Everybody Up

 

Everybody Up

 

4 a.m.
Flash, flash, flash,
like a strobe light
firing outside.
Thunder follows,
rattling the windows.
Rain falls gently
at first, then
increases in
intensity.
When the Boss has
insomnia,
nobody sleeps.

 

 

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Totem

 

 

This week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt is Totem. A totem is an object (usually animal or plant) that serves as an emblem of a person, family or clan. I chose a lily as my totem because it reminds me of two women in my family.

 

The first is my mother. Her name was Lillian. Her nickname was Lil rather than Lily, but the flower still reminds me of her.

 

The second is my Aunt Lydia. She was my father's sister, but she and my mother were very close. Auntie had orange daylilies growing along one side of the driveway for as long as I can remember.

 

We lived in the upstairs flat in my aunt and uncle's house until I was nine years old. The families actually lived together for 18 years so Aunt Lydia and Uncle John were like another set of parents to my siblings and I.

 

What totem would you choose to represent your family? Put a link to it in the comments on the prompt post. Thanks to Dana Dampier for this prompt.

 

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Uneven Ground

 

 

Uneven Ground

 

The knee aches
on uneven ground,
issuing warnings.
“Watch those stones.
You might lose
your balance.”
Don’t make that climb.
It’s too risky.”
Recently damaged
by a misstep,
the knee cries out
in hopes of
preventing another.
Trust, once broken,
is hard to restore.

 

 

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Support

 

 

I went to one of my favorite places, the Sculpture Park at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, to take pictures that would represent this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Support. I knew there were a variety of physical examples of support in the park. As I walked around, I was reminded that this has become a place from which I draw support for my art and my well-being.

 

I took about a dozen pictures in search of one to use in this post. They included the columns that are part of the Nelson-Atkins Building, parts of various sculptures and even some fencing near the Bloch Building. I settled on the above stairway because it shows two forms of support. One is the structural support that holds up the railings. The other is the railings themselves, which give support to those who need or choose to use them to go up and down the stairs.

 

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's prompt. Where do you find support?

 

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Docked

 

 

Docked

 

Sun warms the wood.
Water still has a chill.
The slap, slap, slap
is like a lullaby.

 

Look across the lake.
Storm moving in.
The day turns gray.
Wind whips up waves.

 

Run for shelter.
Get in before the rain.
Never forget how
quickly things change.

 

How do you react to change? Have you ever been blindsided by a sudden change?

  

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Line

 

A Fine Line

 

Long, straight and

step-on-a-crack,

break-your-mother's-back

hard.

Get in, stay in,

stand in and wait in.

Hold it or keep it moving.

Just don't cross it.

 

 

Thanks to Carol Early Cooney for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt. What's your line? Put a link to it in the comments on the blog post.

 

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Word Gardens

 

Self Taught

 

I’ve learned a few lessons
about luck and life.
Sometimes, even wishing
on a star can’t keep
things from turning ugly.
You take a punch or two.
Maybe end up in
residence at a hospital.
Take time to heal.

 

Other days turn out
sweet as apple cider.
You could be wandering
in the darkest alley and
wind up at the door to
a theater playing your
favorite movie.
When that happens,
walk in and
enjoy the show.

 

 

For the 8th challenge of the 2013 Our Lost Jungle Poetry Form Challenge, Khara House asked us to cultivate a word garden then grown a poem from it.

 

A word garden is simply a collection of words that resonates with the poet. For this challenge, we had to develop our garden quickly. However, this could be an ongoing exercise.

 

We were asked to collect a minimum of 100 words and put them in a jar or some other container. I took words from random pages I reviewed in books and magazines. I also used a few that I heard in conversation. We then had to draw at least 10 words from the container and write a poem that included all of those words. My 10 words were: luck, cider, ugly, star, alley, theater, residence, punch, movie and lessons.

 

I have never done an exercise like this before. I do have a list of word combinations that I keep as prompts. Sometimes, the words end up in the poem and sometimes they are just food for thought.

 

Do you have a word garden?  Have you done exercises in which you are given a list of words to include in a poem?

 

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