first sight

I have never believed in love

at first sight, to think that I might

see someone and know everything

that their being composes is what I adore,

to immediately put on a lens of pink roses,

to look in their eyes and know they’re comprised

of all the best things I could want or could need, to be

instantly drawn, like the pull of a magnet, to tell from

the fragmented moment we shared, that their soul and mine

were made to intertwine, to believe in sweet bliss from the curve

of the lips, to feel my heart pound a never before heard sound, to know

that I know that I know, my life changed in an instant, one blink and I’m weak.

But what is life if not comprised of moments that defy the logic and reason we

desperately try to impose in order to find a sense of fleeting control, moments that

manage to steal our breath away, and so, I have always believed in love at first sight.

---

NaPoWriMo Day 30 Prompt: Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a palinode – a poem in which you retract a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem. For example, you might pick a poem you drafted earlier in the month and write a poem that contradicts or troubles it. This could be an interesting way to start working on a series of related poems. Alternatively, you could play around with the idea of a palinode by writing a poem in which the speaker says something like “I take it back” or otherwise abandons a prior position within the single poem.

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dear cupcake

I.

dear cupcake, you are,

to me, a luxurious sin,

a delicious temptation,

a scrumptious regret,

silently beckoning me,

come, and partake,

I’ll be everything

you’ve ever dreamed,

and yet I know, beneath

layers of sculpted icing,

rich and alluring flavors,

and melt in the mouth

goodness, are those dreaded

things called calories,

oh calories, why do you try

to separate me

from the one I love?

II.

dear muffin, maybe if

I close my eyes, I will

be able to pretend

that you are my lovely

cupcake in disguise,

the lesser evil, the saintly

twin, and maybe someday

I’ll be reunited with my

sweet love again,

until then, I guess

you and I will settle

with being just friends.

---

NaPoWriMo Day 29 Prompt: Write your own two-part poem that focuses on a food or type of meal. At some point in the poem, describe the food or meal as if it were a specific kind of person. Give the food/meal at least one line of spoken dialogue.

the seeds of ideas

I hold a pen, poised, eager, waiting; the seeds of ideas; carried on the wind; forgotten, forlorn, obsolete. Winter thoughts on a summer day. I wanted to say I’m sorry. I wanted to say I’m sorry. Scattered pieces of songs float across the waves. If you are the sun then I must be the moon; skin covered in stardust; eyes the shade of morning fog; scraps of color; a blaze of beauty; all the pinks and browns of life; be it not any more or any less. I am waiting to be free; sifting through rocks and mud; a tangle of vines and branches; I built this box myself; like Thoreau, I often want to get away; could never dare to hope; ignorance is not bliss; a happy-go-lucky thing. I ripped my heart off my sleeve. No heart, no soul, just meat; no flesh, just skin and bones. What about the stars? Is this why dinosaurs are extinct?

---

NaPoWriMo Day 28 Prompt:  Have you ever flipped to the index of a book and found it super interesting? Today, I challenge you to write your own index poem. You could start with found language from an actual index, or you could invent an index.

the asters of apathy

hot summer days, sipping sweet

tea and tracing the path of sweat

between the shoulder blades,

snow still falling on faraway mountain

peaks while ice cream melts

down fingers, dripping onto pastel

patterns, freshly pressed, stiff collared

dresses like a patch of wildflowers, sunshine

hearted daisies, black-eyed Susans, and asters

of apathy woven into a bouquet of mist

and memory, nostalgia in every bloom,

like lemonade and chairs that rock until the setting

of the sun, when laughter of children fades

into the winding river of dreams.

---

NaPoWriMo Day 27 Prompt: Today, begin by reading Bernadette Mayer’s poem “The Lobelias of Fear.” Now write your own poem titled “The ________ of ________,” where the first blank is a very particular kind of plant or animal, and the second blank is an abstract noun. The poem should contain at least one simile that plays on double meanings or otherwise doesn’t quite make “sense,” and describe things or beings from very different times or places as co-existing in the same space.

my name

my name used to be just a name, until

it was brought to fame by a hurricane, and now

I’m subjected to clever quips that are lame, as if

I somehow am now defined by winds and rain.

They forget that my birth came first, I was named

before not after. I give one round of fake laughter,

one joke, no more, I’ve heard most of them before.

I know nothing of flooded homes and washed

out shores, never carried the ocean to someone’s

front door, my anger has never reached

a category four. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not

bitter, not resigned, I don’t mean to whine. It’s fine.

I’m still proud to claim my name as mine.

---

NaPoWriMo Day 26 Prompt: Our prompt for day asks you to write a portrait poem that focuses on or plays with the meaning of the subject’s name. This could be a self-portrait, a portrait of a family member or close friend, or even a portrait of a famous or historical person.

the jungle of you

I have not yet

known

you long enough

to trace

the inside

of your mind

like a map; you are

to me

an island still

undiscovered. What

will I find

in the jungle of you

(fierce panthers,

delicate orchids)?

Let my heart

be the compass,

guide me straight,

guide me true.

---

NaPoWriMo Day 25 Prompt: Today’s prompt challenges you to write a love poem, one that names at least one flower, contains one parenthetical statement, and in which at least some lines break in unusual places.

pink

sometimes delicate, sometimes bold,

might be serene or demand you to behold,

goes very well with silver or gold,

from sunset to blushing rose,

fingernails to the tip of the nose,

Himalayan salt to feathered flamingoes,

if you’re looking for a shade that’s on trend

to color your life I’d certainly recommend

that you take pink for a spin,

it’s a solid 10 out of 10

---

NaPoWriMo Day 24 Prompt: Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem in the form of a review. But not a review of a book or a movie of a restaurant. Instead, I challenge you to write a poetic review of something that isn’t normally reviewed. For example, your mother-in-law, the moon, or the year you were ten years old.

what are words

what are words

compared to wide

open spaces, eyes

of blue like endless

skies, the silence

before the fall

of snow, a chorus

of crickets at twilight’s

gleam, the silver

reflection

of the moon, a heart

that’s torn in two

---

NaPoWriMo Day 23

small troubles, little joys

dusting windows

baking bread

folding clothes

sipping tea

changing lightbulbs

sweeping leaves

breaking dishes

pulling weeds

dancing waltzes

wrapping presents

changing bedsheets

hugging friends

picking lowers

eating cookies

losing glasses

writing poems

---

NaPoWriMo Day 22

Cleverness

in her head

she was the brain-

wit, the smart-whip

the knows-thing

the cool queen

the secret weapon

she would unsheathe

not beauty

not beast

just brains

and good teeth

she couldn’t see

past herself to see

what she left behind

take a whiff

inhale the scent

of peacock pride

on a pigeon face

lion’s roar

for a hamster’s race

the galling bent

of a smirk stiff lip

head swollen as if

stung by a bumblebee

---

NaPoWriMo Day 21 Prompt: Begin by reading Sarah Gambito’s poem “Grace.” Now, choose an abstract noun from the list below, and then use that as the title for a poem that contains very short lines, and at least one invented word.

Glory
Courage
Anxiety
Failure
Defeat
Delight
Confusion
Calm
Belief
Cleverness
Despair
Honesty
Deceit
Strength