Burrowing and Borrowing-
Starving but harvesting-
NOT quite charming but alarming-
Harming when storming-
More than a boring warning-
Performing and conforming-
Alluring the enduring-
Touring the reassuring-
Scurrying and worrying-
Working NOT twerking-
Twitching and itching-
Computer glitching when stitching-
Missing NOT dissing-
No hex
No mess
No sex
No stress
Wrestling with a nestled Texas style onion ring...
Castling the mastered haphazardly masked task...
Of a vaccinated infatuation ally rally for a new kitchen sink...
Getting pushed pass the brink by the former owner of a skating rink- because of drinking.
I almost died a week from now.
A dandelion stuck in my throat.
Frostbite no matter the season.
There is a crash in time.
Exhausts itself.
Perpetual.
A scuffle with dying in all four corners of the room.
And more corners still.
The burden is fresh.
If I died in a time machine tonight.
I wouldn’t even get close to the blight.
I would evaporate like the kitchen sink.
Drain myself like an empty skating rink.
The burden never grew veins.
Choking on a stepping stone somehow.
Traces of what I thought a time machine was.
So many athletes get their start
When they’re in school, or younger,
With parents to encourage dreams
And help sustain that hunger.
They’ll build a backyard skating rink
Or schlep them to their classes
And drain the family’s bank account
Plus take vacation passes.
The lucky ones fulfill those hopes
And join the real contenders,
Competing for the recognition
Such a feat engenders.
But what about the other ones,
Who never reach that level,
Whose injuries or lack of talent
Torment and bedevil?
I wonder if they sit and watch
The games and all the glory
And wish they had a very different
Ending to their story.
roller skating on Saturday night
seventh graders feel it is all right
skating hard under a disco ball
wearing those skates made us feel tall
at age thirteen, not old enough to drive
skating rink hijinks kept our hopes alive
we skated with a partner under that disco ball
careful to show off our moves; dreading a fall
A nice, flushed feeling.
Like someone is trying to break into the house.
Then I laugh because they gave up as always!
Drinking coffee to celebrate.
Weeks later.
It’s a little odd and spinning.
I ate pasta and it continued to splatter everywhere on my shirt.
Exciting.
Putting the cup down.
The desk where I should be doing work.
I forgot what I do…
So I do fun things instead.
Like wearing crazy socks.
A nice, flushed feeling.
Continues.
Sipping from my mug.
Cold, iced coffee.
Icy feelings.
Skating around my house,
As if I have a skating rink.
Twilight comes by.
Out of control.
Clap my hands together a single time.
As if that will end this feeling.
But that doesn’t help.
The feeling of helplessness.
Is.
Burnt coffee is still coffee.
I went down the drain once.
As if I was dish water.
Crazy socks, and painting rocks with smiley faces.
The…
Continuum.
Waiting.
Helpless in space.
Donning a space suit and helmet.
Stars and burnt coffee.
Hiding under the bed.
Someone is trying to break into the house.
So I fell asleep.
“The moon.”
Is no longer a single mass.
In this never ending orbit.
If I looked at the time.
It would be midnight on earth.
Here, time is slow and heavy.
Moons laughing.
So we become a part of the cycle.
Tilting, unsettling.
Gravity within gravity.
A large planet.
I wish I could settle on some bench.
But no human things abound here.
So I am simply like an ant that got caught up in a wave.
Saturn’s rings.
You learn to stand and skate.
On a burning skating rink.
And pretend everything is normal.
But even the moons are trapped.
Gravity is stronger here.
Everything is stronger here.
Except my feet.
Which burn on Saturn’s rings.
Looking out the window at winter
thinking why are you so cold
why could it not be like last year
warmer and easy to get around
this year kept a lot housebound
with freezing rain then snow
making roads and sidewalks
a slippery skating rink
the cold sank into every bone
skin froze in a few moments
it was twice as cold as a fridge
so you ran in and out of buildings
hoping the car would not fail
nothing shuts down in this weather
except for highways due to icy conditions
or due to stormy conditions
the snow piled up on roof tops
and on the roads making them narrow
because there is nowhere to put the snow
our only hope is for no more snow
and want the warmth of the sun
as we wait patiently for a early spring melt.
The graffiti covers it.
On the wooden steps, I sit.
Written on the walls are evil smiles.
I haven’t seen anything so scary in a while.
