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Day 30 I struggled like Genevieve so I decided on satire ... Some sort of mangled elegy

The end is nigh! So hear my plight—oh friend!

Joy we shared, and pain, and grammar's bite.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.

But I write my p-cove chapbook tonight!

Day 30

Prompt: Write an elegy to the month...

Context: For whatever reason, I just could not get this one done - I tried, many times, and get slightly hung up on a different lament of a poem, and I know I don't HAVE to write something, but I wanted to, and since I hadn't done one yet, I wrote a Tanka to say goodbye to the month. Which my brain only let me do after I had given up for the evening... so it goes.

Poem:

We whisper goodbye,

To not wake those resting here,

Deep in their dreams, as

Calendar pages likes leaves

Fall from the tree on this night.

Day 28 prompt: Prompt: Write an ode to something from your past, or any past.

Context: I wanted to celebrate what usually isn’t considered a worthy subject for an ode. The moments in between the big moments, to the unimportant objects that make life a little bit easier but we don't get attached to. An ode to the people in the background who allow us to spend time with the people we love in the foreground, to everything that just exists without trying to be noticed

Ode to Things Left Untold

To the silence between words,

the soft spaces where meaning lingers,

to the breath you never notice

but carries you from thought to thought.

I sing for the forgotten hours

that never made the photos—

those quiet pauses between the laughter

where lives still happened,

where hearts still beat.

To the button barely hanging on,

the chipped cup at the back of the cupboard

that still cradles the warmth of tea,

to the broom that sweeps the dust away

without ever asking for thanks—

I celebrate you,

the unremarkable,

the unnoticed.

To the hands that fold the napkins,

the arms that set the table

so we can sit and speak our lives aloud,

to the voice that hums a song

while dishes clatter in the sink,

filling the house with music

only the walls remember.

For every object passed by,

for the pencils worn down to stubs,

for the doormat that bears our weight,

for the faded note left on the fridge,

for all the things that hold us

without ever holding our gaze—

I lift my voice to you.

And to the faces in the background,

the ones who wait while we linger,

the quiet presence behind the curtain

that makes the lights burn bright—

you are the steady rhythm

that lets us dance,

the stillness that gives shape

to all that matters.

For everything that exists without notice,

for the pieces of life

that never demand the spotlight,

I offer this song.

You are the unsung verses

in a poem that could not be written

without you.

Day 30 prompt: Write an elegy to September Context: I did try to twist it into celebration at the end but it sounded forced and didn't flow the way I wanted so maybe read the last part in a happy voice? HOW is this the end already??

Elegy to September

The golden days of summer fade to grey,

As shadows lengthen, creeping through the trees.

The warmth of August, now so far away,

Gives way to whispers on a cooler breeze.

The leaves, once bright, now tumble to the ground,

Their colors dulled by autumn’s quiet hand.

The air grows crisp, and silence wraps around,

A prelude to the frost that claims the land.

The sun sinks lower, slower in the sky,

Its fading light a memory of fire.

And though the world prepares to say goodbye,

September lingers, filled with soft desire.

With every shiver, every falling leaf,

The echoes of the summer still remain.

But in the chill, there stirs a quiet grief—

The winter waits beyond this fleeting strain.

Day 26

Prompt: Write an Elegy to the month.

Context: I tried the ABAB rhyme that Herb mentioned should be used, but I am not good at rhyming, it just doesn't come to me easily at all. So I have the feeling that part didn't work out, but I tried to make this reflect the month of PoCOChapMo. On a side note, I don't know how I ended up with only 26 days, where did the 4 days go?????

Starting in infancy with fear of the words not yet taught, of steps on feet never used in this world thrust upon me.

Hands guided me as my first steps were taken, words spoken with encouragement and gentle corrections given by transparent souls.

Stanzas of infinite possibility in a new world I now see, letting me move as the comfort of trying comes to me.

Haiku glide from my fingers with sonnets and tanka near, as words come with elegance and the confidence of steps I trust taught from this short life cycle.

Day 25

Prompt: Write a blank verse poem about how to use such a power to effect a transformation. This could be any transformation... in yourself, nature, society, mankind.

Context: I watched a video about Blank Verse poems and tried to create in the form explained. I do like the way I can totally ramble without stopping, but I do hope I got that rambling part right.

