Poem: In the City

The prompt from http://readwritepoem.org/ this week is to basically write a poem not using familiar elements from your work.  In other words, break out of the pattern to see what comes forth.  Instead of being systematic, I am going to be more instinctual about it to see what comes.  I love this idea and may try it on an ongoing basis as a way to refresh my writing.  Here goes my experiment!

In the City

In the city, he tries to come clean
get lost in all the noise,
the cacophony like a Greek chorus
gone mad.

The shoosh of the subway
slides into the station,
her whispers remain against his ear
her voice like the whip of a flag
waving over a foreign territory.
Her body lying still, covers her thoughts
like a soft sand.

He finds his way up the stairs,
the buildings stare down at him
like sentinels guarding some secret
of a lost age. 

How huge and small he feels
as he finds his way among the dead
faces, he's never felt more awake
or more
singular.

A clogged artery

the dog that barks at night
the sidewalk has failed.

Since It is February: Love Poem in a Snow Storm

This poem arose out of a prompt from one single impression.  The prompt was "single".  I am loving all of these poetry blogs and prompts!  I just love everything about poetry and am really excited to be a part of the online world of poetry.  I wish I knew such great poets were online before!!

Love Poem in a Snow Storm

Eyes, like the greatest days of childhood,
Cool blue pool, carribean sky, almost scared
to just jump.
Sound, breath, smiles, laughter,
we are red against white, song against silence.
Who knew a man could have such softness against
such strength, textures, touch, olive perfection.
My fragility shatters
like the webs radiating across a pond.
A white storm, a nascent dream, a room opening in on itself;
the sunlight filters through a slit in blue cotton curtains;
everything becomes
light light light.

Haiku: Breath

I am finding so many wonderful poetry blogs.  One of them is haikubones.  I am going to try to participate in their prompt--"Breath"

cerulean sky pre-
twilight, heads towards violet.
I inhale the moon's breath.

Six Word Saturday

The world is awash in white

Poem: The Wallpaper

I am participating for the first time in readwritepoem.org's Thursday "get your poem on".  They have some excellent poets who you can check out at http://readwritepoem.org/blog/2010/02/04/get-your-poem-on-112/#comments.  Here is my creation from the prompt that was given:

The Wallpaper

torn down.
piece by piece,
a brown skin dyed with
pain, truth, and the strange matters of marriage.

it would be easier to forget,
just paint over it,
no scraping the glue that
never held quite right;
or the little paper bits
that remain like remnants of
remembered hurts.

we wrote on it,
painted on it,
drew pictures of our desires
as if it were magical,
as if it could grant
perfect harmony.

we stand staring, now,
at all we hoped for
crumbling, decaying at our feet,
glue browned with time like old blood,
wondering how much sorrow
a house can hold.

Poem: The Waitress

This poem I wrote about seven or eight years ago.  I think I was trying something different, trying to paint a scene and a relationship.  Sometimes, I just wanted to go out of my comfort zone.  I still do--that is what makes poetry (and any creative endeavor) exciting to me!

The Waitress

The waitress wore a green apron

and brought us our water.

The ice shook in the glasses

clinked in your eyes.

Don't open your mouth

to shake hell out of it.

You sit there, grease on your lips,

a limp breast on your plate.

No, no apologies.

The green beans steam--

You're so hungry for something.

She dances back, dessert balanced between us.

I love chocolate, hate you.

Your hands and mouth devour flesh.

Your body full, supple,

satisfied.

Poem: Saying I Love You At The Beach

Since February includes Valentine's day, I will share some love poems I have written this month. 

When I was 19, I fell in love for the first time.  It was painful, agonizing, transformative.  Although the romance itself did not go anywhere, it generated several poems.  Here is one of them:

Saying I Love You at the Beach

What are the borders of the sky?
You say the fish in the water.
You say fish.
The sky contained.  Wish.
I say my fish is in your water.
We catch the borders in our mouths
like hooks to pull us back.
You say boundaries.
I say swim.
Green sweet algae rubbing against clouds.
Yes, we have found our waves in the wind.
I say hold my fin.  Contained.  The mirror.
The age, the joy, the firm belief.
Gone.  Only air.  The joy of flight.
Leap and glitter like a plate of armor
on a silver fish.  Yes, they swim in here.
Hear my heart's tide.  The shells wash up on the beach.
The fish in the tank has no existence.
On the rocky shore is the one beat.
My fish is in your water.  In your eyes, the sky contained.