Slowly catching up. Posted below are my five daily poems from April 20 through April 24. I'm already imagining the editing process on these poems. But for the time being, they will have to do. Consider them simply ideas captured---place holders awaiting final revision. Sometimes that's as good as it gets.
April 20—Write a message in a bottle poem. Imagine your poem is being rolled up and put in a bottle for someone to find and read.
To Whom It May Concern
By Bill Kirk
Hello out there—anyone.
This is my last recently emptied bottle.
I’ve been here a while—waiting.
The days I’ve counted number 173.
But I can’t be certain
I haven’t missed one or two.
Please hurry—well, at least
Get here as soon as you can.
I used to think everyone
Ought to have a chance
To be alone—solitary.
You know, to spend some quality time
Getting in touch with one’s self.
Been there. Done that.
No—Am here. Doing that.
Guess I can take that
Off my bucket list, right ahead of
“GET RESCUED.”
Please hurry—well, at least
Get here as soon as you can.
April 21—Write a second thoughts poem. You could have second thoughts about something you’ve done or thought in the past. You could write something about someone (or something else) having second thoughts. Or you could even take a poem you wrote earlier in the month and flip it in a new direction.
On Second Thought
By Bill Kirk
Second thoughts have pros and cons;
They have their goods and bads.
A second thought can save the day
Or turn your glads to sads.
Second thoughts for some are weak.
They say we hesitate—
As if allowing time to think
Suggests we’ll be too late.
Others say the best approach
Is leaving ample space,
For second thoughts to bounce around
And win the thinking race.
Just remember, if in doubt,
It’s wise to heed the id.
Its best advice? “On second thought,
Let’s not and say we did!”
April 22—Today is Good Friday and Earth Day. Write an “only one in the world” poem. This only one in the world might be a person, an animal, a place or an object. Think of someone or something else and write.
Earth As An “Only One”
By Bill Kirk
Granted, what I know
Has its limitations.
But wouldn’t you have to agree,
Earth in its unitary form is, indeed,
The only one of its kind in the world,
And that earth and the conditions
That make it possible,
Are universally singular?
In fact, how can it be any other way?
For nothing can be exactly
And precisely duplicated,
On earth or elsewhere.
So, everything
On the earth,
In the earth,
Of the earth and
Beyond the earth is
Totally,
Inexorably,
Unquestionably
Unique.
The End.
April 23—Write a quit doing what you’re doing poem. This could be about something you need to quit doing or that someone or something should quit doing.
Ode To Inertia
By Bill Kirk
Inertia is a funny thing,
Whether a body’s
At rest or in motion.
If inertia comes into play,
By its very nature,
It always involves
The quitting of some particular thing.
For example, overcoming
The inertia of running
Means you will slow down
And maybe stop.
Taking a nap? Time to
Wake up and move,
And so forth and so on….
Figurative inertia gets even better.
Movement, or lack of movement, notwithstanding,
That meal you are eating or
That game you are playing or
That dissertation you are writing or
That job you would just as soon not be doing
Will hopefully, eventually, end—
Either voluntarily or not.
If all things in life were unquitable,
What a boring life it would be.
So, if you don’t mind,
I will take my leave
And quit doing
What I’m doing
Until, that is,
Tomorrow….
April 24—Write a prayer poem Your prayer poem could be religious but it doesn’t have to be. It’s completely up to you what your poem is about.
What is Prayer?
By Bill Kirk
What is prayer
But a need, petitioned?
And a petition but a
Declared want?
It has been said,
“Waste not, want not.”
But might we not also say
“Want not, need not?”
After all, were there no needs,
Would there be any need to pray?
Hard to say.
And yet, prayers need not
Only be petitions for desires unmet.
What of the bounty
We have been granted—
Whether great or small?
Are not thanks for good fortune
A worthy subject of prayer?
And the need to express those thanks,
A need enough to pray?
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