A New Attitude & An Announcement

quell the hellish fire within,

burning ire laced with sin

 

scrutinize the lies

you tell yourself,

like
that
you're
nothing

 

don't isolate

or scathe your need

for others

 

instead, be faithful--

burn evil thoughts,
turn toward the light

let it wave
tranquility
throughout your body

 

 

*

 

Prompt Inspiration:

Poetry Jam~ Fire

PU Mid-Week Motif~ Newness

3WW~ faithful, isolate, scrutinize

 

 

*

Good News Announcement:

The cover of my first poetry collection, Upon the Blue Couch, has just been revealed. For more information, please visit my author page at Winter Goose Publishing.

Give Me You

We'll discuss gifts
if you insist,

but I must expose
how my intentions arose--

a brief moment of clarity
when time became a mystery

and all the stuff I could touch
didn't matter that much.

What's more meaningful to me
is you beside the Christmas tree.


*
Prompt Inspiration~
Poetry Jam: Gifts
3WW: brief, expose, insist
Poetic Bloomings: The Nasher

Writers are Lovers

of mystery

as you can see

from the words of a poet.

Take, for instance, Robert Frost,

who in early adulthood stepped away

from poetry attempting to appease his family

with completion of higher academics, brief stints

in teaching, and reporting news slanted with a poetic view--

 

he once went on to describe a flagpole in front of the post office

as beauty with a majestic eagle who, in a mighty gust of wind,  

perched atop a pole by a stately white building,
adorned the heavens until a dreadful hunter
came along and shot it dead, that fool,
when merely the wind
knocked it down--

 

does a reporter write like that? No, only poets such as Robert Frost,

whose steps away from writing only led him back to feather pen,

can sustain wedding nights where hasty visitors knock

at cabin doors, when all around the deserted woods

no other light shines, and one is left wondering

if perhaps the stranger was the bride's true

love left with missing clues.

**

Poetic inspiration:

Poetry Jam~ Steps

PU Verse First- Writers are Lovers

3WW~ dreadful, hasty, sustain

Battles of the Mind

I am; how did you guess?
Was it the fact I cried out

in the middle of the night
for King Kong, declared

him handsome and easy-
going as if he were Jesus?

Or was it the fact a lesser
god promised to center me?

**

Prompt Inspiration~
 Poetry Jam: Battles
3WW: easygoing, fact, handsome
PU Verse First: Just Past Center

Meditation, continued

 

It is imperative to take action

when you feel distraction.

 

Find an oasis, a place to chill;

mindful thoughts felicitous fill.

 

Replace garbage, negativity

with harmonious images of the sea.

 

Think of the waves as lullabies,

salty air absorbing the lies.

 

Reward yourself when you're done;

an ice cream cone under the sun.

 

 

~~

 

 

Poetic Inspiration:

Poetry Jam- Knickerbocker Glory- What do you delight in?

3WW- garbage, imperative, action

PU Verse First- Omniscience

Why Wait?

There you are
with that look
of rapture
in your eye.

I know
the calm comes
before you
throw me on the bed
and rattle my appetite.

Why wait?

*

Prompt inspirations:
 3WW- calm, know, rattle
Poetic Asides- Question poem

On the Outside

You thought a brisk walk might help
leave the miserable feelings behind. . .

. . .around and around you skimmed

detached circles, a Venn diagram.

 

From the middle I watched you, a

maze of mass confusion

 

.

.

.

as
each

step 

spiralled

down 

to

your

grave.

*

Prompt inspiration- 3WW- brisk, detached, miserable

A Whispered Chill

"Poetry" by Alphonse Mucha

A chance in life as children, I see
years of choice in front of thee;
let not dark knights entice thy will,
savor the voice, a whispered chill.

~~

Prompt inspirations:
3WW- chance, entice, savor
Poetry Jam- Arts Gonna Art

Regrettable, Gossip Overheard

Have you heard the banter of he said, she said, they said, what-
gossip in the vestibule; duty taken, final cut

as a wrestle match between butt out! and OMG, say what? 
I battle from within; and though I try to fight it, the second wins.

"No, this can't be true- John Boy really is a girl?"
The women in their element gasp aloud, their noses curl

as I hide behind the paper, headline news- another day;
"I guess that makes him unisex," I hear the women say

wishing I'd listened to my first internal hunch
to mind my own business, let the ignorant eat their lunch.


Prompt inspirations:
Imaginary Gardens- Kerry's Wednesday Challenge- Internal Monologue
3WW- banter, duty, element

Sushi

A TV in the examining
room sends a message-
LONG WAIT, a normal
expectation for a doctor's
office, yet you hope
to escape such a fate.

