It was obvious
I was never there
accusations
were that I was
since I was not lost
found my way around
knew the depth
of a verse
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Italics are titles of podcasts in this prompt from dVerse
writing
Reminiscing
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Texting with my daughter
Amusing
Searching for a muse today
amongst the clutter of everyday living
accumulation of unneeded things
projects begun and never ended
heaps of writings piled neatly
It was there I felt it take a hand
beckoning for me to rise again
in words already vanishing
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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille and take a look for the muse
Middleness
crucial to finding the way is this there is no beginning or end only a lingering in the middle caught in the middle of nothing and nothing with no end marks and capital letters no space whiteness on a paper where a word isn’t and silence takes over just a blob of words on a page of middleness
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dVerse prompt on prosy using Jo Harjo’s line Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end. combined exercise with Ursula K. Lê Guin’s Steering the Craft Exercise 2 to write with no punctuation
Poems Rule
Truth to rule in times of riot
that is poetry
to find a line bold yet not
making all words dance
swirling images
fluttering gutted like fish
die on the pages
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dVerse prompt to write a seguidilla— messed up the scheme but committed to the change
Deltiologist
Grandmother was a deltiologist
(she didn’t even know it)
postcards came to her
on special occasions
when her children took a trip
& when her husband
lived in Kansas City
that’s how they communicated
there was on most cards
an image worth keeping
Now I have her postcards
with handwritten messages
in cursive script
slanted out of a fountain pen
how the weather was
how are you I am fine
how your uncle got the flu
he is fine now
write again when you can
love & kisses xoxoxo
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NaPoWriMo prompt on something handmade and given to you. Handwriting was once an art even when sent on a postcard.
My Red Wheelbarrow
I wheeled my red wheelbarrow
filled with poppy and lupine
past three horses pasturing
past the wind-warped madronas
past the heron and the wren
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NaPoWriMo prompt on the poets who have had an impact on our poetry writing. These are images from three of my favorite poets—
Line 1. William Carlos Williams
Line 2-3. Robinson Jeffers
Line 4-5. Theodore Roethke
In My Home Office
In my home office
a demanding task
never time for a cover-up
as I sit near my coffee cup
upright at my standing desk
there’s no time to letup
have at least 3 computer screens
as I work during this quarantine
just do a personal checkup
in a fit of hygiene
sterilize my triple keyboard
this practice not to be ignored
getting tired but must reconvene
keep it real not overboard
here on my wall the world map
putting together my word wrap
there is so much unexplored
new words for my legal rap
surrounded by photographs
always helps with my paragraphs
piles of paper on my lap
hope right now I don’t collapse
mail ordered a rocker board
never enough java stored
thinking of days with giraffes
praying to God I don’t get bored
now it’s time to light the lamp
end the day with writer’s cramp
night sets sail— come aboard
tackle this case like a champ
excuse me for I hear the printer
thankful to be the breadwinner
someday I’ll be out of home camp
anyday or perhaps midwinter
meanwhile I must be cautious
taking care to not feel nauseous
imagining a lobster dinner
stuck here in my home office
looking so statuesque
this is my manifest
Tomorrow
Mardi Gras beads
hang from the rear view windows
celebrate one more day
it’s Fat Tuesday
tomorrow will be back
to normal
no excuse to drink too much
put ash on forehead
start forty days
tell a story
one for each day
each tomorrow
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dVerse prompt on things that pass
Name It
a dream came
there is power
in a name—
in the naming of a thing
wordshophop 