Burn

The prompt for this 19th day of the poem-a-day challenge is to write a ‘burn’ poem. I have a couple here today. There were too many ideas, I couldn’t help it!

How to Start a Fire
(advice for new lovers)

Prepare carefully.
Have everything you need
at hand
before you begin.

Plenty of oxygen is essential,
as is plenty of tinder,
but try not to use too much;
things will burn quickly, and
if it is too quick,
everything will be over too soon.

Sometimes, that is too
discouraging to try again.

Don’t give up;
some fires are slower to start
than others.
Take your time.

And have a bucket of water
available
in case things get
out of control.

***

Once you have wings
just remember not to fly
too close to the sun

Bright/Dark II

To see a rainbow
one must look the direction
the shadows all point

Enhanced Rainbow by Barb Ver Sluis

 

 

 

Paradise – November PaD, day 22

Happy Thanksgiving, at least to those of you who celebrate it!

Our prompt today is to write a poem about paradise. I’ve written two, one is a haiku and one is a bit longer!

***

Paradise

Good book, comfy chair,
Stormy day, fire burning,
my love beside me.

***

To Go Back in Time

What I wish is to go
back to the time when
you were still alive.

Back to carefree
summer days
and long starlit nights
and deep, yet somehow
still carefree
talks with you.

I would ask you about
your childhood,
back around the turn of the century
and you would tell me
about the homestead in Missouri
and about the train ride to Oregon
when you were just a girl.

You would show me pictures
tintypes and old-fashioned photos
of family members, and you would
list their names until I began to
recognize them for myself.

Here was your brother Alvin,
who died in the Great War.
He was only 21 when he died, back in 1919.

Here was your father,
eyes blazing, full beard, and
unbelievably
the father of twenty-two children.
(After his first wife died,
he married your mother, and she had
twelve more children.)

And pictures of you and your mother
and your daughter, my grandmother.

It was strange how your eyes,
her eyes,
my mother’s eyes,
all looked like
the same eyes.

Oh, how I miss you.
It would be paradise
to see you again.

And now that I think about it,
it probably will be paradise
where I see you again.

 

Creepy

Appropriately, for Halloween the prompt is “Creepy.”  I wrote two, one of an imagined danger, one not so imaginary.

And just as a reminder, tomorrow begins November’s poem-a-day challenge at the Poetic Asides blog. This means you’ll be seeing a lot more of me. If I get on a roll some days I write more than just one a day. You might check it out. It’s enormous fun if you like to play with words!

Now on the the spooky stuff!

***

Movement in the dark
Heart pounding I look again
It’s just a mirror

 

Creeper

A woman alone must take precautions
that men don’t often know they must.
Even a simple shopping trip
can turn into
a nightmare
so easily
if someone behaves
a little too
strangely.

I noticed him following me from
lane to lane
and decided I must be
imagining it.

So I went to the opposite side of the store
just to reassure myself.

But he still followed.

He looked average enough,
and I never caught him staring
outright,
but I was aware
and frightened
as only a woman alone
can be.

I checked out.

He was at the other lane
and got done just before me.

He had a smirk on his face,
and I didn’t like his certainty
because though he had said nothing
and done nothing overt,
I had a bad feeling.

So I asked the store manager
to have someone walk me to my car
because someone had been following me
and I felt uncomfortable about it.

He was happy to, and in fact, had two of them
accompany me
and they helped me unload
my squash and milk
and hamburger buns
and canned spinach
and paper towels.

And just when I’d started to feel foolish,
as if to affirm my senses,
the creeper zoomed out of the parking lot
high speed
tires squealing
deprived of his prey.

At least today.

 

 

 

April 26, Animal

This is only the first post. I think there will be more later, but I wanted to get this little Haiku out of my head before I got a little more serious. (I love the Muppets!) And, by the way, the prompt today was “Animal.” ^_^

###

Drumming with fervor
red fur flying, Animal
grins and yells, “Wo-man!”

Haiku

An offering of Haiku, though I don’t think I’m very good at it… I struggle with the words, hammering them into shape willy-nilly, and then I read other Haiku and they are gentle and humorous and lovely. *sigh*

 

Empty arms open

Take a young life to my heart

Mother now, ever

***

Empty field, but me

Gaze at blue sky and wonder

At creation’s beauty

***

Leaves fly, flutter, fall

Winter devours autumn off’ring,

Buries them in snow

Best Ever

The prompt was to write about the best something. Correction, best EVER something. I chose to do three quick Haiku. Today was a pie-baking day for the potluck at work tomorrow… that plus blueberry pancakes for breakfast really put a cramp in my poetry time. Still, love to bake pie! Here are the poems:

 

Best Movie Ever

Inconceivable.

I just don’t think that word means

what you think it means.

 

Best Book Ever

Governess takes job,

falls in love, leaves, suffers. Fate?

Mr. Rochester.

 

Best Husband Ever

A bad day at work

Came home to candlelight, wine,

and moo goo gai pan.