Three cooking channel shows
later, an affair with impatience
embattles your mind and you
dream of being free from this
torturous bind so you open
the door, peek into the hall-

WHERE IS EVERONE?
you thought you thought, but
you screamed those words,
slammed the door for
emphasis
as the ad-
Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen
flashes in front of your eyes
and you dream of sushi.

**



Prompt inspirations~
3WW- affair, expectation, free
Poetic Asides- Appointment poem
Real Toads- Words Count with Mama Zen- Power Images

PilLOWed

Cut the crap,
the hazard trap-
endanger not your
words with shallow
verbs and adjectives
too fluffy. My voice
is a pillow- when
I open up people
listen then fall
asleep.

@laurie

Prompt inspirations:
Imaginary Gardens- Words Count with Mama Zen
 3WW- cut, endanger, hazard

Unfathomable

I try to wrap
my brain around
a number I
imagine, so vast
it makes me
halt, so fast
it overloads
my one-track
mind, pushes
all the words
to the point of no
return. I find
a place I beg
to differ
is no different
than this poet's
letter vault.
*
@laurie kolp
 Prompt inspiration: 3WW- differ, halt, imagine

If I Had One Wish

I’d hope for world unity
Commencing in this country
With politicians letting go
Of their overactive egos
Their game of control in Washington
Stilled by a peaceful transition
As humble role models who often agree
A buffer within the community
Patriotic red, white and blue
Joined together with me and you

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspirations:

3WW- buffer, transition, unity
Poetic Asides- Patriotic

Layered

The rolled up sleeping bag, bulky
with coils like boles in a tree
sits beside the trunk, layered
with life essentials for one week-
a week I must resign as parent,
hand over the reins to another.
Hidden within the trunk, a piece
of my heart, my eyes a mist of worry.

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspirations:
3WW- bulky, mist, resign
Poetic Asides- Camp

NAANI (nanny, boo-boo)

when wavelengths collide
navigate like a demure fawn,
juggle thoughts until
harmony rings peace

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspirations:
3WW- fawn, navigate, juggle
Poetic Bloomings- NAANI Poetic Form- “expression of one and all” 4 lines, 20 to 25 syllables, nontitled (usually)

Coons and Gators

Baby raccoon

The baby coon scoots across a pebbled path

the tremble of its body but a blur

and small enough to fit into my hand.

With dampened eyes

I keep my distance,

hope the mother finds it

before a hungry gator snaps.

Baby alligator

©laurie kolp

Both pictures were taken by my husband

outside his office (which is by the river).

The baby raccoon on Monday and the baby alligator a few months ago.

Prompt inspiration: 3WW- dampen, keep, tremble

A New Olympic Sport?

Sex as a sport, why not?
Think about it-

Rough and tough like boxing
Sometimes even bloody
Below the belt… pervert!
How long can they hold out
One, two, three… to thirty?

Dancing with the *stars*, RrrR
Promiscuity, promise cutey?
Oh, so kinky, provocative
Pump it up, slam dunk
Thrust-that-pel-vic-to-the-beat

Tender as a ballerina breeze (sigh)
Flexible and lithe, a demi-plié
Bending into new positions
Libido in second, please
Dreamy butterfly kisses

Sex as a sport, why not?
In the Olympics, I think not.

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspirations: 3WW- bloody, kinky, tender
PA- sport

Inside Me

Inside me lives
A rumple of emotions
A lover
Wife, mother, sister, daughter
Passionate and caring
Sometimes too much

Inside me lives
Secrets that I’ve kept
For too long
Truth blooming like tulips
A forever battle
Between faith and fear

Inside me lives
A survivor
With a tainted past
An unknown future
Living in today
With dependence on God

©laurie kolp

*Modeled after the poet Cora Coralina

Prompt inspirations:

IGWRT- Kenia’s Wednesday Challenge- celebrate feminine
3WW- dependence, kept, rumple

Exclusion

Deviant behavior starts at a young age

when bullies begin reacting with rage.

A minuscule flea sets despots off

so trivial and trite the peers scoff.

It grows and it festers this irritation they get

taking out on others without regret.

If not nipped in the bud truants they'll be

or grown-ups excluding people like me.

 @laurie kolp

Prompt inspiration: 3WW (deviant, minuscule, trivial)

Breech

She'd rather be hit in the gut by
a bowling ball than endure the labor
pains that crept up in the night like a
black bear. The doctor said to
cancel all plans for a natural child-
birth, the baby was a Buddha planted
on her seat, breech and budge
LESS it wasn't worth the risk; but
she worked her elastic squeeze
ball during the C-section anyway.

@laurie kolp


Prompt inspirations: 3WW (cancel, elastic, labor); Poetic Asides (risk poem)