OFFICIAL DUP Glo/NaPoWriMo 2021 Competition

1/30

The Beast

Worry is a beast
Your worst enemy
By invite
Your closest company
Shoving it out the door
Until tomorrow, it comes knocking

Worry is a storm
You smell coming
And when you shut the window
The mind begins blowing
Some people like the rain
Others prefer it sunny
But despite the weather
Some people choose worry

Worry is a thief
That sneaks
That beats
That laughs
Consuming every corner of your imagination
Taking your sanity
And leaving absolutely
Nothing.

2/30

archive button

polaroids are still laid out on the table
from when he sent them
me making obscene gestures
next to a sign in a different language
one i took of him with a pouting lip
next to graffiti on a post that said
“I MISS YOU”
us kissing on the couch
us dolled up for a night out to dinner
us on a bench in the park smiling
us on another bench in another park smirking
us on a bench in a train station stone-faced
we liked benches

we’d sat on a bench eating kebabs
at a play park while wee one climbed stuff once
then got him towering atop the jungle gym
with mini clinging to his waist
he’d got a bad snap of me drunk
leaning on a colourful wall in a far-too-fancy dress
selfies of us sunbathing in shorts
scowling, some on the balcony not paying attention
a beetle that wouldn’t leave us alone
he promised it would bite
if i let it too close to my foot
we had some in the bedroom, some in the bath
where i, for an hour, remained hidden
from guests that had appeared unexpectedly

not sure what to do with them now
put them out of the way
in an album like precious or
up in a box scattered through
everything else going on at the time
no reasons enough to burn them --
they’ll take up the table
for another day, perhaps

1/30

The Storm Clouds

I have a new found appreciation
Understanding I should feel blessed
Witnessing the sight and sound
Knowing these storms are a test

They’ll cleanse the soul and earth
With a powerful display of lightening
As the deafening chaotic symphony
Reverberates it’s quite frightening

The storm clouds gather in mass
Delivering winds and heavy rain
And while they usually helps heal
Sometimes they can deliver pain

So I sit here, listening and pondering
Thinking about what the professor said
Our eyes look to the skies thundering
Wondering what conditions lie ahead

Then finally, the light breaks through

96 Words
80 Unique

1/30

Satellite

“Her ghost is still orbiting Earth. . ."

Defined: That which is

Of all removed, she was destined
to remain an alabaster orb
tidally locked to Earth—  
her Stygian, volcanic maria
perpetually waxing and waning
betwixt ancient-crustal mesa
and pockmarked impact craters

Slightly brighter than worn asphalt
contrasted by relatively dark space
her specter glissades
across black, obsidian ice
of the infinite cosmos—
an iron ball at the end of a chain
~

2/30

The Groom


Come here little B
Let me whisper in your ear
I’ll let you sit up on my knee
I know your daddy is never here.

It makes you desperate for attention
You sing and cartwheel round the room
The simplest of compliments
Made you easier to groom

I made you giggle, I made you blush
When I gave you your first french kiss
Won’t draw attention to the fact
That you are not even six

1/30

::A Walk in Your Woods::

Before entering your shire I give pause
With my deepest respect filled with awe
I whisper for your permission
Fingers touch your soil
Is that your heartbeat pitter-patter ?
A hawks wings mirror with a flitter-flatter
You let me enter your domain
Each leaf communicates my presence down your earthy lanes
I hear your creaks and groans
My heard tilts up
your many hardened snake-arms sway in the wind
Your devastating realness humbles me

1/30

It’s Okay to not be Okay

It breaks my heart that your heart is breaking
While I cannot quell the pain or the aching
I will stand with you and listen to your woes
Listen as you air out all your hurt goodness knows
My love I cannot heal all the scarring that will occur
I’ve been down this road and know well the burden
It’s a traumatizing time and I can’t imagine how it feels
Though I know that each pain and hurt are so real
Just remember that it’s okay to not be okay
I’ll comfort you through this struggle in every way
It may not be much and won’t make it better
But I’ll be here to help you through this, standing together




Unique words: 79

2/30

Untethered Words

We've got artistic leeway to play with words
Free to do as we wish; not tethered by cords
Evoking deep chords with resonating poetry
Expressing ourselves at liberty on D.U.P

Using creativity by conjoining our thoughts
With proclivities of thinking outside the box
Our fox den to pen and befriend fellow poets Consuming some gin, Hen or maybe even Moet

Whatever spirits that help decompress & unwind
From the days festivities still encircling our minds
Many times using rhymes to get our points across
Not employees of poetry rather we are the boss

2/30

No measure

Time has played a vulgar part
its busy race hides nature
keeps us from its splendid art

If all clocks stop we could see
to live each day our own way
the basics of, meant to be.

