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    Parker Owens
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Parker's NaPoWriMo 2017 - 1. April 1 - April 8

The first week of NaPoWriMo 2017. The first flush of ideas.
April 1
 
To start
over again
means tentative gestures,
held-breath adventures to be sure
you're safe;
wary,
we will circle one another,
joyous in our pairing,
knowing a start
will end.
 
 
April 2
 
Truth stands fixed, feet planted squarely,
courteous with each welcome guest,
treating all attendees fairly;
 
Slim Desire in silk jacket dressed,
seductively sips fine Chardonnay,
better to leave the weak impressed;
 
Tawdry Deceit frowns, turns away,
refuses to take off his coat,
telling his kind host he won't stay;
 
Fearlessness, that sprouted wild oat,
puts on mismatched socks rarely
espied on an ankle of note;
 
I, Caution, creep off on cold feet
lest my dream lover and I meet.
 
 
April 3
 
1.
Slow ticking clock
and sloppy rain;
 
one imitates
the other's pain;
 
They give me much,
and naught I gain.
 
2.
Blue rain descends
in cold stone drops;
 
It draws curtains
on winter's act;
 
I wonder if
I should applaud?
 
 
April 4
 
Immigrant robins
sing liquid recitative
to the rising sun;
 
Shoveler ducks swim
head down in tight ellipses,
feeding on morning;
 
Red Wings flash their bright
bold epaulettes at the world,
heralds of the green.
 
 
April 5
 
Tempt me
with honeyed words,
intoxicate all sense,
and with your grace and artless gait
beguile;
drive mad
my heart by glimpses of your chest
and shoulders joined to nape,
all worshipping
your smile.
 
 
April 6
 
He sits on a plain blue metal chair
in a silent locker room.
Water drips somewhere behind a partition;
partially lit fluorescent lights hum.
 
He sits on a plain blue metal chair,
eyes fixed on a glowing screen,
breathing slowly;
his thumb twitching
 
He sits on a plain blue metal chair;
lips compressed, eyes shining,
hands search in pockets;
the sound of a blown nose
resonates off damp cinder blocks;
 
He sits in an empty space
with his hat on,
and tears on his face,
on a plain blue metal chair.
 
 
April 7
 
You'd best beware, my learned friend,
though cogitation you proclaim
is highest as a human aim
to which our intellects attend;
 
You may not earn the kind of fame
you hoped for as a nerdy youth
in frosty, frozen far Duluth,
by making research bear your name.
 
You always probed for deeper truth,
on contradiction you would seize,
and prove it using logic trees,
or other methods more uncouth.
 
So here's a thing to make you freeze
with sinking feeling in your gut;
a proper crisis, nothing but,
consider: you have lost your keys!
 
My absent minded science nut,
against this misery take care,
avoid a monumental scare,
and spare yourself fair Clotho's cut.
 
For I have stumbled in this snare,
turned house and closet inside out,
searched under bed and over snout
for keys that simply were not there.
 
But rescued from my panicked doubt
was I from an unhappy end
for my mechanic did forfend
disaster when he found them out.
 
 
April 8
 
I'm late preparing for a class,
distracted by your subtle smile,
the one which must my heart beguile
and pains to let the moment pass.
 
With you, I'd gladly dance a while,
more closely make our frames align,
your samba'd steps seducing mine,
to see the music out in style.
 
So might we tread these hours divine,
transporting us past evening's break,
where night will all our fears unmake,
and there our bodies intertwine.
 
And in that space my measure take,
by slow degrees perform anew
a choreography with you
to leave me yearning when I wake.
Thank you to tim, AC and Val for help, guidance and encouragement. And thanks to all who read and write poetry this month.
Copyright © 2017 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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  • Site Administrator

These are all great offerings, Parker.  I'm glad so many people are using the prompts I forwarded.  It's so interesting to read the different takes on them.  I really liked the "Careful ties his hat on" prompt.  The second six-line poem really stood out to me.  You described this week's weather perfectly!  I hope Friday was the last of our snow.  I liked how you tied three haiku together for the Nature Guide prompt.  I especially like the 'heralds of the green' line.  There's a typo in that one that you missed. It should be 'bright'. ;) The April 6th poem was brilliant.  You had me guessing about the chair right until the end.  I loved the 'warning' poem, also.  You described me to a T, only sub glasses for car keys... :gikkle:  I look forward to seeing what this week offers :)

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Thanks for the help on the typo! Add that to my list of mistakes. But more thanks for reading these, and for your comments, which I find immensely encouraging. The prompts are such fun, that I sometimes feel guilty if I think of something different!

