"There's not much doubt in any of our minds that no complete idea springs fully formed from our brow,
needing only a handshake and a signature on the contract to send it off into the world to make twenty-five billion dollars.
The germ of the idea grows slowly..." - Walt Kelly

Thursday, May 3, 2018

What's still to come?

Light follows your feet out the door,
the briefest imprints left behind
like prints on the beach,
soon to disappear in the darkness
of another hungry wave's pressure.

Here we tumble in the surf,
heads under feet, arms uncontrollable,
deaf in the crashing calamity.
But still: The sweating anxiety,
the fear - what's still to come?
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Playing on my Spotify at this very moment:
Flying Lotus (ft. Kendrick), Never Catch Me
(I can't quit this music video.)

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Chance/habit

NaPoWriMo Day 19: Going off-prompt today, because this just popped into my head.
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Any glance could be providence,
just a small moment when
a corridor opens in the crowd
for two sets of eyes to meet.
To be fair, the mind will read
just exactly what it wants -
it builds a fire in the rain
from brush and a loose gathering
of wet leaves and plant matter.
But goodness, what if that fire
somehow does manage to light?
Hasn't it then all been worth
the fears and hours of false hope?
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Playing on my Spotify at this very moment:
Crosby, Stills & Nash, Carry On/Questions

Saturday, April 14, 2018

No need to worry

NaPoWriMo Day 14: Write entries for an imaginary dream dictionary, and what it means to dream those things.
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- Spiders
Dreaming of spiders 
is an attempt by your brain
to reconcile
how creepy spiders are, 
despite knowing they
are also necessary. 

- A rainbow 
This is significant. 
Your life is headed
in new and interesting 
directions, rife with possibility. 
But be warned: 
Directions are often wrong. 

- Dinosaurs 
Any variety of extinct animal
would fall into this category. 
Essentially, you are panicking
about the trajectory of your life, 
fearful of irrelevance. 
Nothing to do with asteroids. 

- A parade
You are desperate for love, 
for something to celebrate, 
for the connection
you've been missing - 
just a taste would be nice. 
Just even the briefest morsel. 
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Playing on my Spotify at this very moment:
Kendrick Lamar, A.D.H.D.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

On all sides

National Poetry Writing Month Day 4

Write a poem that is about something abstract but discusses or describes that abstraction in concrete nouns.
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There is a storm in here -
vicious, gray clouds billow and
blur the once-blue sky.
Jagged ribbons of lightning
dance and rip the air to pieces.
I doubt I'd even notice
if one touched down and
turned the still-dead bark
of early spring to puffing tinder.
My whole brain is on fire.

Here is a boat cast out to sea,
rudderless, as the cliches go,
upturned by a skyscraping wave.
The epic horns of inspiration
cry out like wounded pets,
bloody and alone in the wild,
but still no oar floats to my fingers.
My hands bob with the current,
palms cupped and pleading
for the grace to douse this blaze.
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Playing on my Spotify at this very moment:
The Police, Roxanne

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Never to return

The cover of darkness
proves a poor insulator -
the stiff cold of winter amplified
over the steady buzz of silence.
A train pulls from the station, resistant,
until the tether snaps. Freedom.
And at each stop on the line,
the world has been asleep
just a little while longer -
a string of infinitesimal time zones,
the difference of a few minutes
as precious as true love.
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Playing on my iTunes at this very moment:
Audioslave, Like a Stone