Of All the Poems You Have Written

Of All the Poems You Have Written

it is my favorite

of all the poems you have

written

a single untitled sentence

jotted in jagged little lines

& stops more than half way

down a published page

the sentiment mute & modest

itemizes all of my certainties

a good long morning stretch

a powder pink sunrise

a spring breeze through an

open window

the smell of fresh cut grass

sharing a smile with a stranger

a warm drink on a cold day

re-reading a favorite book

jumping for joy

            planting seeds

giving thanks

I know you wrote it simply

& sweetly with me in mind

I don’t like

to make too much of such a

small thing      

but the understated beauty of

your unadorned language

makes my tiny heart sing

on the top of its lungs

***

I truly believe that the appearance of the sun in the sky today made this cheery poem possible.

Happy Friday, happy weekend!

In propinquity,

Nic

11 Pound Novel

11 Pound Novel

in exchange for a peek

at my 11 pound novel

my free-wheeling fiction

& a stack of sepia-toned

still-lifes as prospective

cover art

a rugged tattooed dingbat

sat at my kitchen table to

strum some of the sweetest

strings devoid of the usual

seedy yawps

zigzagged whops of space

prog & sudden swing jazz

he plays for the blacklisted

& alcoholics in dingy dive

bars

it was enough to

make my head spin ‘round

that I near forgot to breathe

            dingbat thumbed his

nose at my chapters as long

as one line of dialogue but

left w/ all of my hit-or-miss

metaphors

hidden inside of his guitar

case

            to use in letters to

his exes

***

And here it is, the early morning clacking for my poetry prompt on this dreadfully inclement and fraught Friday. I was grateful to wake up to a note from my bud this morning, to a little something that helps to keep my head on straight while in this personal season of grueling concern for a loved one whose struggle is becoming quite serious, enough to keep me awake most nights.

The prompt was the poem’s title. I had no idea where it would go, I just wrote. Like a morning page. I also think it’s why I enjoy waking up to prompts because it helps to wipe the noodle clean of any nighttime residual upset. I do find when I write on the way to work and fuss over the crossword puzzle in the back of the newspaper my days tend to evolve in a positive vein.

Writing and music, they both save. They save me. All the time.

In propinquity,

Nic

Get Him Off Your Mind

Get Him Off Your Mind

marvelous at dawn

miserable at sunset

slow-burning love

shaky with hunger

pieces of my flesh

so often forgotten

                get him

                                off

                your mind

they say

they tell me

    to leave him behind

**

Ok, I lied. One poem today. Friday frazzle and double-earaches but still managed a teeny one.

Happy weekend. Oh, and the sun came out!

In propinquity,
Nic

All We Had

All We Had

in my own private maelstrom

I allow time to diminish me

& lessen the joy of all we had

you were so desolate after dark

grandstanding in the loneliness

of my long walks away from you

no apology was kindly offered

for your ill-starred behaviours

these transactions of hypocrisy

left you indifferent to desires

nothing need be imposed

                nothing was all we had

**

It's true, winter has defeated all of us here on the east coast of Canada. Sure, we expect cold, snowy winters but this past month with a string of nor'easter and flash freeze combos, we resemble the North Pole. Our last storm brought 60+ cms of snow and now we're all a coast full of hunchbacks slowly disappearing behind growing snowbanks. Ironic that the first day of Spring is tomorrow and we're buried in so much snow there will still be piles of it in July. The kicker is there is another system brewing that will introduce itself on Saturday either in the way of 15 more cms of snow or a whack of rain. Either way we are screwed.

So, I wrote a poem. Something cropped up and out came these words. After a peaceful coffee date with one of my loves, I sat down and banged this out. I had fun writing it because I didn't really think too hard, I didn't fret over the lines, I just wrote. Opened up, plugged my headphones in, listened to a cover of Neil Young's 'Sample And Hold' Matt Mays recorded on repeat (I am currently obsessed with this song) and I wrote something. 

Woot!

Tomorrow is Friday. I feel like this week has lasted a month but I welcome the weekend to rest a little. There's a bottle of wine chilling for me and my playlist will be waiting for me when I get home. Could get romantic.

In propinquity,

Nic

Saturnalia

Saturnalia

do not enter our

licentious celebration

with the unconcealed

expectation of grace

it is with excessive certainty

that the coarse ambitions of

opulent plates spinning above

shoots of buttercream daffodils

will dazzle your keen senses

tangle an abrupt and searing

string of salacious scripture

with dense literalized conceit

all for the purpose of theater

an illusion of scintillating opacities

a meretricious reserve of beauty

with no apparent absence of taste

do not enter our

profligate congregation

for any other motivation but to

indulge in a sparkling adaptation

of grand superficial pretensions

designed to appraise fancy footing

heaving outbursts of dramatic fire

& the tumult of glamour and affluence

please note

for all this jazz

tender hearts

need not attend

 **

I only have two words for you today other than the above poem, happy Friday!

In propinquity,
Nic

Anti-Censure

Wow, it’s February already!  Where is the time going?  Kids, it has been one long hellish week.  I am at my wit’s end with all of the irritants and dramas of real/work life.  I’m ready to shrug it all off and face forward to a weekend I’ve been anticipating since before the Christmas holidays.  That’s right folks; it’ll be Springtime In Vienna here tomorrow.  The Tragically Hip will be here to entertain.  This concert will suspend me into my happy place.  Their music and in particular the lyrics, have always left me in awe.  Gord Downie is an incredible rock poet, he inspires me and his words challenge me and make me think.  They are visual, emotional and worshipful.  He can coin a phrase, sing a line, ad-lib until the cows came home and I’d be enthralled, hanging off of every notion.  There is nothing more magical than the marriage of lyrics and music and nothing as profound of those two things united presented live.  One more sleep!  One more sleep!

I am sad to say that after I shared my two short stories and started the third, I lost a bit of prose-writing steam.  That happens I suppose, right?  I’m not worried because the idea/character/intention is still present and I am still churning out poetry.  It’ll come.  I won’t be too hard on myself for stalling because never have I ever completed three short stories and shared them almost back to back in my life.  I’m confident more will come and eventually I’d like to write something longer.  Baby steps, yes?  I worked hard at setting attainable writing goals while heeding to inspiration.  I think I did reasonably well. 

In thinking of my goals on writing stories this poem arrived.  Books are always showered with descriptive and interesting accolades as promo and tools for getting people excited about what’s between the pages.  Just something fun for a Friday.

Anti-Censure

written

an erotically charged

blistering social satire

from an articulate

observant writer

deeply entertaining

fantastically indiscreet

this compulsively

readable account

chronicles

objectionable behavior

with rollicking reverence

fast-paced

eye-opening

deeply entertaining

experience the full

novelistic breadth

of mesmerizing prose

vivid cadence of events

wide in scope

epic in depth

deliciously meticulous

from an emerging voice

in contemporary fiction

a searing debut

on sale now

**

As I was typing I think I stumbled on something, a small glimpse for the new piece.  A character and an interesting turn of events perhaps.  I don’t know what I’ll do with the flash because the new story itself started out to be so specific.  Hmmm …

As you were.

Happy Friday!  Happy February!  Be kinder than necessary.

In propinquity,

Nic

PS - The new issue of Open Heart Forgery is out and up online!  I made the cut this month.  See for yourself:

http://ohforgery.com/