Two Poems for Day 30

 

Teachers

This species is prone to self-harm.

They are mainly nocturnal.

They are loud, but harmless.

They would do anything for a good

lesson idea.

They will lie and bend the rules,

if there is growth to be gained.

To protect the species,

find a quiet and shady place.

Dig deep

and plant your seeds.

The saplings take a lot of care.

They thrive on lists of

irregular verbs,

Latin declensions,

famous speeches,

rhetorical devices,

trivia,

and Socratic questions.

Don’t underperform

or slack around

and your trees will bear fruit. 

The Compass 

Someone gave me this compass 

so I wouldn't get lost. 

I don't remember who is was, exactly. 

Whoever they were, 

they were trying to help. 

I get lost easily.

 I am not sure I’ve ever told you that. 

There was a poem we repeated as children.

 It said we should turn our face to the North,

our back to the South. 

But I could never remember 

which side the Sun rose.

Left or right? 

And, in fact,

 I cannot tell left from right either. 

Whoever it was that gave me the compass 

was trying to be helpful.

 Pity I have no use for it. 

Most days, I just get up and go. 

I enter that forest over there

and get lost. 

And who told you to follow me around? 

Now you are lost as well. 

GloPoWriMo Day 30 

Pigeon Stretches

 

Pigeon Stretches

Nothing ever changes here.

The sky is as blue,

the flowers smell as sweet.

the quince tree leans as drunkenly towards the house

as before.

This is the path where I walked my dog.

Those are the woods where I got lost,

repeatedly.

Nothing ever changes here, 

except for some minor things.

For example,

I used to love pigeon stretches,

but now they hurt.

Other than that,

everything is pretty much the same.

GloPoWriMo Day 29

The Meaning

 

The Meaning

Sunshine on my skin.

Spring weather.

What is the meaning 

of all this?

Sunchine on my skin.

So good.

GloPoWriMo Day 28

How to declutter your home

 

How to declutter your home

Make two piles. Left stays.

Right goes.

Open every drawer. Upturn everything.

Your collection of cinema tickets

has to stay, of course. Read the letters

one by one, put them back. Catalogue

your books. Spend

two hours reading, then

open the boxes of photographs

from under the bed. Cry a little.

Keep going. You are making

great progress. Open your wardrobe.

Take out that dress you wore

on your prom night. You can’t fit in

any more, but surely

you can’t throw it away either.

Go back to the drawers. That is

much easier. Make two piles. One stays.

The other has to go. Then forget

which is which.

GloPoWriMo Daz 27

Day 26 - Ars Poetica

 

The poem for Day 26 is here:

Ars Poetica

Morning Coffee

 

Morning Coffee

It is the mirror I see myself in.

I take off the face I’ve been wearing lately

and a young woman resurfaces.

It is the black cat I am resting my hands on,

so warm and fuzzy to the touch,

its tail long and winding.

My coffee’s feet have cushions on them.

It doesn’t scratch, even when it’s bored of you.

It is a clock that has stopped,

a soft blanket made of fur,

a cave made of purrs.

We could sit here all morning 

keeping each other company,

while the world goes by.

GloPoWriMo Day 25

Baba Yaga

 

Baba Yaga

Suddenly I found myself by a lake

in front of a green doll house.

On further inspection I noticed the house stood

on chicken legs, like pillars above the lake.

So, here we are, I thought.

This is how we’ll play it tonight.

A woman opened the door and beckoned me in.

It was Svetlana, my Latin teacher.

I hadn't seen her in years.

I had always liked her, so

I walked in gladly.

Svetlana was dressed as a flapper,

very elegant, with long pearls 

and a green dress made of rustling silk.

Not at all like a nerd who only cares

about history and extinct languages.

She served me green tea from green cups.

The inside of the house was also green.

Everything was pretty in this doll house.

We spoke about teaching and about life.

Then the chicken legs decided to walk.

We moved slowly, across the lake,

into the woods and further on

across that land

far, far away.

GloPoWriMo Day 24