April 2022 - Poem a Day thread

[Moochienanu]

April 11, 2022

Power

there’s a current
running through each letter
every word
electric
with your thoughts

it pulls hard
moving me through each syllable
every sigh
a force
keeping me captive

don’t let go
holding tight to the commands
every anticipation
galvanic
with our need

 

[Piscator]

Memory Keepers

Some physical, the slight
ridge on my left thumb,
reminder of a stray fishhook
the stiffness in my right knee
a keepsake of my soccer days

Adolescent ramblings stuffed
in bottom desk drawers.
Dusty bookshelves filled
with learned journals.
My unrequested reprints
neatly filed just in case.
Musings, poesy, and soft porn
stored in those same drawers,
soft disks, CD’s, hard discs,
depending on age, or posted
under my nom de plume on
questionable web sites.

Years of photos, faded black and
white, then colour, 35mm slides
in plastic sheaths kids. trips, dogs
kept in albums and file cabinets.
A few ‘private pics’ stowed
securely in Cloud sites.

Letters exchanged during the
affair that almost changed
my life. Her drawings, paintings
and that sterling silver paper
weight with two cherries and
“Forever” etched on back.
I know I should trash them
but memories hold me back.

 

[RiverMaya]

(I wrote this at the beginning of 2021, but never posted it.)

Habits

We are creatures of habit, so I am told,

And we cling to mem’ries, both weak and bold,

We share the past over cups of tears,

Reliving days of both glory and fears.

We seem to delight in recalling history,

For whatever sane reason has slipped by me.

We think ourselves stronger and wiser each year,

But most of us, really, just play it by ear.

How many times will we play hit or miss,

Soar like an eagle yet fall in the abyss

Of missed chances, regret and rue and doubt,

Yet willingly get up for the very next bout?

So let’s tear out a sheet and uncap a pen,

And with good intentions, draw out again,

A new list of niceness, to be or to do,

And keep all the promises long overdue.

May this year’s beginning, I hope and pray,

Keep every misfortune and evil at bay.

And one last wish for all on this site:

May you all have more dreams and stories to write.​

 

[Winter_Fare]

Looking down

For the curious children
There is a coin to find
For weary feet with far to go
There is a place to rest
For busy hands and minds
There is a puzzle
For the melancholy kind
There is a barrow
For the poet
There are songs and
Plenty of muck for the roses

 

[Winter_Fare]

Maté

Crawling under enemy fire
An ancestor of mine
Left a bit behind
Caught on barbed wire

He didn't miss it

But now I'm told
That it was structural

That our bodies hold
The trauma of generations
Houses become empty ruins

Girls strafed by stukkas
Weep in our cells
Fuck up our synapses

 

[29wordsforsnow]

the bittersweet tear above a smile
floods our mind once every while
'It's better this way.'
when life ends with a sigh
...and clouds go by

a handful of grain falling to dust
the spade and the rake stopped to rust
but the records, left behind, remain
where a river runs dry
...and clouds sail by

love can be found just everywhere
lost in a moment when no one cared
winter moves our lips and hands
as the roses die
...and clouds wander by

I wonder why
...and thoughts fly by
the night only told forgotten dreams
when midnight turns grey before sunny blue
such words accrue

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Projection

It's easy to reduce you
to a few simple details
a bit of beauty
some bits of demeanor
clad in expectations
mostly mine
and, for sure, not the best
when thinking fast-forward
and pretending some more
I'd wear an armor
shiny and strong
but the very truth is
I'm certainly wrong
caught by surprise
as you sit down here
eyebrows high
a challenge by yours
a question in mine

*

"I'm just your dream.
I do have my own
words and wishes
care 'bout future
pol'tics and things
like cookies high on the shelf
because of your gaze
I do wear makeup
at first for myself
I'm not to be stared, nor to be starred
it's only you who calls me a whore
but I love to be taken
away to a spot
where I listen to you
fearing and worries
I tell you back
but oh
I'm sorry
I can see
all this of me
ain't your cup of tea."

