Bad Poetry Saturday

Anodyne

by [REDACTED]

I walked outside after

The rain stopped falling

While the hot tarry asphalt

Gave its energy to the flood

And the water rose in steamy wisps

Back to heaven 

I walked outside after

The worms began their journeys

Back to the soil 

I walked outside and

The clouds simmered with anger

No longer held back by the weight of their tears

Flushing and terrible to behold

The world below quaking in fear of

The winds of change that never blow quite strong enough. 

Come again another day. 

Bad Poetry Tuesday

Ritardando

by [REDACTED]

I got out of bed the other day

Walked to the kitchen 

Ground the coffee beans

Boiled water

And waited as the French press steeped. 

I went to to work

A thirty second commute

I wrote reports

Collected data

Collated

Analyzed 

And then 

I awoke and got out of bed

Walked to the kitchen 

Swallowed vitamins

Ate breakfast 

Lunch

Dinner

Wine 

And then 

I awoke

And walked to the kitchen 

And worked

And ate pretzels

And lunch

Beer

Snacks

Bourbon

Dinner

And then

And woke up and went to work

And then

Bad Poetry Friday

The Ancient Grapes

by [REDACTED]

I look around my room

Bed clothes television chair

A dirty dish from last night’s late night snack 

And a wine glass

A thin puddle of deep red still at the bottom

My face is stained with today’s early afternoon 

Indulgence

More grapes but in a different way

Dry Rich and chocolate covered

I want to devour them all

I would like to devour you. 

Bad Poetry Thursday

The Amphibian Divide

by [REDACTED}

The deafening noise

Chases at the heels of the clouds

Scattering them to the winds

to come again another day

And all that's left 

Under the rain-damp leaves

Is your song

The symphony of your throats

Written just now

Just for tonight 

with themes older than human

but somehow more human than 

The flickering blue glow

That lights the grass

The trees

The ferns

The fences

Emanating from windows

closed and locked

Your cries are not for me.

Your song is brief

Its peak is short

Your song is yours.

Cri de coeur. 

Bad Poetry Wednesday Again

Anthracite Becomes Us
by [REDACTED]

In the clouds
Above us
As in the earth below
It waits
With unbated breath
It has time to bide
And flights to catch
One piece at a time
A pie
Mystical and strange
Mist from the ancients
Let's circle back.

Bad Poetry Wednesday

A Multiform Panel
by [REDACTED]

In golden light
At dawn
You see it
Hewed from trees so long ago
Cut
Planed
Polished
Here it is to keep you warm
It glows
A remnant
You see the rings and understand that
This is all that is left
of that spiritual mound.

Bad Poetry Tuesday

Admission
by [REDACTED]

We let them in
You and I
We welcome them home
After such an absence
Years and years and no word
And then suddenly
Here
Welcome back angst
Good to see you again depression
We have a guest room just for you
What a cute couple they make
I say to you
I wonder what they've been up to?
We can chat with them again tomorrow
And probably the day after that
you say to me.
We are a confederacy of hens.

Bad Poetry Monday

Gargle
by [REDACTED]

She brushed aside his hand
She said
It is what it is
And coughed
Where's my saltwater?
Where is my thermometer?
She looked around the room
And saw a life of tiny things
Stacked atop each other
Precarious
And ready to fall
Held together by some invisible force
Stronger than her gravity
Older than her children
And gathered together in bunches at her feet.
Use your inside voices please.

Bad Poetry Friday

Behold
by [REDACTED]

I've seen so many shops in my time
Pixels out of place and foreign
The shadows do not match
And colors clash against each other
The foreground and the background are at war
And in the middle of it all
A subject far too small
Too hidden to have hidden meaning
It stands alone untouched
Pure radiation
As though the last defender of an
Abandoned outpost
As though it is saying
"All the devils are here"

Bad Poetry Wednesday

Radius

by [REDACTED]

We orbit each other

And once a month our paths

Intersect for just a moment

Hands grasping for contact

And then off again into

Interstellar space

I am just another star in your field

You are my mythic comet

Where have all the flowers gone?

