April Musings - 22. NaPoWriMo 2018 Week Three

NaPoWriMo Week Three

15.

Swimming Pool

Concrete suburban pond

Hub of summer activity

Hiding place from boorish adults

who considered it fun to chase

terrified children

until the reviled thing

became a safe haven.

16.

Swimming Lessons

Flailing limbs, burning lungs,

Despair and hopelessness

only fuel the sociopath's desire

to 'teach' how to swim underwater.

17.

This poem cannot change the weather,
But it can provide ventilation for aggravated poets.
This poem cannot hug those who need it,
But it can give a smile to curmudgeons or the depressed.
This poem cannot cook a meal,

but it can tell us how.

This poem cannot catch a dragon,

but it can be lit on fire.

This poem cannot declare war,

but it can contain words that incite.

This poem cannot sing or rhyme,

but it can try.

18.

The circle of attendees were tasked

With re-writing The Lord’s Prayer.

A difficult endeavor on the best of days,

For who dares change the words of the lord?

Holy

Sacred

Flawed

I listened to the results of our efforts with

Increasing dread.

Each eloquent rendition heartfelt and upbeat,

So different from the words on my paper.

I paused when the circle turned to me

And I swallowed,

Then warned of the upcoming change.

Each word shook with the emotion

Imbued in its creation and questioning.

Tremulous darkness descended as

Each sentence was punctuated by doubt and insecurity.

Silence descended like a weighted blanket

As each set of eyes stared fixedly at me.

“Read it again.”

So I did, slightly more confident.

After a third rendition,

Discussion and compliments flowed freely,

Washing away the doubt,

Bringing reassurance that dark times

Are as important to acknowledge as the light.

19.

Square rungs form a grid

Butter and syrup cascade

Forming a fluffy cataract

As four tines ascend.

20.

Without a doubt

I want to pout

And scream and shout

What’s this about?

Plans cut out

By a jealous lout

End my poetic drought.

21.

Powerless

Source of noise, entertainment, and news—sits black and silent.

Laptop companion,

Connection to family, friends, strangers,

Now only a game console for Solitaire…until the battery dies.

The phone is not so smart with a twenty percent charge,

Off limits unless a real emergency.

Suddenly nothing to do except dust off old board games

And talk.

Until our collective relief when our electronic

Masters are restored.

Prompts used:

15 and 16 - How and where did you learn to swim? Who taught you? Who helped you to trust your buoyancy? If you never learned to swim or to love the water, there’s a poem in that as well. Splash beyond the facts out into some wider ocean.

17 – Let the poem talk about itself, but not so much in an Ars Poetica sort of way. What can this poem do? What can’t it do?

18 – Write a poem about attending or giving a poetry reading. *note about 18 – my version of The Lord’s Prayer is posted in Chapter 6 of April Musings.

19 – Write a poem that contains an actual or metaphorical ladder.