Poetry prompts created by the poets. If you want to be part of our group, just post a poem based on the prompt and comment on other people's poems.
Current rotation: Tad, Linda, Tasha, Vic...
Search This Blog
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Who Are You?
This weeks prompt is brought to you by Linda Rivas Bole... Tell us, in a poem, who you are. What makes you uniquely you? Use adjectives to share the real you with us.
Bighearted beautiful woman who can be Obsessive and yes at times offensive but always Nutty… totally and irrevocably nutty! Imaginative and perhaps a bit impulsive Tranquil yet tumultuous often at the same time Accepting of others differences and opinions
Adventurous - I love to travel and have new experiences Nonviolent in nature but a temper lurks at the surface Normal - okay stop laughing :-) Easy going but can be a bit edgy at times
Remarkable in my ability to always bounce back Irritable when my patience is pushed to the limit Victorious - I stared death in the eye and won Ageless- like Bob Dylan says - forever young Scarred yet somehow almost whole.
Joking - I love to make others smile and laugh Optimistic - there’s always tomorrow Humble - I hear the laughter - yeah that was a joke Natural - what you see is what you get Silly - yep just plain silly Opinionated but also open to others opinions Never disingenuous - I will always say what I feel.
This is truly amazing!!!! You put yourself down as clearly as if you were standing right here!!! You are definitely remarkable in your ability to bounce back. You bounced back from the dead!!!! You did win. You were victorious!!! You do so well on acrostics!!!
You said a lot of true things about yourself, Bonnie. I really enjoyed listening to your poem. Too bad there wasn't a G in your name for Generous!!! LOL
I am me, because of thee I am for what I've sown All you have helped to make me what I am It's not your fault if I don't give a damn Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, who is foul and who is just?
Am I a dreamer with my head in the clouds or am I a sheep in the maddening crowds? What will my life really count for, did I help anyone, or give them more? If I'm to be judged for what did or didn't do, it's my greatest hope that I may have helped you!
An if I have failed, I can only ask for your forgiveness. As we all travel through the eternal abyss!
what a deep and introspective piece! a different take on the topic that makes the reader think about their own life and if it has an intrinsic value in the end. I think you will find your life meant something to many people and you helped them in ways even you didn't know.. an encouraging word, a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen...
I love this. I think its one of the best you've written. My only problem with it is that you have rhyming couplet for every two lines except the first two!
I have been dead because of this I feel I am an ancient spirit In this one life, I've lived many lives:
Been a typist, a laundress, an apple tree trimmer, a wood worker, a roofer, an apple picker, orange picker, cherry picker, pear picker...picked beans, asparagus, tobacco and peeps...for a half a day it was so cruel, throwing tiny little chickens away garbage bags, been a janitor and a maid, repaired apartments in the ghetto.
Been to rainbow gatherings, hitch-hiked, drove cars, drove vans road on gray hound buses traveled to 44 states worked in every one of them.
distracted myself in many ways carried a violin everywhere I went made crafts and sold them wrote poetry, short stories collected miniatures for 26 years now did my share of painting, reading, creating beads, jewelry, went to college for awhile, baked bread, cookies and pie.
Ran a store filled with Native American art survived a fire, lost everything we owned down in ol' Kentucky... Lived 12 years with no electricity, no running water chopped my own wood for the wood burning stove.
And still had time to partly raise my children, and after my youngest was murdered, I took special care of her children...
Lives within lives each one a story unto itself...
an awesome fulfilling life with so many different paths taken. I would have liked to see more of a poetic write than a laundry list but you worked it all in and in the end the poem works. so many stories and adventures. a synopsis of a life well lived.
Quite a rendition of our travels. I loved remembering and feeling again. Too bad you couldn't fit the Snake river in and the month we lived with the Navajos on the reservation...sleeping under bridges, living in orange groves...so many things we did. The last lines pull it together...live within lives...
damn this is beautiful!!! I don't even know which part I like better because each line teases me into the next. Till the last stanza which is totally, "Victoria"
I don't ever really write about myself directly, but this is pretty close.
THE RETURN OF THE BARD
Glad to see me? I've walked raveling twists of road to get here, where rain slithered like eels through my beard and plastered patches of clothing to my body like leeches.
So show me once again to my spot by the fire--undress me, set my clothes on a pole to dry, a young companion under my blanket. I'm back as I always come back my stories are your stories, and tonight, after I'm dried and fed and warmed, I'll entertain with the ones you told me last time, about births and deaths, calves and adulteries and great storms, feet stuck in pisspots, asses protruding from half shut closets.
What else? Should I murmur tales to the button breasted girl beside me, of wives abandoned in iron cities? Should I regale the solemn elders with accounts of clever deals involving guns and tractors? They wouldn't know who I was.
