The second of my collections of poems written for "Express It In Eight." |
As usual these days, I choose blog format because it offers more space for the work. |
Aside I love the sound of breaking glass, the fourth wall descending in a shower of shards, my arm reaching out to grasp your collar and drawing you in to say boo in your face, yet adding spice to your suspension of belief as you become complicit in creation, grinning with me in recognition of deliberate interjection. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 09.30.24 Prompt: Interjections. Note: There is a chapter in my book The Gabbler’s Testament that is one long interjection or “breaking of the fourth wall.” |
Old Groaner Grumbles whether empty or full busies himself in secrecy sends his demands in disguise cares not a fig for status speaks loud when he feels ignored mutters in dreams when replete swells in pride when pandered and shrinks to nothing when starved. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 09.29.24 Prompt: Write a famished poem. |
Old Age Old age is a cardboard box emptied of all allure boundaries square and set contents departed space now for cats’ play imagination coiled in a cube weightless yet bold a toddler’s delight. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 09.28.24 Prompt: Movie titles (ignored for once). |
Forgiveness Boy, you’re going to carry that weight, it’s a boulder upon your shoulder, a huge obstruction in your fate, to bend your back as you get older. Set it down on the path behind, let it lie forgotten in the sun free its clogging grip upon your mind and let your joy explode in how you run. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 09.27.24 Prompt: National Forgiveness Day. Note: Thanks to Paul McCartney for the first line. |
Exoskeletons In the land of insects where the bugs do fly, the lawn’s a mighty forest and the deserts magnified; so huge are the obstructions and catastrophe so vast, survival needs great stamina and armoured outer cast. The creatures there like tanks go lumb’ring to and fro, their carapace so clumsy and their faces made of stone, they spin their webs and beat their wings, they chirp and grind and holler, in alien chorus sing. Line count: 8 Rhymed couplets For Express It In Eight, 09.26.24 Prompt: Article regarding the appearance of insects. |
Buses Good things come to those who wait, unless they’re buses in England and then the winter ones are worst, leaving you standing in the slush, the cold creeping through your coat and breath frosting in the gloom; so when one finally appears it brings two others and all are full. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 09.25.24 Prompt: Good thing come to those who wait. |
Punctuation Blues I’ve got the punctuation blues and lost my pronunciation cues; with a plethora of commas, the period is my momma, my exclamation don’t see the point, the question mark has split the joint, apostrophe won’t pay its dues: I’ve got the punctuation blues! Line count: 8 Rhymed couplets For Express It In Eight, 09.24.24 Prompt: Try writing a poem that correctly includes at least 4 of the list given. The poem uses semicolon, commas, colon and exclamation point. |
Campfire As the fire takes hold and flames dance in the dark deep in the inferno in the cavern of intense light there is peace and gentle movement glowing red embers with white hot delicate edges flaking to ash in the heat. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 09.23.24 Prompt: Write a blazing poem. |
Physical Geographical Features My face is a geographical feature in truth I’m a landscaped creature my nose is a towering crag my cheeks are dunes that have sagged my brow is a ploughed field and my eyes like volcanoes peeled my mouth is the entrance to hell and sounds like an echoing well. Line count: 8 Rhymed couplets For Express It In Eight, 09.22.24 Prompt: Physical geographical features. |
Monochrome Moments All our yesterdays, mirrored in the old man’s eyes, as the mind, finding the day too long, finds solace in the past. These reruns of those times, treasured fragments of ourselves, call sweetly now and draw us back as the credits begin to stream. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 09.16.24 Prompt: All our yesterdays. |