I Return To Memories To Finish Writing Things

Prompt: Poetry (Think sound, feel meaning.)


He would write out poetry for girls when he liked them
and giving them the only copy, he would regret that
he had nothing left for himself.
If a girl threw away his writing
he would think about how at some point
the sound of him reading it to her survived longer
than anything put down on paper

March 31

No Longer

Prompt: Lost Time (Don't worry.)


Don't be afraid of these.

Don't be afraid of calculus:
It can help you understand so much.
Try this problem:
Derivatives only hold value when something is changing
with respect to something else.
The distance between us changes with time.
At any instant we are the same distance apart,
but things aren't so consistent or certain as time changes
we can't measure how much we've changed.

Don't be afraid of your friends:
They love you and respect you and when they see you
they don't think
he is a good person
or she has done bad things
and they don't mention the time you were vulnerable and everyone heard
the sounds of anger and disgust from your mouth.

Please don't be afraid of lost time:
Please don't worry about how things could have changed
or about the time you wanted nothing
more than to hold something important inside of you
and become important yourself.
If we stop changing it's to be anything worthwhile.

March 30

Twenty-Three Knives

Prompt: Freeze the President!

This is violence:

where everyone holds a knife

but no one knows which hit killed

where everything is for the greater good

where those closest to us are the last we see

and you, too, were children until

suddenly

there was nothing left of who was once there

and it took twenty-three knives to kill Caesar

but there’s not enough time for all of us

to do the same

March 29

Eager Easter

Prompt: Eager Easter

What if his buds were all in on the joke:

they snickered in secret and knew that their bloke

was coming back soon to talk to the folks.

On Easter they took off their taciturn yokes

and waited with weighted breaths…

March 28

Portrait of Columbia

Prompt: Columbia

Liberal Lady, lick up/lap down

the taste of freedom.

The trouble with gravy is how

it’s reapplied to the meat it was freed from.

Ride the boat, tried the train,

now the automobiles wheel below planes.

She can’t stop her mouth, and anyway

it all sounds the same

as “I  tall!” her too portentous claim

she cries while she climbs to our porch

raising up her bug-catching torch

while the barbecue cooks the meat

(yes, the same) that was delivered,

ground and hamburgled, to our feet

as if we were born here free only to receive,

never give.

March 27

Why Bother

Prompt: Assassinated Love

“It’s said when Shakespeare coined the terms

“assassinate” or “elbow”, “bump” or “gust”

he took those words from colloquial forms

and wrote them down first, without a fuss.”

and Harold Bloom claims the bard

created our modern man

gave us our minds

So what of love? Why bother

if Shakespeare thought up that concept too,

and years later we repeat his words

and cling to stories that run thicker in our veins than blood

it’s real in our world

even to those who haven’t found it yet

March 26

Pirates

Prompt: Pirated Inspiration

I imagine that this is how some people feel

about stealing the ideas of others:

Avast! Arr matey, etcetera era era. A ship off

the starboard brow! Fire cannons, destroy the deck –

It’s not going anywhere, boards and plunders, pillage and filch,

take what’s left and sail away a patchwork victory.

When does an imitation take away from the original?

If anything, the ship sailing away will be stronger

But more often than not, the new pirate simply joins the crew

and assimilates into the operation.

March 25

Cost of Living

Prompt: cost of living

When someone drops change

you take the time

to get closer to the ground

and help them recollect

that is the cost of living

March 24

Waking Up

Prompt: Armpit jocularity

There is something in this air

after waking up, the earth yawns

the sun becomes warm again

and a certain a certain smell emanates

from the armpits of the world

as it rolls over and gets out of bed.

March 23

Sticker Shock

Prompt: Sticker shock

Putting a suspiciously succulent fruit into your mouth,

don’t be surprised to find the label still there.

Which farm? What grade?

Spit the paper and adhesive out,

or be more careful next time.

March 22

The Situation

Prompt: The situation

The situation becomes more complicated each time it’s explained:

Calling for the help of others is no use.

Like flies in a spider’s web, our movements are anxious and strained,

desperation only luring victims to the communal noose.

March 21

Demon

Prompt: The Demon in the System


I've heard a demon is not inherently evil,
it's conjured, brought to our world to follow someone's commands.
I've also heard that demons don't exist
but don't tell that to my aunt,
as she spins faster and faster
disappearing in the smoky air,
mouth frothing and frantic,
transforming the air around her to ether,
fingers gently touching

March 20

Family Disconnections

Prompt: Belittle the colossus

When Jason arrives, much to his chagrin,

his evil uncle strives to kill the handsome kin.

With one sandal left along the river’s route

the scandal was now on the other foot,

as when uncle was cooked into a stew,

he was disemboweled by his family, too.

It seems those closest to us hurt us most;

they linger on our minds as haunted ghosts.

March 19

General Sherman

Prompt: No compassion

Raking their bodies across the earth,

salting the wounds,

stiff upper lips.

Some believed it necessary,

some were crazy,

some smelled of tobacco dip.

From the massive sequoia tree,

to the sprightliest bug,

stuck in paws of compassionless grip.

March 18

Checkered Reality

Prompt: Checkered Reality

At the end of Junior Year of high school, I tried to paint a single chess piece on a checkerboard on half of a canvas. I had a lot of fun painting the board, but when I showed my teacher the lonely piece, he didn’t understand what I was trying to do. He didn’t understand my checkered reality. At the time I was suspicious that he just couldn’t understand my artistic vision. But then I realized that the best of visions, when poorly presented, are worth little.

Somewhere, the half finished painting is sitting squashed between two other mostly finished paintings. I suppose I could dig it out from beneath a pile of dust, but I would much rather begin it again than continue where I had left off.

March 17

The Happiest Man

Prompt: Funereal birthday party

A television program foretold

the day that he would die.

He no longer celebrates getting old;

He drinks to death the first of each July.

If death is as significant as birth,

why shouldn’t he enjoy the years

until he leaves his body on the earth?

His happiness is somehow more sincere

than those who fret and moan,

“Maybe today is the day.”

His body holds no fearful bones,

has no more hurtful words to say.

March 16

Dew Drops

Prompt: On the cusp of freedom

In the still world

before the true sun is up

dew collects on a petal

until one too many arrive.

Each individual weight couldn’t be more than an insect

but together they slowly drag upon the petal

rotating the axis, changing something

one drop falls, the petal

springs back

closer to freedom until the next one forms

in the still world

March 15

Days and Days Spent the Same Way

Prompt: Farce

mock mock

when the alarm clock

wakes up

and the mask is put on

mock mock

home, way back

there was an old fashioned one

in the kitchen like an old tv

mock mock

and another day lacked

smiling and shaking

hands, where they belong

mock mock

when the day is black

going to sleep

and waiting for the clock

March 14

Reflection

Prompt: Reflection

I turn to be an older me

within the mirror on the door.

I yearn to see my body free

from vanity forever more.

March 13

Thirsty and Searching

Prompt: "I have sailed down mighty rivers." -Shelley

I have followed the trails to once mighty rivers,

seen the ways their currents pulled,

stood upon the banks that they delivered to.

I have walked along side them.

The path quickly turns,

and you can see that I want

my writing to be the clear stream

you discover mid-hike, thirsty and searching,

in your ascent to the summit.

It will be quiet but forceful,

never yielding, always moving:

It is safe to drink from.

March 12