Identify

I am from Lite Brite and Etch-a-Sketch,
Tinker Toys and Legos,
Fashion Plates and Barbie.
I am from four-eyes and brace face,
bad haircuts and big eyeglasses.

I scribbled and drew,
danced and made music.
Single child,
nurtured by parents and educators,
I dreamed big dreams about what I would be.

State Fairs and band camps,
ball games and concerts;
bleachers and classrooms,
football fields and stages -
these are the places that shaped who I am.

Perfectionist and pouty,
moody and meticulous -
some things never change.

Hard-working and driven,
addicted to knowledge -
some things never change.

I am a product of myself.

---

Today's poem is based on a prompt shared with me by my dear friend Meg. It is a response to a wonderful poem by George Ella Lyon called "Where I'm From."  Thanks for sharing that with me, Meg!



Day 9

Believe

Come to me for your healing -
I welcome you with open arms.
It will be simple and perfect,
a whisper of soul, of honest acceptance.
I will ground you in rock and stone,
and timeless purity.
Your ancient tears,
fragments of emotion,
will be respected.
Breathe the cool air, feel the release.
Touch the cool earth, feel the forgiveness.
You and your memories are home here,
in the calm silence of bliss.
Oh, structure of flesh and bone,
you are sacred and special.
You were made in harmony with the ancients.
I know you.
I accept you.
I love you.
Be at peace.

---

Today's prompt asked us to "converse with images." We were to pick an image (or images, in my case) of our liking and have a conversation with it. What would the picture say? Why is it meaningful to me? What does it make me feel or remember? What kind of mood does it invoke? As answers to these questions started to come, we were encouraged to jot down words freely and randomly, and then try to connect the dots, so to speak.
These particular images are from my own collection, and they were taken in a location that is very special and sacred to me. When I started this piece, it had a completely different tone, a different voice, a different point. The first draft was written directly in verse, and I thought it was the story the pictures wanted me to tell, but it wasn't working and I knew it. So I scrapped the first version and starting making a list of words, just as instructed in the prompt. What a miracle that was! Emotions worked their way into it, and I came up with something much more true to what the images mean to me. This has definitely been the most difficult prompt for me yet, and certainly the most rewarding.



Day 6

It's nothing personal, but...

All the petty talk - words
about the weekend, the game, a trip to your grandma's.

Honestly, I don't care.

Yes, my weekend was nice, but
I don't want to tell you about it.
Not today, anyway.
Try me tomorrow - I might feel up to it then.

Want to gossip about who's not doing what at work?
Count me out.
I'm listening, but not participating
in your backstabbing nonsense.

Small talk is not on the table
for me today.
You've only said five words and already I'm tired
of your mouth -
aggravated by your need to engage me.
Don't you know it deflates me?

Can you hear my teeth gritting and
the "Shut up!" chant in my head?

I am my own best company.
I don't need your chatter to make my day work.
Just leave me alone, let me do my work,
where I can daydream but still be productive.

Please, kindly go away.
I'm having an Introvert's Monday.

---

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt asked us to get personal. What they were trying to tease out was a way for us to make our own poetry personal (i.e. give a voice, a shape, an identity to our poetry and what it means to us), but I ended up coming up with this instead.  It's one thing to say that I'm an introvert, but it's another thing to actually put the inner dialog that comes with that territory on the page for all the world to see.  Thus, this is a personal post for me.  Also, the aloofness that surely comes off on days like the one described above might be taken personally for some...




Day 5

Radical Word Play

The Read Write Poets got to work on
their Research Working Paper dubbed the "Radisson Witch Project."

It was regarding a Respectful Workplace Program
- located on the Road to Wigan Pier in the River West Plaza -
housing a Rotational Work Program that
tests the Real Wheel Push of tires (a Required Weather Performance).

Ratings Were Placed on the tires on Regular White Paper.
If they did not pass the Rhythmic Wave Process
they were subjected to a Repair Welding Procedure.
This required a Rad Work Permit, which is issued by a Random Weird Person.

Once the Rigid Wave Pattern is employed by a reputable welder person,
two outcomes are possible:
1.) Reliable Wheel Products will move on to a Roads Working Party, or
2.) Right Wing Pundits will send rejected wheel products to the Radioactive Waste Pile.

The Research and Writing Program will post the results to Recruitment and Workforce Planning via a Rational Web Platform on Randys Web Page.

---

This little bit of nonsense is inspired by the prompt given for day 2 of NaPoWriMo: the ol' acronym switcheroo.  We were advised to go to Acronym Attic and type "RWP" (the initials of ReadWritePoem, of course) in the search field, and then to peruse the resulting phrases that use the letters RWP as their first initials and incorporate them into our poem in any way we see fit.  I decided to try making a story using as many of the phrases as I could.  Of approximately 80 phrases, I used 21 - one quarter of the list... not too shabby!  This was a fun prompt to play with.  Things like this will help me expand beyond my usual "nature" repertoire.



Day 2

Something's coming

I paw at the ground,
Tossing aside leaf litter and rich humus -
Searching for signs of life,
Inhaling the aroma of sweet earth primordial.

The mist of morn,
Of spring new-born -
It beckons forth
And I am torn.

The fern is furtive as I fumble with the soil -
Not yet ready to burst forth, to show itself,
To leave behind the shackles of dormancy;
Still waiting for thirst-quenching rains,
And for mercy from the strains of dormancy.

Knees on the ground
I listen to the sound
Of earthworms crawling 'round -
Happy that new life will soon abound.


-my response to read write poem prompt #118

Untitled

Hurry, quick, jot it down!
Something, anything, write it now!

Must write for exercise,
to stretch the brain -
Must write for exercise,
to reach, to search, to strain.

Can't worry about TV,
can't worry about time.
Must focus on the words,
it's all about the rhyme.

Practice makes perfect,
write a little each day.
But LOST is about to come on,
so I must be on my way!