Time Gone

She never said good bye

nor wrote a letter 

No explanations

She closed the door,

never looking back

Years went by

Silence choked time

and she let some words

in through an open crack—

then closed the door again

saying time has passed,

we no longer know one another

April Poem a Day

Prompt: closing time

Open and Affirming Sunday

What did you think 

when voices in unison

intoned their acceptance of you

and others like you— did

you wonder why they needed a vote,

a document stating you are worthy

of being in their sanctuary,

of bending a knee, of breaking bread

Do you think it odd that year after year 

they applaud themselves

Someday, I thought, the sign

on the door will state: welcome

everyone — this is God’s house

and all are welcome to pray,

to bend a knee, to share the sacraments 

We are God’s diversity, 

a patchwork quilt, a lush landscape.

April Poem a Day

Prompt: a response poem

Future Wave

An ocean wave moves

across an open field of water

Shell pieces swirl in white foam

and sea glass tumbles—sharp

edges burnished by salt

In the distance a wave forms, 

gathers water and kelp —

and moves toward dry land,

then retreats and leaves a

calligraphy reminder

April Poem a Day 

Prompt: ———-wave for title

In medias res

It all begins once upon a time

and then she picks up a tea cup,

tells him it’s all over, she’s leaving

He asks if she’s open to think it over, but

her mind is made up and she quotes 

a line she once read, “ I left a long

time ago, but you never noticed.”

That’s a good final line and the author

adds a period leaving a reader to wonder

what she will do, where she’ll go and if

the author will write a sequel. 

April  Poem a Day

Prompt: write a short story as a poem

Faith

it’s what you got

when things look askew

or when someone needs prayer

you can’t buy faith

or borrow someone else’s belief

and no one gives it to you

Some folks say rest in faith

as if it is a soft pillow you own

It isn’t easy because it might

be tested and retested
Are you open to uncertainty

Some folks hold on even 

when it seems like no one’s there

to listen or even care

But other folks know that the

listening and caring comes

in that talk you had or the person

who just arrived at the right time

And then you got to ask—faith

in what or faith in whom—

Someone once told me that you step

out in faith and see if it holds

April Poem a Day

Prompt: title with a word that’s often used

Being Open

She had the swagger

and spare words  to match her walk

Love is love, she said

April Poem a Day

Prompt: use a form for Poem:  Haiku

British Wave

The queen mother raises 

one hand and moves it

back and forth

This greeting is royal,

elegant in simplicity,

effortless and open,

a trademark greeting

from the queen

April  Poem a Day
Prompt: write an anti-form poem

Spring Golf

Perhaps today I will hit with authority 

 I shouldn’t miss the ball,
 club flaying the air

This dimpled ball needs to fly 

Over time 

I have tried different brands

I have tried different colors 

I try to be humble, move along, be pleasant 

in the face of adversity, chat, celebrate 

the par of another while wondering about

my own score or number of pars

So under this spring sun

may the new season open with cards

filled with scores of pars

April Poem  Day

Prompt: action

The Philodendron

It’s thirty-five years old,

survived three or four new pots,

times of severe haircuts, 

even seasons of drought when left alone 

My mother gave me the plant

in a four inch pot when I first

moved into my own place

Every home she said needs green

Just snip it back if it gets stringy

and let it have both sun and shade

The pot is now quite large

and the plant is thick with leaves

My mother is no longer here

My children are grown 

And still the plant remains—

flourishes with a bit of care

She told me that it only

needed a bit of space, water, sun

and some kind words and love to grow 

April Poem a Day

Prompt: plant in title

Lovers Be Aware

Be careful of love that meets
outside drawn boundaries, love
that doesn’t match up to some
expectation— sometimes there will be
words, other times they will try and stop
you from loving or make you invisible—
they might demonize you or invoke a deity
to proclaim you as a sinner in the need of
redemption—yet if you persist you will find those
who celebrate lovers and love, who remove
impediments, knock open holes in walls and replace
the language of hate with the words of love


April Poem a Day
Prompt: Danger  Poem

First Lover

We met in a thin open space

where a breeze moved grass

reeds and pulled music from

each cluster of green

I closed my eyes and engraved

each moment in my memory

—-  waiting for viewing

    

April Poem a Day

Prompt: take a line from your poem and use it as a first line

Threading Instruction

my mother owned two thimbles 

unadorned metal coverings

for the times she mended my

father’s socks or shortened

the sleeves of his long sleeved

white shirts or sewed clothes

copied from magazines or off the

racks of high end stores 

she taught me how to hem,

use an open running stitch—

and how to thread a needle— 

first she wound the thread around

her finger and tugged until it

cut loose from the spool

then she moistened one end in her mouth

until all the stray ends came together 

she twisted the damp end until it formed a point

and picked up a needle and threaded it

through the slit on the first try—

only then did she warn me to never

sew a hem on someone wearing the garment,

“It will,” she said, “ make you simple-minded.”