Title: Good with Evil

With the touch of unknown cursed blessings, humans rise like the dead of the future to come as they crawl across the land, scourge upon the forests of the gods untouched to view their use in the task of building the world into a good that will overcome the beasts that dwell upon the claimed world ungiven but owned by rights of the good for all who are worthy, decided with eyes glazed with the lust of power over all seen before them, power granted in acts of cruel, power granted for claims of good in a world yet to be tamed.

Through the claims of good, evil comes with its fist of steel, wood, and stone as man tortures the world to break its will, its body into one that suits their for the purpose of good, as though the world has no use but to give its body over to be raped by the mines of progress and the butches by the cleavers hungry to feed the never ceasing jaws of civilization, screaming with howling winds of pain, struggling with mighty waves crash against rigs of steel, quaking with the rolling torment of a body trying to extinguish the flames of progress, as the human disease persists in its acts of good.

Quiet rings through the world's empty peace as the axes of past rang for centuries with their mutilating blows no more swung in these lands now scatted with the bleached bones of disease no more, as scorched grounds green with new life's scabs grow new flesh of a world now pure with skies washed with rains for time unknown as waters flow with the memories of battles lost and won, with the passing moon life anew crawls from scares healed over sun's cycle of care the world breathes life free of civilizations good.

Day 24

Context: This was supposed to be a Ghazal poem for this prompt. But I was not understanding it, and giving I am already playing catch up I decided not to try and learn it. So, I just used to other parts of the prompt. I did decide to wrap it up with a haiku for some reason unknown. LOL And I seem to always write in three-line stanzas, not sure what's up with that. I seem to have weird poetry habits forming with no sense behind them. LOL

Prompt: Explore themes of love, loss, and longing.

Title: Somewhere we wait.

I know I love you…

or I will love you once I have found you

because I know you are somewhere and waiting in knowing like I am.

Months of loss

Years of longing

Decades of love.

I hold no faith of a god in my heart

only the faith of your existence in the world

prayers to be heard in your dreams as I hear yours in mine.

Even if death finds me before we find each other

I will go content and happy because you are there

somewhere.

In this world we wait

Your gentle breath in wind's touch

Whisper our love notes

Day 14

It wasn't my time to go,

I had so much left to grow.

A future planned, to see the land,

But fate played a different hand.

A single mistake, careless and swift,

My life was gone in a sudden drift.

Loved ones left to question why—

Too young, too soon, for me to die.

It feels like yesterday, yet years have flown,

Seasons passed, though I remain alone.

As dawn returns, I greet the sky,

But trapped here still, I wonder why.

The walls meant to hold me have crumbled away,

Returning to nature, no story to stay.

If I am forgotten, am I set free?

To pass to paradise, at peace I'll be.

Unfinished business now fades from view,

Nothing remains for me to do.

Goodbye, old haunt—I'll find the light,

As colors fade and all turns white.

Revision/little tweak/tweaking rounding out skeleton

Day 23

C.L.A.S

Finding Her Way Back Home

Winds spinning confusing seasons

enticing shadowed back roads

winding offbeat tracks

lacking guiding, grounding principles

My eyes

looking down puddles reflecting

foggy impression of what I should be

Holding tight

torrential flash downpour

spring last night

Summers burning hotter

perfect shade welcoming

reminiscing, laughter

Rich flamboyant erotic reds wanting to come

muted orange hues entice internal spice

yet, vibrant shocking mellowed yellow

soothe my overthinking mind

Full circle round

allowing us to cuddle tight

hibernate together all winter found.

Day 29

Prompt: Find an odd form, see what happens....

Context: I pretty much gave myself the list I found and about an hour to just write some things. For whatever reason, the Fibonacci poems captured my imagination for the moment - thematically they are all over the place - but in the middle of writing them I did have an idea of what to do with a random line I wrote weeks ago. Primarily for my own amusement I also threw in a Monostitch... and then a perhaps slightly less than "honest" try at an American Cinquan.

Some of the results are below - some are silly little poems, but not all of them, so I apologize for the thematic whiplash.

Poems:

Fibonacci Poems

Don't Cry

It’s

Now

The End.

I must go

But, please do not cry

We’ll see each other tomorrow

Destructive Doubt

I

Can’t.

