Author: crow

I'm a writer and a dabbler. I live in Southern California.

Poem 20150406

crow

Today’s poetic challenge from #NaPoWriMo is an aubade. Aubade are kind of the opposites of a serenade, which is a poem or a song meant to be sung at night. The aubade is all about the morning. And I have never written one before. So. Here it is.

—–

so

the sun comes up like he does
and the alarm goes off like it does
and the cat walks over my head
because she wants to eat like she does
and the dog whines
because he wants to eat and go outside like he does

and

you roll over away from me
ready to head into the day
ready to exchange the warmth of the bed
for the warmth of a cup of coffee
ready to get dressed while i’m stuck, flat on my back
checking my phone
sneaking glances at you while you
put on make-up
put on your clothes
listening to you
sing whatever song you woke up with in your head on a loop
and finally when i hear you
hit the coffee machine
i finally drag myself out of bed

then

outside the sun barely is up and hidden behind early clouds
but the hummingbirds already swarm the feeder
four, sometimes five at a time
and somewhere the phoebe is singing
and today the squirrel doesn’t threaten us
from the safety of his tree
no shaking of his tail or angry chittering
just the usual avoiding of other dogs’ offerings
while we perform this morning ritual
even though the dog has a back yard
he prefers to walk on a leash

after

we drive together
NPR providing the background noise
laughing at the amusing disgusting juvenile
wifi network names that pop up as we
pause at intersections
plenty of college freshman
laughing at their own jokes about
“your mom,” pulling out, or vague threats
about stealing their wifi

so

in the parking lot
you grab your stuff
and there’s a quick quartet of kisses
and you surprise me with the last one
and the sun is finally breaking through
the clouds
as i drive toward work

Poem 20150405

crow6 Comments

Day five’s challenge from #NaPoWriMo:

Find an Emily Dickinson poem – preferably one you’ve never previously read – and take out all the dashes and line breaks. Make it just one big block of prose. Now, rebreak the lines. Add words where you want. Take out some words. Make your own poem out of it!

Ok, here’s the original, lifted from the Poetry Foundation’s website. Picked at random, as in, i had my eyes closed.

I would not paint — a picture — (348)
BY EMILY DICKINSON
I would not paint — a picture —
I’d rather be the One
It’s bright impossibility
To dwell — delicious — on —
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare — celestial — stir —
Evokes so sweet a torment —
Such sumptuous — Despair —

I would not talk, like Cornets —
I’d rather be the One
Raised softly to the Ceilings —
And out, and easy on —
Through Villages of Ether —
Myself endued Balloon
By but a lip of Metal —
The pier to my Pontoon —

Nor would I be a Poet —
It’s finer — Own the Ear —
Enamored — impotent — content —
The License to revere,
A privilege so awful
What would the Dower be,
Had I the Art to stun myself
With Bolts — of Melody!

Now, mine:

i would not paint a portrait
i mean, what’s the point
i don’t have the skills
to capture a living spark in oils
and anyway
my hands shake whenever you come near me
and my pictures look like they were done
by a child
not paying attention

i’d rather be the one to be painted
why not want that for myself
it’s a bright impossibility
that will never really
be mine
but to dwell delicious on the idea
is a fine taste in my mouth

i wonder how the fingers will feel
holding the brush
mixing the palette
wielding the knife
cutting through layers of paint
cutting through layers of me
scraping the canvas
to get to the bottom of things
to get to the bottom of me

to tear open the sky and glimpse
that rare celestial clockwork
a sweet torment
a sumptuous despair

Poem 20150404

crow4 Comments

Today’s challenge for day four of #NaPoWriMo–write a love poem without using the word love.

—-

it’s all in the eyes
not her eyes,
not the way she looks at me
or the the way her eyes catch the light
in the room
when she smiles
or the way a room becomes a chilly place
and dim
when she’s angry or sad

it’s all in the eyes
not her eyes,
not the way they follow
the rhythm of a story or joke
or lower
half-lidded
when made drowsy with desire
or the satiety of desire

it’s all in the eyes
but the eyes are mine
and they watch and they see
what shivers and trembles
they watch and they see
what moves and breathes
they watch and they see
what stretches and reaches
they watch and they see
every atom swirling

Poem 20150403b

crow

I didn’t know it was National Poetry Writing Month!

I don’t know how many of these challenges I’ll try. I’ve missed the first two already. Today’s challenge is a fourteener, a poem with lines of fourteen syllables.

—–

the fox and bear were famous friends, at least that’s what i heard
until the fateful day the fox threw caution to the wind
and dressed in finest reds and whites, a top hat on his head
he came to court the lovely lass, the bear’s only daughter

‘this is an outrage,’ shouted bear, ‘you’re more than twice her age’
‘my age has nought to do with love,’ said fox, severely grave
‘i seek her hand and she seeks mine; do not begrudge us this
‘why you yourself are thrice my age and yet we still are friends’

‘we’re friends no more,’ the bear cried out, ‘you seek to ruin her”
‘far from the truth you wander, friend, and farther still you stray
‘if she’ll have me, she’ll be mine, the devil take your blessing’
so fox and the bear’s only child strove to run away

—

okay, no rhyming and it’s kind of a fragment.

Poem 20150402

crow2 Comments

the cat
sits at the glass door
not making a sound
just watching
moving only her head
as the hummingbirds
zoom in
and
out
of view
her ribs rise and
fall
and she watches the phoebes hop in the grass
and up into the limbs of the young avocado tree
sporting their little black mohawks
and she thinks–
if cats think like this–
if this door weren’t here…
if this glass weren’t between us…

Poem 20150401

crow

everything starts as a seed
buried in the warmth of earth
buried in the dark of the earth

they say that we struggled out
of the sea
millions of years ago

that may be the truth
but it is much more true
that we break through the crust

of soil, climbing out of darkness
reaching for the yellow light
reaching for the heat
and gazing at the blue expanse

Lyrics 20150330

crow

Is this a dream that’s spinning,
Twisting, running through my head?
A dream of you where I can’t make out
Anything you’ve said?

I follow you from room to room
Through silent moonlit halls,
Out one final courtyard door
Where rain just falls and falls.

I look across the garden
And see you standing in the weeds
Water rushes down between our legs
As if we both were reeds

Bent beneath the shower’s weight,
Buoyed by the stream.
Your mouth is moving silently
In this dream within a dream.

I reach out to take you
And hold you to my chest
And press you up against my skin
Until there’s nothing of you left.

I feel you pounding in my ribs
And throbbing in my blood.
I hear you singing in my ears at last
As I surrender to the flood.

Song 20150329

crow

SMELL, Atsushi Sakurai/Yasuyuki Okamura

Okay, so this song. Space Dandy was playing on Funimation, and it had a pretty interesting OP song, Viva Namida, by Yasuyuki Okamura. But on the album, this was one of the included songs. I heard it pop up during a drive to work and I thought, man, that song sounds kinda dirty. Not the version I linked to is by Atsushi Sakurai, who apparently wrote the lyrics and Yasuyuki Okamura did the music. Which means he did a cover on his later album. Sadly, I cannot find the version from the Space Dandy album on YouTube or Soundcloud, but here’s a link on Spotify: SMELL.

I looked at the lyrics.

Yeah. It’s kind of dirty, but good-naturedly so, and the music will just get in your head and live there. Like, forever. You’ve been warned.

And Space Dandy? I only watched a few episodes. Not because it wasn’t funny or or anything. I just really don’t like Funimation’s iPad app. If you want to watch anime on your iPad, get a subscription to Crunchyroll. Their app is top-tier as far as UI and user experience and they have a decent selection of new and old anime.