Bad Poetry Monday

In Amber
by [REDACTED]

Last night I think I saw your face
Reflected in the mirror as I brushed my teeth
It was just a glance
And when I turned to look
You weren't there.
You never were, of course.
I only always bring you with me in my mind.
You are there to surprise me when
I stub my toe
Or I lay down to sleep
My body calls out
But you cannot answer.
I long to see your face as I remember it.

Bad Poetry Thursday

New World Atlas
by [REDACTED]

Follow the line directed by the pen
It shows where one place ends
And another begins
Imaginary borders
Are dangerous to cross
The idea of difference
Or the change of an idea.
Papers please.

Bad Poetry Tuesday

The Unified Field
by [REDACTED]

Unmanifest and nothing
We sit together at the base of the world
Sharing a meal of rice and beans
Vibrations rise and gleam
Creation happens all around us as we eat
The world springs into existence
And the knowledge of good and evil seeps in
Light and heat
You say
How did we get here?
Where are we?
And the answer is
Always

Bad Poetry Monday

So Close to not Finishing

by [REDACTED]

I know a place where

Cats don’t go

And where people 

Fall all over themselves 

To apologize for being late

It was the traffic 

Or a motorcade or a roadblock

We almost didn’t make it

They say with a straight face 

And of course we needed gas

Come here to this place

I will show you how to 

Burn the houses to the ground

And how to

Skin the cats a dozen ways

Look at this place 

It’s my home and my castle

You are not welcome here. 

Bad Poetry Saturday

Dive
by [REDACTED]

A splash of water redirects
The air around it
Makes it move with joy and laughter
And the sound of dives makes all the people
Turn their heads to watch
Is it over?
Did we miss it?
Where is she?
The ripples flutter out in circles
And there she rises
From the depths
Intact and smiling like a cat
She is health embodied
And she turns to look at her mother
They share a grin and their eyes twinkle with joy and laughter
There but for the grace of god

Bad Poetry Wednesday

When in Doubt

by [REDACTED]

On Thursdays in the city

A little after 10 AM

There's a sound

That sounds like a school with seven bells all ringing

It is a hidden signal

The people turn to face them

Praying to the ringing mecca

Bells an epicenter of nothing

On Thursdays the bells ring

They do not symbolize

They have no meaning other than

The changing of the guards at the bank

On South 10th Avenue

Moments later 

On this one Thursday

The bells ring a second time for the first time in living memory

Ten thousand eyes are staring 

A woman removes her earplugs

What is this fresh hell?

Bad Poetry Tuesday

Silencio

by [REDACTED]

When everything
has been said
and all the machines have
rattled to a halt
and the fires have
all burned out
and the people stand
and wait with dread
and satisfaction
You will hear it
first a whisper
then a shuffling roar
You will hear it
You will hear the voice say
Is this all there is?

Bad poetry Wednesday

Festival Terms

by [REDACTED]

In other oceans

Far away from here

Sprites and fairies drown

There is nothing to save them

The tides waits for no one

And fishes sleep in depths unknown 

In other climates 

Far away from here

A snowbird sings songs

Of hope and peace

While we all freeze

A dream of ice

Welcome home. 

Bad Poetry Wednesday

In League with Lions
by [REDACTED]

The lion roars
Teeth and tongue flicker in the light
of a thousand LEDs
And there
behind the glass
we stand rapt
watching nature's simulacrum
play out and ease our fears
of being eaten alive
on the savanna
a million years ago
when all we knew was run

Bad Poetry Tuesday Part II

Carrots

by [REDACTED]

Little roots

Like strings

Grasp the earth with all they have

A needle thrusting up

Orange and sweet 

I want to eat them all

But they are too many

A multitude 

General Orange commanding his troops 

It is the day of the carrot.