A Poem a Day for November - Day 6: Smart Brain

Song line is from "Burn" off of the album Signed and Sealed in Blood by Dropkick Murphys.

Smart Brain

Randomly in the middle

of the day, I stop typing

and use my hands instead

to tap out a beat on my desk.

I silently (okay, not so much) sing

There’s a fire in the sky and your face is aglow!

I look around and smirk to myself.

Last night that album

played from my iPhone

right next to my ear.

I fell asleep

before that song came on.

I smile at the late

night memory,

happy that my brain

recognizes good music

even when I’m unconscious.

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A Poem a Day for November - Day 5: Me In 10

The prompt for today's poem was "Write a 10 word poem without using personal pronouns, make it personal." It's a lot harder than I first thought!! Ha! If you know one of my favorite bands (Ducky Boys), you can probably tell that I've been listening to a lot of them recently. Let me know what you think of this one! Thanks! :-)

Me In 10

Broken,

but not beyond repair.

Still damaged,

music soothes.

Progress.

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A Poem a Day for November - Day 4: I Want to Be

This is pretty different from how I normally write. I hope you still like it. Let me know!! Thanks for reading! :-)

I Want to Be

I want to be

the sound waves emitting

from your amplifier.

Sending energy out

into your space

filling the air around you,

making you smile

satisfying you.

I want to be

the air moving

through your vocal cords.

Soulfully singing out the words

you crafted so carefully

to let people understand you.

I want to be

the tremble

of your guitar strings

when struck by your pick.

Helping to create

your unique sound.

I want to be

the ink in your pen

spilling your thoughts,

your words,

on to paper

and into existence.

I want to be

the inspiration

that your brain craves,

causes you to think

your beautiful  

and your dark thoughts

to share with the world.

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A Poem a Day for November - Day 3: To Be Invisible

To Be Invisible

I have a favorite corner

that I like to sit in

when I need to escape

from the world.

Sometimes I bring things

like my notebook and pen,

or my guitar,

my laptop,

or just a pile a blankets

with me into my space.

Sometimes it’s just me.

This morning I was in a huge crowd

of people, waiting to begin a race.

I needed to cough, blow my nose,

and retighten my shoelaces.

But I didn’t want to draw

any attention to myself.

I had my headphones on,

even though no music was playing yet,

and my sunglasses covering my eyes.

My barriers already up.

But still I just wanted to be invisible.

to be able to move

in my personal space

without anyone looking at me.

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A Poem a Day for November - Day 2: Colors

Since I'm writing a poem a day for 30 days (still, Yikes!), why not have some fun, huh? Fall is just kind of a spooky time of year, with Halloween, Day of the Dead, and All Souls Day the supernatural seem to play on my mind. This poem is from the dVerse Poets Pub prompt today, colors.

Hope you like it! Let me know! :-)

Colors

Laryngitis has gripped my vocal cords.

In my mind, murky black tar

encloses my cords, tightly squeezing

my voice out of me.

I walk through the park

with my usual defenses,

(sunglasses on, camera in hand)

joined by a new wall,

allowing me to wander quietly

in my own little world.

As I move past a girl on a blanket

she holds up her hand to me,

I stop.

She takes my hand, smiling,

and whispers “I see orange, blue, and black

haze flowing from you.

Very interesting.”

I tilt my head, remove my hand from hers

turn and slowly move on. I sense her

eyes following me.

I lose myself among the trees,

keep looking over my shoulder

to try and catch a wisp of haze.

I spot a young boy in the distance watching me.

He catches my eye and gestures me to him.

“You can’t see your own colors,” he smiles

knowingly. I stare open-mouthed at him.

He turns and I watch him

walk into the trees.

As he gets farther and farther away

I see a smoky, swirling haze

of white and purple take him in.

(If you would like to know the symbolize of the colors in this, click here: http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/middle/color2.htm. Thanks! :-)

A Poem a Day for November - Day 1: Stones

So, November is both National Memoir Writing Month & National Novel Writing Month. Well, I don't think I'm old enough to write my memoir, and I'm too ADD to write a novel. So, I've deiceded to write a poem a day for the month of November.

I'm already really happy about this decision. If I hadn't decided to take this on, I would have let an interesting moment slip way into a vague memory for a week and then have forgotten about it completely. Instead, it lead to the first poem of my project! I'm not sure how good all of my poems over the next 30 days will be, but I'm going to write them anyways! :-)

Let me know what you think about this one! :-)

Stones

When I was young

my brother and I would hold our breaths

when the car we were in

drove by a cemetery.

I was intrigued back then

with the stone tablets,

some tilted, some cracked, some chipped,

and those with more recent death dates still smooth.

I drove by the cemetery today.

Stopped at a light

I looked over at the grounds,

intrigued by the stark dark stones

against the vibrant leaves

colored yellow, orange, and red

both on still on the trees and those on the grass.

I made a mental note

to go take pictures in the cemetery tomorrow.

I’ve never been to a cemetery

for a funeral,

I’ve always left from the church.

Poetry of a Survivor

I don't really want to say a lot about this poem. Over at http://dversepoets.com/ (on twitter as @dVersePoets) we were reminded this it is still Anti-Bullying Awareness Month, at least for a few more days. So that was what sparked this poem. Bullying is something I dealt with from ages 5 to 19. I went to Catholic Schools K-12th grade. So I didn't even escape my tormentors on the weekends. But kids aren't the only ones who bully. I've seen plenty of adults do it too.

Lyrics from the 1st stanza are from "Fatty" by Mung (also covered by the Street Dogs, which is how I actually found the lyrics. Lyrics from the 2nd & 3rd stanzas are from "Me, I am Anger" by Bryan McPherson. Lyrics from the 4th stanza are from "Make It Stop (September's Children)" by Rise Against; go find the music video, it will break your heart.

Let me know what you think.

Poetry of a Survivor

The lines were already drawn

as early as Kindergarten.

Forced to run from the popular girls

three times a day around the playground at recess.

Caught and I was shoved around,

down to the dirt.

They torture and this shit’s unkind

Everyone pointed and laughed.

I started getting stomachaches

three times a day, during recess.

The summer before third grade

the chasing game ended.

By then I was fat,

and ‘they’ never let me forget it.

Huddled by the crab apple tree

at the corner of the playground

my best friend and I tried to hide.

We were always found.

Do you remember me?

You’re the one who threw rocks at me in 1993.

Middle school brought new feelings,

and new ways to be tormented.

“You have a crush on Luke?”

“He’ll never like you, you’re too ugly!”

“You’re not his type, you’re fat!”

At home I hid behind my smile.

My best friend and I stuck together.

At church on Sundays

we dodged our tormentors.

Choosing the chapel entrance

we avoided the congregation

of the popular girls out front.

The cool kids are all walking

Like lions in their cage.

High school brought some relief.

Getting lost in the hallways was easy,

being short in a sea of students

hid me well.

I couldn’t hide

so well in the classrooms.

I tried to make myself small

walking in the door.

But as soon as I entered

the well dressed rich kids

started snickering, commenting

silently at first

then obviously so I could hear

about my chosen outfit,

my new glasses,

and how I carried my books.

I sat silently in my desk,

head down,

waiting to disappear into the halls again.

Make it stop

Let this end.

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