"Hook, Line and Sinker"

Hook, Line and Sinker

Under placid waters,

this lagoon

lies the richest treasure

a true heart.

Plunder at your will.

Will you delve deep

to liberate this artifact?

Or just stay on shore

casting a hook from time to time

baited with something juicy?

Natives in their restlessness

call from the jungle.

You can hear their drum beats

from here.

November 20, 2015

prompt:  use three words from this list:  relent, horrendous, artifact, lagoon, wobble, plunder

"Complaint Form"

Complaint Form

She says,

"That doesn't sound good,"

when I tell her

the latest health news.

She's racked with pain

every day

from her arthritis,

still listens in sympathy.

Those two organs,

my kidneys, aren't quite right,

so important, it's not like

I have a spare in the fridge.

I was born with two

and I managed to fuck them both up,

not without a little help from my doctors.

Did they know the pills

would affect me this way?

Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.

Or maybe they just didn't care (enough).

November 20,2015

prompt:  thing poem

"Take No Prisoners"

Take No Prisoners

All's fair

in love and war

but what if love

feels like war?

Nothing seems fair

these days.

Are you all about the conquest?

With my take no prisoners attitude,

leaving us only with bandaged breaks,

splintered sprains, black eyes, flesh wounds.

This idea of fairness

instilled by my parents,

the 3-year old in me

still refuses to share.

You, the solo act, a one-man band.

Why am I here?

All the oxygen's been sucked out of the room

not even a candle to light our way.

November 20, 2015

prompt:  idea poem

"Love is for the Birds"

Love is for the Birds

This I know.

Because God made so many

of the flying chirping singing things.

If my heart could soar

above this dirty road,

if it would take wing

then maybe I'd believe.

Cupid shot me in a most tender place.

I try to muscle this arrow out,

point of gold, flights of old,

unable to move it an inch.

What did Cupid use,

a crossbow?

It hurts so much.

The kind of pain..

Halo rusted in the rain.

My body wants to stay the night,

while my brain wants to run far away.

Heart in between.

Guess I'll vote with my feet.

November 20, 2015

prompt:  (blank) is for the birds

"Ghost Story"

Ghost Story

Memories of you still haunt me.

There should be an island

for all the ex's.

Instead, you're still walking

the same Earth as me

in some far corner of the state.

Simpler if I'd fallen too.

We could have been married

and divorced by now, with 2.5 kids.

I've nothing to be bitter about,

to sour my face and grey my hair.

Hearts break in the most interesting ways,

but repairing them is a singular business,

forgiveness

forgiveness.

November 17, 2015

prompt:  haunted poem

"Mornings"

Mornings

I roll out of bed,

go and pee,

feed Leo dry food,

take my blood sugars,

scowl at the numbers,

settle downstairs

and pour a bowl

of cereal with milk

except for the days

of microwave oatmeal

buried in brown sugar.

That's how I start my days

on Planet Earth.

The end is a whole 'nother

set of rituals.

Bruises between.

November 17, 2015

prompt:  ritual poem