National/Global Poetry Writing Month!

Poetry Rules and My Evil Spirit

/ animar64 / Leave a comment

The NaPoWriMo prompt Day 5: Today we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates at least one of the following: (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way. If you can use two elements, great – – –

Or you can do what I do, try and butcher the entire prompt- but I don’t care.

It was fun and I did learn something new- even if I sort of didn’t use it

Tie each word to a line

until they scream and shriek

what I want them too

 

You may bury my body, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

 

No misbehaving on this page

unless you are wicked

The way I want you to be

 

You may bury my body, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

 

Gravity has laws it must follow

so does baking bread

do what I want on this page, or I’ll erase you from my head

 

You may bury my body, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

 

I want you to be

what I say you should be

poems are slaves to the pen so

do what I want on this page, or I’ll erase you from my head

 

You may bury my body, ooh, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

 

 

Boxes of Well Dressed Bones

/ animar64 / Leave a comment

What if abandoned houses

are just homes

that nobody lives in anymore

 

What if cemeteries

are empty of

almost everything

except boxes of well dressed bones

 

What if the world

is alone

in a void full of dimming stars

warming nothing

but lifeless  space

and boxes of well dressed bones.

 

 Day four of Na/GloPoWriMo– The challenge! Write your own sad poem

 

Before We Wake

/ animar64 / 2 Comments

Photo A.M. Moscoso

We

could be quiet together

silent  together

tell secrets to each other

hide from the outside together

like

when the Sun is out

looking for bones and flesh to warm

whether you want it to or not.

 

We could

haunt unmapped roads together

stand at the crossroads with each other

we could

watch the cars race by or crawl by

we could dare them to stop

and offer us a ride

to somewhere

where we could

be quiet together

silent  together

tell secrets to each other

hide from the outside together

like

when the Sun is out

looking for bones and flesh to warm

whether you want it to or not.

 

We could walk

we could crawl

we could fly

take our time

to get to where we want

let the shadows of the dying day

hide our faces

and our voices

and our intentions

from the Sun

from curious eyes

that would look better

in a faded moldy  painting or maybe in a jar

hidden on  shelf strangled by cobwebs

in an attic

above a house with a rusty broken swing set-that used to be painted yellow and blue-

that sometimes  swings, all alone,   in the front yard when the air is still and the birds are quiet and the bugs scurry away as fast as they can.

 

Me and you

we could stay right here

where we are

where the grass is always green and we can

rest in peace

as the saying goes

or we could walk again

we could get up again

we could danse again

or

We

could be quiet together

silent  together

tell secrets to each other

hide from the outside together

like

when the Sun is out

looking for bones and flesh to warm

whether you want it to or not.

 

Day Three  Na/GloPoWriMo : Today, I’d like to challenge you to similarly write something that involves a story or action that unfolds over an appreciable length of time. Perhaps, as you do, you can focus on imagery, or sound, or emotional content (or all three!)

The Unquiet Family

/ animar64 / Leave a comment

I am a ghost

my dark eyed grandma is too

I have a ghost dog

and a cat you can see right through.

 

My Mother dug us

all our graves

and my Uncle buried us deep

they planted a sapling

over our heads

and begged us to keep asleep.

 

My Dad is not a ghost

my Grandpa isn’t one too

they all live in a  fancy new house

with my Mom, my uncle

and a room

full of children’s toys

that nobody ever goes into.

 

The neighbors smile and wave hello

when they walk or drive slowly by

and nobody asks what

happened

to the girl, her pets and her dark eyed grandmother

in their old house

the night stars all fell  from a red cloudy sky

and the

Moon turned icy blue.

 

Day 2 of  Na/GloPoWriMor: Write a poem that resists closure by ending on a question, inviting the reader to continue the process of reading (and, in some ways, writing) the poem even after the poem ends.