Poetry For Healing

Letting Go

Letting Go

Draining me of energy
this object of nonsense
has followed me
from home to home
Time to release it
and free my conscience
 
So meaningful 
all those years ago
Now it had become
a heavy burden
dragging me down
No longer precious cargo
 
An agonizing decision
to release it from my universe
Fondly looking back
the recollections treasured
Its use no longer important
Many memories will reimburse
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

In response to National Poetry Writing Month
NaPoWriMo - Day 12 - April 12th

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem
about a dull thing that you own, and why (and how) you love it.
Alternatively, what would it mean to you to give away or
destroy a significant object?

Photo by Hannes Wolf on Unsplash

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The Long Road

The Long Road

Born from new beginnings
A glimmer of hope
In the bleakest of years
The darkest of times
A baby to love and
dry the shedding tears
 
A lonely widow
with a family ready made
He, a man with an assurance
Promising love and security
for ever more, yet for her
it became an endurance
 
A straying spouse
out until the small hours
with whiskey breath
Cheating on his wife
with no-good women
She wished him a slow death
 
A child growing in disharmony
painfully witnessing the angst 
and learning how to be
Confused by the love-hate
relationship
Wishing to be free
 
A lifetime of relearning 
That true love really exists 
and does not cause pain
Love and honor
for each other
the foundation, never the bane
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

Written for National Poetry Writing Month
NaPoWriMo

Day 11 - April 11th

Today, taking a leaf from Elhillo’s work, we’d like
to challenge you to write a poem of origin. Where
are you from? Not just geographically, but emotionally,
physically, spiritually? And having come from there,
where are you now?

Photo by Dimitri de Vries on Unsplash

Summer of ’74

Summer of ’74

It was spitting rain
in the heavy morning air
Big fat drops 
Spotting the pavement 
in polka dotted flair
 
Hotter than a stolen tamale
That summer of ‘74
Sweltering days passing
slower than molasses
Until you could take it no more
 
Irritable and sweaty
No energy for much
Tempers flared often
Among lovers and kin
who could barely touch
 
Finally, the heavens opened
and we danced in the street
It rained cats and dogs
Seeking vengeance on the sun
Our satisfaction replete
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

National Poetry Writing Month - NaPoWriMo
Day 10 - April 10th

Todays Prompt:
Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that starts
from a regional phrase, particularly one to describe a weather
phenomenon. You may remember one from growing up, but
if you’re having trouble getting started, perhaps one of these
regional U.S. phrases used to describe warm weather will
inspire you. 

Word Prompt

Vengeance

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One Liner Wednesday

In response to Linda G Hill’s One Liner Wednesday

Unfiltered Thoughts

Unfiltered Thoughts

Innermost thoughts
Without filter
Free to flow
Wherever they may
Maddened and irascible
They come and go
 
Hungry for an outlet
to spread through the air
Finding a place to settle
Reaching out to anyone
or anything 
With the sting a nettle
 
Cantankerous
Slicing like a knife
Rousing screams
Heard above tree tops
Gratifying and satisfying
Fostering dreams
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

April is National Poetry Writing Month
NaPoWriMo

Day 9 prompt is:
Our (optional) prompt for the day asks you to engage in another
kind of cross-cultural exercise, as it is inspired by the work of
Sei Shōnagon, a Japanese writer who lived more than 1000 years ago. 
She wrote a journal that came to be known as The Pillow Book.
She recorded daily observations, court gossip, poems,
aphorisms, and musings, including lists with titles like “Things That
Have Lost Their Power,” “Adorable Things,” and “Things That Make
Your Heart Beat Faster.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own
Sei Shonagon-style list of “things.” What things? Well, that’s for you
to decide! Some of her writing

In some of her writing she could be quite caustic and offensive
with her thoughts.  I chose this dark side as my muse today.

Today's Word Prompts:

Tops
Hungry
Cantankerous

Photo by Mubariz Mehdizadeh on Unsplash

Dreaming

Dreaming

The rain pounding
on the windows
like stones
being thrown
The branches
shook hard
and the leaves
were all blown
 
Cold and miserable
was the common
feeling of 
every day
Longing for sunshine
beaches and
swaying palms
a beach and a bay
 
Gazing into wishes
Staring out the dream
Holding desires
close to the chest
A future coming
Into focus
Escaping the misery
has become the quest
 
A wish soon
to be realized
Just a matter of
when and where
Is a gift to self
a selfish gift?
Does it really matter
and who would care?
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

Prompts:

National Poetry Writing Month
Sunday, April 7 - Day 

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of gifts
and joy. What would you give yourself, if you could have
anything? What would you give someone else?