-------
*maybe one day in full bloom in the illustrated poetry category

 

[butters]

#5

men-o'-pause-al

to ladies of a certain age
whose symptoms manifest delayed
by years and cannot HRT
please listen to advice from me:

vaginal atrophy's a thing
and if your pussy wants to sing
the way it did then mucho lube's
a requisite when in the mood

and if the nights run hot and cold
don't get to worry you're too old
but if you want a good night's sleep
for god's sake don't buy satin sheets

it's bad enough he won't stay put
on his side–leave at least a foot–
but slinky bedding's silky touches
complicate these matters: such is

life–a wife, a man–his cock
by satin rendered perma-rock.
delighted by this happy state
he'll fidget, snuggle, till you wake

and then when he's all feelin' humpy
you are sleep-deprived and grumpy!
so if you've satin sheets it seems
best to fuck before your dreams

 

[Moochienanu]

April 12, 2022

Not Counting

it could be next week
but probably longer

counting days would likely
turn my whole body
into a numerical system
trimming the days
into digestible hours
and then the hours to
mere minutes
which I could easily tick off
in manageable increments
of thoughts and memories

but if I did count on them
and found
only disappointment
when the digits ran out
because made up time
is not the same as recalled
and wouldn’t it be easier
to not give an amount
of any kind

that could be next week
but probably longer

 

[Piscator]

Taste: umami
Sight: something wavering
Sound: a new song that you like
touch: something sensual
Scent: something that makes you feel

Rastaboi

Yo go and tell ur Mamie
bout this new flavor called umami
it’ll fill ur mouth with fullness
taste like pussy of ur Mistress
breath deep you’ll catch the scent
of his sweat and passion spent.

While she bogies to Marsalis
perhaps, she’ll release ur penis
just to tease ur wavering hardness.

 

[RiverMaya]

AMOUR

Whispered caresses…

… eternity in your kiss,

moonlight on my skin.

 

[RiverMaya]

April

I have often wondered why she is called
The cruellest month of the year,
Does she not bring a milder clime
That can melt those frozen tears?
And have not odes and songs and chants
Been sung to signal her glory,
Or have all those bards been fooled and lulled
By their own misguided folly?
But slightly mad and beguiled by her charm,
And the promise of fortunes better,
We await the birth of April's spring
And hope for warmer weather.

 

[RiverMaya]

More Haikus

RAIN ON A WINDOWPANE
Muted reflections
... sliding down a crystal sheet,
... past dreams, present tears.

PARADOX
Like clear-cut diamonds,
invisible in water,
... deep pain is unseen.

MELANCHOLY
Like a press'd flower,
between the pages of life
... not joy, nor sorrow.

EVENT HORIZON
Where sea and sky meet,
where dawn kisses fading dark,
... I shall wait for you.

LONELINESS
Even in a room
full of gaiety and laughter,
I am still alone.

GRIEF
... the hole in your heart
and the deafening silence,
due to absent tears.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

it's yellow like the sun's
I can get enough of your laughter
warming when it shines on you
but burning when you turn your back
blinding if you stare too long in its center

your blues are nothing I like much
slowly like the rising tide
reaching for me with cold struggling hands
and a dark unknown abyss beneath

some reds I could die for
the kisses and touches, light and strong
others - the undiluted fury - make me run



---

A really readworthy article about Mary Gartside, an English 18th-century artist who likely predated Goethe's Colour Theory, and whose work inspired Amy Clampitt's Balms.

 

[Piscator]

First hickey

Can you ever forget your first hickey?
On the one hand you were proud
it meant your getting serious.
But on the other hand, you
didn’t want your parents to see it,
although they were smiling at your
turtleneck on a warm June day.

 

[Moochienanu]

April 13, 2022

How to Dream

it’s relearning the small things
about yourself
about how to slow down
to listen to your mind
to listen to your body

it’s going from imagining to
knowing the touch
knowing how to be together
to being honest with someone else
to being closer to someone else

it’s not giving up
on futures
on how to dream
holding memories tight
holding hope tighter

 

[Moochienanu]

April 14, 2022

Scaredy Kitten

I’m not afraid of
Poisonous snakes
Or porcupine burrs
Or even big spiders that jump

I can deal with
Confined spaces
And flying in planes
And even big storms that ruin lives

But what I’m truly afraid of
Is losing you
And what my life would look like
Without you in it -
I never want to that
And it scares me too much
To even imagine it

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Matryoshka

In Petit's report we can read
that at the end of the nineties
the number of teenagers
complaining about weighty tomes
had risen to the fourfold.

