Audacious

What I want to say
Does a speedy estimate
Of words I contain
Before deciding it is
Safe to brave so much fresh air.

There is a beauty
In the newly bestowed clear
Space – nothing hurries;
The birds are better at home,
Exhaust is missing rush hour.

I walk breathing deep
Though pollution is absent
Pollen soldiers on
Running my nose, forcing these
Sneezes and coughs troubling me.

A calm filters down
A peace often dearly missed,
Acceptance descends –
A careful celebration,
Renewed clarity, fresh air.

The prompt today for Prompted Positive Poetry’s Facebook Group was “fresh air.”

Sheltering Silence

Writing hides today
In the quiet shadows left
Behind upon our
Exit en masse from places
We typically frequent.

The patter of steps
No longer echo in halls,
The hushed whispers
Between co-workers are now
Fallen into deep silence.

The schools are empty
With no laughter on playgrounds,
Parents have become
Educators somewhat unsure
Their skills, patience, will suffice.

Words wander quick away
Bringing lonely quietness,
Writing hobbles on astray.

The prompt for the Poem A Day Challenge Countdown on Poetic Asides was “quiet.”

Driven to Prosperity

“Live long and prosper,” quoth Spock,
As I sit on a tan imitation leather sofa
Watching a small black & white television
With the minty smoke of Daddy’s KOOL’s
Wafting around me like misty swamp fog.
“Forgive them,” He said, “for they know not…”
My parents bought an air conditioner after
Being told I would die without I had one,
But cigarettes, he did not know, at least maybe.
“Live long and prosper,” quoth Spock,
I wish his Vulcan self could have intervened,
Kept me safe when all my books were scattered
Over the pavement of the street and I was
Knocked entirely off my feet almost daily,
I got a suitcase for the books because damaging
Those hurt me in a way I cannot explain,
But I said nothing to justify the scrapes
Usually, I tried to limit the sight of my body.
“Live long and prosper,” quoth Spock,
His words were encouragement enough to try
Picking myself up repeatedly and pushing hard
To learn, learn, learn, I kept my mind in hiding
It could not be bullied, abused, stopped, turned,
It was a well-tuned engine fueled by possibility
And every particle I gathered and consumed
Made my hunger and thirst grow for something
Further, rarer, richer, deeper, more.
Prosperity only measured by my constant
Cultivation of the thriving garden of knowledge
Gained in a quest, I maintain even to today,
To live long and prosper without cowering again.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

I never imagined
We would live in
A time of plague,
But as I think
It would seem life
Has prepared me.

I learned as a wee
Little one in my
Illustrated Holy Bible
The fate of the Egyptians
Who in the Old Testament
Chose to stand against God.

I often read Edgar’s,
“Masque of the Red Death,”
And a few times I braved
Stephen’s apocalyptic masterwork,
The Stand which invaded
My dreams with fear.

Various articles on 1918
With their focus on
The failure of the grid,
Were supremely worrying,
Then more recently
Chuck’s terrifying Wanderers.

When the first news broke
In the New York Times
That the Coronavirus was
Fast-moving in China
Something clutched at me
And I became concerned.

As it spread further
Taking a tenacious hold
Worry invaded, and with
Each report of increased transmission
Fear escalated until a panic
Began to set in, spooking me.

I gathered my nerves
Convinced God is in Control
Knowing isolation is my lifestyle
Finding some peace that time
Is easy to occupy when creative
Hoping and praying as life goes on.

This was written about 4am after watching Netflix on the tablet in bed. I should have put it up earlier, but I was not sure how I felt about it. I try to focus on positive things, but I think there must be some use for poetic comment on the times.

Redoubtable

It was brought to my attention
That my infatuation has not gone
Without notice among those few
Who are aware of my propensity
To, through an unfortunate mutation,
Assume an addiction to almost
Anything presently in existence.
There are no confines within
Which I am unable to exercise
The trait whether reality, fantasy,
Imagination, or creativity, it is
All-encompassing in time and space
Even when I make courageous
Attempts to restrain desire
There is very little I can do.
Love takes me over and chooses
Whoever and whatever it will
Filling me with such longing
Little in the universe can be denied,
Though I have over a lifetime realized
If certain things are avoided,
Never kept in my vicinity,
My voracious appetite does
To a lesser extent, prey upon me.
So I shelter when I may
Restricting my interactions
And become in less position
To have cause to say, “Take It Away!”

This was prompted by “Take It Away” on the Facebook Group, Prompted Positive Poetry. In all sincerity, I did not think it would be the answer to the prompt. It worked out though.