Poetry Picnic Week 16: My Life in Free Verse

Thanks so much for all the tasty entries from last week’s picnic!  They were delightful! 

Now it’s time to dig in deep and see what you can find in the garden of your identity as you write in free poetic style about yourself.   Each and every one of us is unique, and it takes a diverse combination to make a great picnic here at The Gooseberry Garden.  What makes you extraordinary?  Tell us all about it!

Image:  by Kay Salady

Prayer for All Souls by Steven Federle

Fill me with your

Sacred fire.

I long to rise from

This moldering pyre,

But I’m trapped

Under a dying sun.

Your love

Is just beyond my reach,

And sight fails

As I falter,

And back

To basic earth

Fall.

O, lift me

With your mighty hand

And once again

I’ll live.

Grandma, Let Me Tell You A Secret by Elaine Danforth

Grandma, let me tell you a secret. . .

I whispered,

With my little mouth

Into the big phone

That I held with both baby hands

Near my baby cheek. . .

(If I said it in a whisper,

It was a secret,

Or so I thought)

I love you,

I whispered. . .

Later,

I can still see

In my mind’s eye,

Being in her house

After she was gone,

When I was only two. . .

How could I understand

That I would not

See her again?

Those Times Ago by Charles Mashburn

Eyes closed, I smiled and imagined

A full moon hanging low in the sky

Looking like a shiny pearl button

On a dandy cowboy’s shirt

Sequin stars glittered

On a blouse of blue-black silk

In the distance cattle lowed

As coyotes yipped and howled

When I opened my eyes

It all faded to cold hard truth

The hot dry grass on my neck

And burning tears I wouldn’t let fall

City traffic whirred nearby

Distant sirens pierced the night

A neighbor screamed angrily

At her laughing children

I gazed up at the dingy sky

Closed my eyes and tried to recall

Those times so long ago

When hope still lived within me

Times when stars twinkled

The man in the moon smiled

And parents, tired from their day

Murmured and chuckled softly

Gliding in the old wooden swing

Smiling, looking forward to tomorrow

While in the moon-shadow of a tree

Children tittered secret laughter

I wondered when the world had changed

And wished we could go back

To when life was simple; those times ago

When hope was more than just a word

HAPPY POETRY PICNIC!

We have the following poets who are celebrating birthdays during December, Thanks for being part of this growing community, Happy (Belated) Birthday to you all!

December 1,    Anky0112

Dec 7,              JStar

December 9,    M.L. Gallagher   

December 10,  ScottlB

December 14,  Emmanuel Ibok

December 10,  Punam

December 19,  Tammy

December 25,  Vibhuti B

December 28,  Fiveloaf

December 29, Victoria

December 29, Pat Cegan

Methods of Submission:

Share your work using InLinkz below, and leave a comment in case it is your first time! It would be great if you could link back to us on your blog.

Weekly poetry collection starts on Sunday, at 2pm (CDT), and will stay open till Wednesday, 8pm (CDT), 78 hours for you to share your poetry with us...

What About Next Week!?!

For Week 17, we will have theme “Photos, Nostalgia, Memories, and Families”, that’s next week.