• one free verse poem
• one tanka
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• This poem that follows is inspired by Marie Gauthier’s NaPoWriMo day 23 prompt at readwritepoem to find and use a colloquial phrase — and by the current frustration I am feeling trying to deliver on my promise of at least 1 poem a day for 30 days. This day I am blank – my muse is being quite difficult. So for inspiration I looked to a poem I’d written 3 years back about just such a situation of writer’s block. I wrote this new poem from those 3-year-old bones, sparked additionally by Robert Lee Brewer’s NaPoWriMo day 23 prompt at Poetic Asides: exhaustion.
•
the virginal glare
of the backlit void
taunts me
the tiny pulsing cursor
throbs like a migraine
in the blank white field
untouched
ignored
impatient
no burden of remorse
no weight of mystery
does it bear
no sting of anger
no wink of mirth
to reflect
nothing sensual
or sensitive
to share
no coin of phrase to save
just empty screen
tormenting nothingness
30 in 30
pressing down
dissonance spills through my open window
the scatter of rain
stir of wind
rustle of wet leaves
muffled keens
bursts of barks
distant yelps
the edgy din
of dripping
prowling
april night
intrudes in damp insistence
to fill my head
and leave not one small space
for wit
or insight
all in vain
there is no spark
in this soggy midnight
left high and dry
no muse in sight
only exhaustion
nothing clever
or profound
in the air this night
chilled
slack
uninspired
• • •
•
shy knock at front door
lovely daughter descends stairs
who is this brash boy
shake his hand or run him off
daddy’s decision is tough
• • •
Not bad for writers block, not bad at all…
Daytime where I am, so no dental nightmares for me… just yet. I Hate dental surgeries.
Whatever daughter wants – daughter gets… ‘My sub-machine gun is bigger than your shotgun’.
Your mood>state of health>inspiration. This poem erupts with feeling.
And as for the Tanka! Beware, parental opposition serves to reinforce daughtorial determination.
Believe me Viv – My daughter is 37, and I never managed to deter anything… 😉
i can relate to the
emptiness of the cursor
and the white glow
Oh that blank screen with its winking “I”… it is evil isn’t it? But I’d say you turned the tables on it.
As for the tanka, that’s the chief reason I salute fathers of daughters, and thank the heavens I have sons.