(I lie.)

I’m afraid. 

What if this all fails?

Better to not try it at all. 

It Crawls

It

Crawls

The dark

Sharp teeth shine

Claws rip tender skin

No escape this time, I succumb

(Less Than) 7 (Not So) Dirty Words

Well

Dang!

Oh poop!

Fiddle sticks!

Oh fudge! And the rest

How creative we get sometimes.

Garden Ghouls

I

See

The Ghosts

Of neighbors - 

Halloween draws near

This year their house looks amazing!

--

Monostich

Too Late

Well, damn.

--

American Cinquan

Grand Theft Poetry

I think

Therefore I am...

Definitely stole that

Don’t call the poetry police,

I’ll hide.

---

... whatever this is that came out of my brain.

As Luck Would Have It

The drunkard's walk and happenstance,

So much of life is all just chance,

But sometimes feels ‘twas fated so,

As if right here’s where all roads do go. 

This poem now has come to its ends,

So, here’s to you my fortuitous friends.

Day 27 blank verse Power

I plant my self in soil so deep with love

In darkness I shall grow beyond your ken

And ripen into me alone once more

Until I blaze into the dawn of day

Expand beyond all hope and trepidation

Oh fear not growth nor healing pains to come

For once the sun hits gentle leaves with light

I will spread wings of powerful creation

And take flight

Ghazal This has been difficult what do you think? How can I make this work? Loss Hollow tree hit by a lightning bolt

Grief strangles me in his hold

You fell like a leaf in autumn

You would you have been told

And yet you could not change

Striding forward oh so bold

Now we sit in sorrow alone

Loss is always dark and cold

Day 28

Prompt/Context: I was finishing up working on some photos and sitting at my laptop in a somewhat reflective mood about creativity after seeing a post from another photographer about refocusing on their love of the craft and this sort of just came tumbling out of my brain...

Poem:

Do you remember your first time?

No, not that one. 

The first time you made an idea real.

The first time you realized creativity called you,

Knowing then, or maybe not realizing yet,

How it would drive your dreams, 

And haunt your waking moments too.

When that shutter click chemically came to life in the dark.

When pencil on paper produced feelings,

Some you may not have even known you had. 

When your body flew so freely across the stage,

When words spilled out onto the page.

When the rest of the world became quiet, 

When your mind was clear yet vibrating.

I don’t know if I remember THE first,

But I do remember so many firsts,

And seconds, thirds, fiftieths and hundredths.

I remember falling out of love with it all, and back in,

Being called back to create again and again.

So, do you remember your first time?

I don’t know if I do, I’m not sure that it matters,

Because I am sure, we’ve all felt that feeling.

Day 26 prompt: Write a ghazal. What is something or someone you long for, and how does that longing shape your experience or perspective?

Context: I was struggling to write something that I didn’t find completely cringe, for some reason. Everything I was writing felt like someone making fun of people in love or one of those “eat, pray, love” mass produced signs you can find at Target. Then we found out that there are two mice who took shelter in a cupboard in my dad’s house (he lives near the country and the temperatures dropped quite significantly, and that’s where he keeps dry food for the dogs). We’re arranging the logistics to capture them and then release them in the right spot, but in the meanwhile we placed a webcam to make sure it was indeed mice we were dealing with, so now we have out personal "rat cam" and I also busted both my dad and my husband leaving food for the mice each night because “they’re guests until we catch them”.

Anyway, here’s a ghazal from the point of view of a house mouse.

Curled in a Paper Box

I gather the crumbs while you sleep through the night,

The cat’s eyes are watching, but I keep through the night.

The wind hums of winter, the cold on its way,

Yet I dream of warmth, how we creep through the night.

For you, I scavenge, steps heavy with fear,

But love knows no rest when I leap through the night.

Curled in the box where the paper smells sweet,

Heaven is ours, the dark sweeps through the night.

Your breath, it is soft, and your whiskers like silk,

I stay near your side, though I weep through the night.

No corner is safe, but your touch makes me bold,

Danger and love both run deep through the night.

My beloved, I wander in shadows alone,

But find peace in the warmth that we keep through the night.

Day 27

Prompt: Powerful forces and their ability for transformation... written in Blank Verse.

