Category Archives: Poetry

Poems in many categories: Loss, NaPoWriMo

Time Temporal, for NaPoWriMo Day 3, 2023

Time Temporal

                  by Judy Dykstra-Brown

Shall I contrast thee to a winter’s night?
Thou art less lovely and more tempestuous.
The lack of wind doth still November’s empty stalks,
Oe’r which the winter hath too long a power.
Sometimes the too-cold moon hides ‘neath the clouds.
Then rarely doth it’s pitted face shine forth;
And dark from dark can sometimes rise,
Spurred on by fate or providence’s static plan.
But thy short winter shall soon pass away,
Restore to thee the homeliness of death.
Nor shall that birth that brought you forth to light
Still claim thee when temporal time shall stop thy growth.
As men lose breath and eyes lose sight,
So dies this poem, and draws thee with it to thy grave.

Sonnet 18

            by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

 

For NaPoWriMo  Day 3, they wanted us to write an “Opposite Poem” based on a famous poem. Mine is above.

Influencer

Influencer

By what are you influenced? What triggers you?
Do you stand at attention for the red, white and blue?
Are you of the first nation or Apache or Sioux?

Do you bask in the limelight, awash in your fame.
Hoping that everyone’s seeing your name?,
aware of the problems, but you’re not to blame!

Or are you sedulous, loving and caring,
more concerned with your heart than what you are wearing?
Wanting justice for all, intent on the sharing 

of all the riches of the land of your birth,
looking for solutions for the ills of the Earth,
considering everyone of equal worth?

 

Prompt words for the day are influencer, bask, first nation, sedulous, wash and triggers. Image by Laura Chouette.

 

NaPoWriMo Day 2, 2023. After and Before

 After and Before

Rush hour traffic for raindrops.
The universe’s roar of disapproval.
That last guest left at a party who doesn’t realize the party is over.
Words that called out for company.
A bird searching for an answer.
A small pond that has died and gone to heaven
A single kernel.  

A small scuffle.
A man with limited vision.
 A relationship that barely passes for love.
Fate coinciding with a wish.
A storeroom for rain.

 

For NaPoWriMo 2023 Today’s prompt asks you to:

*pick 5-10 words from the following list :
owl generator fog river clove miracle cyclops oyster mercurial seaweed gutter artillery salt elusive thunder ghost acorn cheese longing cowbird truffle quahog song

*then to write out a question for each word selected and for each question, to write a one-line answer.

What is a river? Rush hour traffic for raindrops.
What is thunder?  The universe’s roar of disapproval.
What is a ghost? That last guest left at a party who doesn’t realize the party is over.
What is a song? Words that called out for company.
What is an owl?  A bird searching for an answer.
What is fog? A small pond that has died and gone to heaven.
What is a cyclops? A man with limited vision.
What is a miracle? Fate coinciding with a wish.
What is a gutter?  A storeroom for rain.
What is a truffle?  A small scuffle.
What is  acorn? A single kernel.  (A group of corns is called an ear.)
What is longing? Precognitive achievement.
What is artillery? Digging in an attempt to find buried Pre-Columbian statues.
What is a quahog? A new breed of hybrid animal half duck and half pig.
What is an oyster? A Jewish Grandpa.
What is clove? A relationship that barely passes for love.
What is mercurial? A doctor who specializes in treating the maladies of mythological sea beings.

*After you’ve written out your series of questions and answers, place all the answers, without the questions, on a new page. See if you can make a poem of just the answers. You may find that what you have is very beautifully mysterious, and somehow has its own logic.

Romantically Retired

Romantically Retired

I think I’ve formerly related
that I’m neither wooed nor dated.
Zero heroes, zero traces
of besotted hearts or faces.

Gamblers better put their money
on the fact I’ll have no honey.
Chances more likely for a win
on the roulette wheel’s random spin.

Fortune tellers’ only visions
are of partings and divisions.
No new meetings, no reunion
that might prompt a future union.

So I guess I’ll go on missing
bouts of geriatric kissing.
And instead of passions new,
fond memories will have to do.

Prompt words today are spin, related, traces, vision, money and zero.

Lifelessons

Lifelessons

My perception see-saws between wonderment and worry,
all our lovely world devoted to such hurry
that in the furious ruckus, much is overlooked,
as if every second has been overbooked.

