Titles: Game Prompt

[Cat Sith]

Here is how this game works. Each poster leaves a title for the next poster. I will start by using the thread subject as my title. Write your poem in any format you like, and don't forget to leave a title for the next person.

Titles

They label us like boxed goods
or packaged meat. We're categorized,
organized, stylized. Mister. Missus.
Miss This. Imagine that. We all know
Judge Judy and Doctor Phil, and oh wait
that guy's a lawyer, not a doctor.
Who gave him that title anyway?
We try to gain them so we can
apply for jobs, check the box.
MBA is the new BS. I wonder when
we'll start getting Best By dates
or heck, why not go straight to
Expires On _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ .


Title: Poet Soup

(your turn)

[Agnes]

Poet Soup

A gallon of attitude goes in the pot first,
then a pint of piss and vinegar to quench their thirst.
Throw in a handful of verbs, a handful of nouns,
and if there's one handy, toss in a clown--
or a holy man or a god, if that's your thing.
They'll be wanting lines, so now add a ball of string.
Stir like a mad man. Stir 'til you faint.
Without twists and turns, poet soup it ain't.


Title: Desert Island

[Cat Sith]

Dessert Island

Lollipop trees sway, dripping
berry, blue, and cherry
under a giant gumdrop sun. I catch
lemon on my tongue, hike licorice
trails, watch sugarfalls melt into
swirling rainbow pools. I chase
chocolate bunnies and try to trap
a taffy dragonfly. It's too delicious
and I beg the bright blue unicorn
to pierce my failing heart. He shakes
his mane and purple starbursts
stick to my eyelids. I run for the ocean--
barefoot on cotton candy sand,
it's sticky between my toes.

Title: Ring, Ring

[Agnes]

Ring, Ring

Ring. Ring. Kill that thing.
Ring. Ring. Kill that thing.
Ring. Ring. Kill that thing.
Ring. That's all she wrote.


Title: Naturia Beast

[Cat Sith]

Naturia Beast

She glides among trees with amber eyes
that glow and watch. Bold green stripes.
Legs like tree trunks. Her heart beats--
slow. Beats-- steady. Beats-- silence.
There is a rhythm to the jungle. Obey
this. Her liquid stare can stop you dead.





Title: The Turnip Truck

[Agnes]

The Turnip Truck

Off of the truck,
I saw her fall
(and just my luck)
much like a ball
she had to roll
under my feet.
I tripped and fell
into the street.
The stupid truck
came back to see
(and just my luck)
ran over me.


Title: Flattery

[Cat Sith]

Flattery

Butter for bisquits,
cloth for the table,
dressing for windows,
pancakes with maple.

Shoes with a polish,
lips that are glossed,
cufflinks on jackets,
teeth that are flossed.

Words in the foyer,
words said with flair,
words said in silence,
words said in prayer.

Title: One Man's Junk

[Agnes]

One Man's Junk

is a woman's pleasure,
wrapped in a honey-do list,
bold strokes streaked with sweat,
crumpled and discarded,
nestled in a can on the curb
under a blanket of trash.



Title: For a Smile

[Cat Sith]

For a Smile

She gave too much--
time, patience, love, more.
More than she had. Overdrawn
and overwrought, the details
of her faded. She became
void of color, became a simple
sketch in black and white.
Each time she nodded her penciled
neck wore thin, and the outline
of her blurred, smudged, erased
itself, a little more. Her page
is nearly blank now-- save
a dingy, worn out
smile.


Title: Equilibrist

[upside]

Equilibrist

Left, right, left
she is balanced in her steps
walking on edges
through brittle space
and in her balanced hands
she holds the air
and curls her fingers
around stray conversations,
never losing concentration
on her next step,
right, left, right
always believing
something, someone
will carry her to a safe place
forging forward
knowing nothing
save fear of distraction.


Title - Bruised Fruit

[olson29]

Bruised Fruit


This could have been an unnoticed moment
but my heart needs it to be more sacred.
Love and silent poetry lead the way as
I thank the sun, air, and water
for helping this pear get here.

I thank sunshine, air, and water as it dances
within - keeping my body alive, the images
ensouling every moment that led the way to this,
in the infinite images of a life lived
for a pear, a human, an ocean, a moment.

In uninhibited closed eyes tenderness
a diaphanous pause voyages us - with
the journey, the glory of a bruised fruit.
What else can we do, but enjoy it, all of it.
When it reaches the end it begins again.


Love Will

[Cat Sith]

Love Will

cast the first stone,
knock you upside the head,
poke out your eyes,
and steal your last breath.

Love will tell you who you are,
and who you aren't,
and never, ever, ever apologize.



Title: Elephants Can't Jump

[Agnes]

Elephants Can't Jump

Love knows what matters.
Never ending, shining over all,
it moves mountains, parts the sea,
seeps into every crack and crevice,
trickles down to the lowest places,
and lifts you up. When love's power
can draw an elephant through a key-hole,
who needs to jump?


Title: Only

[Cat Sith]

Only

Singular. It's the new rage.
The me phase. The hold your breath
and bleed stage. The future looks for
cooperation, but segregation is in.
Find your place and tweet it. Repeat it
after me. I am only a breath away.
I am only a breath away.


Title: Breathe

[olson29]

This Breath


Pores on her body expand with warmth
as eyes dilate and soothe into subtler colors.

Our lips and heart receive music,
as soft as water dances with air
as it evaporates and rises to a cloud.



Title: Listen