But-- and this is the strange part-- When I go back on the road, I'll take your stories with me to tell in the iron cities, where they sit and nod and listen to the tale of a fallen farm boy on a battlefield named after a family they've never heard of. To men who've never seen her with clothes on, I'll describe the button breasts of the girl. They'll listen without envy, and women, to her death in childbirth without tears.
breathtakingly powerful poem. I read it 3 times to get the full feeling if it. My favorite part was "...feet stuck in pisspots, asses protruding from half shut closets..." and "...when I go back on the road, I'll take your stories with me to tell in the iron cities..." beautiful poem!!!
Tad, I wish I could say something as powerful as your poem to let you know just how I feel about it. WOW is the best I can do under the circumstances. Astoundingly WOW!!!
I can picture you as a child singing and swinging on you swing set; I see you growing into a wife, a poet...and the last verse winds it up and down to a mystical ending. I loved the visuals. Terrific poem.
Who I Am According to Me :-)
ReplyDeleteBighearted beautiful woman who can be
Obsessive and yes at times offensive but always
Nutty… totally and irrevocably nutty!
Imaginative and perhaps a bit impulsive
Tranquil yet tumultuous often at the same time
Accepting of others differences and opinions
Adventurous - I love to travel and have new experiences
Nonviolent in nature but a temper lurks at the surface
Normal - okay stop laughing :-)
Easy going but can be a bit edgy at times
Remarkable in my ability to always bounce back
Irritable when my patience is pushed to the limit
Victorious - I stared death in the eye and won
Ageless- like Bob Dylan says - forever young
Scarred yet somehow almost whole.
Joking - I love to make others smile and laugh
Optimistic - there’s always tomorrow
Humble - I hear the laughter - yeah that was a joke
Natural - what you see is what you get
Silly - yep just plain silly
Opinionated but also open to others opinions
Never disingenuous - I will always say what I feel.
This is truly amazing!!!! You put yourself down as clearly as if you were standing right here!!! You are definitely remarkable in your ability to bounce back. You bounced back from the dead!!!! You did win. You were victorious!!! You do so well on acrostics!!!
DeleteYou said a lot of true things about yourself, Bonnie. I really enjoyed listening to your poem. Too bad there wasn't a G in your name for Generous!!! LOL
DeleteLovely poem, describes you very well and an Acrostic to boot!
DeleteOh so clever you are!!! Good for you! Glad you're still with us and happy you fought the good fight and won. Thanks for being you, Bonnie. Bless you!
ReplyDeleteI am me, because of thee
ReplyDeleteI am for what I've sown
All you have helped to make me what I am
It's not your fault if I don't give a damn
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
who is foul and who is just?
Am I a dreamer with my head in the clouds
or am I a sheep in the maddening crowds?
What will my life really count for,
did I help anyone, or give them more?
If I'm to be judged for what did or didn't do,
it's my greatest hope that I may have helped you!
An if I have failed, I can only ask for your forgiveness.
As we all travel through the eternal abyss!
what a deep and introspective piece! a different take on the topic that makes the reader think about their own life and if it has an intrinsic value in the end. I think you will find your life meant something to many people and you helped them in ways even you didn't know.. an encouraging word, a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen...
DeleteI love this. I think its one of the best you've written. My only problem with it is that you have rhyming couplet for every two lines except the first two!
DeleteOh fine poem and very moving. Great take on the prompt!
DeleteI have been dead
ReplyDeletebecause of this
I feel I am an ancient spirit
In this one life,
I've lived many lives:
Been a typist, a laundress, an apple tree trimmer,
a wood worker, a roofer, an apple picker, orange picker,
cherry picker, pear picker...picked beans, asparagus,
tobacco and peeps...for a half a day it was so cruel,
throwing tiny little chickens away garbage bags,
been a janitor and a maid, repaired apartments in the ghetto.
Been to rainbow gatherings,
hitch-hiked, drove cars, drove vans
road on gray hound buses
traveled to 44 states
worked in every one of them.
distracted myself in many ways
carried a violin everywhere I went
made crafts and sold them
wrote poetry, short stories
collected miniatures for 26 years now
did my share of painting, reading, creating beads,
jewelry, went to college for awhile,
baked bread, cookies and pie.
Ran a store filled with Native American art
survived a fire, lost everything we owned
down in ol' Kentucky...
Lived 12 years with no electricity, no running water
chopped my own wood for the wood burning stove.
And still had time to partly raise my children,
and after my youngest was murdered, I took special
care of her children...
Lives within lives
each one a story unto itself...
an awesome fulfilling life with so many different paths taken. I would have liked to see more of a poetic write than a laundry list but you worked it all in and in the end the poem works. so many stories and adventures. a synopsis of a life well lived.
