OFFICIAL DUP Glo/NaPoWriMo 2021 Competition

10/30

PUPPIES

Simba with his
Bonnie Raitt shock
Of white against
The color of the fire
That we sit around

The three of you running
Finding frogs
Tail-less lizards
And dangerous spiders
While giving the ticks
A place to eat dinner

If Simba could ride
The zip line he would
Yapping at Ghost dog Brandy
The way you yap
At us bigger
Older souls

11/30
Nothing in common

Fishing polls, bait, lunch and we’re off.
Driving down a country road
the sun is shining,
music is playing on the car radio.

I’m thinking to myself about how much
I hate you, more everyday
I begin to daydream..

—I don’t wanna go fishing today
I  wanna go to the Boston Aquarium instead
meet the new octopus, see the sharks & rays
walk to the hahbah, drink in the view
maybe see a humpback whale or two.”


“Hey! did you hear me He said ?”
“ Huh__wha___?
—Yeah sure, you can have a few
but please not this time. “
—Nah, I’ll be fine.






83 unique words
104 words

10/30

Tribute: Prologue

I lost my life's anchor at six
when mommy got sick and died
memories of her
were too quickly eclipsed
when by desperate need
my search began
for that love
only mothers provide.

Scant five months postmortem
pragmatic, engineer father
determined to solve
our motherless problem
married a pretty, blond divorcee
with five kids of her own
dearly she loved her progeny
with little affection shown
for my two sisters and me

Unique words: 63

10/30

Time

The clock is slowly ticking away
I watch it along day by day
There’s nothing I can do to slow it’s steady March
Keeping along its path a constant arch
It seems to pass by all too quick
Before we can get through all of the thick
Of it and accomplish all of our goals
Before we get lost or have it take it’s toll
With all of the ticking until the last
How can we accept a future from the past
How do we separate and how do we divide
So from our past our future can preside

Unique words: 59

11/30

The Omen, The Vatic, The Ghost

never much for roaming halls,
they prefer the attic
scratching paint from cluttered walls,
the Omen and the Vatic

missteps are his haunting ground,
Omen weaves connections;
adding in the likelihood,
skewing my reflection

specter of the future bright,
the Vatic reads my cards;
saying I will cut myself,
then handing me the shards

bringing with them fearful doubt,
the future yet unclear;
‘round the bend is farther still,
the scale beyond quite sheer

self-fulfilling prophecies,
bound by chains to their post;
they will haunt me ‘til I die,
yet I’m the only ghost

74 unique words

11/30


THIRD SANCTUARY

My knees hit the ground in a common bend
back bowed to basics: removal of weeds
dirt in the fingernails — soil, microbes, seeds
practicing a process which never ends …
benefitted vocation defends
the human soul-mind-spirit from the need
to go click-click-click all day long which feeds
the techno-system’s message: hear, it sends …

Nature is dirty, unreliable
full of bacteria and sudden change
it must be controlled and made out of bounds;
factory-made food is safe, clean, viable …
its voice grew crassly louder, phlatt, deranged
reaching fever-pitch with skunk screaming sounds.

10/30

..current affairs..

as the world splits into
a two tier system
for some a language is born that requires no words
when the words of each side get shouted at each other
this non verbal language only hears and observes
feels, and moves to find safety in neutral zones
treading lightly is the way of the people making themselves invisible
to the gestapo
sometimes its the only way
to stay alive
assimilate as fast as possible

56 UWC

11/30

I GOT A STORY TO TELL


I convey my story in a multitude of ways
With tats & words served on poets' trays
Using it to relay & display my joys & pains
Making Abel slay Cain as I try to remain

With disdain burning down deep inside
From hitting potholes during my ride
I try to hide my anger behind positivity
This world is already furled in negativity

Seeking synergy with love and happiness
I've been on the case like Sir Elliott Ness
And I won't rest 'til I can rest in peace
With a flatline as my heartbeat cease

EPISODE 11/30

Our Fellowship of the Poem, still soggy from their adventure, quietly returned to ThincTanc under cover of darkness to retrieve the miniature Donkeys. And because the White Lizard had sent all of his minions to Castle Mudbug, the great absurdian tower was unguarded, and the recovery was effortless.

Then they stuffed the Donkeys and themselves back into the wine barrels, opting to float down the Brandy Wine River ® a few more miles. Needless to say, everyone was starting to get pruny from all the watery adventures!

Unbeknownst to them, Smuggle and Duggle had likewise crammed themselves into a barrel and travelled with the rest, quietly gloating over how sneaksy and tricksy the Frogs were . . .

. . . until the Fellowship reached the great Elven kingdom of Riddledale!

"Son of a Stinkbug!" muttered the twins in utter defeat as a hundred arrows were pointed in their faces by the fair haired kin of Lady Ahavarwen.

And that night, under the bright Evenstar, a mighty council was held around a fire pit on Lord Melrond's patio. Cans of Brandy Wine River ® Brew were chugged and the refreshment was much appreciated.

