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6d · 177
Two Poles
Along the river fishermen cast
and wait, under the willow's shade
soon fish dine in dusk's light
Mayflies wing in ecstacy

-cec
Oct 16 · 85
Ben
bulletcookie Oct 16
Ben
again and again
the, Thy, story does not end

I watch the people come and go
near lake's hidden lilys, again and again

fiddle like winds play a tumbling riddle
brown leaf ghosts dance music eternal

distant wild cactus flowers crack open
like Rumi's heart, a sacred mystery of love

where wind chimes sound good bye
and Theseus' ship still sails, by and by

-cec
Passing of a friend
Sep 1 · 348
labor day play
bulletcookie Sep 1
laborers and bees
swarm in simple ignorance
dancing in sun's dreams

-cec
Sep 1 · 119
Sandalwood
bulletcookie Sep 1
The crackling pine cones of summer
silent in the early autumn mists
shouting geese gathering in dancing lake
the world lays back north for winter slumber

-cec
Sep 1 · 82
bridge
bulletcookie Sep 1
this moon's hair out shines
shadowy currents outlines
on black river's lane

-cec
Sep 1 · 84
Comma
bulletcookie Sep 1
a fishing hook dangles from a branch
did the fisherman go home with a fish?

-cec
Aug 15 · 93
Making up Sense (*)
bulletcookie Aug 15
Written words placed well
spoke metered sound wells
chimes sing in fluent breezes
spelling thought's current
memory caching
celestial spheres' music

Poets chew your food
drunk on cobble streets
bumbling, humming a tune
dreaming alphabets
Lasso' poly-phones
kidnapped by rhyme and resin

-cec
***The Alouette, created by Jan Turner, consists of two or more stanzas of six lines each, with set rules.***
Jun 3 · 223
Madagascar
bulletcookie Jun 3
jungle law is harsh
when we clutch civil war's torch
đŸŽ¶"I see skies of blue ..."đŸŽ¶

-cec
6/6/24 (word change)
May 1 · 96
May Flowers
bulletcookie May 1
Her golden hair in noon day’s light, aflame
burned an image in heart’s depths
even the fields of sun flowers seemed envious
as fence climbing roses reached up to see
beauty, that in beholding eye’s bias, florets

She waits there, in still-life discovery
a blossom undisturbed and fragrant
one can hear the buzz of desire stir
a hive of expectation and frenzied dancing
soon petals will open and pollen promenade


-cec
Apr 30 · 92
Hercules Redux
bulletcookie Apr 30
“Pillars, rampaging lions and boars, horse ****,
what more can one ask of a hero’s wit?
Well, here he sits, waiting for the next temp job!
How much more do I have to pay for a mistake?
I told the wife and kids I was all wound up with Olympic PTSD!
They just happened to wake me in a fit of rage and terror,
and they did not fit into my fit, so they played and paid.
Now it's, Heracles this, Hercules that, and don't forget; bring me golden apples, or tend to the herd in west Jesus or other,
and blah, blah, blah, your so strong ...
maybe you can help the neighbors move a couch out?
My friend Sampson went through similar *******
then his old lady, Delilah, gives him a bad haircut
which sends him into a rage, creating a scene.
I mean, I’ve had to smell the bad breath of monsters,
cut off their heads only to get pennies on the dollar or worse, no compensation except,
‘Good you came in time Herc ...’
I move mountains for folks and get **** from the gods!
What’s more, I get no respect from these young’nes;
they tease all the time that my lion cloak and helmet smell!
I just want to tear some heads off and punch them to pulp!
So, I've been laying low checking out the Amazons
having a nice draft of Soma and planning my next trick.”

-cec

fact check: Hercules did not know Sampson! He made it up!
4/30 - NaPoWriMo - write a poem in which the speaker is identified with, or compared to, a character from myth or legend,
Apr 29 · 56
Mercurial
bulletcookie Apr 29
How  fleeting the sandy grains that drop
through narrow remembering of yesterday
ephemeral flowers that graced a table vase
now dehydrated still life, garden scattered

How the vaporous past presumes the future
lensed by present reflection’s myopic trust
further receding into hammered glass icons
erected edifices to a longing life portrait

Unpredictable, unstable, a butterfly vortex
arising from a bottle of smokey possibility
constant in ever capricious choice and predictability
a mutual mutability of then and now’s  protean toss

