Free Write Friday:Infinite

photo by heidi helmer

Gazing through glass
into the infinite and beyond
Where is she?

heidi
written 4/11/14 for Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday

Kellie's prompt for today was this:

Tell me about this girl…


And I thought about this picture I took of my friend Kristin 22 years ago. We have lived that lifetime over again since then. I love you Kris! And how better to express that than a Collum Lune?

NaPoWriMo Day Eleven: Geburtstag for Tutta

Sonny called her Tutta
which

stuck
throughout all these years. We still call her Tutta
a name that means
we love you.

heidi
written 4/11/14 for



So, for yesterday's dVerse prompt, Gay asked us to invent a form. Mine is called Geburtstag. You use the numerical month day and year of your (or someone else's birthday) to determine the number of words or syllables for each line. For this poem, I used words. If there is a zero, then skip that line. I wrote for my aunt's birthday yesterday.

dVerse Meeting the Bar: Four Unrelated Geburtstag

0
8
0
2
1
9
7
0

True Happiness in the Life of a Dog

The joy of rolling around in

dead things.
Such
was the greatest happiness in life
for my dear sweet dog, Emma.



Bath Time at My House

My kids are small enough that they enjoy

splashing together
in
their evening bath, although, I wish that they didn't
like splashing me outside the tub too!



Hope Is Dark

Alone in the darkness of hope.

Breathless
Scared
I fear the denial hope allows
Sometimes the truth is too hard




August Second is the Best Day

I'm in love with my birthday, August Second.

So much
so
I created a poetry form so everyone could celebrate
Der name ist deutsch, weil...German's cool!


heidi
written 4/10/14 for dVerse Meeting the Bar

Gay asked us to create a poetry form. I created Geburtstag, which Marina Sofia tells me is German for Birthday. It's easy. You write your birthday in numeral form month, day, year (yes that way because, I'm American). Each numeral becomes the number of syllables or words that you use for that line. If it's a zero, you skip the line. It may not be the most fun form for those born January 1, 2000, but it may be more challenging. Y'all know I like the short form. (and I don't get meter)

Be sure to swing by dVerse and read the other cool, new forms.

NaPoWriMo Day Ten: Signal Limerick

My car just wouldn't go
She rode sluggish and slow
Signal Gas; I tried it
For my car's new diet
Because other gasoline's blow!

heidi
written 4/10/14 for



I'm so happy! Today's prompt was to write an advertisement-poem in the spirit of the old Burma Shave ads. And y'all may have noticed that I love Old Time Radio shows, and one of my favorites was Signal's The Whistler. They held limerick contests, and the listeners would send in their submissions for free gas and having their limerick read on the air. Thanks to Mad Kane's weekly Limerick-Off, I feel up to the challenge.  So everybody join in:

Signal, Signal, Signal gasoline!

Your car will go far

With go farther gasoline!

 

NaPoWriMo Day Nine: Story From Soundtracks

He wanted everything now.
His rule was impatience...

He hurried through life
A servant to his immediate desire.

He was unaware the instant Karma struck,
Deposing this oblivious king

"Tut! Tut!" Clucked the old women
laughing behind their knitting.

He kept dictating missives encouraging speed
and never noticed no one complying.

If anyone had taken the time to warn him
of his bad reputation...

He would not have taken the time
to listen.

As he wrapped himself within himself,
the people lead him to the ring.

"My Bell will signal the start of combat.
Prepare to defend yourself, sir!"

And still he hurried on within himself
ignoring his own peril.

Once slain, he was too distracted to die.
Yelling angrily to the sound of people's joy...

"Get back to work!"

heidi
written 4/9/14 for



Okay, so technically, I am posting this on the tenth, but I started it around 11:30, so I am counting it as a poem for the ninth. :) Today's prompt was to use the first five songs on a random playlist. Out of all of my songs on my iTunes, this is what popped up.

Instant Karma: John Hiatt
King Tut: Steve Martin
Bad Reputation: Half Cocked
Ring My Bell: Anita Ward
Joy: Harry Nilsson

Also, I felt rather prose-y tonight.

