NaPoWriMo #20 – Heroes

This is my twentieth post for National Poetry Month 2010
• two free verse poem
• one tanka


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• inspired by Jessica GC’s prompt at read write poem

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Reality At 30,000

•

(a hero returns)

distant
slurred
reverberant

like a voice in a canyon
I hear her calling in my mind
my name
rolling sweet as nectar
from lips soft as orchid petals
full as a bursting peach
glistening deep coral
as they wrapped softly
‘round each pouted syllable
when she bid me tender farewell
so long ago

our fingertips had strained to grasp
until the final sensation of warmth
of touch
had faded
and they had drifted apart

I had struggled to tear my eyes
from her tears
that glistened on her lashes
and around her swollen crystal blue eyes
to slip softly over the crests
of her velvet cheeks
then down the contour of her face
flushed as sunset
to lightly salt her quivering lips

and as I passed
numb and dazed
through the tunnel of the loading gate
toward the jet
that took me to hell
I had at that moment
locked the image
of that sorrowed face of love
deep in my heart

It had proved my salvation
my only grasp on sanity
in those horrific years
over there

my lips too had quivered on that day
with the sting of separation
and the chilling knowledge
I would soon taste the bitter blood of war
foul with the stench of death

having not yet departed
I had already longed to gaze again
into her brilliant blue eyes
and taste her sweetness

yet

as I return this day
trying to face reality
from 30,000 feet
I taste the salt of sadness

for I fear
a kiss from me
with my killer’s mouth
will forever defile the fragile innocence
of those luscious lips
soft as orchid petals
full as a bursting peach
that glistened
and quivered
when last we parted

• • •

 

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Eternal

•

tears on flushed pale cheeks

warm held hand grows cool and still

she has left this earth

my love is now eternal

how do I face tomorrow

• • •

 

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…here is a bonus “whimsical” poem written in response to the day 19 prompt at poetic aside


 

Phineas & Phlo

•

phineas morton is not a happy guy
that’s not to say he’s sad
he just decided long ago
not to live life on the extremes
so he would describe himself as
well
as centered
yes
phineas morton is a centered guy

he lives in the abandoned hull
of a short
yellow
school bus
left there by his parents
when he was 12
as they went off to find
well
to find happiness

this situation may also account
for his less than enthusiastic embrace
of the whole concept of
well
of happiness

phineas dreams of
someday
doing something
something
well
something interesting
shunning the extreme nature
of
of great
he is not really interested
in doing something
great
interesting will do just fine

he has a girlfriend
well
sort of a girlfriend
more like a
well
like a girl acquaintance
that sounds less “on the edge”
which suits his centeredness
just fine

her name is flo
though she has come to spell it
phlo
as an expression
of her affinity for phineas
you know
phineas and phlo
the whole ph
sounds like f
thing
you know f
fuh f fuh

well
anyway
phineas wants everyone to know
that while he waits for his
interesting life to begin
he can be found
out by ole’ doc patterson’s pond
in his shell of a bus

you’re more than welcome to come by
just
if you do
don’t be too happy
if you know what I mean
doesn’t sit well with the lad

so if you come by
bring some jelly beans
red jelly beans
because
well
just because

and a tip from me
if you do drop in on phineas
don’t be clever
you know
don’t make any wisecracks about
well
no “short bus” remarks
ok

ok

• • •



• poems and tanka by: rob kistner © 2010

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…check out the other heroes at readwritepoem

21 thoughts on “NaPoWriMo #20 – Heroes

  1. “I would soon taste the bitter blood of war
    foul with the stench of death”

    Nice metaphor for airline food!

    No seriously– that’s some nice wordsmithing you’ve done.

  2. What an amazing set of poems. The first one makes me hope the “killers lips”turned soft enough again and that all was restored.
    Enjoyed reading these. They paint vivid pictures.
    Ingeborg.

  3. I don’t know how to respond properly to these: you are today’s hero – for the beauty, quantity and rapidity of your poetry.

    My favourite today is Phineas and Phlo – I love all the different kinds of well, and such lovely people, too.
    ViV

  4. I’ve never known the horror orf war, or the dilemmas facing returning heroes – I think the real heroes may be the ones who not only survive the war, but also the peace.
    Just a fantastic poem.
    Time is not a healer – just a distraction.
    Phineas & Phlo are my type of people.

  5. Love those metaphors and images you have going on in the first one… it’s also kind of been pulled out, stretched and connected by miniature lines, which gives it a very airy, pensive pace. Kind of like a transcontinental flight. 🙂

  6. Rob…your Phineos and Phlo….and the school bus….well I have a similar story (poem)…my partners sister and her late husband who killed himself in a ski accident 12 years ago…built a cabin around an old school bus…they brought some goats.etc etc.with the old bus back in the early seventies…goats behind them….it is still there..just down the road from us…a friend of ours and his lady live there at the present and it is a very kewl place…they are both muscians . I will send you a photo of the “school bus” home..in next coujple of days….cheers

  7. Rob,

    Wow, I like these. The first – very poignant, coming home a changed person; the second – I feel you, man; the third – I just, well, like it.

    Tim Keeton
    Poet/Wizard/Teller-of-tales

  8. Really enjoyed all of these as a set. The first was so rich with emotional energy in beautiful metaphors juxtaposed between the true love and the change from returning from war. The second, a still moment forever capturing the essence of love, and the last a whimsical exchange of a guy who just want to find his center, not too extreme on either end, but wanting something central to his core.

    Great stuff, Rob!

    ~mark

  9. Rob, your first poem Reality did a great job of describing what is so real for many returning vets; it takes one set of skills to do well over there and an entirely different one to make it work here. I’ve been working with some of them to help them return and it’s hard to leave the other behind. Your poem was authentic, accurate and well written.
    JD Mackenzie

  10. I was fortunate enough that nobody was shooting at us during my time in the army. I was fortunate that I never needed to know firsthand the reality at 30,000 feet. War makes victims of us all. Even the survivors.

  11. Loved Phineas and Pho. I had a friend who shared his love of theatre exclusively with—she didn’t have a name. He referred to her as theatre girl. There are so many with similar stories, people living in abandoned hulls, not daring to risk or declare.
    I know that I’ve allowed my fears to eclipse my dreams.

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