So many things to do.
Won't let the rain slow me down.
Check off my long checklist.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
I’ve got nothing done today.
I’ll get nothing done tomorrow.
That is to say, not the normal.
Still, much was accomplished.
A gift dropped off. A photo moment.
A long talk with an emergent friend.
Cardio and Tai Chi; time outside,
where traffic is finally moving,
that is to say, streets with cars
and Queen of Hearts is open.
All in all, an uncommon day,
but productive and stupendous.
There is much to check off.
Tomorrow’s another offbeat day.
I can tell through my emotion that you mean something to me
The way i feel cant be put into words but only actions for you to see
There's many who have made some type of impression on me
But is it what I'm looking for or who they think i want them to be
I have my own personal check off list of what makes me happy
You didn't know i was scanning you from the first day you met me
Day after day you seem to present something new
You mean something because there's something unique about you
You mean alot to me because you're a rare find
When we're together i can leave my cares behind
You're my escape, my other world with reality
These are the reasons why you mean so much to me.
They say the journey to adulthood is supposed to be a slow coming of age process that allows the time to contemplate what role we’ll play in our future. We check off all the options. Burn out some brain cells in college or maybe find that ‘special someone’ and take a few years to plan a life. One sunny day in May of 1975, a recruiter asked “Why Not?” I replied, “Might as well.” Two days later some drill sergeant in a Smokey the Bear hat was screaming his bad breath into my face. Growing up only took 48 hours.
You will never know
Til you spread your wings and try—
Sweet taste of freedom
When you go shopping, do you browse
And stroll up all the aisles,
Searching for surprising “Wows!”
That might elicit smiles?
Or do you clutch your list in hand
And check off every item
That’s always purchased as you planned
Each time, ad infinitum?
No matter how you shop, at least
When you’re back home, unpacking,
You’ll know that chances have increased
For some impromptu snacking.
If I search through old memories, shaking dust from visions long filed away, I can see scenes from my childhood. Whenever I am feeling old, I pull a few out, polish them up, and put them in a frame for a while. A constant rotation of nostalgia. They hang on the walls of my skull, eight by eleven and a half inches of glass reflecting the early morning sunlight that pours through my ears.
The vision that hangs behind my forehead now shows me a scene of green and orange on a field of sandy, shell-shocked earth.
The fox lived in that great floral house long before we moved in. From our deck, its joints creaking with each small step I took, I watched him check off things from his to-do list–grocery shopping, security checks, singing lullabies and other sweet songs to his children. We weren’t friendly neighbors per se, I never learned his name, but we coexisted well enough. From certain angles, he would look up through slatted wood and chitter an amicable ‘hello’ as he walked off in search of breakfast.
summer sunset
behind evergreen curtains–
the fox
In my hands, I hold a list
What to do, where to do it, when to do it
Everything I want to accomplish
Written before me in organized text
Check off the next item
Add another two items for every one completed
When will it end? Can I schedule when it will end?
Pained by my own desires to be organized
In a world controlled by never-ending chaos
I take a deep breath
Making a conscious effort to experience mindfulness
Feeling the air in my lungs
Cool and crisp, yet hardly unique
Slowly exhaling
Experiencing a brief pause
I look down at my list again
Tranquility, Inner Peace, Momentary Relaxation
Check... Check
Underline Momentary... Check
WHAT I’VE KICKED OFF MY BUCKET LIST.
Kicked off to do’s before I knew,
the term called,” Bucket List.”.
What we teens termed, “chasing our star”
”our dream” or … our heart’s “wish.”
With twenty -five bucks chased dream, from
Georgia, New York, on a train,
Chasing dream involving fashion,
chase little piece … of fame.
“Times” Classified Men's ad. answered,
interviewed by Vice President.
Didn’t get job, we’re fifty years wed,
glad on interview …went!
Christian Dior my design used,
next a New York award.
Georgia’s Woman of Achievement”
humbly … thanked my Lord.
In Macon, Georgia I started
“First Fridays” events here.
Through namesake, Joycine’s Art Gallery”
my art and others … cheer.
Deathbed promise made a best friend,
poetry publish and write.
In “P.S. Anthology,
a bucket wish … delight.
My Bucket list greatest, check off,
was my son Paul's birth.
Of all awards received in life,
God’s gift… greatest on earth!