Take time to watch the sunrise and to hear the finch’s song.
Pick these things like flowers and carry them along.
Everything’s a lesson. All of nature is a book,
so between your rushing-offs, be sure to have a look.

(Be sure to click on the blue links in the poem to see the rest of the story.)

Prompt words today are wonderment, ruckus, see-saw, perception, lesson and sing.

Weeds (For dVerse Poets)


Weeds

They poke their heads through every crack.
We pull them out, but they come back.
What rule of nature is to blame
that the flowers we plant don’t do the same?

Here are other poems written for the dVerse Poets prompt: Weeds

Here is the prompt for dVerse Poets!!!

Fractal Life

Fractal Life

Life has turned into a fractal with continual repeats.
She never changes what she wears or watches, does or eats.
Life for her is poignant in its regularity.
She has a time to go to bed, to exercise and pee.

Now that she has forged a life, she finds it easier
to repeat the patterns. Change makes her queasier.
Instead of heaps of whipped cream, she simply has small dollops.
Life is so much easier protected from its wallops.

She sticks to even pavement on her daily walk.
When it comes to beaches, she is known to simply balk.
No pebbles touch her insteps. No sand between her toes.
Her shoes and socks stay on her feet everywhere she goes.

Her established patterns determine where she’ll be.
She simply does not countenance irregularity.
So if you’ve never met her, I fear you won’t be missed
unless you are already included on her list!!!!

Prompt words are fractal, poignant, forge, wallop, pavement. Image by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash

Sangria Mania

Sangria Mania

My walks to the refrigerator are, I fear, redundant
in search of liquid succulent and winey and abundant,
for I cannot quell my thirst for what is in the pitcher
I keep upon the bottom shelf—sangria all the richer

for strawberries and orange juice, wine and Seven-Up.
I drink it by the crystal glass and sip it by the cup.
I fear that for eight months or so, this liquid’s been a stable
addition to my fridge, not to mention on my table.

Now I’ve addicted all my friends, for few have ever balked
at helping me to quaff this liquid that I can’t keep stocked.
I find that now I have to buy the wine on which it’s based
not only by the bottle, but now I buy it cased!!!

It goes so well with Cheetos that I buy them by the bag,
and I must admit that we’re also on a jag
of scarfing down these cheesy bits so succulent and crunchy,
for as we quench our thirsts we feel the need for something munchy

 

My recipe for Sangria:

Put a handful of whole frozen strawberries in the bottom of a glass pitcher.

Cover with tequila and put overnight in the fridge.

The next morning, fill pitcher 1/3 with Kirkland Sangria, 1/3 with orange juice (I use Jumex) and 1/3 with 7-Up. Stir and return to fridge.

Serve  over cracked ice in clear glasses with a stir-stick stabbed into one or more of the strawberries retrieved from the pitcher.

If you are in Mexico, serve with Cheetos Torciditos. In the States or elsewhere where they are not available, choose the crispy Cheetos.  Share with friends.   Ahhhhhhhhh.

 

 

 

Prompt words today are stable, succulent, quell, walk and redundant.

 

Saving Skins

 


Saving Skins

Inherent in the human race are needs to swathe the body
in skins of other creatures more furry or more gaudy—
leather pants to cover up their lower naked form,
with a furry  jacket to keep the top half warm.

The entrance to a muskrat’s den is always underwater,
which furnishes protection for his mate and son and daughter.
Adopting such safe measures is prevalent in those
whose shiny coats are popular in making human clothes.

 

Prompt words are muskrat, prevalent, shiny, inherent, adoption and style. Image by Joshua Cotten on Unsplash.

Battered Wife

Battered Wife

It’s inherent in her nature that my friend just marries losers.
She says that she likes nice guys, then she hooks up with these bruisers.
I introduced her to a gentle man I hoped could be her type,
but she judged him with her eyes instead of listening to my hype.

He was placid, kind and jovial, but had a shiny head,
so she chose a sexy surly love interest instead.
Although the nicer guy leaves her feeling somewhat curious,
it seems her needs are better met by a man more furious.

 

Prompt words are placid, jovial, shiny, inherent, need and furious. Image by Kat on Unsplash.