Official DUP NAPOWRIMO (National Poetry Writing Month) 2017
April 25, 2017
CYCLE IV: AIR
Encompass
With scent of Samhain’s burning slow release
Combined with perfumed thrill of bake and boil, of dry.
In Winter cold and clean as driven snow
By frigid winds, the stews' heat drifts belie.
How quickly brings the warming vernal steam;
In fragrances of new awakened sex.
Then quick gives shrift in mid-year’s blazing teem;
With thunderheading’s showers, wet express.
The Temptress Queen, the Clown, the Virgin Witch,
Her dance and grace, Her kiss and backhand slap.
Once vibrant still and punched caress unhitched,
She comes a Demon Imp, a Furr’d Lash Strap.
If Prankster has a Sister Twin, it’s She.
The Air, both lover’s breath and twister’s spree.
CYCLE IV: AIR
Encompass
With scent of Samhain’s burning slow release
Combined with perfumed thrill of bake and boil, of dry.
In Winter cold and clean as driven snow
By frigid winds, the stews' heat drifts belie.
How quickly brings the warming vernal steam;
In fragrances of new awakened sex.
Then quick gives shrift in mid-year’s blazing teem;
With thunderheading’s showers, wet express.
The Temptress Queen, the Clown, the Virgin Witch,
Her dance and grace, Her kiss and backhand slap.
Once vibrant still and punched caress unhitched,
She comes a Demon Imp, a Furr’d Lash Strap.
If Prankster has a Sister Twin, it’s She.
The Air, both lover’s breath and twister’s spree.
23/30
Meet The Thomases
The Doubting Thomases
have spoken with good reason
about you living up to your
promises now broken
shortly after electoral season
The one and only avenue down
which actual progress is being made
leaps and bounds towards
an impeachment for treason
and in record time
Oh, the great lengths you've gone
to cover up your tracks
I'm sorry to say,
actions speak louder than words
and we saw you mouthing off
from miles away
Meet The Thomases
The Doubting Thomases
have spoken with good reason
about you living up to your
promises now broken
shortly after electoral season
The one and only avenue down
which actual progress is being made
leaps and bounds towards
an impeachment for treason
and in record time
Oh, the great lengths you've gone
to cover up your tracks
I'm sorry to say,
actions speak louder than words
and we saw you mouthing off
from miles away
24/30
The Threat Is Real
Do not panic
You are safe
The threat is real only in your mind
Same as it was when you were child
in the backseat of a lumbering Ford
cruising the countryside effortlessly
as you watched scenery cascade by
imagining water towers and grain silos
were the machinations from Mars
straight out of an H.G. Wells novel
or that every propane tank farm
was a toxic gas depot that anyone
traveling by would be best off with
breath held until safely passed in case
the metal of a single massive cylinder
was breached with a devastating leak
You miraculously survive your childhood
You'll come out of this unscathed as well
The Threat Is Real
Do not panic
You are safe
The threat is real only in your mind
Same as it was when you were child
in the backseat of a lumbering Ford
cruising the countryside effortlessly
as you watched scenery cascade by
imagining water towers and grain silos
were the machinations from Mars
straight out of an H.G. Wells novel
or that every propane tank farm
was a toxic gas depot that anyone
traveling by would be best off with
breath held until safely passed in case
the metal of a single massive cylinder
was breached with a devastating leak
You miraculously survive your childhood
You'll come out of this unscathed as well
April 25—Before A Storm
Beautiful, sinister shades
of grays
flow across skies, above,
and
I would dip my paintbrush
in them, if
I could, capturing,
bottling
the electric feeling, of
a coming storm.
Leaves and wheat blossoms
bow in unison, in
submission,
to wind bursts, but
I cannot be bent.
I have already withstood
hail in the crossroads, and
I come to kidnap gold-hued
air, ripe for
explosion in Nature’s fury.
I will keep my storm
in a mason jar, a
souvenir
of how it feels to
stab the devil
between the eyes.
(Inspired by my favorite artwork, "Gray and Gold" by John Rogers Cox
http://www.artsforge.com/agallery/graygold.html )
Beautiful, sinister shades
of grays
flow across skies, above,
and
I would dip my paintbrush
in them, if
I could, capturing,
bottling
the electric feeling, of
a coming storm.
Leaves and wheat blossoms
bow in unison, in
submission,
to wind bursts, but
I cannot be bent.
I have already withstood
hail in the crossroads, and
I come to kidnap gold-hued
air, ripe for
explosion in Nature’s fury.
I will keep my storm
in a mason jar, a
souvenir
of how it feels to
stab the devil
between the eyes.
