Day 31

Ether

That thing that eludes you,
that passes you by.
That thing that escapes memory,
that just makes you cry.
That thing that's in front of you,
that is just out of reach.
That thing that you did wrong,
that lesson you could teach.

Day 30

365 days of poetry.
Whose idea was this anyway?

7 days of sharing well-organized thoughts.
Whose idea was this anyway?

24 hours of 24 thoughts of
7 days of sharing
365 poems.

Whose idea was this anyway?

Day 29

When the monster comes
the calm runs away.

When the monster comes
it growls and engulfs
everything in its path
until the only thing
left is a narrow hallway;
empty, barren.

Except for the fear
that replaced the calm.

Day 28

Choose

Scattered
Unfocused
Indecisive
Weak
Lazy
Conflicted

Writer
Singer
Actor
Artist
Dancer

When one emerges, Must the rest suffocate?


No.

They all live side by side.
Each inspiring the other.

Day 27

My spirit lifts as the skyline comes into view.
My heart skips at the anticipation of what's to come.
It's a perpetual first date where anything... and everything... is possible.
It's a new beginning to be whoever I want,
If only for a little while.

Day 26

My love of music burns deep.
It is not limited.
It is broad.
It is innate.

Rock Reggae Classical Country Dance Doo Wop Dubstep Salsa Show Tunes Seranades
Hard Soft Fast Slow
Meaningful Meaningless

Something happens when music is shared.
We become human,
All just being, listening,
Feeling.

Day 25

This one is inspired by a real moment I experienced a long time ago. I hope you like it.


A Private Moment Witnessed By a Stranger

She sat crying in the shower at 3am.

Crouching in the corner
Water pouring down on her
Steam filling the room
Sobs echoing against the tile.

Her sadness was pervasive
The kind that stays with you.

A woman out of place,
Alone in an army of women,
A woman among girls.

She had already found her way.
Found it then lost it.
That's what brought her here.
To this place.

Her soul tested.
Her resolve pushed to the limits.
Her humanity unmanned.
Her sanity weakened.

Forcing her to embrace
any possible moment of peace and calm.

Commanding her to sit crying in the shower at 3am.

Day 24

Understand me

                         ................... my needs

Accept me

                         ................... my quirks

Help me

                         ................... my failures

Trust me

                         ................... my intentions

Believe me

                         ................... my words

Hold me

                         ................... my hands

Encourage me

                         ................... my dreams

Forgive me

                         ................... my mistakes

Don't leave me

                         ................... my side.

Day 23

_fertilization
_frustration
_direction
_failure
_reassurance
_mistake
_exaltation
_insecurity
_success

Day 22

When I have nothing to say,
The words get in the way.

A sentence here
A rhymed line there.

Two words forward
Two lines back.

With no gems to share
And no soul to bare,

I'll be on my way
Since I have nothing to say.

Day 21

Frozen January

An aurora borealis in white
rising and undulating from the pavement

Silvery insinuations of moguls
camouflaging the edges

All shrouded in nature's icy grey beauty.

Day 20

One of my favorite forms of art is "found art". It's when you find the beauty in things in your surroundings, then just sort of "frame" it in a context. Today's installment is my version of "found poetry".  These discoveries were made by Googling the question and letting Google finish the question.


Tell Me

Who
is
unfollowed me
is bansky
should i start?

What
time is the opening ceremony
does the fox say
is my ip?

Where
am i
is chuck norris
to buy ps4
the wild things are?

When
is easter 2013
to work
i was your man
was jesus born?

Why
is the sky blue
do men cheat
do cats purr
do we yawn?

How
i met your mother
to tie a tie
to take a screenshot on a mac
to make money?

Day 19

Losing someone is never easy.
The feeling is the same
No matter how it happened
No matter the type of loss.
A break up.
A death.
A betrayal.

The emptiness.
The missing pieces.

An arm no longer available to hold while you sleep.
A vacant pillow.
The ringtone you'll never hear again.
The walk down the aisle that won't happen.
That sisterly advice you'll never hear.
The mother's hug, absent.

All replaced with silence.
Absence.

Losing someone is not the end.
The love carries on.
No matter how long ago it happened.
No matter how bad it felt.
A life.
A hearty laugh.
A new love.

A song that seeps in on the radio.
A photo found.
A video shot on a borrowed cam corder.
That dinner you make with that one recipe.
The letter that arrives in the mail a year later.
The memories linger.

All embracing.
Keeping the one you lost by your side.

Day 18

Sometimes the words flow like Niagara.
Other times ideas need Viagra and an enema
so they can rise to the top of your tongue
and flow through the tip of your pen.

Day 17.

Tonight I'll be singing,
so no words will be ringing.


(I never said they would all be good poems.)

Day 16

Reverberations

My thoughts are not my own.
They are echoes of notions I heard years ago,
Absorbed and blended, mixed and melded
with my connate inclinations,
Twisted and torn, wrangled and wrested
into the words I lay before you.

