My neighborhood is lightning bugs
Hoverflies and spiderwebs
Camera shy opossums and the wiliest raccoons
Home is fields of cornstalks
Pillows sweetened with soy
Dapples of verdant forestland betwixt cabins like a bouquet
Clouds like mountains tuck us in
The sunlight opens our eyes
Mighty maples tower
A neighborhood watch
Sleepy but bustling
Quiet days and noisy nights
It’s home in the neighborhood
Of twinkling lights
Composed 8/17/2025 for the Ragtag Daily Prompt: Neighborhood
Shining, vibrant, a song hidden
Under mountains of smoke
Nested in the
Sky, the song fades to lullaby; it
Elicits a warm glow
To lure me to sleep
07/28/2025
A view from my window.
When enriching uses of time present themselves in kind
I drift toward that endless ocean whose noise numbs the mind
The moon’s magnetic pull urges me under the waves
Where I drown, happily
Succumbing to the song of a thousand sirens
When life is a vampire
Why not embrace death?
At least a zombie does not feel
It cannot swim but it might enjoy the view of the sea
5/23/2025
So NaPoWriMo was a little bit of a bust, but here’s to writing more consistently through the year.
Every time I step outside I wonder
How can there be any more moisture in this world?
We survived the initial onslaught of war
But now we are tortured
Mother Nature cackles
As she drip drops
Slowly, steady on our faces
Even the peaceful warm shower rain
Emits a cringe, a trauma response
I fear I will always be shivering
Clammy
A rotten, shambling corpse
4/6/2025
NaPoWriMo Day 6. No prompts today, just real life. Unfortunately.
The heavy bass and pounding drum
That startle and re-rhythm a heart
A guitar solo, bold and confident, that brings you to your knees
All are wasted on silly love stories
Desires unrequited and longings seized
Why is the slow and mysterious fervor
Wasted on feelings and passions dark
While that whine of guitar, played with a hint of frenzy
Never features subjects epic
Like a hurricane…
Or sharks
The foreboding anticipation and
The sudden attack
The ripping of flesh and a momentous breach
What comparison is there
What match of power
Is a power ballad for the deep’s greatest beast
4/5/2025
NaPoWriMo Day 5. For today’s prompt we were asked pick a musical notation, a musical genre, and a word. I somehow settled on the first words from each column even though I was trying to be random (with a hint of frenzy, power ballad, sharks). Certainly a poem with much more levity than yesterday. Hope you enjoy it!
My mom
Gone now
Still lives with me
She’s there as I make breakfast
And keeps watch as I sleep
Her hugs are woven in the walls
Tiny xes whisper stories
Of different times of her life, our life
When I was born and when we had a dog
She tells me about spring, butterflies, and country scenery
We giggle about Dad’s geeky side
Bond over our love for cats
She advises me to trust in God
Reminds me to see the beauty in the skies
In quilts, in a simple life
We’re all surrounded with family love
But daily I can see
The loving touch she gave every detail
To make art
And to make me
4/4/2025
NaPoWriMo Day 4. A rarity: I used the prompt. Miss ya, Mom.
I think about butterflies
One moment can change the future
But worse
The fluttering of wings has nothing to do with me
I don’t raise butteries
Or usher them across the sea
That wasn’t my idea
My decision
My vote
But every part of me is affected
Socially, emotionally, financially, spiritually
My whole life takes a turn I didn’t steer it toward
My boat is rocked
But the thrill of a hurricane means nothing
When I am caught in its destruction
4/3/2025
NaPoWriMo Day 3. Some shower thoughts.
I roam the haunted halls
An unseen force howls in fury
The walls shake
I am unsafe no matter where I cower
The roof over my head a flawed protector
This poltergeist does not play favorites
All are victim to his tantrums and icy touch
I shiver
Will I be whisked away to the unknown
Or fall prey to his debris
My once safe place the end of me
4/3/2025
NaPoWriMo Day 2. Late, I know. I owe you another. I was sidetracked by a burst of severe weather that came our way last night. Hence, the inspiration.
They told me: sneak into trees
And seek the moonlit mushrooms
A lonely circle is waiting there
To touch a lonely heart
Reach out, feel the cold
And take a gentle step
The tickle of grass will give way
And you will fall
Into blissful darkness
Into arms
Into love
Into an unseelie prince
So I sought the mystery
Sweeping through branches
Ivy and cattails
Heart thumping, breath heaving, catching
Desperately seeking the solace of another
Who understands the deep parts of me
I yearned and searched
Until the whisper of dawn
In defeat I see
The light kiss the tips of the trees
In surrender I feel
The warmth against the curve of my cheek
My eyes open to note a stately oak
And below, a glow
A modest shroom pile
And then… a hand
A petite fellow
Dirt besmirches his freckled cheeks
That fill with a shy smile
As green eyes lift up, twinkling
He has not seen any stark white mushrooms
But these
Will make a handsome breakfast
He suggests
I watch lazy dust motes float
In the hazy morning light
I ponder
Over warm toast and fluffy eggs
And believe
My search, perhaps, is complete
4/1/2025
NaPoWriMo, Day 1. Have been interested in speculative poetry for some time, and thought National Poetry Month was the perfect excuse to experiment.
Not an angel of death perhaps
but a herald
I ring the bells and
prepare the way
I bear witness
I stand stoic and sympathetic as
tears fall around me
Make soft sad sounds
as I wait
Wait for the one that will finally break me
Scraps of Paper 