My Poetry Challenge, Week Four

 Here are the last of my poems I wrote during the poetry challenge! For the last several I was on the road/at the beach, so I kind of phoned in the last few, but it was still fun. :)

Day 22: "Fierce"

"Though she be but little, she is fierce!"

So says Helena of Hermia

via Shakespeare: an insult and a compliment,

the observation that ferocity often comes

in small packages

(the weasel attacking the eagle,

the chihuahua biting your ankles).

But I am big,

tall and broad-shouldered,

and I think it's too scary

when I am fierce.

I am instead the gentle giant,

bumbling and lovable—

but what happens when I, too,

need to lash out?

Day 23: "Perfection"

I say I'm a perfectionist

because I like to do things well

—I want to find the fitting word,

redraw the line, replay the phrase—

but really that's just not the case:

when I see flaws, I shrug and say,

"Ah well!" and life goes on just fine,

so maybe it's more fair to say

that I'm a "good-enough-ist"— well,

that sounds just fine, I'll take it, eh?

Day 24: "Balance"

"Find balance in life"

they say, but is balance a

tightrope or seesaw?

Day 25: "Soft"

Please sit on my chest

and purr

and rest—

your fur 

so gray

and soft and calm—

it washes away

my fears, a balm

to me when life seems just too tough.

You settle on me,

all floof and fluff.

I close my eyes, and breathe, and be.

Day 26: "Deception"

Stickbug:

you are my hero.

Hanging out in the trees 

all day,

letting your body sway

to the lilt of the breeze,

your antennae tasting the air,

knobby legs, all knees.

Day 27: "Snow"

I told myself when I was young

that I would know when I was old

when snow ceased to delight me, and

I groaned about the state of the roads.

I'm old now, then, in that regard

and fret about each little flake

but sometimes when I've nowhere to go

and my husband is home, I feel the swell

of emotion I felt when I was a kid,

when I saw the snow, and the world becomes new

and sledding and snowmen and footprints await.

Day 28: "Illusion"

failure

success

the story of reality I told in my head—

just illusions

clouds and rain and stream

tales I wove and can un-weave

Day 29: "Tense"

is, was, will be

running, have run, might've run

slept in, sleeping in, sleeping all day

being busy, is busy, isn't busy

existentially dreaded, existentially dreads, will existentially dread

was is behind

will be isn't real

is is the only reality

Day 30: "Red"

                  sunrise

             molten, divine

      stirring, drifting, shimmering

        gold, life, skin, splotch

      stinging, itching, wincing

               raw, rough

                sunburn

Day 31: "Mirror"

foul bauble of man's vanity

lies smashed on the courtyard stones

alas!

how am I 

to shave?

~~~