Friday, June 17, 2022

May-Challenge Poems: Liminal, Bliss, Terror


 In the month of May, author Kaitlin Curtice hosted a poetry challenge on her blog, asking readers to write a poem a day based on a prompt word. Here are some of my favorites that I wrote that month.


May poem day 20: Liminal


the gold on the edge of sunset clouds

the pause between the mockingbird’s songs

the shift in the air before the tornado sirens go off

the last day of Lent and the first day of May

— — —

I like life to be one thing or the other

not the uncomfortable in-between

“Tell me your name!” I’m forever saying.

“Let me put you in a box!”



May poem day 24: Bliss


A dozen Voodoo Donuts

with a dozen friends

at the Skidmore Fountain

at three in the morning.

Sweaty from the concert,

giddy with exhaustion,

tossing stories and maple bars from one person to another.

Tolkien poetry in the trailer afterward—

“I will not say the day is done,

nor bid the stars farewell “—

curled up on the couch

knowing belonging

feeling that life is a wide-open landscape of possibilities.

When memory fades, I hope this is the last one that remains.

When memory fades, I hope this is the last one that remains.



May poem day 25: Terror


In my tent

Under stars

Quivering legs

So exhausted

But what if there

is a bear outside

who’ll tear into our tent

and crush our skulls?

Or perhaps a saber-toothed tiger

or even a mammoth

casually trampling?

I’m too terrified to sleep out here

night after night,

month after month,

Yet I do.

Each night I face my primal fears

and lay down under the ripstop plastic

and trust.


(View all in this series.)


~~~ 

No comments:

Post a Comment