In Poem Sound and Song ~ with audio

April 18, 2021April 18, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 2 Comments

In Poem Sound and Song

Listening to our shadow on a night picnic,
being visited by words, I dress myself
with raining moonbeams that bring me magic
with dream sense. Giving them our real names,
I sing to the stars of my love for you
with controlled abandon. What’s my image?
Poems and the body, think of them as being here
as one, for poems are alive. These are
the nights you love me most,
full moon me, most mad and moonly.

This poem is my response to Day 18 at napowrimo.net, where the challenge is write a poem based on the title of one of the chapters from Susan G. Woolridge’s Poem crazy: Freeing Your Life with Words, from the book’s Table of Contents, found here. I’ve included fifteen of those phrases in my poem so it is nearly a cento.
The chapter titles I have used are:

•   poem sound and song
•   listening to our shadow
•   on a night picnic
•   being visited by words
•   I dress myself with rain
•   bring me magic
•   dream sense
•   our real names
•   controlled abandon
•   what’s my image
•   poems and the body
•   being here
•   poems are alive
•   full moon me
•   most mad and moonly

Dancers silhouette found at clipartbest.com

Ken G.

~ Day 18 ~

Dusk to Dawn

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 4 Comments

Dusk to Dawn

First light arrives with last, and I feel your pull
as you near my horizon framed in dusk.
Your bare presence brings the first sliver
of satisfaction, delivered in a warm light
that intensifies with each rising moment.
I feel your full embrace in a moment
of silver light that lasts through the night.
But a night of moments is never enough,
and your last light fades as first light arrives.

This poem is my response to Day 17 at napowrimo.net,
where the challenge is to write a poem about, or involving, the moon.

Ken G.

~ Day 17 ~

Never Enough Time

April 16, 2021April 17, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 6 Comments

Never Enough Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around words until you’ve found just the right sound
Then wait for a prompt or something to show you the way
Tired of thinking, getting nowhere – write all day and show no gain
You realize you’ve gone too long and you’ve killed too much time today
Then all at once you find ten hours have got behind you
If you don’t get this poem done, you’ll miss out on the fun

With each word spun you hope you’ll get done – that’s your thinking
Jot your words down, as you hope somehow they make sense
The words sound the same in a relative way, but you soldier
On as you write, long, long into the night
Every minute getting shorter, hope you don’t run out of time
Words that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation – it’s done, come what may
The time is gone, the poem is over, thought I’d something more to say

Starting over again.
I’ll try to keep up if I can
And when I’m done here, cold and tired
It’s good to know my computer is wired
Far away across the world
Other poets write their words
Join me to participate
In Global Poetry Writing Month

This poem is off prompt for Day 16 at napowrimo.net. I was running out of time as the day wore on, so I wrote this after dinner – with apologies to Roger Waters and Pink Floyd (Time).

Ken G.

~ Day 16 ~

Image source: Wikimedia Commons – cornice of Imperial palace on The Palatine Hill in Rome

Straight From the Source ~ with audio

April 15, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 26 Comments

Straight From the Source

I follow lines. Curves and angles
may draw my eye, but always
bring me back to lines. An arc,
a tangent, the shadow of a cornice
cannot conceal details, divert direction.
A hairpin may reverse direction
but always takes me forward.

Each one speaks to me, waits
to meet the page, carbon to fiber,
or the screen, pixels in a lattice,
forming lines that tell the story
of the lines that inspire me.

Off prompt for Day 15 at napowrimo.net, but still on track to write at least a poem a day in April for National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2021.

Ken G.

Shared with Open Link #290 – Live Edition at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.

~ Day 15 ~

Image source: Wikimedia Commons – cornice of Imperial palace on The Palatine Hill in Rome

To the Question ~ with audio

April 14, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 8 Comments

To the Question

What is truth, and what is fiction?
Though facts may abound,
much is unknown. There is no lack
of sources or resources, yet not
all is black and white. Insights,
opinions from self-labeled experts
available at our fingertips, only
muddy the waters. Clarity
is open to interpretation. If only
I might ken their meaning.

This poem is my response to Day 14 at napowrimo.net, where the prompt is to write a poem that delves into the meaning of one’s first or last name.

Ken G.

~ Day 14 ~

Image source: pinclipart.com

Following the Roots

April 13, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 12 Comments

Following the Roots

Long past its prime
a mighty oak stands, still.
In a forest of green,
no leaves grace these branches.

Time and the elements
have taken their toll,
yet its majesty can be traced
along every one of its limbs.

Witness to hundreds of years
of mankind’s history, its own
can be seen in each of those lines,
every branch a tale of its environs.

