2024 Official DUP NaPoWriMo Challenge

15/30

Present Realities

Sobriety is a sin, with this condition I am in
The familiarity of whiskey lingering still on chapped lips
All downed in five sips
Seems the others play along, or challenge with shots
So called gentlemen, good samaritans, acquaintances, and friends can connect the dots
They follow a trail of desperation, into blackened allies, smoke and ash. Please, turn around, before you’re part of my mess
One is plenty fine
Another I cannot decline
Vipers in disguise, pour me more
I think they love scooping me off the floor
I always assumed I liked it, but sometimes it’s hard to tell
Present realities locked with denial in a solitary cell
When I fall, there’s people falling too
When I drink again, I forget that’s true
That’s why I always go for two

15/30

Half

Once whole
Gone again
Time almost gone
Phoning it in

Almost forgot
But got caught
Twenty-five minutes left
On the dot

Cutting it close
But I remembered
Halfway through
The storm has weathered

Two weeks in
Two more to go
Tomorrow
Better NaPo

So here's my entry
Basically empty
Almost forgot
So please forgive me

That's not enough
It's getting worse
I wrote this here because I needed one more verse

16/30

NAKED SOUND

And it came, out the blue, a naked sound —
to clothe it with beauty was left to me
endless old cycles going round and round

I searched for some clothing, some solid ground
was looking for flowers, naturally
and they came out the blue with naked sound

Vibrations are clever, they are not bound
not stuck in old earth’s material fee
eternal the cycles go round and round

And it’s never a case of pound for pound
those zero-sum games are not for the free
when love comes, out the blue, a naked sound

She says: Oh humans, they're sacred and crowned
sovereign rulers of territory
with endless cycles, and doing the rounds

And when it seems that life has been downed —
there’s nothing left but to stop: and to be …
then it comes, out the blue, a naked sound
an eternal cycle, round and round.

16/30

Hope

I saw you by her bedside
trying to make sense,
today you speak in metaphors
sat on this wet park bench.

you pushed a hand into the clouds
and set the sunlight free
the ducklings are being bold
as they come up to feed.

When you heard me sighing
you played her favourite song,
slipped an arm around my waist
and made me dance along.

You told us not to worry
helped us look inside,
today your in white linen
and walking by my side.

16 of 30


finality


they don't warn you about finals
the final time you see their face filled with laughter
kiss & hug them with a smiling I'll see you later
nothing is mentioned about the pain
looking back at that last casual departure

or how your heart will be gripped in a fist of remorse
so tight you can't get any oxygen
the fire in your throat
burning the inner lining to cinders
from all the emotion you're holding in
because release may come in a flood so ferocious
you'll be utterly swept away
with every stuttering thump of your heart...you know this

the anger burning in your gut at the injustice
denied the opportunity to truly say goodbye
...meaningfully...more so than any time previously
what was the last thing said...
...was it enough
shouldn't there be some sort of commemoration
for such a portentous occasion

how many times you'll get excited to share an experience...
...rushing off to tell them...only to falter & halt
with your words still locked in your mouth
and the only way they'll hear them now
is through the mists of immortal aether
as you whisper them through saline streaks
breathing grief in every broken syllable

nobody tells you how the memories will blur
like rain obscuring the view outside a window
how their voice will fade...but never their words
or how the tears will sting & blind you
until the image of that last moment is frozen
encased in an icy hell of untouchable beauty
and you can't go back
...can't make it more momentous
marking it with a feeling more befitting its legendary status

they're simply...gone
an empty space in your existence
leaving a sequence of finalities...
beyond your recall or comprehension
how does time move so stealthily
stealing tomorrows...laters...everything
just that one...when you thought you'd get another

nothing prepares you for visits in your dreams
when they sit with you & chat just as they always did
their face before you...exactly as you remember
pure joy & love surrounding your being
until you wake...& are reminded of the night
you got the call saying he'd died
ripping the scab off the barely healed wound
knowing only...
...like a phantom limb...
...you'll experience the loss over & over again...
...for as long as you live

16/30

Ode to Filled Doughnuts

Just sit right back and hear this tale,
the tale of a faithful treat.
It started out as a lump of dough
and now it’s quite elite.

The bakers fried that lump of dough
and found it pretty grand.
And so they made a bunch of them,
to help their list expand.

They paired it well with sugar dust
and fruit with yummy cream.
They even cut the middles out
and glazed them to a sheen.

But best of all was when they found
a way to fill them up.
They puffed them up with jam and cream
and pushed the limit so extreme,
you take a bite – erupt!

16/30

No poem today

There shall be no poem today.
The thoughts will not be corralled.
I’m an amateur sheepdog
running circles
yapping aimlessly
at an unruly flock,
each going their own way.
So, sorry – there’s no poem here.

There shall be no poem today.
We’re out of stock.
And the sun shining through the spider plant
on the windowsill
is casting a highly disorganized shadow,
as my brain’s fingers
also reach randomly
in too many unfocused directions.
There’s just no poem to be found.

There shall be no poem today.
Just tasks to be done
or more likely, postponed
again.
I thought I was on top of this
but balls are dropping
left
                                              right
                 and centre
soon people will notice
how I’m letting them down
and we just can’t have that,
so there simply
shall not be
a poem today.