We would grasp each lost moment
Never squander life's played parts
fulfill every action spent.

Measure nothing, take the reigns
no second hand to bind us
grasp the essence of the game.

2/30


SECOND CALLING

The task is opened wide to singing cats
patrolling round the garden like a sentry
catching fledgling birds and prowling rats
and barring howling fists attempting entry

Yet none of this is obvious at first
as chem-trails turn the sky from blue to grey
and grief’s become the measure of a thirst
to hone my path in tune with Nature’s Way

But why the grief and melancholy song
reacting to an enemy in mind?
the harried angst imposed is often wrong
for Nature can survive the hardest grind

And so I let the thoughts go hibernate
to wake again with lessened itch to hate.

EPISODE 2/30

Ganjosh and the others had promised to be back soon.

And the sooner, the better, as it was no easy task keeping fifty miniature Donkeys in line, let alone not be trampled by them. Eerowyn did her best with the critters on loan from the traveling petting zoo known as SHIRELAND, which was her father's business. She had specific instructions to bring all the Donkeys back home unscathed, as they were the main attraction. Since few people in Muddle Earth knew what a Donkey was, he passed them off instead as purebred Shire Horses.

"Relax, my Four Legged Friends," said Cool Dude Merry. "Let me sing you a Bard's tale that will calm your Asses." He merrily plucked away at his guitar with precision.

"There once was a hungry dragon
who munched on peasants by the wagon
and washed them down with a flagon
of blood drained from decapitated---"

"Stop it!" cried Summdir, the Elven General of the Mothlorien Elven army, at the ready with her blades out. "It's bad luck to be singing about dragons in dark times such as this!" Nervously, she glanced around at the sky, while the forest itself appeared restless.

Bursting out of the thicket came the Gray Lizard and a host of traveling companions, mostly Dwarves loudly rustling in their snailmail armor!

"We have to go," Ahavarwen said matter of factly as she leapt onto her Donkey. "We have to go NOW!"

From the direction of Wyrmington Heights came an awful shrieking noise the likes of which had not been heard for a thousand years. Everyone hurriedly mounted a miniature steed and galloped swiftly into the night.

Breathless, DUGlo hesistantly inquired, "What were those things chasing us?!"

Jaragorn, riding up along side him, replied, "Once upon a time, they were the nine Earthwyrm Kings of Muddle Earth. The One Poem ™ gifted to them by MOAR!ON corrupted their hearts and dumbed down their brains into being incapable of writing anything but poetry that pleased the Dark Wyrm."

"And now?!" DUGlo asked, unsure if he wanted to know.

"Now," said Jaragorn, "they are ..."

S s s s s h h h h h r r r r r i i i i i e e e e e k k k k k !

"... the Nasty Ghoulies."

The Glowyrm felt a change of underwear was in order. And he glowing more intensely than usual due to that strange water he drank.

PRadriel eyed him curiously and asked, "You look a little feverish - are you feeling okay?"

"Yep!" replied DUGlo, squirming nervously in his saddle.

=======================

https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2020/01/shireland-theme-park-hampshire-illinois.html

#2 of 30

Boy Soldiers

toy soldiers
all grown up
given Queen's shilling
signing dotted line
exams still ringing in ears

worrying mother's tears
proud father
son following footsteps
gathering at station
seeing him off

future cannon fodder
discipline handed down
age old traditions
covering
institutional bullying

vontracted compliance
memorise
name rank serial number
card and tags will identify
if deemed necessary

Unique word count 57
Total word count 57

2 of 30

no white ghost

the base of your stable eyes
bedside lamp strokes
a glint in instinct

no white ghost mourning
all is dusk
in your iris blue reservoir
where game birds hide

in grey and heaving enemy
culled, harvested
under lightening shotgun flare

I want to believe

the kitchen is clean
the animals are all ok
that we could proudly
photograph the pantry


full full
we walk talk
in tall grass
isles of goose neck,
black eyes and bergamot humming

solder the day break to our realities
routine the planting, the messages
with hand balm soaking down
through the coal seam.

68 unique words of 98 total