poetry

#100Poems: Number14

I parked by the street today —
intent on getting my 10,000 steps.
Or is it 8,000?
It doesn’t matter.
I’m not going to do it anyway.

I let the motor idle with the A/C still running
while a favorite song plays.
My eyes wander over to the man at the bus stop.

He’s old.
Old in that way that reminds me
of weathered sepia-colored prints
from the early 20th century.

His coat is a nondescript brown.
So are his pants.
And he wears a hat. Not a ball cap.
A hat.

He sits patiently. Waiting.
A modern still life in the city.

Suddenly, he reaches down by his feet
where a crack in the sidewalk hosts
a collection of weeds.
He plucks a baby dandelion from the debris,
yellow, and full of life,
and sticks it in his faded lapel.

#100Poems: Number Ten

happy-hopper
treat-begger
hurdle-jumper

joy-bringer
slobby-kisser
blanket-hogger
toy-shredder

squirrel-chaser
laugh-maker
peace-shaker
tail-wagger

who else but
Otis

#100Poems: Number Nine

“Rain, rain, go away,”
said the little boy.

Harrumph went the old man.
“It’ll just come back another day.”

#100Poems: Number Seven

Distraction kept me
from noticing the scene outside my window —

Green.
Everything green with new life.

It’s hard to imagine
a world that just
yesterday
sagged under dead leaves
and the colorless pall
of a long winter.

And now —

life.

#100Poems: Number Five

The candle flickered between us
as we ate our dinner in comfortable silence.
At one point, he put his fork down and said,
“Are there two flames in that candle?”

So I stared at it for a moment.

I watched the candle.
He watched me.
Our food got cold.

“Nope. That’s an optical illusion.
The second flame is a reflection on the crystal.
I cleaned it this morning.”

“Oh,” he said, and went back to eating.
“It’s two flames,” he said again.

I smiled and nodded.

“Yes.”

#100Poems: Number Two

Suddenly,
laughter filled the room.

Boisterous and free,
it changed everything
at once.

Happiness.

For a moment.

The 100 Day Project: A Poem a Day

luna-what-could-you-do-with-100-days-lighter

I ran across this project in my Twitter feed this morning and thought I could be up to the challenge: in a nutshell, do something for 100 consecutive days.

You can read about the project, and the folks behind it, Elle Luna and The Great Discontent, HERE.

For my part, I need to commit to a project. Easy. I want to write one poem a day for the next 99 days. I’m sure a few will be good. I expect most to be, if not awful, then probably so-so. I can live with that, especially if out of the batch I can have some work to revise, rework, and repurpose.

I’m looking forward to the freedom of creating without having to worry about quality. I’m going to trust the process, and trust myself. My favorite piece of this?

Stop doubting. Start doing.

fail