Day 30 - 4/30/2023

 Day 30 - 4/30/2023

I am pretty proud of myself. I only missed a couple days and I made them up the next day! Even if this remains unread, I found value in it and a renewed desire to write.

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If you lead yourself to water

Drink

Hell, dive in

Let the icy, rippled façade

Feel your full weight

Against it

Break the surface

Draw a deep breath

And allow yourself

To sink for a moment

Release and be

Weightless

When the instinct comes

To inhale again

Hold on

Trust yourself to know

Your limits

Still lie

Where you left them

Force yourself

If you must

To drink

Day 29 - 4/29/2023

 Day 29 - 4/29/2023

I have one hour left to write this poem before I find myself guilty of missing another day I wish i had more self discipline but I am slightly ADHD and by slightly I mean squirrel and by ADHD I mean I have a motor that is beyond solar or lunar or nuclear or duracell it's been running since the day I hydroplaned out of my Mom and feet tapping and hands waving and I have tried over the years to quell it or quiet it in various ways with w€€¿ being the most fun and successful but that's another poem for another day  but I only have one more day of this challenge I fool myself almost into believing that this has been somehow revelatory or revolutionary and that I will soldier on and continue this blog but I know that the truth lies somewhere between my ukulele and my p¡?€ and my Netflix shows but I will say that I don't think I am done here besides the fact that I started two poems here that I know have "part two" coming and it seems only fitting that they find light here I lost my train of thought somewhere along the way but at least I didn't miss another day

Day 28, - 4/28/2023

 Day 28, - 4/28/2023

I know...missed again, but in my defense I ended up in Fresno competing in a poetry slam I was NOT supposed to be in...

Oxymorons are interesting

Especially when they are false

But people like to believe

They are superior somehow

And hold tight-fisted

To their moronic

Oxymoronic misinterpretations

To the point that it becomes

Oxmoronironic

Day 27 - 4/27/2023

 Day 27 - 4/27/2023

As a parent

I have often wondered

What is our measurement

Fos success?

Last night I found one

As I sat listening

To my children

Share their thoughts

Their words

Their hearts

And realized that

If I raised poets

I did something right

Day 26 - 4/26/2023

 Day 26 - 4/26/2023

This will be in two parts. Part 1 will be written now, before the Poetry in the Park event, and Part 2 will be written later tonight, after the event!

Stagefright fears me

Because, y'all see

I am no weak will

I can and will

Spill verses or lines

At any time

To any mind who

Care to cast their ears

My way

I don't get butterflied

Or stomach tied

In knots

I'm not

That guy

No shaky quaky hands

Mine hold pages

No nervous knocking knees

Mine own stages

Mom's spaghetti never

Stained my shirtfront

I'm up front

Ready to take a mic

Destined for poet life

But what scares me

What sets my teeth chattering

And chases my mellow away

Are the moments between

This one and that one

When this one tonight

Is special

I spend moments

Mulling over multiverses

Where no one makes the effort

To add their essence to the mix

 Make a moment happen

Master their misgivings

Give in to the 

Freely offered acceptance

Accept the invitation

To taste poet life

Part 2 - After the event

Remember I mentioned my fear

Well if "made manifest"

Were...made manifest

You'd understand the size

Of the audience

But I tend to

Shine turds for fun

And refuse to lose

The power of a moment

In the moments that

May have lacked

Lucid dreams from

Just hours ago

Against reality 

May have paled

And failed to reach

What should have

Could have

Still...

I process these things

In stages

Like grief

I give myself time

To take stock

And tonight

Despite low investment

From shareholders who should

See value in verses 

Who shorted themselves....

Because tonight

Dividends were paid...

In spite of that

Epidemic of apathy

(Which seems so often

To rear it's head

I my own poems of late)

That must be the cause

And curse the irony

That poetry

Could be the cure

Tonight

Poets divided...surgically

Deep emotions and 

Let their words

Dance with the dwindling daylight

Passions played out

Against a backdrop of

Soccer cheers

And Harley Davidsons

Roaring through the 

Words that somehow

Poet to poet

Puzzle-pieced into

Masterpiece

Inspiration flowed

"Words flowed"

Words cut the sky like stars

Words were dissected

And resurrected

Rescued from the ledge

Words remembered mothers

Known and unknown

And cherished children

Praised the places and people

Held pedestal height

Yet eye-level

Eyes open...mic open

Sharing the fear

Of not knowing

What words to share

To cheers from those who could hear

Should more ears have heard?

I had my hope

My lucid dream

Now whispered doubt

Did I do enough

But those whispers

Are drowned by echoes

Of all their words

Day 25 - 4/25/2023

 Day 25 - 4/25/2023

We drift

Like intricate cobwebs

Caught by passing breezes

Shifted and spun 

Away from center

Day 24 - 4/24/2023

 Day 24 - 4/24/2023

You think you see me

But you see in silhouette

Half shadow shaded

Visage veiled

From your view

You think you see me

But there is not enough

Light in you

For that