PAD #18

Mindfulness

To honor Earl Grey,

go slowly.

Set the water to boil,
and sit down.

The kettle's whistle will hail you.

Watch the steam rise.

The water must lose its angry edge.

Lift the teabag to your nose.
Inhale and say the word bergamot.

Blend the luxury of scent and sound.

Watch the color bloom
when you immerse the tea.
Smile at the tag lolling

on the cup's rim.

Now you wait.
Impatience means blandness;
indolence, bitterness.

Enjoy the sparkle

of sugar before it dissolves,
and the swirl of milk.

Stir gently.
Sit down again.

Go slowly.

Quietly rejoice.


The prompt for day 18 was "to ______."

PAD #17

Magnets do not know
what draws them together.
Attraction is the breath inhaled,

attachment, the throbbing pulse.
Opposite poles compelled,

beyond choice, to connect.

The prompt for day 17 was science.

PAD #16

When death came knocking,

I wasn't home

and so my love left.

I wait now, wondering

when the next knock will come

and what it brings for me.

Life or death,
I only know the door

will open.

The prompt for day 16 was (oh, joy!) death. I really didn't want to write about that again, and it shows.

The painting is Thinking About Death by Freida Kahlo.

PAD #15

the trashcan overflows

as the deadline approaches.

bad haiku is born.

The prompt for Day 15 was deadline. Losing my modem put me so far behind in this challenge, but it's something I've really wanted to do. Like last year, I don't think most of what I've written is any good, but there are a few that I do really like. I've felt tremendous, self-applied pressure to catch up. With the trash that came flowing out of my pen over the last couple of days and really thinking about what deadlines can do to poetry (Thanks, Theresa), I've decided to ease up. The challenge is to write a poem a day, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue to use the prompts provided by Poetic Asides, and if I go past April 30, so what. I don't have to keep up with the other writers who are participating. I'm doing this because I love poetry. It's good for me, and sometimes I'm actually pretty good at it, but I need make it a discipline. That's why I like this challenge.

PAD #14

This little island

As one would expect, the cemetery is beside a small country church. It sits on a hill alongside a country road. It's shaded by maples, oaks and pines. The older markers are stained green by moss now growing within the porous stone. It's a good place to rest and enjoy the pond dotted field across the road.

bridge tethered island.

blanketed with leaves from trees
not grown on its shores


For Day 14 of the PAD Challenge, the prompt was "_______ island." I thought I'd try another haibun.

PAD #13

After the nightmare,
wake slowly
and find the buddha faced
orange cat

curled under your chin,
his blue eyed brother
under him,

the white furred sisters

surrounding him.

They rest there

until you can rise.

Accept what is given.
Know what it is.

The prompt for Day 13 was to write either a love or anti-love poem.

PAD #12

Memphis

For me,

you are light,

filtered green,
through the leaves

of summer trees arching
over Poplar Avenue,

seen from the back seat

of a '65 Ford Falcon

driving west on

a Sunday morning.


The prompt for Day 12 was to pick a city and use that as the title of the poem.

PAD #11

The last thing
I want to do
is go this way again.
Someone pull me
off this track.

Flip the switch,
and shift the rails

to the direction
I haven't already been.
How can I be the engineer

of this huge machine
when I'm just
carried away,
hurtling along?


The prompt for Day 11 was "the last _______."

PAD #10

Poe's endless rapping,

his ceaseless tapping,
came not from some

blackbird mocking,

but his demons'

constant scratching.

Wine, ink, opium,

swirling and mingling,

our midnight reading

forever chilling.

The prompt for Day 10 was horror.

Poem A Day Challenge

OK, I started the month with the Poem A Day Challenge, and then on day seven, my modem died. I had the prompt. I wrote the poem. I had no way of getting it online. Now, it's April 19th, and I've got 12 prompts to catch up to the challenge. We'll see if I can catch up. It's going to be a lot of work, and I'll just have to see if I'm up to this.

Any way, here's the poem for Day Seven. The prompt was until...

Bad Advice

Until the stars align,

the oracle speaks,
and the graces

begin their dance --
do nothing.
You will not miss
the unsung song
or the wind
against your face

when you do not
take the dive.
Leave the blotted page
and the awkward step
for those who
merely strive.
The dream of perfection
is enough for you.

PAD Challenge, Day 6

Silly mortal,

you cannot hide

from the demons
you created.

So run, flee.

We sail on the wind

of your nightmares
and laugh with

the cries torn

from your throat.
Do not doubt,

you have carried yourself away.


Today's prompt was to write an ekphrastic poem, defined as "Poetry that imitates, describes, critiques, dramatizes, reflects upon, or otherwise responds to a work of nonliterary art, especially the visual." Poetic Asides (the source of this delightful, infernal challenge) provided two paintings. I chose Flight of the Witches by Francisco de Goya.

PAD Challenge, Day 5

Know that you are granite.

The water will beat upon you,

for that is what it does.
The river has no choice
but to return to the sea.

You may not feel

how the rougher edges,

ground to sand,
have escaped,

but others will.
That rub in hidden places
is a hint of the fear

that keeps you silent and standing,
holding back the bitter sea.

Mourn that you are granite.
Rejoice that others do not drown.


Today's prompt was too much information.

PAD Challenge, Day 4

Begin with laughter.

Wonder why you did not kiss.

Drive miles in search of

buttercups and mimosas.
Dangle your feet in rivers.
Kiss until your lips are swollen.

Create a maze of chores and papers.

Lose each other in tech blue shadows.

Seek the mattress edge,

and say you're too hot.
Wonder how you kissed.
Sit alone in
cold no blanket can relieve.
Gather buttercups and leave them

on dirt barely covered with grass.

Trace your lips with a fingertip,

remembering each kiss.

Today's prompt was history.

PAD, Day 3

Partly Awake

I saw only weeds,

demanding bent knee labor,

not noticing
that the smartweed
looked like a

bolt of purple cloth,

spread to tempt
a princess into her newest
luxury.
Those punk rock,

spiky headed dandelions

did not amuse,
and the hymn of

blue veronicas

could not reach my ears.

PAD Challenge, Day 2

Let me kneel in the rain
and soak you in.

Hair rising
as light sunders sky,

your thunder echoes
in my bones.
I answer the wind,

I'll follow.


Today's prompt was water.

Poem A Day Challenge, Day 1

I may be nuts, but I'm going to try this again. Today's prompt was to write a lonely poem, and haiku is a good way to break myself in to this crazy discipline again.

The sound of a knife
scraping on a single plate,

wind ruffles the curtains.