Sweet and Bitter Stuff of Wonder
Brought to you by Mary K
***
I Have To Be A Guitar Player In KISS
If I am a KISS player
I’ll get to wear
the most fearsome make-up
which will make up
for worries and low self-esteem
Relying on others to bring
and keep up my spirits
will be the lowest possible
point I could ever dream
of.
© 2024, soulmary
Notes: Yes, it’s a joke after the nice prompt at NaPoWriMo.net.
***
Let us be
optimistic in
our dreams.
For the world
will do its best to crush us
while we are awake.
© 2024, soulmary
Today, I am writing an independent poem for April Poem-A-Day challenge. Meaning, I’m not following a prompt. This poem came to me following something unpleasant happening in a close friend’s personal life. Plus, fear is always a thing, isn’t it?
Here it is:
***
Amidst the noise
of thunder
and the tears in
my soul,
I can still hear
the whisper of
the sea –
the magnificent
and frightening sea,
washing the empty beaches,
smoothing the coast,
caressing the abandoned sands.
Among all the colour
of people running around in hectic
panic and haze
wondering why they do it and
when
they can stop to rest,
I can still see
the long shadow thrown
by the tall pine tree
at the edge of that forest
which I knew as a girl.
The forest that lulled me
to tears and sweetness
together.
The forest that cooled me
and scared me with
indistinct figures and sighs.
Do I generally hear
of see just fear?
Mostly fear.
My own, lovely fear.
© 2024, soulmary
Hi, this time I post two Days’ poems in one post, not just because I penned them late, but also because they somehow belong together. For the Day 14, I drew inspiration from one of my favourite Van Gogh’s pictures – Starry Night. The next prompt took me to ‘the middle’. I hope you will enjoy both!
***
Starry Night
Anyone’s dreams – roam
among the stars
as we see them –
twinkling
at night.
Above lakes and territories
where turmoil and peace
take turns.
Over tragedies and petty worries
replacing the happy love
which burns.
High, clear, lucid, detached
from all that brings woe
to our hearts.
Yet also detached from all
that gives us reasons to go on
treading the soil
of mundaneness below.
***
So, get in the middle
That’s always the best.
Extremes bring too much of everything
When you’re between, you’re at rest.
Maybe they won’t see you
Perhaps they won’t respect
Whatever you stand for
and what you expect.
When you rest – it that for the best?
©2024, soulmary
Today, the two prompts were very interesting and difficult to follow. Robert at Writer’s Digest prompted us to write a Funny Poem, and the NaPoWriMo site asked for an attempt at a Tall Tale Poem (you know, the type of David Crocket stories). Here’s what I wrote, although I doubt it’s either funny or doing any justice to the tall-tale genre. The latter has always been a favourite of mine, but at the same time, the one I have never been particularly good at.
***
The circus came –
Clowns more frightening than funny,
All thanks to good old Stephen.
Children thought they’d better spend
their time creating heroes.
With costumes green and purple or bizarre,
with eyes so big and grinning lips,
their hands were shovels, some were rakes,
legs were particularly difficult to make.
Then look – the next day
all the forest was live with laughter
echoing throughout the village,
mixed with screams and shouts.
The circus stayed a month
The children’s heroes played around
Brimming with the joy they’ve found.
©2024, soulmary
Memories often bump in me
like balls sliding on fast tracks
or toys hurled by toddlers.
Sometimes they bounce off happily
causing smiles and leaving me bright.
Some, though, stick – thick and heavy,
reluctant to move on,
simply clinging to me
as cannonballs in damp clay.
They give me goosebumps,
or visions of dark.
The love of darkness
is overwhelming.
***
Belittling bad memories has never brought about the joy we hoped it would.
©2024, soulmary
Note: Both pieces are on the topic given by Writer’s Digest Prompt for the day – Memory. The second one is a Monostich after NaPoWriMo.net prompt for the day.
The poetry blog of Writer’s Digest through our very own Robert gave us a nice prompt – Blank Better. I decided to put Poetry in the blank, and here is the resulting poem –
Poetry Is Better
Poetry is better than most
awkward truths and silences.
It fills our souls with yearning,
tears and thoughts we want to
yell to the world or weep about.
Poetry urges us to be better,
stay better, dream wilder
sigh deeper.
What can be better than poetry?
It’s always new,
striking new,
eye-opening new.
Nothing’s better.
©2024, soulmary
So many times I have written a Two-for-Tuesday Love-Anti-Love set, that I thought I couldn’t do it justice. Still, I think these two pulled just right. The first one is Shadorma, and the second one derives from my favourite musical of Chicago and the famous piece “All I Care About Is Love” where the lawyer plays the generous type. Here is the video for you to enjoy:
And now, for the poems
***
Love is when
you make me coffee
all mornings
Not asking
what type I want or when but
simply knowing it.
***
Anti-Love
“All I care about is Love
That’s what I’m here for”
Billy Flynn, Chicago Musical
The lawyer loves the money they pay,
the scandal they make,
Sensation for Miss Mary Sunshine’s newspaper
Jealousy for the husband’s repertoir.
Love is the theme of many a mellow tales,
many a lies
and the songs
cheaters lull us by.
Anti-Love could be a topic
for a rhyme worded on a
beach at the tropic.
Of Cancer
Or Capricorn?
Who knows? Or who cares?
Anti-Love is a bug in which
we all stare.
©2024, soulmary
Good luck you wish for.
Bad luck you wish away.
Pot luck is what you get
when others cook their way.
Is there anything we can trust about luck?
Or control about pots?
Can we stand and watch from the side,
silently acknowlegding whatever’s served?
I wish I could simply eat the pot away,
not nagging for hours every day.
Still, we don’t control our luck –
it just comes and tends to stay.
©2024, soulmary
Tell It In A Funny Way
To bring all joy to life
And bask in the jolly light
of a carousel of sunshine bright.
Tell it to the crowds
so curious to know
what the latest gossip is.
Make them laugh
and forget their days
of bleakness,
holding on to fake dreams,
building their lives
on rumours.
So, tell it in a funny way
as if we still have pocketfuls of
joyride tickets.
Fun is for free, so
tell it in a funny way and
let the sunshine be!
© 2024, soulmary
