Entries to Express It In Eight from September 2020 to the present . |
The number of poems enforces the use of blog format with ten poems per page. |
I Really Don’t Like Making Up Prompts What succeeds is success and what succeeds is a toothless canary ignoring, of course, canaries don’t have teeth and I will have to pay when they present the bill for another failed joke. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 07.31.22 Prompt: Succeed. |
Utterance The sentence, climbing up upon the wings of hyperbole, turns upon the passion of the speaker’s tongue, and the sweetness of its footfall in the ear of the listener, till, with breath exhausted, it pauses for a period. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 07.30.22 Prompt: Sentence. |
Enigma I live my life with both hands free, thanks to my jacket pockets. I carry everything I need, ‘cept ‘lectric plugs and sockets. But what I do not understand, though I’m sure I will in time, is why my brain sometimes demands my poetry must rhyme. Line count: 8 Rhymed ababcdcd For Express It In Eight, 07.29.22 Prompt: Pocket. |
Grasshopper Happy as the day is long, the grasshopper sings his song as he rasps and he buzzes, as his leg combs he brushes, and with careless abandon and no thought what he’ll land on, he bounds to the upper air launched to a future elsewhere. Line count: 8 Rhymed aabbccdd, seven syllables per line For Express It In Eight, 07.28.22 Prompt: Land. |
Where the Wind Goes Where the wind goes, whether hurried or languid, zephyr or gale, breeze or buffet, always direction, intent beyond perception, a dream of destination, assignation elsewhere. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 07.27.22 Prompt: Wind. |
Quotes from the Parrot Next Door Steven! Get up right now, it’s lunchtime! You’re a funny old bird. A little bit of bread and no cheese! Steven! Are you still in bed? Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 07.26.22 Prompt: Parrot. |
Overarching Ambition There, in the heat of a lowveld afternoon, the impala river reaches a paved road, shimmering strip, blast of dry furnace, the herd shies at the obstacle momentary, then one gathers itself, like a coiled spring released, it soars across the road in perfect arc, and the herd, in bright-flanked unison, leap together, a flying bridge to the shaded trees. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 07.25.22 Prompt: Overarching. |
Awake Morning presses down on me, a cat sleeping on my chest, movement beckons in the darkness, yet pain warns against haste. Slowly then, I swing out of bed, feet touch the cold floor. I rise and begin the rituals, the day is begun. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 07.24.22 Prompt: Morning. |
On the Other Hand The slump of the shoulders, the downcast look, these speak without words, we don’t need a book. spirit is broken and hope is forlorn, dreams are all shattered and tattered and torn, drought is just endless, the well has run dry, ev’rything parched but the tear in the eye, then the bright optimist shouts loud and high, “Cheer up my lads for tomorrow we die!” Line count: 8 Rhymed aabb, syllables ten per line For Express It In Eight, 07.23.22 Prompt: Slump. |
A New England A flying dream, a dream of flight, out over the ocean, mile upon mile, and then, to me, astonishing sight, skyscrapers, buildings, piled upon pile. “New York,” I thought, “it has to be!” America, never a dream before, yet decades have passed and here I be, all guesses aside, on Boston’s north shore. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab cdcd For Express It In Eight, 07.22.22 Prompt: Write a poem about a dream that came true, a prophetic dream of sorts. |