So as October wore on,
I would walk past that building at dawn.
I would step on a leaf.
And felt a sense of grief.
This building is empty, I think.
It used to be a skating rink.
It used to be used daily.
Then it became unpopular and they started to leave.
I guess unpopular is the right word.
The most accurate thing I’ve ever heard.
One day, I painted a friendly smile on the wall.
As if that would make up for this lonely fall.
I could break in anytime I wanted.
But they say it is haunted.
“Keep Out,” the sign said.
So maybe I’ll go to bed.
Maybe he won’t follow me home…
The ghost that roams.
But he does like graffiti that people write.
So I wrote a funny joke one night.
They painted over the wall the next day.
I think this ghost will make them pay…
How much caffeine is in my drink?
I bet it’s more than I think…
Frothy milk sloshing around.
I set my cup on the ground.
Sitting on a park bench, I pull out a snack.
Hoping a squirrel doesn’t attack.
How much caffeine is in my drink?
I wonder as I hear a coin clink.
Someone dropped a quarter on the ground.
I look around.
Everything is moving too fast.
I can hear a flag pole start to rust.
How much caffeine is in my drink?
To give me momentum as if I’m on a skating rink.
How much caffeine was in my drink?
I think…
I might need to rest in the grass.
After throwing my cup in the trash.
How much caffeine was in my drink?
Enough for me to be twitchy, I think.
How many blades of grass are on the ground.
1,002 is the number I found!
Is this a free write? It might be.
Or maybe? I have to get back from my break soon. Thinking of time as the top of a spoon. If I keep traveling fast, making it though writing’s past. Just keep writing until- the clock stops ticking still! There’s always another second, they say. So keep writing all day! Another minute, how could it be? An awkward moment left for me to write freely. If I keep going I have to think. Writing is like a skating rink.
A Benjamin Franklin puppet walked into our living room.
He wanted to use our computer, in particular, needed to zoom.
I said to my husband “what do you think?”
“I believe he is lost,” he said. This is not a skating rink.
Because Benjamin Franklin Puppet had put on some skates.
He was zipping and slipping around our hoes and garden rakes.
But why are they in your living room? A snoopy neighbor said.
This is not easily answered, so I went back to my bed.
The thoughts we think, what is their source
Emotes rise and fall in a blink
It’s clear that love employs no force
Time is now head and heart to link
Dark desires and fears, our heart’s chink
Heartfelt penance follows remorse
Else waywardness will make us sink
The thoughts we think, what is their source
It’s better we change our life’s course
We already are on the brink
Love reads not codes written in morse
Emotes rise and fall in a blink
To join love in heart’s skating rink
Conscience has shouted itself hoarse
Warning of sins that in heart slink
It’s clear that love employs no force
Love alone is real of course
From the stream of bliss, nectar drink
Drowned in fears, we’ve drifted off-course
Time is now head and heart to link
Is love not colour of our ink
Know God is our only resource
The choice is ours to swim or sink
Pulsations of joy, let’s endorse
The thoughts we think
31-May-2023
Trapped behind a desk, first at school, then at work
Why on earth are folks such awful jerks
If we didn't like school, why continue to suffer
Just because some boss made a great offer?
Rebel! Break out! Do the unconventional!
Find a pursuit that's completely unmentionable
Spend a year searching for the 'missing link'
Move to the equator, build an ice-skating rink
Heed my advice, friend, and you'll never be sorry
Ta-ta and good luck! ~ Time for my noonday safari
lake frozen to ice
skating rink for little ones ~
fish swim underneath
28th December 2022
Syllables: 5.7.5 (www.howmanysyllables.com)
For Tania Kitchin's "Ice, Snow or Frost Haiku" contest
On Lake Ontario's northwestern shore
sits a city of awe, beauty, and lore.
Toronto is where sports built the SkyDome,
and the Maple Leafs and Raptors call home.
Its renowned entertainment district lures
trendy tourists with its late-night bar tours.
And world-class restaurants offer cuisines
befitting the palates of kings and queens.
We built the CN tower to pierce the sky
one thousand eight hundred fifteen feet high.
And every spring, folks race up to the top
for nature, and that's not going to stop.
Torontonians say please and thank you
and allow cut-ins when standing in cue.
And our city hall hosts a skating rink,
it sounds extraordinary, don't you think?
(Rhyme)
12/23/2022
Take Me There Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Margarita Lillico
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