Poetry – Page 16 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Bad Driver – Terrible Poetry Contest (WINNER!)

I am grateful to Chel Owens for selecting my free verse poem as the winner of the most recent Terrible Poetry Contest. The award winning poem and my attempt to explain it are below.

Also a new Terrible Poetry Contest has started. You may be the next winner!

Bad Driver

I told my shrink that the cops brought me here because of my bad driving and he said I had no record of ever driving a car in my life and I told him, not car, spaceship, S-P-A-C-E-S-H-I-P, and he said I had no spaceship and wasn’t an alien because my DNA test, D-N-A, showed I’m human enough and I told him, well, then why am I in that padded cell and he said I wasn’t in any cell and I asked him if he was trying to drive me crazy and if he was he wasn’t doing a good job of it and then he said I was brought in because I was scaring the neighborhood kids and the judge assigned me to him and I told him that I had a lot of fun turning my head 360 degrees like an owl and he said I couldn’t do stuff like that and I asked him whether he ever saw me and he said no and so I asked him if he wanted to see me turn my head 360 degrees and he said, “Sure, Marvin, go ahead turn your head 360 degrees like an owl, go on show me” and so I turned my head 360 degrees like an owl and he called the exorcist.

This poem is in imitation of Gerald Stern’s American Sonnets. These “sonnets” have no rhyme nor meter (and often no sense that I could detect). They are mostly one sentence long allowing the reader to put in line breaks or not. I would call them terrible American sonnets, but he won some award for them and they are occasionally entertaining.

And now I’ve won an award for one as well!

Chel Owens' Terrible Poetry Contest Winner Award

From Evening’s Dusk to Full Mid-Day

From dusk to dawn was darkest night
then twilight pointed out new day.
The dogwood trees in bloom are white.
He leads us on the blessed way.

Eugenia offers “dusk” for her prompt this week.

Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” (KJV)

Soaring

The darkness blinding us has gone.
We know the Lord as we are known.
Face to face we finally see
soaring past all mystery.
The part we could not see is shown.

Eugenia offers the word “soaring” for this week’s challenge.

1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.“

Roar – Décima

The watchers on the wall will sound
the trumpets warning should they see
the enemy. Persistently
we’ll hold the line. To Him we’re bound.
It’s up to us to stand our ground.
Survival and salvation: May
we thank the Lord for every day
He gives to let our voices roar,
our praises to the heavens soar.
We hear His voice. We rise, obey.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “roar” to be used in a D-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. Eugenia offers “survival” as her prompt this week.

Hook – Décima

With freeze and thaw of wintry woes
some fear the still-life’s gonna die.
Why spin the news so fast that I
can see the lies beneath fresh snows?

There is the Lamb that heaven shows,
the One who can unseal the book.
The losing side will try to hook
the world with sorrows. Persevere.
The sea of glass and fire comes here
with victory and praising. Look!

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “hook” to be used in a C-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. Eugenia offers the theme “still-life” as her prompt this week. A commentary on Revelation by Michael Rood was on my mind especially verse 15:2 which he kept referring to.

Swoop – Décima

The care they take is on display
as swallows from the rafters swoop.
From nest to ground they make a loop
to feed their young throughout the day.

Can evolution show a way
that’s plausible when all I see
is nature mocking endlessly?
Chance has no chance to make sense here.
There’s much to doubt. They no doubt fear
we’ve lost our gullibility.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “swoop” to be used in a B-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge.

Grateful for Rest – Décima

Constricting envy cannot rest.
It meditates throughout the night,
turns dark the dawn of morning light.
Our lungs can’t breathe. We’re python pressed.

We’d much prefer to be caressed
without this dust. We don’t need more
of what they’ve got. We’re looking for
a way to make the python go,
stop scheming, squeezing, wanting so.
The Spirit breathes. We see the door.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “rest” to be used in a A-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. Eugenia offers “envy” as the prompt for her challenge this week.

Rise – Décima

It’s not the sun. It’s not the moon.
It’s not the stars. They serve as signs.
The ordered light they offer shines,
but cannot sing a sacred tune.

He’s coming and He’s coming soon.
We lift our voice. We lift our hands
abandoning our once prized plans.
In unison our praises rise.
In expectation, earth and skies,
are eager, waiting for our stands.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “rise” to be used in a D-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Decima Challenge. Eugenia offers “unison” for her weekly prompt. I am thinking of Romans 8:16.

Sunrise with two birds — Sunrise with birds

Fresh – Décima

The Lord resides within his mind,
or so he thinks, but not his heart.
His wheelchair today won’t start.
The internet goes blank. He’s blind.

He rises standing there to find
rebellion as his mental mesh
is torn revealing fallen flesh.
Knocked down his demons seek the door.
His heart’s been cleaned renewed now for
a will aligned and temple fresh.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word fresh to be used in a C-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. I am thinking of Psalm 51:10.

Hazy Mass – Décima

This hazy morning’s white with snow
that’s covering the summer grass,
depositing a fluffy mass.
May spring appear and let things grow.
The winter’s beautiful although
it’s much too cold with silent chills.
I’d rather sleep than look for thrills
while running out about the park
where footsteps leave a foot deep mark,
unless that’s what I hear He wills.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “mass” to be used in the B-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s prompt. Eugenia offers “hazy” for her prompt this week.