Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #20

Sleep,
my friend that comes
to steal the day,
the one
who,
begs I give it up
until tomorrow,
when,
Sleep
my intrusive companion
disappears
again,
as if daylight
and time for
daily doings
terrify her

Sleep is only concerned
with
ideas
that go no farther than the mind,
the ones
that
when pieced together later
don't add up to a whole
even though they took as
long as a day to
dream up

Sleep is not my friend,
unless it is night
and I have no choice
but to accept her
entice

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #19

I wake up at 2 am and my life is surreal,
like, "Hey Sir, is that real?"
A series of alarms and goals mark my day,
an hour of this, that,
and a night here or there
for free play

The clutter is calmer than lethargy,
though,
the structure
more stable than
free verse

Still,
it all feels off

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #18

Cake,
imploded upon itself
and
burning remnants,
remind me
I'm no Martha

Campy smells
and a snowy outdoors
coming in
to lessen the smoke
tell me
laugh,
don't cry,
sometimes smoke gets in
your eyes

And you forget,
it's a better memory

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #17

In this snowy silence,
A cat breathing and the heater clicking
The sound if the pages turning
And the occasional car rumble far
Out the door
The only noise is in these pages
Or in my own head
It is calm

Wind
White out
Glistening sun swirls
And a gap in the blinds
Created by an inquisitive kitten
revealing snow blowing and a stream of sun
Shadows of its movement
Dance on the other blinds
Ghostly almost

Then quiet
Peace

Challenge 2: February - A poem a Day #16

I have a note that reads,
yellow apron what!!
I don't know what it means
I assume it was Siri,
my phone's computer
interpreting something I said
into a language she understands
like when she says
Cheep-oat-lay instead of Chipotle
sometimes she says,
"I don't know what you mean by..."

Well, Siri
I don't know what you mean by
yellow apron what!!

That idea might be lost.

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #15

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013

Note: Spies were following me in my dreams
they took the cat
he didn't know

Note: Spy music is playing
James Bond, Mission Impossible, that stuff
the spies don't know

Note: Cold coffee,
table strewn with valentine hearts,
Sherlock Holmes, Tales of Hollywood,
and receipts,
that's trackable

Note: Inspiration just struck...
Be back...

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #14

Feb. 18, 2013

I was trying to think of another name for myself
when the doorbell rang,
the cat answered
by running to a cabinet
a hideaway
unknown to most --
   a golden few

She has a point,
we didn't want visitors,
or magazine salesmen

Once,
there was a note to someone who must've lived there
before
us,
a long lost lover was hoping for forgiveness,
but there was nothing to be done,
neither me, nor the cat knew who
Jess was, is,
  could possibly be

The doorbell stopped ringing,
I never answered
she arose from the cabinet an hour later,
and I still had the same name

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #13

2-17-2013

nightmares

mixed greens
made up of
hospital walkers
and un-named killers

enter the chase scene

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #12

Inspired by recent events... on Feb. 15, 2013

swish,
it lit up the sky,
caught on car cameras
God only knows why

phone, dead
internet, dead
cable...

there was,
no connection
conspiracy theorists
aside

eerie, peaceful,
at least there were lights

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #11

Feb. 14, 2013

A reflection....

My childhood
was full of lots of things
that made one believe
life is magical, and
anything is possible

books, butterflies, bug races,
ponies and troll dolls, fairy clouds
and grandparents

My adulthood
was full of lots of things
that made one believe
it's realistic,
and impossible

news vans, overdrafts, bills
empty fridges and coffee cans, OCD
and angry humans

My present, though,
is full of lots of things
that make one believe
life is magical, and
anything is possible

books, kitten faces, movies,
opportunities and connections, comedy
family, friends, and the love my life

Lots of things,
it seems, come back around,

Reality?
Magic?
Possibly.

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #10

I wrote this, because I didn't know what to write, so I closed my eyes and saw images...