The data was taken in Grenoble
using a three-phase questionare.
Gloster et al. were looking into
contemporary reading habits
filtering unmeaningful noise.

At the end, the authors emphathise
their wishes to the government
that hundreds of millions more are needed
to provide acceptable education.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Little Luxuries

I know you're hot and wet
way before I dip my big one in
test your holy waters
sinking deeper and deeper
into your generous warmth
totally surrounded by you
I take a moment
relax
before tiny motions
that go on and on
and with endless patience
tension accelerates
until - with a pop
the mess is suddenly everywhere
everything falls off
in this moment of splendor
the busy day
the long hours
the harsh words
leaning back
your warmth
cooling so ever slowly
pondering to wash it off
but finally it's time
to leave you
slip into the waiting cloth
"See you again,"
my big one shriveled
but still glistening with memory of you
"tomorrow night,"
one last mouthful
not as sparkling as before
"my little bathtub."
The Champagne gone when I reach the bedroom,
well prepared, my big, now dry toe pushes the door open.

 

[Piscator]

Wave Goodbye

For more than two years, we’ve been riding
a tsunami, now surfing the sixth viral wave
and we’ve all become amateur epidemiologists.
Hooray for MRNA, but variants keep emerging
and we’re all getting tired of the Greek alphabet.

Me, I’m vaxxed to the max, still masked
and was negative in my last test, which
is positive I guess, and though I don’t
understand them, I have a bit of respect
for the antis and that flat earth leaning
basketball player, who if the Raptors get
that far, won’t be playing against them
in our home playoff games.

No man is an island, but with covid and
climate change, it sure feels that way
and zoom just ain't the real thing.
And with the sea rising, I feel that
I might go under, when comes
the seventh wave.

 

[Moochienanu]

April 15, 2022

Bridge Between

They’re in a stalemate of
Promises exchanged
Words with infinite meaning
Whispered and screamed
Over lines and sentences
While they are apart
She’s impatient
Can’t wait
Until they’re holding hands
Their hearts close again

They’re stuck apart
Lovers with formidable issues
Of logistics
With their adulting schedules
And children or spouses
But through it all
The promise
Of soon
Weighing down
With the need building
After each opportunity passes

They’re always there
A rock to lean on
When the ground feels like it’s crumbling
Between them
So far away
But without question
Of when
As eyes close for a flash
To that first kiss
And each that followed
After a long day

They’re in need of the promise,
So she waits
As the world crumbles
For them both
Until the pieces
Come back together and
The ground between them
Is no longer
Ethereal as it was
When she learned patience

 

[Moochienanu]

April 16, 2022

Touch

feel all of me here as you hold me, my Darling
know my head on your shoulder
my thighs pressed to you
how our bodies fit together
made for being close,
just like this

touch all of me here as you whisper, my Darling
know my warmth against yours
as our lips feast on words and kisses
moving, pressing against
made for being in concert,
just like this

* a note: I wrote this yesterday evening but didn’t post it before work and then was stuck in a place for the last 10+ hours that didn’t have cell service (because I can’t access lot from a work computer) so I’m technically late, but it’s not my fault!

 

[Piscator]

Sodade

Green eggs and ham, somehow the colour
offset the frisson from disobeying Mosaic Law
and I never knew how you coloured the eggs.
Ceasaria Evora plays in the background,
her plaintive voice rising over the guitar and
drums, mirroring our yearning
for our long-lost land.

We sit on the balcony sipping Chablis,
debating if the metallic note is a taste or
scent, like the smell of jasmine back
home and your frigid fingers
nestle in my warm hand.


** double posted in Five Senses Challenge**

 

[29wordsforsnow]

The road we go
had a big pothole
so deep it could hold
as many of your tears
one should never spent
and so dark at the bottom
no ray of light ever to touch
the seed of hope fallen down

But see, here we stand
admiring the magnolia tree
grown in the settled wet dust
blossoming

 

[Moochienanu]

April 17, 2022

In Person

it’s been making me
go mad
thinking about it,
and how much
happiness
can come
from simply seeing
your eyes,
feeling your skin
against mine,
and knowing that
you need me
the same way