I wonder at its thoughts, formed
as each new bud opened, transitioned,
and fell to the ground to nourish
its own roots, food for those thoughts.

My own thoughts follow the poetry
of those paths, falling to take shape
on the page, in the hope to capture words
that stand as tall, and for as long, as that oak.

Off prompt for Day 13 at napowrimo.net, this poem is in response to earthweal weekly challenge: TOWARD AN ECOPOETRY. Brendan asks us to consider how our poetry works or doesn’t in regard to six offered questions. I tried to touch on the following:

3. If our inner lives echo natural rhythms without, how can we come
to understand the inner by growing closer to the outer?

~ Day 13 ~

Terra Nova

April 12, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 7 Comments

Terra Nova

With the promise
of a brighter tomorrow,
I enter the airlock
knowing the only exit
does not take me back,
only forward. I open it
to see a wondrous vista
before me and realize I leave
behind the technologies
that deny Terra the expression
of her true self.

I step through and accept
this gift without regret,
for who could deny
this unspoiled beauty
is worth more than all
I leave behind. Forward
lies the future mankind
once thought out of reach.

This poem is my response to the prompt for Day 12 at napowrimo.net, which challenges us to “write a poem using at least one word/concept/idea from each of two specific dictionaries: Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary and the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.” As soon as I saw airlock, I knew I would use that. I then went to the Classical Dictionary, looking for Gaia, but found only Terra, her Roman equivalent. My poem grew from there.

~ Day 12 ~

Image source: Wikipedia (edited here)

This Fluid Connection

April 11, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 27 Comments

This Fluid Connection

I’ve paddled to the middle of the Niagara River, drifted
along a sandy shore to see a green heron among watery roots,
heard egrets high in a tree call my name.

When I sat on the shore of Lake Ontario sifting pebbles
in search of beach glass, my thoughts echoed
in each wave lapping at my feet.

Even here, far from those blue waters, I sit
on a quiet stream and know all that surrounds me
is speaking to me with my voice.

I talk to the water as if to myself,
learn from my own responses.

This poem is a response to earthweal weekly challenge: THE TEEMING, although I’ve missed the Linky window for that. Also, I’m off prompt for Day 11 of napowrimo.net. On this 11th day of National/Global Poetry Writing Month, this is my 16th poem of the month.

~ Day 11 ~

Grave Concerns

April 10, 2021April 11, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 24 Comments

Grave Concerns

Remember when you’d suffer
through a headache,
rather than take aspirin?

Then came Tylenol tampering.
Another reason to avoid pills.
What would you need with pills?

And winded? Not likely.
You were running
almost every night of the week.

And busy. Always busy.
With any luck, you weren’t
racing towards an early grave.

But long you’ve lived. So far. And tears?
Yeah, a few, but you’ve outlived a few more,
even if you still wonder about that early grave.

So what’s in that drawer?
Right. Meds, pharmacy receipts,
and a pill dispenser that’s now too small.

There’s that pill for blood pressure,
one for the legs that won’t stop moving late
in the day, restless for that gummy to help you sleep.

There’s antihistamines and decongestants.
Oh, and at least three supplements
plus baby aspirin, but you’re nobody’s baby.

You have more doctors’ appointments
than you can count, but you still count.
You’re still here, after all.

You may get winded climbing stairs,
but you get where you’re going.
Oh yeah. Don’t forget to go to the pharmacy.

This poem is my response to Day 10 at napowrimo.net, which challenges us to write a poem after taking notes on a favorite songs and notes on what we find in a “junk drawer.” “Breathe,” from Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd has been a favorite for nearly fifty years.

Breathe
(Pink Floyd)

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don’t be afraid to care
Leave, don’t leave me
Look around, choose your own ground

Long you live and high you fly
Smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun
When at last the work is done
Don’t sit down, it’s time to dig another one

Long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
Balanced on the biggest wave
Race towards an early grave

Image source: vecteezy.com

~ Day 10 ~

Water Like Glass

April 10, 2021 / Ken / rivrvlogr / 13 Comments

Water Like Glass

The harbor surface like glass,
broken by a freighter approaching
the river, a behemoth
that consumes the channel.

Kayaks move to the side,
surrender to its mass as they bob
in its wake. Time crawls
as the ship crawls past.

A crewman on the stern waves,
the waves in the wake behind him
fading as calm returns.
Water like glass greets the kayaks.

I’m off prompt for Day 10 at napowrimo.net.
In the company of the Niagara River and two of the Great Lakes, of course I spent time on the waterfront when I visited Buffalo in November 2020.

~ click images for larger view in new tab ~

~ Day 10 ~