stir the pot
make sure it’s hot
and what is not
well that is what
you throw out
with the baby
sliced and diced
and sweet enticed
to sup on ashes
sugar crashes
little pinches measured
inches of this and that
to make you fat
it shrinks the heart
(in more than one way)
I say, you know
what I mean you’ve seen
it every day the have and have
nots, empty pots with stones
for soup throws one for
a loop just check it out
we super size it, maximize it
belly not as big as eyes, it
seems so odd to realize
we throw away enough
to feed just one so share
a little, care a little
whittle down the hunger
understand we can
our hands can hold
each others hands
and feed the bellies
feed the spirits
feed ourselves
with shelves and shelves
of love and laughter
happy after all
is what we need
so get to cooking
start your looking
for just one and give
a little of yourself
and find that you are fed
your heart, your head
NaPoMo 18 2012 Poetic Asides prompt: regional cuisine
his eyes were red in window glow
and I in fear was hidden
but in my head a voice that spoke
I did as I was bidden
my hand on door, I tried to stop
but watched it turning round
and creaks were heard as open wide
I stared out at the ground
a blur of sight out in the night
and fur became man’s skin
He stood and smiled and into light
I beckoned him, come in
NaPoMo 17 2012 Poetic Asides prompt: write fantasy or science fiction poem
take a thought and pull
a dream out of
the air and stir them up
and mostly you will
jumble up the muddle
of our middling ways we
want to try to
strive for clarity but
all the mystery is that the
more we try and cry and fry
our brain cells brain swells
big heads nod with
understanding wisdom
of the ages fill the pages
and we read and meditate
on all the information
but it causes conflagration
smelling smoke now
something’s broke now
take a poke and how
we think we have the answer
but the truth the deeper meaning
pundits preening it escapes
from under noses striking poses
knowing all but seeing nothing
fluff and stuffing just a bear
a silly bear would share his honey
and a hug you might as well
I’m here to tell you
It’s a mess and bless
your heart you think you’re smart
but part of you is like that bear
just silly willy nilly
take a breath or hold it in
you scold me but
I do not care and will not share
get on the bus and do not fuss
we’re all the same just in the game
and hope the driver knows the way
we bought our tickets
have to ride so hide the button
the inner spinner it’s your turn
feel the burn and realize
there is no prize
just keep on trying
stop the crying
take a peek and make your move
and try to prove
it’s not mixed up
we lost the rule book eight ball
all shook and the message
of the day is not today
tomorrow not too likely either
NaPoMo 16 2012 Poetic Asides prompt: Mixed Up
Slap a strap around your waist
And tie it to a blue balloon
Button up your over coat
Take off time is soon
Check your mask the air is thin
(make sure you have warm shoes)
Find a cloud and jump right in
Toss your fears, enjoy the view
NaPoMo 15, 2012
Poetic Asides prompt: slash, button, mask,strap, and balloon
as moonlight drapes trees
leaves dance to whip-poor-will song
hidden in darkest shadow
unseen singer welcomes night
honeysuckle air carries peace
NaPoMo 14 2012 tanka
I am not going to jump into
The crazy pool
With a little luck
I will just wade in
The shallows
Getting toes wet
But holding my nose just in case
Because luck is a bitch
That goes her own way
With no thought for life preservers
I wade with an umbrella
The sun is shining
But just beyond that hill
There is a helluva storm
Waiting to flood
My plane and I know
The truth
You have to swim
Through the muck
To see a rainbow
NaPoMo 13 2012 Poetic Asides prompt: unlucky
no shy violet
salmon shaded velvet
framed in soft green
jutting out to
taste the bluest
sky you ever saw
delicate stamen
pollen strewn by
spring breezes
promise of future
springs as eternal
as sunrise
NaPoMo 12 2012
Skin sighs
I unfold like a new leaf
Soul deep warmth
Frost puddles around stiff
Bones of winter
Now donning cotton
Bright as sun
Blue as sky
Ivy twines around
Graceful wrists
Clouds crown a feathered
Nest Scattered hair
In honeysuckle breezes
As light changes
We awake to the scent
Of grass
Step out, step out
From shady glade
Let safety fade
As evening slips
It’s velvet dress on
Colors sweeter as
We watch their leaving
Silver sheathing on
The pond the
Fronds of lilies
Fold their hands
And bathe in lavender
And peach then
Reach for one last
Time as moon climbs
In the distance
Takes it’s place
A smiling face
To welcome stars
As frogs sing
Stars ring tree tops
Soft spots curling
Up the living
Giving over to
The night
NaPoMo 10 2012
Image credit: Tommy Stone
Rain and sun
The perfect mix
To create a poem
That will not lay down on paper
But springs up
Shyly unfolding tiny green
Then bolder to the warmth
Hands in dirt
Are more than verbs
They are Proper Nouns
That name the something
I feel as I place
Roots in the red pot
I place it
Where stronger plants
Will shelter from
Heat of noon
And Wait
NaPoMo 9 2012 prompt: shade
I rain
and you just stand there
the breaking bones
are deafening
and great mountains
slough off their soil
like so much dead skin
I want to curl myself
around the avalanche
ride it down to
the valley of stones
a passing by
of wind and fire
I held my heart
out on a leaf
you were
winter
NaPoMo 8 2012 prompt: rejected
Jumping puddles
In a rainstorm
Is just plain silly
Pull your shoes off
Dive right in
Splash about
Create a muddle
Stir the pot
Don’t hide and huddle
From the clouds
They blow away
Like cotton candy
Sweet dream visions
Floating by
Dive right in
Come on
Just try
NaPoMo 7 2012
a little Easter silliness
Took a ramble through the brambles hoping to evade the wall,
Brightly colored, dyed and smothered, decorated all.
