I Cry For Her

 
I carry gifts to my dear friend and her sons, from their wayward husband and father. Alha is a friend of my husband first, on meeting Sophia his wife, a beautiful friendship bonded between us, which spans across the seas. Now for almost eight years, her husband lives in New Jersey and she and her three boys in Egypt.
I carry a closed white plastic bag for her from this wayward man, for who she has been waiting these long eight years to return. With care she opens this white bag to find all the pictures of herself. I feel her pain swell within her, yet she closes the bag, and continues to speak, stands tall, and does not allow her tears to invade her eyes. Yet I know they are in her heart. I feel like I have betrayed her – yet I knew not of the contents of this tiny white plastic bag. If I had known, I would have thrown it in his face. How dare he do this to this beautiful and wonderful woman? And to do this by giving it to me is unforgivable.
She stands tall and bids good bye
And I cry for her.
©8/6/1999 Ellenelizabeth Cernek-Kashk

APRIL 30, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE ( THE ENDING)

For today's prompt, write a letting go poem. The poem could be about letting go of a relationship; it could be about letting go of anger; it could be about letting go of a tree branch; or it could even be about, yes, letting go of this April challenge. There are so many things we can let go.

The Ending

always and forever is the time
which I am in your heart
no matter where
no matter when
I am forever your girl
when I am touched by you
my heart quakes
my skin quivers
my soul is consumed with a loving feeling.
my time is not yet right
my love is not here
I am awaiting the ending
so my beginning can come
to share the feelings I posses
the warmth I have to give
and it belongs to you
for I am and will always be
forever your girl.

APRIL 28, 2010 POEM A DAY (BALANCING ON LINE)

For today's prompt, write an end of the line poem. Maybe the narrator of your poem is at the end of his or her line. Other possible lines that have an end: assembly lines, phone lines, power lines, rail lines, graph lines, dotted lines, waiting lines, lines of poetry, etc.

Balancing On Line

In the glooming time
Where day exhales the
Last of the oranges
And the night inhale
The violets of darkness
There you will find
Where reality and magic
Can both be seen

In the dawn
Where night exhales the
Last of ebony
And the day inhales
The first of gold

Where magic and reality
Both will find
Me balancing on the line

Where one can hear rainbows

APRIL 24, 2010 POEM A DAY (ANXIETY ATTACK)

Anxiety Attack

It reaches up
From the bowels of hell
Traveling from toes
To the ends of hair.
Strangling the fibers
Of my being.
Holding tight
I try to breathe!
Within the fetal position
Arms crossed about my chest
Watching flashes of images
Fly across the wall then
Crawl upon my skin
Into my ears
Between my toes
Throughout my hair!
I beg for sleep
For me to be released
From this sleepless hold
Upon my soul!

APRIL 24, 2010 2nd response (INKY NIGHTS)

Inky nights

I've danced on Mt Siani
under the ink black night
cursing the dawn,
and fearing being alone
for I am not the true
Sunlight
Just an illusion
A spirit in flight
Romancing my passion
And dancing with pen
for all I have are memories
Of the last dance
In the inky night
Dancing in my mind
Of Mt Siani
And you

APRIL 22, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (EARTHEN CONNECTION)

For today's prompt, write an Earth poem. You can decide what an Earth poem is. Maybe it's a poem about the planet; maybe it's actually the lowercase earth (a gardening or burial poem?); maybe it's just a poem that happens on (or to) Earth; maybe it's even written in the voice of extraterrestrials (that might be fun). No matter how you decide to roll with it, have a very poetic Earth Day!



Earthen Connection

I take the pitch fork out from hibernation
It has been there, in the dark corner since last spring
Hands garbed in green and white poke-a-dotted gloves
I take the sturdy handle in my right hand
And stab it into the compose of the winter
Turning each fork-fill like pancakes on a griddle
It is an act of cleansing the soil
Worms, bugs slitter and crawl by
From my rude and unannounced calling
Now with the new clean soul, I bend to my knees
In homage, to remove any stones I have shuttled to the top
Rhythmically I make straight rows
With my hands reaching deep into the soil
Tenderly, I arrange all the vegetables in order
Placing their new born roots into the holes
Covering them with care and love of the newly cultivated soil
I wipe my brow and smudge dirt across it
My knees have been blackened with my hours of work
I am exhausted
I turn on the hose
Cool the top of my head
And sun burnt back
Turn slowly and spray my new veggie garden
The pleasure of self grown veggies, or a fresh rose,
Iris, daffodil, chamomile, mint or sage beyond my door
Allows me, my private earthen connection.

APRIL 21, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (ACCORDING TO)

For today's prompt, take the phrase "According to (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Example titles might be: "According to Bob," "According to these instructions," "According to the government," "According to the sun," etc.