Word Prompts:

Gaze

Chest

Song Lyric Sunday – Smoke

This week Jim Adams, our host of Song Lyric Sunday, has prompted us with Burn/Fire/Flame. I have chosen and old favorite that still sounds great – Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple. It has a memorable intro. The song was released in 1973 and there is a backstory. Roger Glover the bass guitarist, dreamed of a fire and several days later it eerily came true while the band was recording in Monreux, Switzerland, just ahead of the Music Festival. If you are interested in reading it, click here

I hope you enjoy it!

Lyrics

Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
 
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
We ended up at the Grand hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We make a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know we'll never forget

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

Songwriters: Ritchie Blackmore / Ian Gillan / Roger D Glover /
Jon Lord / Ian Paice
Smoke On The Water lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

What If?

What If?

If the sky cracked open
and I was swallowed up
Would you miss me?
If the moon one night
refused to shine its light
Could you still see me?
 
If the coast was swallowed 
by an angry ocean’s rage
would you care?
If all the fabled stories
of Aesop were burned
Would that be fair?
 
If one day I floated
away like a balloon
Would run after me?
If the sun ever fell
From the sky
Would you let it be?
 
If the venturesome
Lost their nerve
What would occur?
Would it be natural
to give up?
If that’s what they’d prefer
 
If we had all the answers
To hypothetical questions
What would that indicate?
That we care enough
to ponder, what if?
and persistently formulate
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©
 
In response to the following prompts:

Hélène Vaillant's Photo Prompt What Do You See

National Poetry Writing Month

And now, for our (optional) prompt. Today, we’d like to
challenge you to write a poem of the possible. What does
that mean? Well, take a look at these poems by Raena Shirali
and Rachel Mennies. Both poems are squarely focused
not on what has happened, or what will happen, but on
what might happen if the conditions are right. Today, write
a poem that emphasizes the power of “if,” of the woulds
and coulds and shoulds of the world.

Word Prompts:

Fab or variations 
Venturesome
Coast
Natural
Personification in Writing

Forked Tongue – A Villanelle

Forked Tongue

What is this language you speak?
That I am pretty and I amuse
Yet no deeper do you seek
 
Am I there to decorate and be sleek
Arm candy to enhance your ego
What is this language you speak?
 
Kiss me until my knees are weak
I am more than your accessory  
Yet no deeper do you seek
 
My love is torrid and not meek
Full of passion and lust
What is this language you speak ?
 
The situation has become bleak 
My words are foreign to you
Yet no deeper do you seek
 
Maybe I’m still hurting
I can’t turn the other cheek
What is this language you speak?
Yet no deeper do you seek
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

National Poetry Writing Month
Day 5 - April 5, 2019

NatPoWriMo - Prompt

Following Dargan’s lead, today we’d like to challenge you
to write a poem that incorporates at least one of the following:
(1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text,
and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way.
If you can use two elements, great – and if you can do
all three, wow!

I managed two out of three. I chose the Villanelle form (my first attempt!) and the first two lines of the last stanza are taken from “Coming Back To You” by Leonard Cohen

Thanks For Nothing – A Sonnet

Thanks For Nothing

You didn’t just cause her pain
You hurt me in the process
You vowed to love each other
But you chose to digress

She suffered the pain you delivered
With her head held high
Always aware of her dignity
Ignoring your every lie

I was the fall-out of the war
You two battled every day
Truce was not in your vocabulary
Because you both wanted to slay
 
This child of yours cruelly cast off
Unable to penetrate your standoff
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

National Poetry Writing Month
Day 4 - April 4th

Todays Prompt from NaPoWriMo

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own sad poem,
but one that, like Teicher’s, achieves sadness through simplicity.
Playing with the sonnet form may help you – its very compactness
can compel you to be straightforward, using plain, small words.

Word Prompt - Cast Off

Letting Go

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The Long Road

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Summer of ’74

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Unfiltered Thoughts

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Dreaming

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What If?

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Forked Tongue

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Thanks For Nothing

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