my grandmother had warned my mother 

and she passed it on, ridding herself

of those words, of the warning—

now it belonged to me


April Poem a Day 
Prompt: use thread in the title of your poem 

The Bakery

trays of elephant ears, berry muffins,

fruit filled hamantaschen, walnut

brownies, peanut butter cookies,

and powdered blueberry scones

waited on the top shelf 

my vow to turn away from extra

sugar underwent testing

i envisioned ballooning up, tottering

beneath a calorie laden cloud, my 

pants tearing apart at the seams,

my arms and legs swelling into

watermelon appendages, a moon-face

with swollen cheeks and a slash 

for a mouth, eyes hidden beneath

swelling flesh, a scale that crumbled

beneath my girth, pants sewn out of

burlap bags, and i watched myself 

wobble and waddle down a street—

i fiddled with money in my wallet,

imagined a plate filled with items

from the top shelf, honed down my 

plate and visualized biting into one

sugar filled delicacy—letting 

sweetness explode in my open mouth,

linger on my tongue—

with the last ounce of control i 

turned away from paradise 

and ordered a large decaf assam tea

—no sugar and no room for milk

April Poem a Day

Prompt: Temptation Poem

In Time Another Time

before we wandered into an empty landscape

where our muted voices circled for years

we met in a thin open space where we could

find common ground and grind away burrs—

you sat on a hard back chair, waiting, silent,

and ingrown as if you understood the fullness

of stone, you were entombed in marble—

impenetrable, waiting to see a drama unfold, 

acting as both participant and onlooker,

child and barely edging into the time 

just beyond— now i see you—a high wire 

artist on that boundary, i carried a balance pole—

what did i say that altered the center of gravity,

you fell off and walked away

it took years for me to plumb the depths

of what I meant to say 

April Poem A Day 

Prompt: “ What I meant to say” poem

, 

My Delight

It’s an addiction 

Can’t stay away

can't cut back

can’t back away

Meditate.   

Sublimate

No open resistance

Can’t keep

yearning at bay

Dream of, talk of

Sing of

Mint Patty

frozen yogurt 

April Poem A  Day

Prompt: favorite

Artist with a Brush

I am a paintbrush

brightening my world with color

I use my handle to scrape away

the grit and grey of cities and

color interior spaces

with clean sheets of paint

I  paint tree trunks purple and 

leaves fluorescent pink
I sprout feet and dance

in an open paintbox 
turning into a whirling 
dervish of color

As I spin I fling my colors

out into the world 

April  Poem A Day

Prompt:Write a metaphor poem 

Middle School

Report to the office immediately

We found graffiti in an open bathroom stall

scribbled with bubble letters you draw so well

We discovered chewing gum under your desk

We found your initials carved into a desk

and underlining in your mathematics textbook

All is in disarray...you must report to the office

Something must be done

April Poem A Day
Prompt: A Report Poem

Open A Mirror for a Praying Mantis

The praying mantis genuflected 

and laid bare his soul

His knees creaked and cracked

 while he bemoaned

snake and spider attack’s

Beneath his devoted pose

a carnivore’s heart

a predator’s cunning

April Poem a Day

Prompt: an insect

Are you Guilty or Innocent ?

Who is guilty, who is innocent 

Who can claim innocence 

when the world burns, embers

ignited again and again by friction

between brothers, by words 

that chafe and open up fissures

between nations, between 

the right hand and the left hand

Who is innocent

— the one sees beneath the tatters

—the one who creates a mosaic out of shards

April Poem A Day

Prompt: A guilty poem

Warnings

Don’t skate on thin ice

nor take a position that is slippery

Don’t put pansies outside 

when the weather is fickle

Don’t argue with someone

who digs in and can’t listen

Don’t forget to look beneath

a hard exterior to find the why

Don’t stay with something

as if stuck when it’s best

to dust the dirt off your feet

Don’t forget to remain open

to each moment, every second—

once it passes by it’s gone 

Don’t say if I only spoke, did,

returned, turned around, touched

Perhaps a time will come when

you’ll be given another chance—

and can say

I spoke up

I made a place for you

I returned to where it began

I turned around and listened

I enveloped you in my arms

Perhaps another time— another chance

April Poem a Day

Prompt: a warning poem