April Musings - 27. NaPoWriMo 2019 Week Two

NaPoWriMo Week 2

Poem #7

I am strength when weakness threatens.

I am brave when danger looms.

I am Roman and Norse mythology combined.

I am warrior.

I am Valkyrie.

Poem #8

Framed imagery captured the moment of lift-off,

Neck and body stretched in mid-air over

Raised wooden poles,

Legs carefully tucked to avoid the dreaded four fault knockdown,

Human symbiont perched in perfect balance,

Fusion of centaur and Pegasus,

Soaring forever.

Poem #9

Two willows perch on eroded banks,

Roots exposed by water’s ebb and flow,

Silent sentinels of the valley and

Guardians of these particular eddies,

They’ve witnessed countless floods,

Felt the warmth of many creatures as they scamper among limbs

Or rest against the mighty trunks, contemplating.

Though separated by thousands of miles,

they are fed by the same current,

as river water condenses into clouds, to be released

over a different continent, connecting them.

Poem #10

Words flow freely, exceeding the speed limit,

Until they encounter a construction zone during

Rush hour,

Constricted to one lane,

At the mercy of the man waving the dirty orange flag.

Poem #11

Hike along the Hudson

April’s wind blows chill across the river’s languid expanse,

Jackets are pulled tighter around shivering bodies

Stopping for a rest at the designated look-out point.

Bare branches, newly budded, allow an unrestricted view

Of the valley’s happenings.

Two horns pierce the silence:

One high-pitched, followed by a trail of steam as the locomotive obscures

The placid view until the caboose clicks out of sight

Revealing the second sound-maker,

A low-pitched counterpoint, as the barge drifts towards its destination.

There are more boats on the river,

Each shape uniquely suited to its purpose.

The rectangular cargo ships float slowly

As triangular power boats cruise by, leaving waves in their wake

To gently make their way to shore.

Poem #12

The Holy Peek-a-Boo Policy of the Land of Hide-and-Seek was instituted after the Duck Duck Goose scandal of 2011. After several children goosed when they should have ducked, the Minister of Olly Olly Oxen Free declared it legal to peek when previously, severe consequences would be meted out for such infractions. The Circle of Youngers did not take this news well, and passed the Ring around the Rosy countermeasure, declaring anyone caught peeking would suffer the wrath of Wet Willy and his cohorts. The Minister rescinded the policy after meeting Willy’s harsher cousin, Wedgie.

Poem #13

Misogyny

The man with the Buddha belly,

Bare and framed by garish Hawaiian print,

Waddles to the counter and demands,

With fetid breath,

A male sales associate

As his piggish, bloodshot eyes stare fixedly

At the female cashier’s torso

In a manner quite unlike Siddhartha.

Prompts used:

Poem 7: Let your poem be about your own name, the name of someone else, or the names of things.

Poem 8: No prompts used.

Poem 9: Let a river run through your poem today.

Poem 10: Write a poem about those times when you can’t write, when the words won’t come. You might compare this inner writer’s block experience to something in the outer world, as do some of the poems below.

Poem 11: Write a poem in which at least one boat floats through.

Poem 12: Prompt: Pick a title and invite it to dance. Save others for later. Many of the titles below would work well for absurdist prose poems. The title I chose was "The Holy Peek-a-Boo Policy".

Poem 13: Let the Buddha somehow appear in your poem.

A huge thank you to Aditus for his suggestions and keeping me on track.  You are awesome, Wolfie   And thanks to all who read, react, and comment.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed writing them.