that's mrs. mediocrity to you

and i keep walking

sun beat
dry skin
lost compass
weary

in the distance
i hear a crow cackle

coyote call warning

snake row corn row snake row

bony knees cracking

knocking bruises
in time with each step

i have this dress
bare shoulders
rude toes

and this box
i carry

filled with feather and bone

there is no place
to settle into

no shelf to hold
my treasure

the sky hum hovers
peripheral

heat sunk
golden

weightless

i just keep walking

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

Also linking up with the fabulous dVerse poets with trips for Poetics, join us!

tick tock goes the clock with the certainty of proven
………….your heart is the art of discovery
………….and we play the blame game
………….as you are driven
………….through the trees to the track
………….of distinction
………….eyes blindfolded

…………………..not to keep you lost
…………………..but to prevent
…………………..the hound of found
…………………..from following
…………………..your eyes

………….down the paths
………….you did not take
………….to all the promises
………….you could not make

…………………..and you are lost as the
…………………..silence in a sea of dead souls

………….which is to say
………….i hear you

…………………..singing

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

willow

tendril momentum

ethereal chiaroscuro ripples

ranunculus desideratum

azure zephyr tintinnabulation

gentle grace gesticulating gone

tender mesmerizing wisp

hope sonata confutatis

flicker solitude

refined crepuscular twilight

nostalgic soar bravado

periwinkle forgiveness

cacophony blossom

stillness desire kaleidoscope

delirious waltz dream whisper

zenith soliloquy

alchemy perhaps

mellifluous sentient ambiance

rapscallion serendipity

silhouette

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Combining my “50 things” series with my post for NaPoWriMo.
A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

i leave you snoring on the couch
and wander off into other people’s stories

i call it escape and you have no idea
what i’m talking about

or why i envy your ability to sleep through
your own hurricane

and i wonder where you go in your dreams

some noisy bar
or a cave so deep
no sound can crawl inside

i can’t stop listening

my heart knows that somehow
this is your story

we speak different languages
and these hieroglyphics of sound
will remain here, on these walls

an echo of ordinary chaos

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

.

i want to marry earl grey and move to the mountains

live on scones and color song, dreams and folded lawn

breathe in fresh and ripple and whisper pine

.

on a raft in the center of a lake named time

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we’ll dress the moon in ribbons and hang petals from stars

strip the sunset of orange and use it as fire

never-wait for dawn and sip the scent of every howl

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from an island of boulder, shoulder and bone

.

to warm our toes in the quilt of forgiveness

steep our hearts in the river of revolution

soothe our skin with the afterglow of room

.

beneath our sky tent bird fingered curious home

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

Also linking up with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night

the sun is shining but
it’s far too windy
for the bluebird
to work on his nest

he sings with frustration
and i watch, helpless
for i know a storm is coming

(someone else said so)

i know that peace
is always temporary
and the wind
will blow me clean

(there is always a storm coming)

and there is always a bird
building a nest
who does not mind

i know, too, that the birdhouse
is cracked

(i don’t mention this)

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

you’ve unfolded me
again

come to stare at crease and corner
dog-eared rhyme
lackadaisical time

i prefer the darkness
of your pocket
heart bent and burnished

where i learn all your secrets
by the pattern of
rest race pound melt skip

and you beat me
with your silence

drowning out everything
but the crinkle velvet sound
of worn words rubbing up
against lint and line

torn tattered loyalty
habit defined

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

so what
if the world
moves on
without you

are you
so certain
there’s a
better place
to begin?

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

i have hands that need to be worried
knitted brows and empty eyed needles
clicking and clacking in time
with a grandmother’s song

she told me all her stories once
from a field of corn and desperation

broken backs and clattered crows
stealing all the shiny bits

i made a choker of her words
red silk knots and sour drops
on the tongue of overdrawn wisdom

she knew everything about me
before i was born

and nothing of the taste
of redemption

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

you can hear the world sleeping

it makes its own sound
bears its own cross
fills its own void

a spiderweb of dream
and nightmare

edged with dewdrop and laughter

spoken words float out
across the horizon of yesterday

tomorrow
someone just waking up
will hear them today

your whisper
is the scream
that stops the hand
that wields the knife

your off key whistle
is the icy finger
beneath the crack
of winter’s window

your declaration of love
is the robin singing penance
for curing dawn
of all color

lie still
in the mirror dark quiet

wait

it’s impossible to breathe
without inhaling
someone else’s

exhale

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.