I told my friends, escape! escape! and took off at a run!
I thought that all had been hard-boiled but someone just in fun,
Left one uncooked and as he hooked a corner round a stone,
He tumbled o’er and hit the floor and now he’s come undone!.
Old Humpty yes, I knew him well, a good egg through and through!
His innards dumped, he took a fall, our sense of horror grew!
No basket will contain our friend, no child will squeal with pride,
For deviled be the rest of us, he might as well be fried!
Image source: funnypictures.net.au
NaPoMo 6 2012
Crazed floral china
Grandmother’s lace handkerchief
Cherry blossom snow
NaPoMo 5 2012
To cover tiny feathers
Huddled shivers
Bony slivers in
The wind of changing
Seasons look for
Reasons to continue
On this journey
Spread your wings
And feel the sunshine
This is your time there
Will never be another
Like this second
By our reckoning
Sky beckoning
Fly now
NaPoMo 4
My heart was lost and careless tossed, a line that can’t be crossed
So buried deep my heart would sleep, I would not pay the cost
As years passed slow, I tried to go through daily joy and woe
but something bold was taking hold, a seed began to grow
A padlocked door does something more, a thing you can’t ignore
Keeps out the pain but then again, keeps me from feeling more
I found the key that sets me free, throw wide the doors to see
Protective shell, no place to dwell, hid in the shadowed lee
For where in shade, a deep green glade, the sun rays also fade
No flowers grow, nor breezes blow, no compromises made
To get, you give, and die to live, for though your heart is rive
It swells to hold, and shins the cold, love flows through as a sieve
I choose the light, will stand to fight, climb to the highest height
And if I fall, I gave my all, broke through my self-built wall
My wounds will heal, I’ve learned to feel and answered hopes’ true call
A Nevada Sonnet – a form I came across on AllPoetry, a variation on a “fourteener” or sonnet adapted by a poet with the username of Amera. (amazing talented poetess)
Line one internal rhyme – syllables 4, 8, and 14
Line two internal rhyme – syllables 4, 8, then 14th rhymes with 14th from the previous line.
If you hum Amazing Grace as you read it, it works 
A shout out to AllPoetry user Corrideo who actually broke it down into a spreadsheet as he has done other forms. Awesome work and a great teaching tool!
NaPoMo 3
The spark that moves the heart
That makes the art of love and
Breath a wonder how to understand
A hand up to light shows veins and
Bones that hold the frame
You name the thing as though
You own it, shown the meaning
Maybe gleaning bits of essence
In the presence of the spark
The part, the bit, the thing
We cannot name
The same in all
The breath
The life
Happy National Poetry Month! Since 1996 April has been celebrated as National Poetry Month in this country. You can read more about the origins and details on
Wikipedia
Around the country, poets will take the challenge to write a poem every day this month and I am going to attempt to participate. What way to be more intentional about writing.
If you are not a poet, you can still participate. READ a poem every day this month. Pick out someone you haven’t read before. Visit the websites below and discover someone! Read Naomi Shibab Nye, Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Philip Levine, Sharon Olds just to name a few of my favorites…
Poets.org
Poetry Foundation
Visit AllPoetry.com, and read what thousands of people are writing this very minute.
Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Wind blows twisted round the edge
Sharper ninety degree squared
Angled poised on concrete ledge
Gargoyle granite heart despaired
Straight and narrow, plumb declared
Wind blows twisted round the edge
Compass points no longer shared
Crooked staff would drive a wedge
Wrapped and trapped by thorny hedge
Disdainful eyes bleakly stared
Wind blows twisted round the edge
I’m curled and furled, back unspared
Raked and sanded, soft scars bared
Drilled a hole, my soul to dredge
I stand convicted, no one cared
Wind blows twisted round the edge
Another attempt at Quatern. AllPoetry prompt posted on facebook – “plumb”