"Rest up while you can," said Melrond from the throne of branches she sat in. "Tomorrow, you must be on your way, for The One Poem ™ needs to be destroyed by April Thirtieth or all will be lost."

"Then let us be rid of it now!" cried Cool Dude Merry as he raised his guitar and brought it down upon the Poem. The guitar exploded into bits of wood and string, sending Merry flying backward into the nearest lilac bush.

"The One Poem ™ can not be destroyed by any craft we posess, " said the Dark Knight. "It must be cast into the fires of Mount Dumb, from where it was forged."

"Which is no easy task!" continued Melrond. "The volcanic mountain is located in the lands of Moarder, which is guarded by the ever watchful Eye of DUPon."

"Uhh ... um ... uh," DUGlo stuttered in confusion, "isn't that your girlfriend?"

"Yes," the Dark Knight replied, sighing in despair.

"And she can only be restored to her original Arachniddy form by first destroying the Poem," said Melrond.

"We knows a secret way into Moarder!" gurgled Smuggle and Duggle, who were currently handcuffed to The Lawn Gnome of Whimsy. "We promises to help you if you take pity on us and frees us afterwards!"

"Then it is settled," said PRadriel. "Let's get all these smelly-bottomed Dwarves washed up with soap for a change and be ready to ride by morning."

Rosie Grace promised to have a buffet of delicious donuts and puffy pastries waiting for everyone at dawn!

That night, DUGlo Baggins could hardly shut his eyes. The anxiety was overwhelming. He was wrapped in an Elvish cloak to keep from blinding everyone else with his amplified luminescence. That Phial water he drank was some potent stuff, yet to wear off.

"Everything will turn our alright, Mister DUGlo," said Satin Gamjeez, patting his employer on the head. "It always does, year after year. Everyone with the determination and the fire of poetry within them always makes it to the finish line of NaPoWriMo. You'll see."

"I hope you're right, Satin," DUGlo said. He drifted into an uneasy sleep filled with dreams of his fellow Fellowshippers in peril - all because of his lousy choice of yard sale acquisitions.

Greetings, Great Poets of the Fellowship! If the Elves have wreathed you with a Crown, you may proceed into Day 10!  If not, then make sure you follow the rules for makeup posts!

11 of 30

Son

You are Sixteen now
No longer a baby boy
I used to cuddle and sing to sleep
Not too young and not old enough
To know everything about life

There is so much for you to learn
So much for you to explore and discover
A bigger world is waiting outside
For you to take your step toward its welcoming doors

I understand your excitement
When you turned 16 on your birthday last month
You are eager to spread your wings and fly
To enjoy your freedom as a young adult

But you need to know
That life isn't what you think it is
It's not as simple as you perceived
It is too complex for your young mind to comprehend
You're still innocent for life's vagaries
To face it on your own

I also understand your eagerness for independence and decide for yourself
And you want to assert it if you can
But most often your Dad and I don't allow you much of that

We know more about life and how hard it is than you do
And we want to prepare you for it
By guiding you until you are ready
To face it on your own
When we are not around anymore

Son,  we understand you more than you know
And we love you more than you realized
Someday when you are old enough to understand everything
You will know and realized  that what we did was for your well-being

We want to protect you from life's undesible influences that may harm you
We want the best and what's best for you
We want you to be strong and responsible for your life
So you can have a good and fulfilling life in the future without us by your side
We want you to soar high when it's your time to fly

Because we love you dearly Son

11/30

Lonely Pluto

Poor Pluto.
Stripped of your PLANET status
to Dwarf Planet.

Was it really necessary?
To make such a fuss,
it’s only crime of orbiting.

Being included- but only just.
Always at the outer edges,
sufficiently interesting to be acknowledged-

Not enough to be closer
to the inner circle.
How much I feel for that isolated distance.

Accepted with bias.
Looked down upon by a ski slope nose.
I’m ashamed to not be abundantly pretty...

Almost measuring up
to endless unwritten rules.
Only to miss the invisible mark.

But! This is not about me.

Lucky Pluto!
I envy you.
Too far away to hear the taunts.


(71 unique words)

11/30

Love...

breaks bonds and brings down barriers.
It holds fragile hearts tenderly, cultivating
tiny seeds, coaxing them into sunlight, where

tendrils reach heavenward, gently
clasping searing stars to light the darkness.

Love asks for patience, a steadfast
cleaving despite differences:
an elemental spirit, its cirrus enclosing
lovers in sacred, ethereal embrace.  

11/30

[ Of Power And Rings ] Mouthpiece

Treating
anyone deemed worthy
of being dealt with
[in]directly, utilizing
threats as empty
as their loud speaker

a hollow man
whose name is forgotten
even by himself

Vacuous shape serving
as nothing more than proxy
through which demands
are projected through
to the target audience

Heartless
---only iron lungs
remain, kept alive
by a sycophant's
sorcery