties
Movie matinees
Tenth-grade Play
Museum field trip
Dying Easter eggs
First day of school
Christmas morning
Rainy day at the zoo
Break-up heartbreak
Fireworks on the 4th
Principal’s honor roll
Little League baseball
Call from the principal
Fishing at the city park
Jack-o-Lantern carving
Playland at McDonalds
Baking soda volcanoes
Drippy ice cream cones
Singing songs in the car
Children’s puppet theater
Fifth Grade Band Concert
Singing “Happy Brithday”
Saturday morning cartoons
Thanksgiving hand-turkeys
Bring-your-kid-to-work day
Planting a tree on Arbor day
Cardboard tube sword fights
Elementary school Fun Faire
Practicing for the driving test
Stitches at the doctor’s office
Six hour flight with three kids
Set-building at the high school
Holding his hand at the dentist
Handmade Halloween costumes
Finding the funnest park in town
Breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day
Finding the perfect tux/dress for prom
Driving around looking at Christmas lights
Picking them up from their first day at work

Full Moon

The second day of November’s Poem a Day prompt brings a Full Moon theme.

I love this prompt. Let’s see where it goes:

Midnight Date

Luney
moony
lunatic.

Full moon risin’
on horizon,
happy
sappy mid-
night addict.

Night bird calling
kissing
falling
don’t go home,
see what you’ll miss.

Walk the dirt road
talk the night code
never tell what
all we’ve done

Full moon lighting
midnight water
swimming in the
blue-dark liquid
made serene by
silver light.

What a night.

What a harum-scarum
dizzy, lazy
languourusly
beautifully
moony- luney
night.

 

 

Trespassing (with Gooses)

The prompt yesterday was to write a poem about trespassing. Can you believe it, this was the first opportunity I’ve had to write this! Sometimes my life is full!! ^_^

***

 

Trespassing (with Gooses)

Summers in the country
were filled with enough chores
most of the time
and enough lazy days
in the tire swing
or rambling in the little piece of woods
but sometimes
wanderlust would strike
childish heels
and we would wander the
roads and lanes
(unpaved until 1978)
on quests of discovery.

Once we found a wide-open field
with sunflowers,
(so many it was like the field
of poppies in
the Wizard of Oz)
and we were simultaneously
possessed of a notion
to bring some home
to grandma.

And so, over the whitewashed
split-rail fence we avidly climbed,
ready for plunder,
and right back over we
scurried as we discovered
a full gaggle with accompanying
gander
all fully loaded with
vicious beaks,
hissing,
tails wagging
furiously;
and they chased us
home.

They are WAY meaner than they look.