Tomorrow being the last day of the Poem-a-Day challenge (this one), I have many back-poems to post. I've been writing, but I have had an aversion to the net the last few days, due to a couple of sharks in my online pools. That's being unkind to sharks, though, so I should take it back. And no, they're nobody you lovely people would know.
Two things about this challenge, two contradictory, but true things: I'll be glad to finish it tomorrow. And, it's made me want to go at writing poetry again. But full steam, as I used to, when I'd just sit down and write twenty poems in a row. The first five to 18 would be shit, then I'd have mined my thoughts enough to get something worthwhile.
I haven't been doing that, this April. Maybe next April! I look forward to reading through other's works all May, to see what this month of poetry did for them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Duty
in the corner chair, stuck to a brocade pillow
nursing a glass too heavy for the ropey hand
that holds it, there is
an older woman, finely dressed for the occasion
wearing her twice-a-year lipstick and powder
careful of her elegant bag
slim feet crossed at the ankles
no one talks
to her face
five or six of her younger relatives
stop by, dropping a brief, bland communication
as if she were a mailbox
and they have a bill to pay
there is no time for
conversation
they move back to the party
too quick for her to catch
with a word
she looks at ease
as much as possible
she is not invited
to do karoake
listens instead to the ranting
of songs
her drink is freshened once
by a well-bribed child
she waits for a conversation
and finally, gets driven home
being told, all the while
how nice it was for her
to get out for a change
inside her own room
she turns on some real music
lets her mind dance
through past lives
-----------------------------------------------------------------
the parsley begins
before spring is set in ground
before the skies warm
-----------------------------------
last year the neighbors
cut their peonies down flat
our ants are anxious
------------------------------------------
olive oil, garlic
melting golden base for sauce
the scent of Heaven
-------------------------------------------
Lucy barks warnings
scaring robins and rabbits
sparrows ignore her
-------------------------------------
4/29/2012
by MK
Two things about this challenge, two contradictory, but true things: I'll be glad to finish it tomorrow. And, it's made me want to go at writing poetry again. But full steam, as I used to, when I'd just sit down and write twenty poems in a row. The first five to 18 would be shit, then I'd have mined my thoughts enough to get something worthwhile.
I haven't been doing that, this April. Maybe next April! I look forward to reading through other's works all May, to see what this month of poetry did for them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Duty
in the corner chair, stuck to a brocade pillow
nursing a glass too heavy for the ropey hand
that holds it, there is
an older woman, finely dressed for the occasion
wearing her twice-a-year lipstick and powder
careful of her elegant bag
slim feet crossed at the ankles
no one talks
to her face
five or six of her younger relatives
stop by, dropping a brief, bland communication
as if she were a mailbox
and they have a bill to pay
there is no time for
conversation
they move back to the party
too quick for her to catch
with a word
she looks at ease
as much as possible
she is not invited
to do karoake
listens instead to the ranting
of songs
her drink is freshened once
by a well-bribed child
she waits for a conversation
and finally, gets driven home
being told, all the while
how nice it was for her
to get out for a change
inside her own room
she turns on some real music
lets her mind dance
through past lives
-----------------------------------------------------------------
the parsley begins
before spring is set in ground
before the skies warm
-----------------------------------
last year the neighbors
cut their peonies down flat
our ants are anxious
------------------------------------------
olive oil, garlic
melting golden base for sauce
the scent of Heaven
-------------------------------------------
Lucy barks warnings
scaring robins and rabbits
sparrows ignore her
-------------------------------------
4/29/2012
by MK
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