Never Forget

Poppies
ironic emblem
for Memorial Day,
opium
for a nation's conscience

Forget:

sand, boredom,
taste of blood, beer,
smell of tobacco,
 burning flesh,
sound of laughter,
 screams, explosions, curses
Remember: ‘honor, bravery, sacrifice’

Young soldiers
with ghosts behind their eyes

So much to forget...

so much to remember...
Thank you.

Image by treehugger.com

This is a re-post of a poem I wrote for Memorial Day last year.   This is my attempt to express thanks for a sacrifice I can't even imagine.  It is also linked to IGRT for their Open Link Monday where you will find many wonderful poems.

His and Hers: Falling Out of Love

Her Version

We once were an audacious pair;

Attracted opposites combined

with hands (and often legs) entwined.

And then one day your manly air

became grating, nauseating.

You went from dreamboat to nightmare
Instead of sexy:  unrefined.

We once were an audacious pair.

His Version

We once were an audacious pair;

Attracted opposites combined

with hands (and often legs) entwined.

And then one day your sultry air

became grating, nauseating.

You went from dream-girl to nightmare
Instead of sexy:  unrefined.

You once had an audacious pair.

Image by hercampus.com

These are  Octains, a form created by Luke Prater.  It consists of eight lines as two tercets and a couplet, eight syllables per line with the first line repeated (as much as possible) as the last. Meter is iambic or trochaic tetrameter, but fine to just have eight syllables per line.  It is linked to the Open Link night at dVerse where you can read the work of many talented poets, or submit something yourself!

Yellow Clown Blues

Clowns always break me;

I see beneath the grease paint and rubber nose.

Your mask doesn’t work with me either,

no one’s does.

I carry the world’s

sorrow around my neck,

anger in my throat,

fear under my shoulder blades,

bilious, pressing,

threatening at any moment
to bubble through

in lavish sobs.

Image: The Circus with the Yellow Clown by Marc Chagall

This is written for The Mag where you will find many wonderful responses to the image provided by Tess Kincaid.  

Back Waters

Step out the door and back in time

to Grafton when I’m only nine,

beyond the lonely the cul-de-sac

the river ran along the back 
                         of our lot line.

A magic place to be a child

where wizards, trolls and faeries wild

kept hid amid the river banks,

and exploits worth the scolds and spanks
                         always beguiled.

So out that door and back in time

to Grafton when I’m only nine,

beyond the lonely cul-de-sac.

But unable to venture back, 
                         memory’s sublime.  

Image by R. Stainforth, River Irwell

This poem was inspired by the image of the River Irwell found at The Mag which looks so very much like the Milwaukee River that went past my childhood home.  The form called called Florette comes from IGRT.  And if you follow each of these links you will be in for treat. Very briefly though, the form consists of  Rhyme scheme: a, a, a, b, b/a; Syllable count: 8, 8, 8,12 

(fourth line has an internal rhyme of b on syllable 8, with the final rhyme a.  And the poem should consist of two or more stanzas.  

xxxxxxxa

xxxxxxxa

xxxxxxxb

xxxxxxxbxxxa

Moon Light

Planting moon

fills the sky tonight

(of course size matters)

And you come

so close…

I can feel you

pulling me out,

pulling me under,

rolling the blood in my veins

like waves on a beach-

crashing, ebbing.

Is there a tide chart?

Can you plot my crescendo?

Note: The moon will officially become full Saturday, May 5 at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And because this month's full moon coincides with the moon's perigee (closest approach to Earth) it will also be the year's biggest.  The moon will swing in 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from our planet, offering skywatchers a spectacular view of an extra-big, extra-bright moon. Source: SPACE.com

Planting moon a  Native American name given to the moon in May.  Source: www.farmersalmanca.com

Image by: jefferywestover.com (2011 Supermoon)