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Posts for June 18, 2024 (page 7)

Registration photo of River Alsalihi for the LexPoMo 2024 Writing Challenge.
River Alsalihi
Category
Poem
4
6/18/24

inertia

the white trucks went on forever under the clouds
like we were on the highway to heaven
                                                          to meet him
but we were driving home
[south]
and the watery guitar                            
and the sweet pepper            
and the baby’s bubbles of laughter
and lane changes
                                     and amazing grace did nothing
but happened anyway
you wore yourself as a mask
hiding under skin and eyes
and we said prayers in bed into the pitch black basement
like when i was a baby
and when we woke up
he was still breathing
and the cold bit at my bare legs when i emerged
but i did it anyway
and i sang my [miracle] song
without saying the word
because i didn’t want you to hear it
and either way
                                   he would be gone soon
and the baby would grow into the shape of a child
                                                          and we would go home
             and i would sing
and God would save whomever He saved
but i did it anyway
Registration photo of Sav Noël Hoover for the LexPoMo 2024 Writing Challenge.
Sav Noël Hoover
Category
Poem
1
6/18/24

BETWEEN THE LINES

don’t quote me on this, but poetry thrives
in the place my mood stabilizer aims
what a twisted thought, finding art in pain
spread my hide, dehydrate it, display it 

wish I could bottle the place pain derives 
feeling light and blank is normal and fine
pain goes from the thing you feel to you see
kept in a little frame, manageable 

is making a spectacle of myself
the only way I can sculpt? or could I
glance outside, see more than just pain growing?
set my pencil down, and if I’m able 

arrange plates, spoons, and napkins, set the knives
let my hope have dinner at the table 

Registration photo of Melva Sue Priddy for the LexPoMo 2024 Writing Challenge.
Melva Sue Priddy
Category
Poem
18
6/18/24

I’m Half Inside and Half Outside Myself Today

 

 

The temperature soars 

and I’ve so much work to do.

The home ground shifts before my eyes.

Stones are melting and purslane is taking 

my garden, edible but frightening, too,

for the bugs are eating everything 

as first leaves emerge, except the purslane. 

Nothing usual works. If I resort to seven dust,

it’ll feel like defeat. I don’t want defeat,

I want green plants in my garden. 

I need fruits and vegetables

like I need hills and rivers. 

I want wild and tame, 

together. 

Jim Lally
Category
Poem
10
6/18/24

untitled

unplugged
hands free to wrap around
garden implements, cooking utensils,
musical instruments, carpenter’s tools,
books, friends, lovers, babies;  hair
and make-up done by wind and sun,
clothing along for the free ride, bare
feet dug into soft dirt, down
past bullets and buttons
of the recent ones, beneath the bones
of ancient ones, to touch the heart
of Great Mother herself

what they do is worth doing.
i try not to stare at them too much

Registration photo of Geoff White for the LexPoMo 2024 Writing Challenge.
Geoff White
Category
Poem
2
6/18/24

90% and Falling

The space between
an idea and the paper
lengthens with each distraction 
you trip over.

Each second it takes,
another percentage reduction
you’ll remember the whole,
the parts or nothing at all.

Linda Freudenberger
Category
Poem
9
6/18/24

Tropicale

Flirty fishes fins
flash by my thighs not letting 
me touch their vibrant skins.

Registration photo of Deanna for the LexPoMo 2024 Writing Challenge.
Deanna
Category
Poem
3
6/18/24

A More Perfect Union?

Raised by kin and creed to despise waste, doubly horrified by
Pseudo-Christians wielding scripture to bury the talents of
disenfranchised by birth, inclination, orientation

lhmartin
Category
Poem
2
6/18/24

Sashie

A red-haired mutt from the pound she came,
Broad of head and chest, Sasha by name,
Climbing tree trunks to bark at the rooftop cat,
Or nudging our hands for a pet or a pat,
That Sasha was quite the canine dame.

Registration photo of Tabitha Dial for the LexPoMo 2024 Writing Challenge.
Tabitha Dial
Category
Poem
9
6/18/24

Totally Awesome Gameshow

They’ve kicked me off three times.

 
First Commander Jokester didn’t get 
to end the show with her jokes.
Then they eliminated 
back to back SelfCareBear stares.
Tonight, perhaps Skellie will wow 
or confound her fellow entertainers:
 
White and black wig 
with outrageous waves. 
And skeleton dress. 
 
Dry humor. All bare-boned:
No room for balking
over hard decisions. 
 
Eternal call for alliances.
Little devil horns optional. 
AK
Category
Poem
2
6/18/24

stagnant

I miss the crisp crunch of peas,

flooding the tongue,
still warm from the sun,
and when I make rice,
my fingernails ache for the dirt
beneath the lacy cilantro,
and my nostrils are starved
for the strong scent that ought
to linger on my palm after
the waxy firmness of basil leaves
 
I do not want to go home,
but if I did,
at least in the yard I could
settle in the grass,
let it tickle every inch of my legs,
softly brush away the friendly ants 
and let the light bake into my skin,
for rather than appraising my sanity,
you all would join me in the soil,
a puddle of simple satisfaction 
 
I do not know how to handle
the tension between gratitude
and growth
and the grief of getting better
where nothing grows
but me
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