Contest What Have you Kicked off Your Bucket List
by Chantelle Ann Cooke
Incapable of rendering
Harvesting love
Check off a list of being not nurture
So analytical having some doubts
Of harboring love
I just let go of all the anguish
Feelings emotions flow
Did I say once
Before I am not
Letting go going to my freedoms
And going to my objectives so analytical
Still having self-doubts of love
I'm not harboring selfless Love
I have no one for myself
Selfless Love all I have is no one
And yet my self-esteem is below the ground
My feelings hurt no one comes to inspire me
To give me a pep talk so
With my head down so bleeding
he emotions running I just watch
Self love
8/31/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2020
Love that is so powerful yet so deadly. Sitting there watching the person you love destroy every ounce of themselves; as if it was some daily chore to check off the to-do list.Trying to hold it all togetherbut falling completely apart inside. Knowing deep down this self destruction they are on is actually their own self sabotage.Trying to push me away because deep down they think I deserve better. To destroy themselves so much they think the only choice I have is to walk away. Little do you know, I will never walk away. Forever by your side. Watching you destroy yourself as you slowly destroy me. That's the thing - I would rather be completely broken in pieces from the chaos then be without you at all. Because no matter what, if at the least I lost every ounce of myself, I would still have you.
Behind the Scene at NPR
On the roof again
A code we send out every now and then
When someone’s life is almost near the end
We say that he is on the roof again
On the roof again
Let’s start writing bout our sickly friend
Who’s life has almost gone around the bend
A bio for who’s on the roof again
On the roof again
Like a band of writers, we check off the birthdays
Of our special friends
Insisting that their bio’s written our way
But today
He’s on the roof again
We’ve got a bio that we must amend
The life we live is writing bio’s open-end
In case somehow they’re off the roof again
On the roof again
As writers we must now attend
That bio that we have is really way too thin
And it can’t wait – he’s on the roof again
note - when a noted person is reported to be gravely ill, NPR writers get a notice that he or she is "on the roof" and it is time to update their BIO.
7:00 AM
my eyes small and tight
a soft shuffle into the bathroom
distorted and jaded,
a half frown on my face
a dog-tired grunt serves as my good morning
8:00 AM
my consciousness brings stress, anxiety
a checklist in my head
I can never seem to check off all the boxes
a smile locks my lips together, I must hide my agitation
8:20 AM
the school bell mutes me
I must concentrate.
No talking, No laughing, No districations
my ring finger purple and bruised,
I always write to hard
teachers pet, try-hard
I must keep the holy 4.0
Lunch
a break
time has never tasted so savory
the strings unwinds, my body loose
my laughter overpowers my strain
until I am muted yet again
I have to get to class
3:30 PM
my golden hour
I am free
my stress and smarts stripped away
I am young
I feel love
my voice raises, my confidence grows
where judgement is prohibited
9:30 PM
my brain starts to settle
check 1, 2, 3
is all my homework done?
Is my alarm set?
and I’m ready to do it all again.
No Feeling and Not Appealing
I had to hurry up and write
this down before I forgot this.
When I never show any of my feeling;
What I write and say is not appealing;
While rambling,
Was gambling,
On you disturbed hitting head on ceiling.
Jim Horn
What happens if I check off 1st grade in Categories.
Does this mean that I am writing at a first grade level
of inteligence (LOI) and am on the level?
Also Wharton School of Business is not taught at night school.
Sit Transit Gloria Mundi
Rick Folker
Our current consumptive culture
Salivates over
"Tech" and "Cell" and "Screen"
That transmits the lurid, pornographic
Apocalyptic scenes.
We long for the end
Of the endless 24/7 hollow info
Hoping, even praying that
The Moral Arc would start to bend.
The dreadful, the destitute in their death throes
Are caught by our ever-present lens;
The Schadenfreude tourist
Documenting the world's worsening
woes.
We check off the trauma
As part of our Holy Bucket List
And tune in and tune out of another
Kardashian/Jerry Springer blitz.
All along we lurch from crisis to crisis
Bankers scot free, Blacks burned in worship
While blaming the ever-elusive Isis
White supremacy in the land of the free?
The clown in the White house doesn't get it ....
Or does he
With Dad now gone
If I could I wish…
I would give you a world cruise
I wish I could…
Buy you a ticket for
An endless trip around the world
Think of all the people you would meet
And the places you would see
I wish I could…
Help you check off all the items
On your bucket list
So you could reach the finish line
And say with assurance I did it all
I did it all and then some
I wish I could…
Make sure you never feel alone
As the years pass by
Dad being with you and
Always watchful from above
If I could I wish…
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
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