that's mrs. mediocrity to you

you never said and i
never knew
and together
we question
the honesty of memory

i’m old enough now
to remember
how much
i’ve forgotten

and you are
young enough
to believe
in omniscience

you resent
and i smile
and we both get
to the same place
eating dinner at this table
set
with borrowed china

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 20
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is PAD’s write a poem of what goes unsaid.

.

listen.

you think this will be easy

i’ve heard the teeth of a grasshopper
grinding flour for dinner

and the call of a hawk
making promises of war

submerge.

you think there is no pool

the sound of your heartbeat singing
will carry you home

water is liquid noise
and you are made of water

swallow.

you think you want to scream

there is nothing to hold onto
so why can’t you let go

words never become compass
until you write them down

listen.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 19
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is a combo NaPo’s write a how-to poem, and PAD’s “cool”.

.

given a chance
i will always choose
sky as ceiling
and bird call for music

a carpet of grass
(of course)
and flowers as art
with a landscape thrown in
for a good measure

the sun shall be lamp
and breeze acts as fan
for a notebook desk
and a pencil
scratching words
intended
to be heard

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 18
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is PAD’s write an office poem.

.

tuxedoed robin

singing praise to egg blue sky

inversion revealed

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 17
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is PAD’s write a Haiku.

.

of new growth, old sun

rising through the miracle

of spring’s verdant dawn

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 16
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today is off-theme, because grandbabies.

.

the world is always flat in a photograph and
you draw rings around my heart with saturn fingers

fuchsia only looks gaudy in northern climates
long in the tooth from measured open waiting since

lavish contains every color of unnecessary yet
all i need is a vessel lined with feathers of fortitude

and this paper-torn chance of morning refuge
simper-ripped and recited from the blacklist of night

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 15
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is a combo of NaPoWriMo’s doubles and PAD’s: use these eight words.

.

we forget the sun is perpetually shining

even in the deepest dark of night

and on black cloudy days

and grey hovering

afternoons

we

obliterate

our own memory

as we spin circle spin

never clearly remembering

we are the poised agents of change

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 14
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today is off-theme, because the sun IS shining.

.

filtered through mother nature’s

winter network

of belligerent bickering biddies

coming out

on the other side

decidedly sky-riding

blue

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 13
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is PAD’s write a Last ________ poem.

.

five in the morning

every morning
because

morning

you might say
this makes me weak
but my tea is strong
and slightly sweet

and i ask you
what more
could a tired girl

need?

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 12
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is PAD’s write a silly poem.

.

i have one of those
messy minds

the kind that leaves
a desk
forever in disarray

or forgets to buy milk
but remembers to look
for signs of life
in a garden
in early spring

and almost always
your birthday

and most definitely
that time you stole a hat
and we laughed until we cried
when you thought
you’d been caught

but probably never that
you hate dark chocolate

i’ve read so many books
all the titles are gone

and i gravitate towards
the asymmetrical

because the patterns that fall
from my criss-crossed brain
consistently refuse

defining parallel

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month: Day 11
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge

Today’s theme is PAD’s write a defense poem.

.