A selection of quality (and not-so- quality) works from quality (and not-so-quality) people. You decide which is which. An experiment of sorts in my mind and others, this is what you the faithful readers and writers make it. Have fun with it! Write poetry without judgment.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
What's for lunch?
Sadie asked
One hot bright southern summer day
I really want to know
We waited in line
The sun baked down to cook our necks
Until we were given
The all clear to go
In the doors and through the line
Of the camp cafeteria line
"Taco Stew"
Said head cook Janet
Ewwwww! I heard a couple of girls shriek
Why the sour face?
Taco stew melts on your plate
Satisfies until it melts in your tummy
The idea behind a good taco stew is to stir it all around
I learned this from an experienced girl scout
Who probably wrote a book on it
You stir and you stir
Until you can no longer tell the difference between
The beef and
the beans
the cheese and the
sour cream
the salsa and tomatoes
the olives
lettuce
and
potatoes
Soft or hard shell, why that's all up to you
Just specify when you give your order
To the chef
Behind the buffet
The secret is really no secret at all
It mushes together into one yummy paste
Until you get one spectacular taste
There is just one kink in the plan
The mixture leaves you stuffed full to the brim
You better not sink when you go to swim
Lethargy takes over in the sun
After lunch and turtle time
You are pretty much done
Oh tacos how you satisfy
One last time
Always expect good things
From a taco lunch
At camp
latin makes us sad
#5
Please translate the following:
Si iam hic adesset, sub arbore vinum bibens mecum sederes.
'If you were here right now, you could be sitting with me, drinking wine under a tree.'"
Alas, the contrary-to-fact-statement!
The saddest of all, scribbled in my notebook.
There's me, there's the tree,
and the wine (growing considerably less)
but no you.
Such are the facts.
This tree longs to be sat under
by a convivial pair
instead of forlorn, drunken me.
The wine wants to taste your lips,
a most reasonable desire.
But you are not here.
If you were not so contrary
the facts could be
you, me, the wine, the tree,
and a future perfect.
Monday, June 29, 2009
taco taurus
"taco, taco, taco!"
pretending to savor
a meaty, crunchy delight
gangly teenage legs twirlling
over the edge of the couch
flip-flops and painted toenails
beat a path to the taurus
drunk on youth and
nothing else except
the lawless excitment
of being out past midnight
to wausau, to taco bell
and then to yellow banks park
the moonlight shimmering down
on the lugubrious river
a feast on the playground
but before the caramel
of the empanadas could cool
flashing red, blue
"don't you kids have homes?"
and we laughed, fleeing
tumbling into my taurus
hightailing it home
chanting,
"Taco, taco, taco!
Don't you have any home?"
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
a bedtime story
taco was
a happy taco, proud beans and ground
beef, diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce draped
in a blanket of sharp cheddar, in a sprinkling of sliced black
olives from a can.
taco fell in love with a sauce known
as guacamole, the mashed daughter
to avocado and garlic, whose breath was sweet
with red onions, hair sticky with a twist
of lime
from her mother’s
fruity roots.
taco had to have her. he lay awake at night dreaming
of how he would slather her over his cheesy blanket,
or how he would dip himself into her
to make his taste all the more sweet, the crunchy
baked-corn shell of him
nearly cracking
with the thought of such pleasures.
he knew that he could be better with her.
but guacamole came with a price. avocado and garlic
did not approve of hard-shells, and so taco shed himself
in favor of a pliable flour blossom.
but avocado and garlic demanded
that he provide their daughter with luxuries so taco sauced
himself in black beans and cilantro,
dressed with white rice (for added
nutrition).
but avocado and garlic were offended. they saw the great
lengths taco had gone through and they said,
“you have gone through great lengths to change
yourself for this one thing, who is to say you
will not change again so quickly
when something better comes along?”
then taco went to the market and sold
his tomatoes, sold
his olives and even his beloved spicy meat
for a mixture of pico de gallo
he bought from a gypsy.
she instructed taco on how to dice
the tomatoes correctly, advised him to wash
his hands after handling the chiles, to add the serrano
just before going out, and where to adorn himself
with a splash of lime for the best
effect.