Come back tomorrow.

xvi.

Untitled

We paint dreams
on nature’s back
 in the form of sonnets
 haiku, free verse—
these are the hues
of a poet’s love

We find our own
way, sky above us
earth below
each step
one step closer
 if we don’t give up
 by letting go

We are not alone
on the Camino de Santiago
between the choice of two:
 the first is short: quit
 the easiest route
   gone too soon
   leaving no mark

 The second is treacherous
 we may think we’ve lost
   ourselves
 but moving forward
 comes with great reward
   for generations to come

We seekers are nuanced
in this uncertain storm
of doubtful downpour

Yet our one commonality
 in this whole world
is trusting fearlessly
in the rivulets of poetry
   

16/30

undertow

in the meantime, I wait in the shade of doubt
with my resolve strong but needing help
I request, please make me forget
train me not to see
he covets others
it's a constant cycle of love and rejection
not knowing his other wives' story
I took too much for granted about them

now staring at his true face
he's not even trying to raise the facade like he used to make me feel special

half-heartedly he says I love you
while pushing me further from him
all the while pulling on my soft spots
I guess it's a necessary evil
to bring an enemy close enough to stab her

my heart knows not what to do
I'm in it deep, my heart will bleed no matter what
stay or go the ache is real
allowing myself to be alienated from my family
I don't have many options to go and heal

adopting his family as my own
now that trouble is on the horizon
I feel the shift of  them letting go

as my pain increases
realizing too late
I'm caught in the undertow

16/30

Love Letters

i wrote this
TO you
i meant it
FOR him

Like a vice~
the grip
love has
over me
is suffocating
Ha! Love-

Sickening concept
Some days
I’m giddy with it
Others,
I’m so sick from it
Only death
could cure me

I’ll never
understand it
I can only
gauge it
by your
actions
To and
toward me

Oh!
To give
the finger
to the whole
process of it
How much
of my life
would I regain
were I to
take back
all the energy
I put into
lusting love

Would it
make me
feel better,
look younger,
not hurt
so much

I’ll never know

75 u/w

#16/30


You Can Do It



Take
A deep
Breath relax
You still have time
To write your entry
Don't be rattled calm down
Focus on the thoughts flowing
Twenty minutes is long enough
For you to write something for NaPo
See you are almost done with your poem

You need clarity when you are writing
Fifty unique words is not that hard
Others can write even more words
Hundreds or thousands or more
Why can't you if they can
Believe in yourself
You can do it
Just three lines
Then two
Yes

16/30

time

How long has it been?
I write
With the desert shifting with the winds –
Sand passing through the hourglass –
More than a year and a few lifetimes,
Since I stepped out into the wasteland.

Home.
In the unlikeliest likely place,
Desolate in certain spaces, certain hours –
Serene in others –
Isolated, pessimistic, half of the time –
Hopeful, idealistic – sometimes ridiculously so –
For the other.
Music constant and
Inseparable no matter the weather
Fate decides on that day.

Today, it was a good day.
The sun was ever high and present,
But we were cool in our little shack,
And the deathclaws and Vipers around Weren't a worry anymore.

Brahmin steak was cooking,
With a side of desert salad,
Fancy Lads Snack Cakes for dessert.
He looked over at me –
One eye bruised, bottom lip split open –
And raised his Nuka-Cola bottle.
I smiled – a cut from under my left eye
Down to my cheek – and raised mine to his.
The glass bottles clink.
Time stood still.

16/30

Riotous Thoughts

thoughts rioting iamong brain cells
spray can graffiti images
scribbling expressionless rubbish
artificial in every way possible
imitator no artistic content here
destroyer of the written word

inkless formless like my talent
quill scratches empty pages
nothing note worthy comes forth
illiterate idiot playing poet
glaring flaws finally revealed
i contradict everything published


Unique Word Count 53

16/30

stages


a sheet of hazy clouds
nothing can be seen far away
just a little light and
everything seems lost
but there is something beyond this fog
but it's not all predetermined

there is hidden happiness and
pain in every part of the universe
various shapes of clouds
are visible over the
vast expanse of space

the earth becomes red with
the golden rays of the sun
this is not predetermined
this natural phenomenon
happens every day in its own time

in the rain of love
the rainbow swings
this is not predetermined

the child born will
become a beggar
or doctor
it is not predetermined

a car meets with an accident
on a serpentine road.
that is an unexpected event

time is a void subject
in the course of life
one day the same emptiness
takes our place
all that remains is our death
an inevitable accident!...

16/30

Mixed Signals

Sometimes the only thing
That gets me out of bed
Is a coffee and a cigarette

And I don’t even like coffee

But I hope that each day
It might make my heart beat
A little faster
And my blood pressure
A little stronger

Until the cigarette
Knocks it back down again

Hopefully the next drag
Will produce some serotonin

Because I only seem to get high
When my body is in fight or flight

Or when I’m flying to an unknown location
Because I won’t find remnants of
my past self there
& all of her demons

Lying in bed

But it seems that the only place I can be me
Is when I’m dreaming
Because everything’s make believe
And I can forgive myself

I guess if I look close & honest
I can see how many mixed signals
I send
Cigarettes & coffee only being one of them

{97 unique words}