NaPoWriMo Day Eight: He Wades Through Bullshit

I.
He wades through bullshit, like the con
     Of found wallets and pyramid schemes
What he wants is to remove what's on
     Claiming that you fulfill his dreams
And once you're done, you meet the dawn
     With insight- he's not what he seems

II.
One excuse or more, one date or less,
     Spews forth from his lying face
Now that he has had what's in your dress
     He's in search of a newer lace
To use his word for new conquest
     Like the astronaut wooing space.

III.
My words seem harsh, I realize that
     and, in truth, Beauty's not so bad.
Romantics, I think, were better at
     writing of a pot and severed head
imprisoned wives' fireside chats
     and reanimating the dead.

heidi
     after George Gordon Byron
written 4/8/14 for



Today's prompt was to rewrite a classic poem. I chose She Walks in Beauty, and I am a little worried that I may be guilty of heresy. Also, I took some liberties with the form (as usual).

 

NaPoWriMo Day Seven: Life's Blood

strong dark
sticky sweet wet
obliterating all
other desires, this heaven's bliss
sweet tea

heidi
written 4/7/14 for



Oh my sweet Cinquain, had you thought that I would forsake you? Never! Only your ease and dependability could help me meet today's challenge: to write a love poem to an inanimate object. What in the whole universe is more deserving of a love poem than sweet tea?

 

NaPoWriMo Day Six: Winter's Goodbye

I have enjoyed the chill
of this year's winter

the cold, white light
the unexpected Alabama snow

I think I am alone in
wishing it here a little longer

the oaks in my yard are beginning the transformation
from brown to dark green

the azaleas confetti bright pink and white
the camellias explode in red

the branches of the Japanese magnolia
stretch out their blooms

I feel overwhelmed leaving winter's stillness
and entering spring's frenetic pollen

the light breezes stirring allergens
heralding the months of 90 to 100 degree summer

so I sit and stare at the grey skies of
winter's goodbye

contemplating the trees contentment
as the seasons come and go

envying them that.

heidi
written 4/6/14 for



Today's NaPoWriMo challenge was to look outside the window and write down what you saw and use those words as a word bank. I am sitting almost on the floor next to a high window, so what I saw was mostly sky and oak trees as we move towards warmer weather here in Alabama. I tend to wilt in hot weather, so I have really enjoyed this winter, and haven't braced myself for the HOT that is Tuscaloosa in the summer.

Anyway...here are my observations:

trees branches leaves grey sky stillness light breeze brown dark green white

Since it's Sunday, why not take a swing by NaPoWriMo and check out the links to the participants' websites? Click on the button above. (You're welcome!)

 

NaPoWriMo Day Five: Ignoring Peace

mourning the time spent
berating myself for not being THE
perfect (fill in the blank) that day.

pissed for letting my life slip away

acknowledging and ignoring the fact- staring
me in the face- that I am walking through

the same asshole steps of yesterday's
beat-me-up march...afraid of the window

that is before my eyes
leading me to a peace not yet closed.

heidi
     after Eusebeia Philos

written 4/5/14 for



I'm late tonight because today is my sweet girl's birthday and we have spent the day at the lake. Happy birthday my sweet Aoife <3 !

Today's prompt was to write a poem in the style of The Golden Shovel by Terrance Hayes. You take a poem (he used Stevie Smith's most awesome We Real Cool) and use the words of that poem as the last word of each line of your poem.  Since all of my favorite poets are the bloggers I read, I knew immediately that I wanted to use a poem by Eusebeia Philos (although I didn't ask his permission and I hope he doesn't get pissed at me because I kind of like what I came up with...). If you are neither reading his blog nor following him on Twitter, then I feel kind of sad for you because his work is masterful.  Click on his name to read his poem, Yesterday's Window, which is the poem I used, and then hang out to read some more of his work. He is very aware of the wonder in every day.






 

NaPoWriMo Day Four: Someone Needs A Nap

sweet little boy
angry over a lost toy
cries on floor

heidi
written 4/4/14 for



Yay! Today's prompt was to write a Collum Lune! It's like it was written just for me.  And I managed to not write about medicine. Double yay! It helped that my son was lying in front of me upset because he lost his Kitty Softpaws doll. If you see her, please let us know where she is. We need to put a bell on her; she gets lost a lot.