Context: I think today has bested me a bit. While I was concerned blank verse might make my brain a little mushy, the bigger problem was just getting something on to the page at all. I think I may have forced this one a bit, but (mostly) I think I got the meter right - they should mostly be trochees... I think... maybe. 🫠 halp! haha maybe I should go back to rhyming about insomnia 🙃

Poem:

Do we let it break us, rage so silent?

Dare we seethe and fester, minds in chaos?

Or, do we channel these thoughts into change

Boiling over, uncontained, no silence.

Fire filled we take to the streets en masse

So perhaps this time a change will come for good.

The first hot weekend of spring we took the kids put to the park today. I jotted down these five senryu

many monsters

clamber over colored

metal and plastic

green ribbed beast

drapped in ropey sinue

over which kids climb

sky to ground

with slantways speed

children slide to earth

with pendulum ease

and a kick of legs

her swing reaches space

water splashes out

with every fountain drink

making small rainbows

Possible History

faith, soul’s mental state

beyond ideas of this and that

connecting fleeting feeling

sustaining social belonging

my kernel of our humanity

plaited threads of emotion

ribbons of interconnection

family, friends, fellows unite

inspiring story, song, dance so bright

generating communal creativity

Day 23

Prompt: Write around the theme of home. This could take the path of arriving home after a physical trip or arriving at a place in your mind that feels 'right' - you are where you belong.

Title: Hidden Words

In expectations of life

not all words exist

hiding knowing from my soul.

Existence in nonexistence

in the words unsaid

to erase what has always been.

You try to hide me

hide my people

by hiding the words of existence.

I still move forward

strength build carrying the weight

of our expectations.

Without words

I found the path forward

through your minefields and attacks.

With scared fingers

we dig ourselves to the surface

after you buried us.

In your hiding us

we found ourselves

in those hidden before us.

You made us strong

when you pushed us together

we found community.

I have learned

your hidden words

I speak them loud with my people.

Those that come

next into this world

will hear the words I speak.

Context: This one took a bit of thinking, and I realized I needed to be a little more broad. I wanted to write about not knowing that the word "Non-Binary" even existed for most of my life, and the incredible change in my life, the feeling home when I found and spoke it.

Prompt 15. Rewrite

I haven't wrote poetry since I was about 15/16 so those old ones are lost to time. Nothing of my own to rewrite! I chose to rewrite a song. If you saw my talk at Keele this was one of those songs. I will give a warning...this is a heavy one. I don't feel everything in this song NOW(thank you therapy!) but they are feelings I've felt at points in my life. The song is: I’d Rather Overdose by HONESTAV and Z

Can't let you go. I've tried because I want to grow. You were never one to hold me close. I've always wanted your time. You've always been on the path to overdose.

I know that you could hear me cry. You didn't try to comfort and I don't know why. Cried till my eyes ran dry. You were too busy getting high.

Can't let you go. Tried because I want to grow. You're never been one to hold me close. I've always wanted your time. You've always been on the path overdose.

I can't slow down. Don't know how.

I'm going to do it all somehow.

fill the walls with accolades that are worthless.

I'm supposed to feel accomplished but it just causes stress.

Here I am still a mess up.

I want your praise though I'm grown up.

Can't let you go. I tried because I want to grow. You've never been one to hold me close. I've always wanted your time. You've always been on a path to overdose.

Sometimes I wonder if you hate me. Sometimes I hate me too. All I've ever wanted was to be loved by you. All the things I went through. Take care of it myself is what I had to do .

Can't let you go. I've tried because I want to grow. You've never been one to hold me close. I've always wanted your time. You've always been on a path to overdose.

I hold on cuz I know one day you will pass away. But I'll still see you every time I see my own face. I wish our home had been a happy place. I'll grieve but not ready to say goodbye today.

Day 25 Home

Everything in its place, neat as a pin,

A life of order where no chaos creeps in.

But where's the room to dream, to be free,

In a space that's too perfect, too planned to be me?

Messy and wild, laughter fills the air,

But rules are scarce, and structure is rare.

Fun for a time, but soon comes the cost—

Insecurity whispers when boundaries are lost.

Building a home doesn't come with a guide,

It's a dance between freedom and rules, side by side.

Nurturing children with love and a plan,

To grow into adults who stand strong, as they can.

Admittedly not my favorite.