-cec
4/29 - NaPoWriMo -  Taylor Swift has released a new double album titled “The Tortured Poets Department.” In recognition of this occasion, Merriam-Webster put together a list of ten words from Taylor Swift songs. We hope you don’t find this too torturous yourself, but we’d like to challenge you to select one these words, and write a poem that uses the word as its title.
Apr 27 · 67
Arg
bulletcookie Apr 27
Arg
Hobbler, the crow, was lame
but he had game, and props
being a few other birds, not game,
city birds, begging and scavenging
savaging, all the same road ****
chill when humans came close
they became verbose, false bravado
for weightless bags of bone and feathers
whether or not noticed, scurrying
ducking under benches, cars, then
flapping half a bird lap up, down
around the service lamps; the scamps!
Their pirate leader does its one leg hop
and one can imagine a gang plank stop
with a heave-** flank and up they rise
into the market sky and to return
short of a ****** but gang none-the-less

-cec
4/26 - NaPoWriMo - something, something, poem ...

Props - back-up, team, member droogs ...
Apr 26 · 88
Proust Questions
bulletcookie Apr 26
Where is the center lost?
found in a raga’s tabla
and the meandering river
of a sitar’s harmonic dream

When does childhood end?
it begins in silent oceans
bursting open with wet life
grasping with tiny fingers

How does the hourglass last?
moments to minutes, limitless
each grain a sandy shore
mountains turned upside down

-cec
4/25 - napowrimo - write a poem in the form of an entirely new Proust Questionnaire - (or off the reservation)
Apr 24 · 106
Spring Ode
bulletcookie Apr 24
“The Attic warbler pours her throat,
Responsive to the cuckoo's note,”

A blackhead chickadee arpeggeos across the plum's branch,
white petals floating down to pointillist path,
where a green and muddy ground catches moist spring.
Minuscule wing swarms dance circles and zigzag tunes
to April’s breezy baton in overture to nature.
Snow-bells, pawnbroker hang, while crocus stand in purple/yellow ranks of elliptical rooted silence.
Oh gentle air of ancient curious prīmo vēre,
what wonders will you issue forth and form?
With outstretched arms and hearts we welcome you,
your nurturing ways of equanimity in equinox so true.

-cec

"Ode to Spring" by Thomas Gray
4/24- NaPoWriMo - write a poem that begins with a line from another poem
Apr 23 · 76
A Wonder
bulletcookie Apr 23
Wonder Wart-Hog succumbed to his powers,
“Was it the beer?” on his adopted planet
raised by hillbillies who were unable to eat him
As misanthropic as his neighborhood denizens
he is fated to bring swine justice, to the greater evil villains,
with his haphazard hog combat
living in a welfare toothed city scape
with broken-bottle-wielding alleyways
our superhero lumbers and snorts forward
into the breach of the seedy underbelly
of a schizoid society seeking hoodie anonymity
or zombie relief in a pick your poison age
This “Hog of Steel” though mild mannered
in his unaltered ego of Philbert DeSanex
fights for a labored truth, law and order
while delivering absurd antics on unsuspecting consumers of fascist pickles and bureaucratic saltines

-cec
4/23- NaPoWriMo - write a poem about, or involving, a superhero, taking your inspiration from these four poems in which Lucille Clifton addresses Clark Kent/Superman.

Wonder Wart-Hog - circa 1962 by Gilbert Shelton
Apr 23 · 134
Two to Tangle
bulletcookie Apr 23
Godzilla and King Kong battle
while Atlas has his arms full of sky
giant squids wrestle whales
dimension Kaiju trounce on Jaegers, likewise
everything is in a fight club,
club fight, landing jet powered punches
and hammering the next victim down
worlds collide, macro and micro
armies clash, rock vs paper vs scissors
Cane brained Able, Rocky the Russian
pitted against all in all comers, Earth vs ...
Apophis, hurtling itself to land its knockout

-cec
4/22- NaPoWriMo - two unlikly opponents
Apr 21 · 58
Dark Matters
bulletcookie Apr 21
black on black, not cat
black hole black, not a golf hole
whole crushing blackness

