ddvers
Overdone Quinceañera
She’s framed in a portrait that’s slightly off-center
wearing a fur stole her sister has lent her.
Her chin on her hand, jewels on finger and wrist,
she’s trying to hide that she’s never been kissed.
Just a teenager, she’s longing for glory,
trying to add romance to her story.
Though she looks mature, she is new to the scene.
Time enough for such glamour when she is sixteen!
An Ekphrastic poem for dVerse Poets Open Link
Camp Out
Gathered around a campfire before a tiny hut,
they try to find a pathway out of their parents’ rut.
Like each new generation, they must grow out of their roots,
stubbornly insisting they won’t fill their parents’ boots.
They flounder in their greetings. Are you he or she or they?
So many other choices than straight or bi or gay.
Their paltry experience seems to them uncouth,
so they are determined to spice up unseasoned youth.
They embark on new adventures, treading warily at first,
grasping opportunities to quench their every thirst.
They pass around the bottle, then share the smoking pipe,
place proffered pills on questing tongues, imaginations ripe
for each new experience, finding every mode
of travel that might lead them all to the mother lode.
Every generation finding their own route
to strike out on their own to see what life’s about.
Prompts today are roots, flounder, greetings, youth, hut and paltry. Image by Jason Leung on Unsplash.
Teenage Angst
High dudgeon is the proper mood of teenage revolution,
and their parents’ interference will not aid in its dilution.
Tactics that they utilize to make their children straight
do little to sort it out, and instead, agitate,
creating more rebellion. So, leave them to their snit.
By the time they’re twenty, they’ll grow out of it!
words today are dudgeon, interference, revolution, utilize, straight.
Mall Maven
Before the next party, she’ll cut a wide swath
looking for outfits from trendy to Goth.
Choosing her next style can’t be speculation.
It’s got to be something that prompts adoration.
While stalking her merchandise, she walks the walk
that other girls emulate and the boys stalk.
Though she’ll chance being different—ahead of the herd,
if she goes too far, she might look like a nerd!
She saunters the mall looking cool and sanguine,
ignoring her minions, though she wants to be seen.
She’s nubile and nervy and lissome and lean—
a virtual attention-getting machine.
The other girls try to see what she buys,
but the pieces she chooses are not meant for eyes
that might imitate her before the reveal.
She won’t take the risk that somebody will steal
her next novel look before she has the chance
to stun her admirers at the school dance.
Until her grand entrance, she’ll feel a bit queasy,
Being a trend-setter isn’t that easy!
Prompt words today are swath, merchandise, stalk, speculation, different and party.
The Hunt
They primp and they posture and leave parts uncovered.
Few parts of their bodies are left undiscovered.
Pitching their assets, they rip off small parts
of their form-hugging Levis to capture the hearts
and the libido of young men in passing.
It’s part of their flirting and tongue-in-cheek sassing.
Euphoric and giggling or slightly aloof,
they are every boy’s fantasy, out on the hoof.
Equality isn’t their goal or their pleasure,
for the power they yield is more than full measure.
Their cups runneth over. With their charms, it’s a cinch.
If birds were their quarry, no more than a pinch
of salt would be needed to capture their tail.
Their fish have been caught and just writhe in their pail.
Young huntresses all, yet each young man they meet
no doubt finds them guileless–innocent and sweet.
They are slightly misguided—naive in their Dockers,
thinking that they are the ones who are stalkers.
We will not inform them that hunters they’re not.
They just follow the bait until they are caught!
Prompt words today are posture, covered, euphoric, equality and pitch. Illustration downloaded with permission from Unsplash.
Gremlins: A Teenage Mythology
A sneeze is how a poltergeist gets outside of you.
At night a different stinky elf sleeps inside each shoe.
Every creaking rafter supports its resident ghost,
and it’s little gremlins who make you burn the toast.
Each night those tricky fairies put snarls in your hair,
while pixies in your sock drawer unsort every pair.
Midnight curtain billows are caused by banshee whistles.
Vampires use your toothbrush and put cooties in its bristles.
Truths all come in singles. It’s lies that come in pairs.
That’s a zombie, not a teenager, sneaking up the stairs.
This poem is posted for: The Weekly Terrible Poetry Contest
Full Makeup
As each wispy object she attaches to her face,
these extraneous objects seem somewhat out of place.
They flutter from her eyelids like moths before the flame—
just the opening number in her makeup game.
As she smooths on her concealer, then powders over all,
she does not see me watching her out here in the hall.
Never does she hesitate. Brushes grow ever finer
as she patiently applies shadow and eye liner.
She does it all so expertly with such consistent flair,
then carefully begins to work to rearrange her hair.
A little mousse to set the curls, a little spray of mist
and she’s prepared a face that is ready to be kissed.
When she comes home, the hair is mussed, one eyelash is askew.
One eyelid seems to be of a slightly lighter hue.
Although her hairdo’s fallen, still her mood seems somewhat lighter.
Her lipstick gone, and yet somehow her color seems much brighter.
One little word transforms a girl to another realm.
Makes an unsure teenager the captain at the helm.
Just change “make up” to “make out” and her heart takes wing.
And woe to any parent who notices a thing!
Prompt words today were flair, hesitate, spray and extraneous.
First Love
That frisson of excitement that I once knew so well—
that doubling of my pulse rate that rang me like a bell.
Back when there was no contest over which would win
when impulse clashed with custom. Back when passion was no sin.
The sum of all that feeling sent us crashing into life—
before you were a husband, before I was a wife.
Remember how exciting those first love wanderings were?
Those first stirrings of passion that made us stretch and purr
like felines on that blanket stretched out on the grass?
Our love was a religion and each touch a holy mass.
Our loving was eternal up until the time we parted
and each became a memory of when loving first started.
proclaimed to be fine,
The Leech
They’ve plugged up their ears to muffle his mutterings.
They’re tired of his self-serving utterings.
He’s an indulgence they’d like to be shed of,
expunge from their sofa and free their spare bed of.
He thinks it’s tradition that they should take care of him,
yet they’d prefer that their house just be bare of him.
He’s a caricature of self-indulgence,
wallowing in familial abundance.
They need to be boxing his ears or possessions
and signing up for codependency sessions.
They’ve supported him well and sent him to college,
imbued him with clothes, with playthings and knowledge.
Now he needs to be kicked out to find his own life—
to be taught by experience, seasoned by strife.
Lest they make a mongrel of a fine pup,
it’s time they encourage their boy to grow up!
The prompt words today are tradition, caricature, indulgence and boxing.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/rdp-wednesday-tradition/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/your-daily-word-prompt-indulgence-December-26-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/boxing/
Teenage Angst
If you tend to be secretive and crave a private zone,
yearn to denounce your family and set out on your own,
at first they’ll cling like mistletoe, refuse to set you free.
You’ll think they’re never going to simply let you be.
But time will set you free. You’ll see your family disappear,
and that is when I’m fairly sure, you’ll wish that they were here.
Prompt words today are family, denounce, secretive and mistletoe.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/rdp-wednesday-family/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/19/fowc-with-fandango-denounce/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/secretive/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/your-daily-word-prompt-mistletoe-December-19-2018/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 