Watermark

Unravel

how to write a poem

in despair

 

our country is not

unravelling the unravel

is being exposed

it has been fraying

for a long time

at the edges, moving

toward the center

where the entire fabric

may collapse

into separate threads

 

a tapestry two centuries

in the making

weaving & weavers

from across the world

working together &

sometimes in opposition

to design an exceptional

refuge, a place of beauty

innovation, safety,

and peace but now

 

the scissors come out

saying “you are not me”

let me cut you out

cut you off unravel you

from the garment

we’ve made together

this coat of many colors

is too random it hurts

my mind my heart

too small to hold it

#poem-a-day #poem

Too Old

   

   

   

#artjournal #digitalartjournaling #digitalart

 

July 2016

 

 

It is July in the northern United

States of America. Red poppies

leap from seeds in an urn

by the back door. Earlier, rain

steamed on asphalt. Now evening

 

comes to cool the garden, to smother

its scents. Rain and roses settle

in the damp beds. I wrap myself

in bitter nostalgia for times

that weren’t what they seemed.

 

Grieve for your country.

Grieve for yourself.

Grieve for the innocents

murdered in your name

though you do not know them.

 

A nearby mountain is burning.

Residents gather their animals

and flee. Two more black men

dead by our officers’ guns. Another

woman strangled by her lover.

 

We are safe here, you tell me.

We are safe now.

 

 

#poem-a-day #poem

 

American Political Discourse 2016

   

 

 

#artjournal #digitalartjournaling #digitalart #politics

   

   

   

You're So Vain

   

I skipped today's prompt, since I woke at 3:00 a.m. to write this, which is a follow-up, or a take-off, or perhaps a send-up, of yesterday's poem:

 

You're So Vain

 

You’re so vain

you probably think

this poem’s about you

because it speaks

of beards & kisses.

Did I ever nuzzle

in your beard?

I did not. Or take

your lip in my teeth?

I did not. You forget

(as I do) there was

a lifetime of men

before you.

 

 

#poem-a-day  #poem

SHE PREFERRED TO LIVE IN HER IMAGINATION

   

   

   

#artjournal #digitalartjournaling #digitalart

   

Whiskers

Today I'm missing
being in love
with whiskers.
Beards come & go
like love does.

One day a bristly
nuzzling place;
the next a soft
clean cheek,
a neck more broad
than expected,
an extra chin.

Eyes like blue
marbles, hard
lips to nibble . . .
Today I miss
being in love
with you.

 

It's tough to write a decent poem every day for any length of time. But I'm sticking to my plan to post them, no matter how insignificant. 

 

[Prompt: whiskers, gosh, nibble, marble, unsophisticated]

 

#poem-a-day  #poem

Music

   

   

For The Three Muses (music).   

 

#collage #digitalcollage #digitalart

   

bees

  

heat seeps even into dreams

visible air steams upward

around these bees swarming

blue roses     ~     it’s the blue

roses that wake me ~ briefly

recognition of the unreal

 

a musty odor in the cellar

concoction of spiders & dust

like blue roses another

unlikely occupant steps down

from a cloud     ~     dew

on meringue, pebbling

 

an indigo sky    ~     i hear

a rustling in the corner

the corner of a room

i’m suddenly in   ~    no sky

no roses ~ no shimmering air

a room filled with emptiness

 

and bees

 

 

[Prompt: musty, rustle, occupant, concoction, earn]

 

#poem-a-day #poem

What then is time?

   

   

“What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.”  Saint Augustine

This hourglass challenge at Mischief Circus appeared after the Take A Word challenge: time. 

   

#collage #digitalcollage #digitalart #quote