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2 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

Thanks for the help on the typo! Add that to my list of mistakes. But more thanks for reading these, and for your comments, which I find immensely encouraging. The prompts are such fun, that I sometimes feel guilty if I think of something different!

:gikkle:  The list of mistakes prompt should be interesting.  It's going to be hard narrowing it down... lol  

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1 hour ago, MacGreg said:

As dughlas stated, you do make it seem so astonishingly easy. Words and images flow from you. I really enjoyed reading this first week's offerings. I haven't looked into the prompts, so I read your poems not having those in mind, which is probably better for me; I can appreciate them for what they are, not compare them to what the prompts asked for. The blue metal chair poem really stands out to me. I read it a few times. It intrigues me, because, unlike Val, I'm not 100% certain about the context or meaning. I just know that I like it. Is it post-game sadness? Sadness of being alone? A sense of failure or loss? Or just someone with a cold...? It could be any of those things, it could be none of those things. Or all of them. All of the poems are great, thank you for sharing them with us. Cheers - Mac

I have the prompts emailed to me from a woman in the Hudson Valley.  If you're interested in checking them out, PM me with your email address and I will add you to my list of people I forward them to. :)  

 

Spoiler

What tipped me off about the chair is the hat, water, and tears down the person's face. Also the environment.  Think "The Green Mile". ;)  

 

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2 hours ago, dughlas said:

You make it seem so astonishingly easy.

 

I blush at your kind comment. Thank you. The challenge is fun...

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1 hour ago, MacGreg said:

As dughlas stated, you do make it seem so astonishingly easy. Words and images flow from you. I really enjoyed reading this first week's offerings. I haven't looked into the prompts, so I read your poems not having those in mind, which is probably better for me; I can appreciate them for what they are, not compare them to what the prompts asked for. The blue metal chair poem really stands out to me. I read it a few times. It intrigues me, because, unlike Val, I'm not 100% certain about the context or meaning. I just know that I like it. Is it post-game sadness? Sadness of being alone? A sense of failure or loss? Or just someone with a cold...? It could be any of those things, it could be none of those things. Or all of them. All of the poems are great, thank you for sharing them with us. Cheers - Mac

 

You are really, really kind in your response. 'The blue chair' is certainly a grief and sadness observed. The prompts sometimes help - quite often, they do - and sometimes I do something else. I enjoy the fun of trying new forms or reacquainting myself with old ones. I am glad you found something appealing in these. 

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I tried to pick a favorite, but couldn't... lost keys made me laugh, but all the others touched me in different ways. Well done, Parker.

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Yes, well, I raged at myself about the keys, and then I could laugh. Later. But I  am glad these touched you in one way or another. 

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April 3rd strikes me - it's sometimes my very day in a nutshell, sitting at the PC, hearing my little clock tick and the rain strike the window behind the monitor... 

 

The 4th is a wow. You'd make the Japanese masters blush with envy; three real Haiku all speaking of the season, and through it the unstated essence of human emotion as the voiceless witness. 

 

Lovely! 

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Like Gary, I have trouble picking any favourite. I found reading April 6th painful, the personification poem made me smile in recognition - I too would be Caution. I very much liked both cinquains. :)

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On 4/17/2017 at 3:32 PM, AC Benus said:

April 3rd strikes me - it's sometimes my very day in a nutshell, sitting at the PC, hearing my little clock tick and the rain strike the window behind the monitor... 

 

The 4th is a wow. You'd make the Japanese masters blush with envy; three real Haiku all speaking of the season, and through it the unstated essence of human emotion as the voiceless witness. 

 

Lovely! 

 

I am always enchanted by returning birds of all varieties. The shoveler ducks are especially fun to watch, and their poem felt most like my connection to their experience. 

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On 4/24/2017 at 1:09 PM, northie said:

Like Gary, I have trouble picking any favourite. I found reading April 6th painful, the personification poem made me smile in recognition - I too would be Caution. I very much liked both cinquains. :)

 

I am sorry April 6 brought you pain, but the experience of sorrow comes to us in many places.  Can I say I liked April 1 better?

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