April 30 Poem - hated this poem and deleted it

I did write one for this date but hated it so much I have destroyed it...

April 29 Poem - Never Bathe a Cat

Prompt - "Never ___"

Never bathe a cat

clumps of clingy hair
mingle with your blood
a wet trail leads through dangling Chenille
to the underworld under the bed
where dust kitties stick to the wet kitty
where green eyes glower and the hissing continues...

-- Mistryel Walker

April 28 write a Sestina. Have not done this yet

I have not written in form. It is my ambition to eventually get back in here and write this one. its the only one i missed.

April 27 Poem - the long day

the long day

the fridge quit
a doe ate the only tulip
old red pickup bled a pool of oil
The raisin rice pudding ensnared an ant
and no one noticed.

-- Mistryel Walker

April 26 Poem - The Hereditary Trick Ear

write a poem on miscommunication:

The Hereditary Trick Ear

5:45 p.m. Me: What shall we have for dinner? Shall I make up some pasta?
5:57 You: Dear I am going to boil some eggs? Do you want an egg salad sandwich?

7:43 p,m. Me: I don't want to go out in this snow
7:45 p.m. You: I think there might be ice, maybe you shouldn't go tonight....

10:01 p.m. You: I am going to take my pills and go to bed.
!0:27 p.m. Me: Hey Ma - where are you?

-- Mistryel Walker

April 25 Poem - The Funeral

write a poem with an event for a title:

The Organist's Funeral

A visiting chorus he didn't like the sound of
sang works he wasn't fond of, and an organist
he didn't approve of accompanied.

His ashes were buried permanently in a town
couldn't wait to get out of...

-- Mistryel Walker

April 24 Poem - Location, Location, Location

Write a travel related poem.

Location location location

Bowed down with a pondfull of cold rain
the tent collapses on top of us, blue nylon
covering all: bugs, formerly dry socks and boots,
two unpacked packs, open sleeping bags ,
four blistered feet. We prop the arching poles,
don dripping panchos, struggle to stretch
a flapping tarp at the proper angle. Soaked
and weary, we shiver in the dark roar of the storm's
wind rushing up the ravine we are camped on
the edge off

-- Mistryel Walker

April 23 poem - Preparation's End

write a poem of regret:

Preparation's end

Mr. Buzz - with his careful stripe suit and
showroom of grand pianos - asked me to teach
voice in his music school in 1973.
Fresh from three years music study
(three not four)....I declined. This was just the start...
I've made a life-time study of self-doubt detours:
on other paths, watching the second choice
half-succeed at jobs I thought
I wasn't good enough to take...
Does a flower appraise its petals?
What difference would it make - it
cannot stop itself blooming...
Only a human being is stupid enough for this.

-- Mistryel Walker

April 22 Poem - Thankless

write a work related poem

Thankless

windows turn from yellow-peach
to black, don't bother with blinds
don't drown in razor coffee just
keep grinding out copy
think, type fast as you can
calves tucked under, body wriggling
in a roller chair, in a tiny cube.
think, edit, make a call,
nuture six stories all at once,
one last quote, double check the math
by midnight you file and swear.
Nap on the orange vinyl couch
Tomorrow, both sides call
You make them sound wrong, they say.
so this time, you did it right, pissed off both sides....
Every day another test.
Go home, sweat in your sleep.
in your dream every one is swearing:
"GOD DAMN MEDIA"

-- Mistryel Walker

April 21 poem - Forecast

haiku, poem about the haiku

Forecast

tight spiral green ferns
uncurling near the stone wall
hard frost tomorrow

On forecasts:

If we knew what was coming
would we set out anyway?
Follow the map until we
sail off the edge of the known world
and make a brand new map?
Let the revisions begin.

April 20 poem - the godless heathen

write a poem of rebirth (You should really read the poem for April 19 first before reading this poem....)

the godless heathen

Born-againer of seven years
thumper of holy books
emerges Word-less
without the crutch
limps a bit, then walks away free
healed by reality....

-- Mistryel Walker

April 19 - Unholy irony

Prompt - write an angry poem

Unholy irony

You burned supposed witches
staked reputed vampires
launched crusades
drank the cool-aide
blew yourselves to bits
in crowded squares
to show us what -
infinity?
perfect love?

-- Mistryel Walker

April 18 Poem - Home care

the prompt is to write a poem about an interaction

Home care

One woman bends
straps the blood pressure cuff
on the other who rolls her eyes
tries to relax

One woman dabs gauze
sprays wound wash
the other wonders
if the next fall will be her last

She's had this thought six times before
or more, the other listens, concludes
the blood pressue is still too high

Doc will tweak the meds,
but no answers today
They both smile.

--Mistryel Walker

April 17 Poem - "All I Want is _________"

The prompt is the title

"All I Want is _________"

All I want in this moment
fits easily there:
One second
then another
Breathe in - Dasein - Breath out

-- Mistryel Walker

April 16 Poem - Grey

The prompt - write a poem with a color as the title.

Grey,

by pigment: an amalgam of compliments
like lovers drawn to the qualities they lack
which in the end, they cannot bear.
First black: when painting with light
it's drawn with absence; In pigment,
with an absorption of all light,
Add White? In light it's too much
of a good thing, everything all at once.
In pigment white loves too much
is all reflection, gives everything away.

-- Mistryel Walker

April 14 Poem - Phooey on Pollen

write a poem on love, then an anti love poem:\

Phooey on pollen

1
Fickle bees approach
broach the hidden ledge of
nectar's privileged vault.
They buzz but never linger
though they find no fault.

2
But Venus fly trap's
always splayed
dew-drenched, friendly, baited
and hence the greater irony
that visitors are eaten, never mated

--Mistryel Walker

April 13 Poem - The Palette

write a poem that incorporates a hobby

The Palette

Alizarin Crimson - a blush
Burnt umber lush garden earth
ochre fields of wheat
sienna in her sweet hair,
grey sky of mourning or
ultramarine in a starless night
Phthalo green, earth-marble sheen
cerulian blue sky-bright, the cadnimum sun,
the cadnium brothers are clean but loud
need to be heard, undiluted orange,
red and yellow burley fellows, raging
raging against this stretched white expanse..
Titanium laughs.
Ivory Black revels in its contradiction....

--Mistryel Walker

April 12 Poem - No Sale

write a poem that starts "so we decided to.."

No sale

So we decided to sell
and move to Kentucky
but the bridge washed out

Later, already twister tangled
forest fired, weary with doubt

all our belonings now
in one red barrow on the
debris laden- once-was-a-lawn

Uncle Hank from Mass arrived
in a Nissan truck, and picked us up
Now we are New England gone

-- Mistryel Walker

April 11 Poem - This Plain White Bowl

Write a poem about an object. Of course it's not really about the bowl.

This Plain White bowl

not porcelain, but cradled in grateful hands,
a perfect round of rice or rue or jello
carrot soup saucer, oatmeal coffer
ice cream chalice, strawberry short bake
the dark green leaves of lettuce and red
peppering take brief rest herein
before they become one with me,
I range plain as this round white bowl,
open to the menu's possibility.

-- Mistryel Walker

April 10 Poem - Trash Day

write a poem for Fridays

On Trash day

a murder of crows collects
on clean white streert-side bags.
With scalpel snouts they spear each sack
a toss, a rip, a crow head
dips into the pack, retrieving
items curious and aromatic:
pizza crust, jagged moon
of strawberry, snazzy tin foil fresh
from the oven with a slick of grease.
Dinner conversation turns to scorn,
reaches hysteria as I open the screen
to scream and slam.

-- Mistryel Walker