“surely,” the gypsy told him, “any vegetable parent
will see the depths of this love."
and taco lay awake that night, thinking
of guacamole's tender and fruity chunks, cool
and green, green the color
of her eyes, green
the color of the salted sea,
thought taco.
taco returned to avocado and garlic, draped
in his handsome cloak of pico.
he said, “i have done so much to prove to you
that guacamole is the only condiment that could ever
make me whole. we are not complete
without each other. you said that i have changed,
and you are right. i have changed,
but for guacamole. i have become
better for guacamole. i have demonstrated
fourfold my dedication to your daughter.”
true to the gypsy’s words, avocado and garlic
saw that taco spoke truth. but they had one last request:
to see that taco could provide protection to their daughter
from the fierce elements of room-
temperature, which turned her delicate complexion
a rotting shade of brown.
in one swift movement, taco wrapped himself
in his flour blossom to demonstrate his flexibility. this
greatly excited avocado and garlic, as taco had
enough space for an extra portion, and they
were excited to have grandchildren.
so taco became a burrito for love of guacamole,
and they lived happily ever after.
Monday, June 15, 2009
All The Fixings
There we were
On
On the deck of Picosa
We anxiously passed a bag
We had smuggled into this world
At dawn of our nonprofit service year
We all ordered s
S
The bag held contraband
In the form of dairy
Shredded cheese
The tacos arrived quickly
Topped with ripe red t
Our bleeding hearts had assembled
Ones that were sliced and diced for a year
Never c
Human service had taken our beliefs, thoughts
Turned them on their head, made us silly
Idealism took shots, developed wounds
We could not save the world, perhaps
We could learn to save ourselves
Our t
The black beans
They were the gas
Provided our energy
They fueled us to vistas
Previously untouched
Visceral experience
Away fr
Hard shell for s
Others asked for soft
We all had our outlook
Our approach toward others
But make no mistake about
The genuine desire to hold
Things together for those
Who struggled with it
The fillings, just like
We all do at times
The cheese
Shredded cheddar
It was what we brought
Not much to offer this table
A cheap way to fake being cultured
Toppings too cheap to pay for on-site
Our experience left us all without money
We just hoped it would come together
In the end, when we left it behind
Separate, fr
The bleeding heart t
The passionate bean energy
The tortilla of dedication
Getting stuff done
Or trying at least
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Theme for June: Tacos
Photo credit
Ready, Set, Go...write poetry
What do tacos mean to you?
What memories do you associate with tacos?
Why do you get that funny feeling in your gut when you think about tacos?
Anything you care to aspire to when it comes to the magical mystery mix-up food.
Everything tacos.
Everything in a shell.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Wishful Wednesday (on a Sunday)
Mean
Active minds
Active minds
Mean
Thoughtful souls
Which
In turn
Mean
The future
Is looking
brighter and brighter
by the
Minute.
(You have to see the picture I have this captioned by to have it make sense, but it's a group of my six-year-olds at the Children's Museum in South Carolina looking out of the window on a sunny South Carolina summer day while drawing on it with erasable window markers. Very cool. At least I felt inspired enough to jot down some notes when looking at the photo again.)
Maybe at some point we can have a photo theme on the blog too...just sayin'.
Friday, June 5, 2009
lights out for love
(Though you may have been foolish before)
When love comes a'calling
They say it's like falling,
And, my friend, you have just hit the floor.
There's something about love that stills
All tedium that normally kills.
And as you happen to be
in your great ecstasy
You've forgotten to pay all your bills.
Yes, being in love's made you dense
To a rather important expense,
But you think it's a lark
as you kiss in the dark,
"This warm feeling, it doth recompense."
Made this and I was trying to be ghetto. It turned out rediculously emo.
This a rhyme for all those who have died,For those who have cried, and kept faith alive.Sometimes it hard when the pain is inside, you tryin to hide but its dripping through, out of your eyes.You gotta realize, speaking in lies and swimmin in tides, just aint for all the people who have hope in their lives.I sympathize, when you breathe hurt in your sighs and the best wish you dish could be wantin to die.But still you try, again,to everybodys surprise, and you feel you could succeed against all the goodbyes.And then it hits you, like a drop kick to your side, and you know this is the end of the longest of strides.But please,take this with you,in you I confide, soon you'll find peace in that place in the sky.
Today feels like
Monday, June 1, 2009
mindfulness
100% myself right then, right there,
I'm a thousand different places
a hundred different versions
ten different girls
and one life.
I am sitting here right now,
but another part of me is doing laundry,
another part of me is taking a math test,
another part of me is composing a poem,
another part of me is kissing a boy –
(his scruffy chin would be most welcome against my cheek)
another part of me lounges, topless, with a drink on a Hellenic beach,
another part of me mourns a death that has not happened,
another part of me lives in a dream,
another part of me dances in celebration,
another part of me is driving to the store,
(probably for more liquor)
another part of me is having sex
(it must have been a hell of a kiss)
and another part of me is dying swiftly, unexpectedly, ahead of the revelation I was supposed to receive...