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16h · 18
Spring Ode
“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
2d · 26
A Wonder
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
2d · 73
Two to Tangle
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
4d · 27
Dark Matters
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
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
4/20 - NaPoWriMo - write a poem that recounts a historical event
6d · 41
Haunted Hunt
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
7d · 216
Wannabe
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 · 55
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 · 153
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 · 48
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? 🎼Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana 🎶; 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 · 42
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 · 37
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 · 133
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 · 42
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 · 124
Eclipse
bulletcookie Apr 8
moon's blink shadow cast
sandpipers scurry from sight
Ra retires briefly

-cec
April eight twenty twenty four
Apr 7 · 155
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 · 150
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 · 32
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 🥣. 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 · 47
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 · 67
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 · 83
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 · 72
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 · 70
Thomas Jefferson
bulletcookie Feb 22
The storm has been blown apart
Only cotton ***** sail in blue skys
below a lake ripples

-cec
Feb 7 · 150
Cosmic Surfing
bulletcookie Feb 7
galactic lensing
reveals star guts, black holes, dust
red tired light, dreams

-cec
Jan 29 · 181
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 · 88
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 · 127
Forcast
bulletcookie Jan 23
wind, sleet, waves of ice
urban snows white out sight, sound
winter's breaking breath

-cec
Jan 9 · 166
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 · 375
Automata
bulletcookie Dec 2023
modern human beings
"waking sleep" boiling away hope
'sati' spring's flower

-cec
Dec 2023 · 125
USB
bulletcookie Dec 2023
USB
galaxies connect
interstitial firmaments
gravity’s pink straw

-cec
Dec 2023 · 252
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 · 227
Trigrams
bulletcookie Nov 2023
each line, ladder's plank
eonic time & places
who'll climb Mt. Meru

-cec
Nov 2023 · 518
Ashes
bulletcookie Nov 2023
black urn offerings
absent colors, snow flakes, you
winter winds disperse

-cec
Nov 2023 · 212
Hermetic Neoplatonism
bulletcookie Nov 2023
one perfect circle
eminates round progeney
above so below

-cec
Oct 2023 · 423
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.
Sep 2023 · 350
Equinox
bulletcookie Sep 2023
brown grass drinks blue clouds
evening cools green tomatoes
fall wraps in between

-cec
Thanks vb!
Sep 2023 · 90
Dry
bulletcookie Sep 2023
Dry
ink well absent ink
pen in hand hovers wordless
fall's evening breeze waits

-cec
Jun 2023 · 538
Gregor Samsa is WOKE!
bulletcookie Jun 2023
disturbed and maladapted
heart blasted, near a flat-line desert
perturbed, in tangled bed sheet
dreading: door knock echos,
societal ceilings, stumbling debt, Greco

frame hangs with still-life memory
clinging to truth's unstable outcomes
alive and kicking, six-legged pants
lares and penates to morning's mutation
maudlin and weary of mammon

-cec
May 2023 · 127
Dawn's Brass
bulletcookie May 2023
from glen English horns!
vibrating with the forest
summer's promise heard

-cec
Mar 2023 · 134
Brown Recluse
bulletcookie Mar 2023
Waiting --

hanging on a taught thread
a breeze of tender caresses
air, as molecules, provides life
for now

each tethered knot appointed
pearls on string, in space, through time
echoing eons of primal schemes
forward in the stillness

dangling from one ancient ligature
on silken line suspended
twisting, spinning in dry wind
its storied form tells of the hunt

-cec
spiderverse
Mar 2023 · 132
Jiggly Man
bulletcookie Mar 2023
you sit there jiggling to the music
buried in your old collar coat
chair slouching to a rapid beat
only your neck whip-lashing complaint

a son of an engineered father
lessons learned behind thick glasses
lost and leery in a dark venue
worrying that snow showers threaten

a life in limbo rushing to escape
just enough time to ‘peg down’ a genre
artificial is a thorn in your philosophy
as you took flight in fear of winter

-cec
Feb 2023 · 141
Lake Story
bulletcookie Feb 2023
the crescent moon did not set for the world tonight
chandelier near a pin-point planet in the void black sky
a giant turtle labors as it carries four elephants
balancing the world on their backs in time and space

many have been to the edge to look over into the depths
there the waters churn, creating, recreating in white vortices
many forms emerge as we aim our red eye further
blinking occasionally to believe or disbelieve what seems

flippers stroke, swimming endlessly in cosmic oceans
while pachyderm memories log in history’s journal
hieroglyphic charts and maps of fleeing galaxies
hungry gravity holes, with dark arms, chasing after

tilt is not in their vocabulary trunks, all or nothing being
in the wake, comets and asteroids weave destinies
stars nova, birth and boil, leaving a frothy foam
of life gazing out, waiting another plunge into sunshine

-cec
Feb 2023 · 125
DAWN - A Poet in New York
bulletcookie Feb 2023
Federico García Lorca --

Dawn in New York has
four columns of mire
and a hurricane of black pigeons
splashing in the putrid waters.

Dawn in New York groans
on enormous fire escapes
searching between the angles
for spikenards of drafted anguish.

Dawn arrives and no one receives it in his mouth
because morning and hope are impossible there:
sometimes the furious swarming coins
penetrate like drills and devour abandoned children.

Those who go out early know in their bones
there will be no paradise or loves that bloom and die:
they know they will be mired in numbers and laws,
in mindless games, in fruitless labors.

The light is buried under chains and noises
in the impudent challenge of rootless science.
And crowds stagger sleeplessly through the boroughs
as if they had just escaped a shipwreck of blood.
Federico G. Lorca spent time in New York City finding voice amongst the millions of silent poets.
Feb 2023 · 111
Pobrecito
bulletcookie Feb 2023
he turns the corner in a slow shuffle
we watch him with persistent questions
mommy, mom, mother now, 'Juaquina'
crosses herself, and utters,”poor man”

poor men, poor women, with basketballs
hanging between legs and shoulders
who is to say what is natural or not
we still reflect and say, “poor old creature”

he walks by occasionally
but we never saw him disappear
dying asks us to relinquish the dark figure’s
corporeality, at the end of the street

-cec
Feb 2023 · 328
Black Cat
bulletcookie Feb 2023
porch light ignites night
yellow eyes stare, darkness flees
tail flicks bid adieu

-cec
Feb 2023 · 138
Rabid Racing
bulletcookie Feb 2023
furiously they appear like apparitions
straining their engines and wheels
belted steel, industrial rubber, woven demon fibers
crossing white broken lines in darkness
weaving frozen traffic in seconds
a nightmare of TV movies, ‘juegos de muerte’
while horror etches into glass faces, oblivion

this highway stretches across a city
concrete and metal ready to explode
into oil black, blood red, eighty-seven proof fire
arms, legs, torsos, leaning into death’s curves
steering too slow, certain motion’s end
gathering random unwilling victims
just for the fanatical flight of hellions

-cec
Feb 2023 · 162
All is Chaos
bulletcookie Feb 2023
No, the sun radiates
this moon bathed in light
down to despair’s depths
life survives in city’s rubble
myriad hands digging hope
hearing cries for one more day
powdered wigs, faces, clothes
dry weeping in shadows
separated by earth’s broken back
sculpting a landscape of destruction
with miles of piled masonry
under a magnifying lens of tears
hearts and minds, bulwark
against each darkness found
a swarm of humanity tunnels
saving one more precious being
gently carried into distressed search lights
and the arms of a caring world

-cec
Turkey/Syria
Feb 2023 · 456
The Well
bulletcookie Feb 2023
clay, stone, within depths
waits water, central being
seasons drink as one

-cec
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