#NaPoWriMo 2024 day thirty

1.    it’s third winter
      not so unusual
      despite our failing memory
 
2.     are we a mystery
      or a confusion?
 
3.     let them know the weight of you
      (i miss the weight of you)
 
4.     the days go by
      tickticktock
      and still all this
      desire
 
5.     (shhhh…)
 
6.     do you bear good fruit?
      i want to bear good fruit.
      and multiply.
 
7.     the tongue is a useful thing.
      some more than others.
 
8.     let us make raids on the articulate.
      choose which sounds
      require more attention.
      all the -ings.
 
9.     I HATE WALLS
      I LOVE WELLS
      I HAVE/ WILL
 
10.  what things do you only do at night?
      why or why not?
 
11.  “with my body
      i thee worship”
 
12.  wrangling words
      is dangerous work
 
13.  have i
      told you
      how much
      i love you
      poetry?
 
14.  can poetry
      be a form
      of justice?
      let us demand
      the right use
      of language
 
15.  shhhh…
 
16.  i’m not the same man
      i was before.
      truly. i have witnesses.
 
17.  I estimate I have owned twenty thousand books over my lifetime.
      I probably have four thousand books in my basement right now.
      I burned several thousand books in a bonfire one night in a park.
 
18.  I’d say at least 40.
 
19.  (What’s the story?)
      Because there’s always a reason.
      The pathways grow slowly, then
      wildly or manicured.
      Like gardens. Or myths.
 
20.  See with what
      Large letters
      I have written to you
      With my own hand!
 
21.  (are) all poems are about loss?
 
22.  (are) all poems are an essay on longing?
 
23.  (are) all poems are a seduction?
 
24.  shhhh…
 
25.  it’s a delicate surgery,
      this picking at words:
      finding the fragments;
      binding them up.
      a gift. or a weapon.
 
26.  poetry gives you wings?
      but you get to choose?
      whether to fly?
      and how high?
 
27.  The endings of things
      are very important.
      Because seeds.
 
28.  i made this for you
 
29.  are we a mystery
      or a confusion?
 
30.  maybe the Last Supper
      was the first supper.
 

#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentynine

 

#NaPoWriMo 204 day twentyeight

 

#NaPoWriMo day twentyseven redux

 this is how i actually wanted yesterday's poem:

#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentyseven

i try not to always think of endings.

let the minutes go by one by one by one.

each day has enough of its own troubles.

there is so much still left to do.

the list just keeps getting longer.

there will never be enough time.

there are so many books still to read.

what are we building with all these words?

is there still the possibility of understanding?

there have been too few moments of silence.

i have to remember to sometimes just stop.

try to note each day as a small beginning.

plant a seed and trust it to grow.

there is so much more of the implied threat.

 

we make plans and wait for the perfect moment.

 

we navigate accidents and surprises.

 

i meant everything i promised.

 

the days keep getting shorter.

 

i still hope that heaven is a real place.

 

in my dreams heaven is full of books.

 

we clothe ourselves with words.

 

we keep digging and digging and digging.

 

we build monuments to monuments.

 

no one remembers when it all began.

 

let us apologize for all our mistakes.

 

i promise you: my intentions were good.