-cec
4/21 - NaPoWriMo -
a poem that repeats or focuses on a single color
Apr 21 · 74
Long Ago Argonaut
bulletcookie Apr 21
Odysseus sailed far and wide
destined  to ride the rising tides
this Vitruvian King, husband, father
navel of this orb’s slice, squared
outstretched (**** ad quadratum)
ventured out upon the stratum
plagued by duty, honor bound
cast upon his earthly rounds
ox and mule could not his delay
ten years, more, from place of his birth, away
how his voyage then encircled
this (**** ad circulum,) like a girdle,
wrapped the legend’s mortal length
though his will gave body strength
a horse’s belly full of Greeks doomed Troy
while oracles, “beef-witted” soldiers did toy
even tempered, ingenious and just
brought witty Outis from god’s drowning gust
thrown for a loop by Neptune and Zeus
betrayed and delayed by mischievous use
hearth and love drew our brave wandering soul
the weary years of travel had taken their toll ever closer to Ithaca, land of his kin
smuggled in sleep, there new struggles begin
finding rough suitors had invaded his place
to right all the wrongs his anger did rage
stringing his bow, friends, and state
shot his true arrow through twelve rings of fate
his story continues, sly Odysseus of Rome
but the Greek Homer bore him honors, fame and back home

-cec
4/20 - NaPoWriMo - write a poem that recounts a historical event
Apr 19 · 72
Haunted Hunt
bulletcookie Apr 19
Haunted by the hunt
not knowing the aim
absent purpose
questions to questions
reduction ad infinitum
solus ("alone") ipse ("self").
a solipsist’s pirouette

Hunting the haunted
knowledge and knowing
resolved intent
books upon book shelf
atomism and Plato
holistic cast nets
finiteo (“complete")

-cec
4/19- NaPoWriMo - What are you haunted by, or what haunts you? Write a poem responding to this question.
Then change the word haunt to hunt
Apr 18 · 256
Wannabe
bulletcookie Apr 18
Not eye, but I In I —
spontaneous combustion
absent construction
fluid mechanics
spirit dynamics
just another electron dervish
seeking ways and means to nourish
from this existentialist dream
eased into Nirvana's stream

-cec
4/17- NaPoWriMo - a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be someone or something else, and explains why.
bulletcookie Apr 17
This seventy eight plays in the head still—
A needle scratches out melodic grooves
leading the convolutions and folds
of a young developing brain in synchrony
to the rhythms and beats of a tropical stew
far away in a mystical coastal city’s playa,
where warm air caresses and clothes are optional. A longing for a simpler time seeps to bone, vibrating, the funny one happy; remember? Legs begin to sway with the palms, memories float, clouds drift, waves laugh and the moon looks down in wonder.

-cec
4/17- NaPoWriMo - music title
Apr 16 · 96
in non sequitur awe
bulletcookie Apr 16
A star born at the edge of our universe,
gray haired now and older than the Big Bust.
Technology’s Webb has pulled the rug out
sending science math and models stumbling.
Suddenly we are fly falling through space/time, infinities spreading infinitely.
A maul opens wide to swallow all in awe,  
leaving lost sheepish looks on academics.
Most humans living in somnambulant’s dream, naive to the allusions of red shift in gold leaf mirrors, chained Cave dwellers in a daze.
“Everyday, everyday I have the blues ...”
a Milky Way song!

-cec
4/16- NaPoWriMo - 1st gear to reverse in last line
Apr 16 · 208
Nodding Don
bulletcookie Apr 16
your jaw fell asleep
while the trial went ever deep
no stamp will grace it

-cec
4/14 - NaPoWriMo - stamps
Apr 14 · 74
Knock Knock
bulletcookie Apr 14
Knock Knock

Who's there? The other side the chicken crossed to.

Who's there? Banana, since I had no more oranges left.

Who's there? đŸŽŒGary Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana đŸŽ¶; of Lake County.

Who's there? Pizza guy, gal, else or a mobile food dispensing unit A2024D

Who's there? “Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third ...”

Who's there? The Humanity, as the Hindenburg crashed in flames.

Who's there? (squeaky bull voice) “Little Red Riding Hood ...!”

Who's there? (muffled voice) “Land Shark”, er, “Telegram ...parcel post!”

Who's there? “What's Up ...!”

Who's there? “Dave, it's Dave man, me DAVE ...!”


-cec
4/14 - napowrimo - amaphora (somewhat)

Most are common references in 'mericka.
Apr 14 · 64
WhY A E I O yoU
bulletcookie Apr 14
To SEE words move in waves, wand and swan
in FELT textures that pan over the span of human history, opening a can of exuberant fandom.

HEARING it, them, spit out quick fits and sh#$ kickstarts the hits, a lit stick in the hellish pit of form.

SMELLING fat rat **** in pat lines pulls the mat on the chap who writes and chats with his cat monster, Wapslap.

MOUTHING the sun chum from fun to pun and stun, by one, who has come for those won.

CONCRETE thinking comes second after the ocean before.

Building BRIDGES follows vocabulary construction, connections of all things phenomenal.

The OAR of writing is a chore and door that stores, like "four score ..." or more, bores deep, not like boar's spoor.