(Inspired by my favorite artwork, "Gray and Gold" by John Rogers Cox
http://www.artsforge.com/agallery/graygold.html )
23/30
Call Me A Dwarf One More Time
I am an angry small man making
angry small footprints in the sand
Taking that into consideration
get in my way, slow me down
you'll get the backside of my hand
before I dropkick you into next week
I prefer "midget" to being called "dwarf"
Disney made them silly and weak
Tolkien, as fierce as sailors at a wharf
but too hairy and I have very little patience
for big, clumsy clodhoppers like you
who think they're God's gift to normal
Call Me A Dwarf One More Time
I am an angry small man making
angry small footprints in the sand
Taking that into consideration
get in my way, slow me down
you'll get the backside of my hand
before I dropkick you into next week
I prefer "midget" to being called "dwarf"
Disney made them silly and weak
Tolkien, as fierce as sailors at a wharf
but too hairy and I have very little patience
for big, clumsy clodhoppers like you
who think they're God's gift to normal
Re-Home
He turned the key in the lock
He slowly opened the door
To his horror, he saw me
Sitting in a purple chair
He did not recognize
He did not recognize the room
He did not recognize the sofa
He did not recognize the carpet
He did not recognize me
In his mind he panicked
Why did he have a key?
For somebody else’s house
Who was the strange person?
Sitting in the purple chair
Will he hurt me like the others?
He considered going back
To the hospital ward
That filled him with dread
Strangely he never forgets
The meanness and cruelty
He felt that lump in his throat
His eyes started to well up
I slowly moved towards him
Stretched out my arms and
Hugged him as he sobbed
“It’s ok Dad, you’ve come home.”
I showed him some wall photos
Of him and me, they registered
But not as clear as they should
But there was one thing
In his mind that was crystal clear
He wanted to stay
Rather than go back
What could I do?
I sent the old bastard back
His house was mine now
I had no intention
Of giving it back
He turned the key in the lock
He slowly opened the door
To his horror, he saw me
Sitting in a purple chair
He did not recognize
He did not recognize the room
He did not recognize the sofa
He did not recognize the carpet
He did not recognize me
In his mind he panicked
Why did he have a key?
For somebody else’s house
Who was the strange person?
Sitting in the purple chair
Will he hurt me like the others?
He considered going back
To the hospital ward
That filled him with dread
Strangely he never forgets
The meanness and cruelty
He felt that lump in his throat
His eyes started to well up
I slowly moved towards him
Stretched out my arms and
Hugged him as he sobbed
“It’s ok Dad, you’ve come home.”
I showed him some wall photos
Of him and me, they registered
But not as clear as they should
But there was one thing
In his mind that was crystal clear
He wanted to stay
Rather than go back
What could I do?
I sent the old bastard back
His house was mine now
I had no intention
Of giving it back
25/30
Pirate's Intuition
There be gold and silver
jewels and gemstones
ripe for the plundering
beyond the rocky shoal
I smells it on the wind
I hears it in the lull
between waves thundering
against the hull
Lap it up with your tongue
breath it deep into each lung
treasure fine as this
tis an acquired taste
I'll shall be acquiring it soon
if this lead balloon of a ship
doesn't become faster paced
Yo ho and ROW
you scurvy dogs GO
as if your life depended on it
and you know it does
Yo ho and GO
you scurvy dogs ROW
for fortunes now
that never was
Pirate's Intuition
There be gold and silver
jewels and gemstones
ripe for the plundering
beyond the rocky shoal
I smells it on the wind
I hears it in the lull
between waves thundering
against the hull
Lap it up with your tongue
breath it deep into each lung
treasure fine as this
tis an acquired taste
I'll shall be acquiring it soon
if this lead balloon of a ship
doesn't become faster paced
Yo ho and ROW
you scurvy dogs GO
as if your life depended on it
and you know it does
Yo ho and GO
you scurvy dogs ROW
for fortunes now
that never was
25/30
Barbarians At The Gate
I am what I am
a host of barbarians
heaving a battering ram
into the tainted iron gate behind
your white laced chaste kingdom
scaling walls of wavering refusal
grabbing hold of each
statuesque bust
using these as leverage
and should push come to shove
shove comes to inevitable thrust
we will release the Dogs of War
to run amok in your
paisley courtyards
if we must
Barbarians At The Gate
I am what I am
a host of barbarians
heaving a battering ram
into the tainted iron gate behind
your white laced chaste kingdom
scaling walls of wavering refusal
grabbing hold of each
statuesque bust
using these as leverage
and should push come to shove
shove comes to inevitable thrust
we will release the Dogs of War
to run amok in your
paisley courtyards
if we must