Feb. 13, 2013

eloquent dots and dashes
and checkerboards, rest
under eye lids,
to say it's dark back there
is a mistake, of the
visionless

second sight and dragon flight,
just beyond that place,
squeeze tight

circus acrobats and mind pay
and robot airplanes, dance
under eyelids,
where colors just invented
lead, even the
visioless

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #9

February 12, 2013

Be mine...
     Valentine
Red,
    lots of red,
which is ironic,
being that anger and love are the same color

This isn't an angry poem though,
on the contrary,

Browse the cards,
   which in fun designs and cute animals
try to quantify
Love

Kisses,
   hugs,
monkeys,
   doves,
cats and dogs,
sweet, dirty, simple,
   shrugs

Be mine...
     Valentine
Hearts,
      lots of hearts,
which is ironic
considering love doesn't really have a shape

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #8

February 12, 2013

"Let's blow this Popsicle stand,"
is
one of the phrases
I say in my head,
in hopes that one day
it will be out loud
while hitting an open road
busting out of this town,
shooting out a few stars
in the process,
but then,

that mountain
   out the window
gigantic, proud, mesmerizing...

how to wave goodbye to it

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #7

February 10, 2013 (it snowed)

Snow,
now powder
now slip n'slide
a blessing and a
"Curses," she cries

White,
elegant shimmer
elegant ice rink
a frozen delight and a
"Curb! curb!" she cries

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #6

February 9, 2013

Oxymoron

The more we know,
the more there is to learn,
rinse the dishes,
fill the sink,
repeat

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #5

I've been working on a documentary, it involves this beautiful castle. I was shooting video of it yesterday, and I was thinking the whole time, "Gosh, I'd love to live in a castle like this." It's really the perfect size -- just grand enough to be a castle, but small enough to be acceptable.

 Feb. 8, 2013

scanning the hillside,
   eyes resting on a red stone castle

looming,
   out of place
even in this strange country
of manikin-leg statues and yard tubs,
of tepees and pinwheels

it's brick
   glows fiery
and speaks a tale,
out of grasp,
it beckons

signs scream,
   you shall not pass

but, it's burnt in the mind now,
   look up and it's there
it's red flaming gaze
ghostly,
magnificent

alone on that hillside
   a red stone castle

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #4

Envious of those who can sit and write, and review, and research, and be in the sunshine all day if they choose -- who can shoot photographs, or watch a movie, or paint...

Feb. 7, 2013

envy
the most powerful of drugs
to know it,
is to see
glimpses
of what a life
lived differently
would be

shaken,
from our norm
saying,
"I'd like to live a life like her."
trust,
the vision,
soak it in


envy is the drug,
but to be different

is the cure

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #3

Feb. 6, 2013

society,
and technology
have asked us to be,
proficient at all
master of none

the sphinxlike "they"
say we must know this,
but also that,
and to know this is no longer
enough

magnanimous
advice from the wise

trudging forward
at some point
we realize
that society,
with it's master proficiencies
has taken away
our speciality,
originality,
ability to decide
that

this, is enough

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #3

fried chicken vernacular,
apple pie fraction calculator,
education, mediation,
syllable for syllable
a fair trade
for language that is art
when met by food

circular plate
tectonics
meet,
Count Dracula,
Cookie Monster,
Word Munchers,
Number Crunchers,
Money Mongers

tasty

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #2

Feb. 3, 2013

Little dust particles going no where,
I used to believe they were fairies.
You can only see them certain times of day,
when the sun streaks through blinds
creating a dashed diagonal,
broken by furniture and walls,
beckoning cold feet and cat tails,
and fairies, it seems
to dance,
going no where,
in the broken beams

In night they are silenced,
save for a flashlight's harsh glare
I wonder if it kills them,
this fake lighted air
cat eyes stare fixed
on something unseen
an elf, a ghost, a monster, a microbe
dances eerily in darkness
no longer the friendly fellows of day,
click the switch,
turn them off
once more unseen

Little dust particles going no where,
I used to believe they were fairies.

Challenge 2: February - A Poem a Day #1

I did fairly well on my last challenge, falling short by only three days of film watching. Since I started a day late into January, I find myself a day late going into February as well. The challenge that I'm setting for myself this month is a bit loftier, because it doesn't just involve watching, but doing. I heard a girl talking about taking part in a "poem a day" challenge once, and I loved the idea. It's taken me a couple of years to attempt it for myself. So, here goes...

Say,

what say you on the subject of

stop lights?

red,

green,

yellow,

go, stop, go

north until you reach your turn

west

'til you reach the next right

Wrong

turn around to a point

until you reach the light again

Say,

does it ever really begin

or end?

stop,

go, go, go,

stop,

no...

What say you

on the subject of stop lights?

Challenge 1: January - A Short Film a Day #28

Another random Vimeo click, which when I first began I didn't think I'd enjoy. The cinematography was beautiful though and the subject was interesting, so I kept watching. Also, I felt compelled to finish because of this challenge. As it turns out, days later I'm still thinking about a few things this guy said. Let him sink in.


Rungs in a Ladder: Jacob Bannon of Converge Documentary (official) Full Film from McFarland & Pecci on Vimeo.