FLOW with the tides of literary time though shine with the new harvest moon.

Seal the BONDS of language and story with heart and mindful imagination.


-cec
4/13- napowrimo - Finally, our optional prompt for the day asks you to play with rhyme. Start by creating a “word bank” of ten simple words. They should only have one or two syllables apiece. Five should correspond to each of the five senses (i.e., one word that is a thing you can see, one word that is a type of sound, one word that is a thing you can taste, etc). Three more should be concrete nouns of whatever character you choose (i.e., “bridge,” “sun,” “airplane,” “cat”), and the last two should be verbs. Now, come up with rhymes for each of your ten words. (If you’re having trouble coming up with rhymes, the wonderful Rhymezone is at your service). Use your expanded word-bank, with rhymes, as the seeds for your poem. Your effort doesn’t actually have to rhyme in the sense of having each line end with a rhymed word, but try to use as much soundplay in your poem as possible.
Apr 11 · 69
Mono Filament
bulletcookie Apr 11
This parrot keeps using fowl language.

Forgetting to put on your age is regressive.

Spelling is everything unless your grammar *****!

It's not whether the glass is half empty or full, it's how big the glass.

If bees dance, who plays the music?

-cec
4/11- NaPoWriMo - one liner style
Apr 10 · 171
Legally Blind
bulletcookie Apr 10
"Man Bites Dog!" Dog sues man. Man counter sues and slanders dog on social media. Dog files second suit for defamation and seeks to gag man on social media. Man appeals gag order and seeks to dismiss court proceedings. Dog files briefs and motions to continue legal actions. Man files motions to delay trial dates and jury selection. Dog seeks resumption of legal remedies. Man refusing to give depositions and stand witness. Appellate judges dismiss "Man bites dog trials". Headlines ..."Dog Bites Man!"

-cec
4/10- NaPoWriMo - Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on one of the curious headlines, cartoons, and other journalistic tidbits featured at Yesterday’s Print, where old new stays amusing, curious, and sometimes downright confusing.
Apr 9 · 70
Tippy
bulletcookie Apr 9
Hail to you oh mighty hound
with your nose close to the ground
sniffing out most every grannual
for the scent of mushroom annuals

Up the hills and in the creeks
soaking tail and muddy feet
charging fast through forest fields
undeterred, you will not yield

Loyalty and love of us
you dance around with happy fuss
to find a gift that aims to please
the fungi ours, you'd rather cheese

-cec
4/9- NaPoWriMo - write your own ode celebrating an everyday object
Apr 8 · 162
Eclipse
bulletcookie Apr 8
moon's blink shadow cast
sandpipers scurry from sight
Ra retires briefly

-cec
April eight twenty twenty four
Apr 7 · 211
Wisdom's Weirdness
bulletcookie Apr 7
wisdom comes slowly
a bud unfolds wet and cold
spring's sun, late but sure

-cec
4/7- NaPoWriMo "weird wisdom"
Apr 5 · 213
Three Blind (*)
bulletcookie Apr 5
One said, "God knows best and will save us in the end."
The second said, "What if it's too late and the universe ends before God comes to the rescue?"
The third was a dog, with a hind leg scratching its side. It licked its paw, then howled at the wailing sirens.

-cec
NaPoWriMo - 4/5
(prompt) Now try your hand at writing your own poem about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).
Apr 3 · 58
Surreal Cereal
bulletcookie Apr 3
The plastic bag can not be opened with fingers; scissors are a good option or you may find grapenuts scattered over counter and under shoe. The crunch echoes under foot instead of between teeth, reverberating into the skull. Milk and yogurt dampens the effect with frozen blueberries coagulated in purple-blue clumps that a spoon pushes through the white waves cresting over tawny kernals of quicksand cereal đŸ„Ł. For good measure a seafloor of multi-grain flakes stabilizes this ocean of supposedly nutricios morning victuals. Where did those banana boat dingies come from?