Day 15

Hazy Embrace

An impressionistic painting from afar
The brush strokes and imperfections obscured
Garishness enveloped in comforting sepia
Vulgar babel muffled to a hush
Thoughts stilled in the calm.

Day 14

The Soul Stirs

Notes floating on the air
can send a shiver up the spine.
Quarters playing in the park
can open the mind.
Eighths gathering on the hillside
can shutter the heart.

Day 13

An idea that's just out of reach
A thought in the ether
A feeling that's intangible

Find the words to
    describe
    express
    deliver

That itself is the
    challenge
    journey
    the destination.

Day 12 (Day 11, continued)

When you want something to last
it goes underground
You can beg it to stay
but in the end
it vanishes.

When you want something real
it fades away
You can woo it with surrogates
but when it's time
it melts away.

When you want something to end
it grows larger
You can demand that it leave
but in the end
it will endure.

When you want something carefree
it becomes burdensome
You can unshackle from its grasp
but when it holds
it holds for good.

Day 11

This is a work in progress. I will be back to hone it at a later date.
For tonight, I must sleep.


When you want something to last
it goes underground
You can beg it to stay
but in the end
it vanishes.

When you want something real
it fades away
You can woo it with surrogates
but when it's time
it melts away.

Day 10

The Beauty of Ice

Frozen ground
In winter's grasp
Shimmering ground
Glistening pavement
Sparkling trees
Glimmering skies


or

 
What Really Happened Today

1...
2...
3...
She's down!

Day 9

Inspiration
(for JoAnn)
 
Find
Anywhere
Any place
Anything
Any time
Anyone

Do
Create
Move
Pause
Help
Love

Feel
Alive
Engaged
Smart
Calm
Human

Day 8

It was a bit of struggle to put something together today. I had one idea originally but quickly realized that it was going to take me longer to construct than the time I had before the day was over. I haven't given up on the idea, though. It will just have to wait for another day.

Alas, this is what I came up with...

The Daily Battle

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
snooze
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
snoozzzzzzzzzzzze
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
snoozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzze
BEEP
off.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 7

Today, I used all my words.
They now exist to benefit others.
They no longer belong to me.

Day 6

I know I'm pushing this being "day 6", but I haven't gone to sleep yet, so it still counts as far as I'm concerned.

This one took me a few passes to get it to a point where I felt I could share it. I was trying to portray a certain feeling and just wasn't getting there.  This version came the closest. I'll probably revisit this again at a later time.

Indecisive

left
right
around
forward
backward
right left no
yes front back
right backward
left forward left
right no back right
forward backward yes
no no yes around forward
backward yes right left right
left no right right no right yes left
right yes left left no yes left right right
left no left yes no back yes right left right
backward yes left no right yes forward around
no left no right yes maybe left now then later soon
never no now yes left no right yes to no from yes front
left no right yes forward no backward yes around no from
then yes now no soon yes never no later yes left no right yes left
left no soon yes then no never yes forward no backward yes right no
STOP. GO.

Day 5

For today's writing, I did a little "stream of consciousness" exercise. Perhaps, not a true "stream", because I did control some of the words, but the writing flow was steady from start to finish.


Ideas

Ideas are not what I want them to be
for me to write my story of life of love
of exactly what happened and will happen.

Ideas that will explain and describe
exactly what it is that hurts 
that causes joy 
that brings tears to my eyes.

Ideas of what the problem is 
why it's so hard for me to sleep
to wake
to stay consistent to "keep on keeping on".

Where are those ideas
and words
and lines
and feelings?

It all seems so...
...trite.

Day 4

I thought I'd try my hand at some different styles of poetry. After all, 365 days is an awful lot of free verse. 

The first format that I thought would be simple, yet interesting to explore is "lantern". 

Survival

Life

after the pain.

Make the most of the day.

Look ahead.

Breathe. 

As defined on writing.com, a Lantern is a short, shaped poem that "illuminates" a specific meaning of a single syllable subject. The first line is the noun which is the abstract idea to be explored. The rest of the poem assumes the shape of a hanging lantern, going from short to longer then short again. Ideally the poem is centered so the shape can be obvious from the start.

Day 3

Untitled
 
Day after week after month after year...

Allow it to be.
Make it be.
See it through.

Go ahead.

Day 2

Armageddon

Snow falls on the ground.
People panic all around.
Stay inside.
Drive slow.
Don't go nowhere you don't gotta go.

Looking Forward

I decided that one of my resolutions for 2014 will be to write a poem every day. I used to write them all the time, but it's been years.

Without further ado.... I present to you the first of my "Poetry of 2014" series.
(fingers crossed that I can keep this up!)


Looking Forward

As the year begins
I reflect on the past
On the changes
And the things that stayed the same
On things that became real
And the things that continue to elude me.
Those are the things that plague me.
Those are the things that keep me up at night.
Those are the things that I will fight.
I will rage against
  Idleness.
  Insecurity.
  Ineptness.
  Insecurity.
The future. This year. Tomorrow. Today.
I will not fail.