DeleteA bit more prose than poem, and just wondered where all those adjectives you talked about in the prompt are. LOL. But over all, great story.
DeleteOh My! What a life, what a woman, what a story you tell and you tell it well.
DeleteQuite a rendition of our travels. I loved remembering and feeling again. Too bad you couldn't fit the Snake river in and the month we lived with the Navajos on the reservation...sleeping under bridges, living in orange groves...so many things we did. The last lines pull it together...live within lives...
DeleteAn old poem, but I used to read this as my "bio" when I featured. It would be the last poem I read.
ReplyDeleteFOR CERTAIN
I am uncertain what will happen
tomorrow, if I will wake up cold
or if I will want to eat breakfast.
I do not know if my car will be stolen
while I sleep or if a thief will come
through my window and steal my worthless
record albums, ancient stereo.
If I want absolute certainty,
I can not even know if the moon
will bring tides or if the sun will rise
tomorrow. "Now I lay me down to
sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep."
To hell with my soul, I want to know
things, like, will I lose my memories
when I get old? I want to know when
my heart will not hurt each time it beats,
and if my lover loves me, flawed,
yet capable of love for him, flawed
as he is also. I can protect
myself from many things, club on my
steering wheel, burglar alarm at home.
I can put a gun under my head,
a condom on my lover's cock, but
I wear nothing to protect my heart.
I leave my windows open at night.
I need the breeze over my naked
body. I'll take my chances with thieves.
wow! powerful write! loved it!
Deletedamn this is beautiful!!! I don't even know which part I like better because each line teases me into the next. Till the last stanza which is totally, "Victoria"
DeleteI've never read this before. I love it.
DeleteVery powerful indeed. Strong woman!
DeleteVictoria, I really love this poem. It says a lot about your inner strength and who you really are deep down inside. good job.
DeleteI don't ever really write about myself directly, but this is pretty close.
ReplyDeleteTHE RETURN OF THE BARD
Glad to see me? I've
walked raveling twists of road
to get here, where rain
slithered like eels through my beard
and plastered patches of clothing
to my body like leeches.
So show me once again
to my spot by the fire--undress
me, set my clothes on a pole
to dry, a young companion
under my blanket. I'm back
as I always come back my stories
are your stories, and tonight,
after I'm dried and fed
and warmed, I'll entertain
with the ones you told me last time,
about births and deaths, calves and
adulteries and great storms,
feet stuck in pisspots, asses
protruding from half shut closets.
What else? Should I murmur tales to
the button breasted girl
beside me, of wives abandoned
in iron cities? Should I
regale the solemn elders
with accounts of clever deals
involving guns and tractors?
They wouldn't know who I was.
But-- and this is the strange part--
When I go back on the road,
I'll take your stories with me
to tell in the iron cities,
where they sit and nod and listen
to the tale of a fallen farm boy
on a battlefield named after
a family they've never heard of.
To men who've never seen her
with clothes on, I'll describe
the button breasts of the girl.
They'll listen without envy,
and women, to her death
in childbirth without tears.
breathtakingly powerful poem. I read it 3 times to get the full feeling if it. My favorite part was "...feet stuck in pisspots, asses protruding from half shut closets..." and "...when I go back on the road, I'll take your stories with me to tell in the iron cities..." beautiful poem!!!
DeleteWOW!!!!!!!!!!! Impressive. Vivid and cogent. Bard, yes, you do sound like one. Kudos.
Deleteleft me breathless in it's power and intense emotions
DeleteTad, I wish I could say something as powerful as your poem to let you know just how I feel about it. WOW is the best I can do under the circumstances. Astoundingly WOW!!!
DeleteWho I am
ReplyDeleteI am a child swinging on my swing,
higher, higher, can I touch the sky?
I can try.
I am a wife caring for my beloved
can I help? Can I be there?
I can care.
I am a poet wishing for inspiration,
finding it in odd places,
sharing traces.
I am a kaleidoscope of personas
whirled and swirled into me
through which I see.
This is very simple, however it is also true, and I have thought on this a lot and sill this is what came.
DeleteSometimes simple says a lot. This really works.
Deletei really like the last verse as it says more about who you are than the others put together. very strong ending.
DeleteThanks all, and you too, Tad. That was the idea, Bonnie, and I thank you for getting it.
DeleteI can picture you as a child singing and swinging on you swing set; I see you growing into a wife, a poet...and the last verse winds it up and down to a mystical ending. I loved the visuals. Terrific poem.
DeleteTasha, terrific poem. I enjoyed the imagery. The ending is perfect.
DeleteThe form really serves what you're saying.
ReplyDelete