-cec
NaPoWriMo 4/3
Surreal prose poem prompt
Apr 2 · 71
Wind's Glass
bulletcookie Apr 2
True Platonic love —
Does not reside in the wind
or glass chimes it inhabits on a sunny day
It plays in the high harmony;
on breezes, thin glass and breaking sound
To a first time crush it sings
of mystery, leaping as up as legs carry
stops heart and catches breath
lingers in close carnal thoughts
trying to calm the chaos within
It never betrays or lets go, even
even night's shattered stillness
bows to the stars on strings
with amor for the music of the spheres

-cec
NaPoWriMo
Apr 1 · 100
Word Prompt
bulletcookie Apr 1
Cage- outside looking in
Ocean- big bang without the bang
Time- currently does not have itself
Cedar- hats, rain shaws, baskets, bark box
Window- sometimes clear, sometimes  obscured
Sword- ugly, no matter how beautifully made
Flute- makes that elusive dream sound like mist

-cec
NaPoWriMo
Mar 31 · 121
Early Bird Prompt
bulletcookie Mar 31
Dear feathered friend
what do you rend?
a worm from down low
or grub with no toes

Up 'fore dawn's porridge
you care for no storage
'cept to fill a small belly
with nutricios bug jelly

Quick in you flutter, by an' bye
tree's tea leaf readings, fool the eye
you twitter, tin whistle, and tweet
announcing your day's avian treats

-cec
Mar 15 · 147
Block
bulletcookie Mar 15
you carry old baggage in straight suitcases
full of contrition’s contractions, each rosary bead spent
dragging sorrowful daggers of spite
pity self-pity’s pity, no others or places

killing softly with words, not deeds
psychic murders in poesy lines
each keystroke a slasher’s razor bleeds
disregarding tender hearts and rhyme

history’s ink well spill on your page
born-out to suffer blue outrage
sworn blind with fear of life’s gift
unwilling grace to heal this rift

-cec
Feb 22 · 111
Thomas Jefferson
bulletcookie Feb 22
The storm has been blown apart
Only cotton ***** sail in blue skys
below a lake ripples

-cec
Feb 7 · 188
Cosmic Surfing
bulletcookie Feb 7
galactic lensing
reveals star guts, black holes, dust
red tired light, dreams

-cec
Jan 29 · 209
Ticket to Ride
bulletcookie Jan 29
train tracks talking train
scenes rush past vision's film strip
melting in the light

-cec
Inspired by Jamadhi Verse's "Fast Track"
Jan 25 · 139
Cross Trainer
bulletcookie Jan 25
when did zombies learn to run
now they race after everyone
no starting gun was ever heard
just shouts and screams in afterwards
they use to crawl or drag a limb
most of them were kind of slim
they gorge, belch and slobber guts
victims brains they love to ****
when finish line is in your sight
more zombies come to end your flight
so lesson learned before the dash
dead corpse motto "Make Them Hash"

-cec
Jan 23 · 153
Forcast
bulletcookie Jan 23
wind, sleet, waves of ice
urban snows white out sight, sound
winter's breaking breath

-cec
Jan 9 · 209
Blanc Noir
bulletcookie Jan 9
she was a flower in bloom
gracing the noon day sun
both golden, as one

a cardinal vision, to one
captivated by her sight
to spiral in vertigo and swoon

as beauty was singular in this
all indications would lead to a kiss
in endless harmony and bliss

forces beyond their control
possessed their love to unfold
in the fullness of life’s country road

stirred coffee and cream do swirl
as they danced to a yin and yang world
then one last kiss for his breathless girl


-cec
Dec 2023 · 403
Automata
bulletcookie Dec 2023
modern human beings
"waking sleep" boiling away hope
'sati' spring's flower

-cec
Dec 2023 · 160
USB
bulletcookie Dec 2023
USB
galaxies connect
interstitial firmaments
gravity’s pink straw

-cec
Dec 2023 · 293
Atmospheric River
bulletcookie Dec 2023
rain
cloudburst from afar

umbrellas sway aloft
shelter

downpour
rivulets seek a path

river’s torrent swells
headlong

deluge
sweeps the levee

ocean depths wait
maternal

-cec
Seattle in December
Nov 2023 · 253
Trigrams
bulletcookie Nov 2023
each line, ladder's plank
eonic time & places
who'll climb Mt. Meru

-cec
Nov 2023 · 540
Ashes
bulletcookie Nov 2023
black urn offerings
absent colors, snow flakes, you
winter winds disperse

-cec
Nov 2023 · 251
Hermetic Neoplatonism
bulletcookie Nov 2023
one perfect circle
eminates round progeney
above so below

-cec
Oct 2023 · 461
landings takeoff
bulletcookie Oct 2023
clouds outside airplane's window
immense, white on blue, cumulonimbus
clutching our flight, as I clutch 'Cocoroco'

takeoff forgotten, along with young eyes
only that rubber rainbow rooster traveling beside

a happy wake-up sound, squeezed in bellow
landing is distant too, billows and below
many loose threads of rain-forest ends

-cec
submitted to a Seattle cultural organization's, "Landings" Literature Project.
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