Sharpie

Why are sharpies so permanent?

Somethings just leave their mark

like when I can’t sleep and it’s

three am and

the dog wakes me up at six and

I know that’s not enough

there are so many answers

just give me coffee

Word Waltz

One two three

One two three

One two three

Please don’t flee

Come and see

He and she

Dancing free

One two three

One two three

Angry Haiku

I was angry then

beating the eggs so hard

I broke the bowl

________________

I was very fond of that bowl.

In Robert Bly’s Hometown

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remember the sound of your voice

reading my poem to the class

here something happens

poetry is making something happen

don’t be content with just words

make them leap off the page

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dVerse prompt to write about or to a favorite poet. I visited Madison, Minnesota a few weeks ago and went to the little house where Robert Bly wrote and it contains much of his library.

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• 

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Garden Wounds

When plants fight back

leave a wound on finger

twig in the eye

scrap of the blackberry vine

stain of the grass

bitter taste

of the forgotten lettuce

renegade limbs

blocking my path

thought that they could

keep me away

wound up as compost

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dVerse prompt to use the homograph wound in a quadrille

Fine

How I woke up feeling

this fine day of rain

then sunshine

garden beds moist

ready for planting

weeds don’t stand a chance

when I walk by

what will it cost me this day

ready to pay the fine

dirt under nails

sore back

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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille with a homograph

Palinode

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• 

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dVerse prompt to write a palinode

Replaceable

• 

Your great great grand uncle dog

I thought was irreplaceable

but you are the sweetest boy

always there to greet me

comes whenever I call

patiently waiting

for any scrap

to fall from the table

Devils Lake

• 

Dakotas spoke it as mni wak’an

mni (water)

wak’an (pure source or sacred)

there was no concept of devil

til white man saw it as bad spirit

water that was undrinkable

created mirages like spirits

over the waters

marked it on the map

Devils Lake

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Traveling in North Dakota, I camped at this lake.

Spring Thaw

I was snowed in for days

kept the fire going in the woodstove

plenty of food in the pantry

wind picked up the drifts

moved them to fencing

all the while I fed logs

into the crackling fire

waiting for the thaw

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dVerse prompt to write a narrative. I am traveling in North Dakota and imagining what it would be like here in winter.