April 21, 2010


According To:

According to the Gremlins
Hanging off my earlobes
I cannot get it posted today

According to the Mother
It is proclaimed that I am always wrong
According to the doctors
Mom needs a feeding tube
According to mom’s appetite
At the nursing home she was not being fed
According to me (being wrong)
The nurses were just lazy
According to her weight gain
I must be doing something right

According to Medicaid
Mom should not have gifted her monies
According to the system
She should get it all back
According to economical times
The money is long since spent to survive
According to Medicaid
Mom is denied services, just sent home to die

According to the children
They complained that I was an absentee mother
According to the shrinks of County Child Services
The boys were never touched
According to my Québec weekend vacation
Years later, one child did confess
According to the years of bad behavior
Their uncle got 10 years

According to my dentist
Soon I’ll have no teeth
According to x boyfriends
I have bad wiring in my head
According to the shrinks
I am working with half my brain
According to my doctors
I need to lose lots a weight
According to my mirror
I am still 112lbs, but
According to my scale
It just pops and screams
According to the coroner
He could pronounce me dead

According to my Pop
I was his Pocahontas, a graceful, barefooted, free spirit
According to my old man
I must be part redneck, with bare and dirty feet
He does not see the Pocahontas in me

According to my Presa Canario (135lbs dog)
I take up too much of my own bed
According to my lover
I am insatiable in between the sheets

According to some of my actions
I’m sure to burn in Hell
According to some others
I’ve guaranteed a right hand seat next to God
According to my life
Maybe Purgatory will just do.

According to the self
It is ordained that I am always right.
According to my life’s story
It sounds like I’ve been in therapy for years
According to my sanity
Writing is all that saved me.

APRIL 20, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (WATCHWOMAN)

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides

Today is a two for Tuesday prompt. Here are the two options:


Write a looking back poem. There are a few ways to tackle this one, I guess. The narrator could be reflecting on the past or literally looking back (like over his or her shoulder).

Write a poem that doesn't look back. This poem would be kind of the opposite, I suppose. Narrator who refuses to look back or who is literally looking forward (or I suppose another option even is that the narrator is blind or something).

Of course, if anyone has an interpretation that falls outside of my suggestions, then feel free to run with them. I always encourage poets to bend the prompts to their will.





Watchwoman

I have sat upon
Kaatskill Falls
For a millennium

My arms searching
Reaching skywards
My roots spreading

I have become gazer
Standing testament
Of long times spent

I have witnessed
The inhales and exhales
Of countless days

I have witnessed
Mankind’s brilliance
In fortitude and defeat

I am the original
Birch Tree who
Extends her reach

I am now a grove
Of Birch Trees
Canopying the falls

I am the Sentry
Watchwoman of Earth
Anticipating my rebirth

In the quiets of
A winter storm
You may hear me

“I open to the North,
I open to the East,
I open to the South,
I open to the West,
Elements complete my circle.”

I stand and wait
Bare and naked
In winter’s storms

For the coming
For my resurrection
For mankind to understand

Peace.

APRIL 18, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (TO BE ATTACHED)

2010-04-18
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides

For today's prompt, take the phrase "To (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Some examples: "To the left, to the left," "To write or not to write," "To Kill a Hummingbird," "To the Doghouse," etc. There are so many possibilities.


To Be Attached
God has given
All
A rainbow of colors
To draw upon
It is our choice
On what side of the spectrum
We utilize.
To combine,
And color
The world around us
Producing one’s aura
To be attached
To God’s brilliant light.

APRIL 17, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (HORROR, THE LAST CITY DEADLINE FOR A SCIENTIFIC MIND) (10,11,12,15,17 COMBINED)

2010-04-17
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides

For today's prompt, write a science poem. Science encompasses a lot, so your poem doesn't have to be scientific to still be a science poem. For instance, you could have a poem titled something like "The Science of Love," and then examine a relationship. Voila! A science poem! Of course, it'll be interesting to see how many poets talk about volcanoes and single cell organisms, not to mention finding out how many "mad scientists" are out there.

Something I'm working on

Day 10 Horror Day 11 the last blank Day 12 city Day 15 deadline poem Day 17 science

HORROR, THE LAST CITY DEADLINE FOR A SCIENTIFIC MIND

The Scientific Mind Asks?
I'm empty, but filled with these words like

Where does your mind start and your soul begin?
Music and lyrics
Crosses our souls
Reaches through time and space
To that moment.
Then we laugh, cry, or just smile
For the Moment Captured!

Do the memories of the self, produce a life?
Our fingerprints won't fade on the lives' we have touched
As she passes the waiter he spins around,
She gently stops him with her palm against his chest,
He grabbed her hand, asking
"Do you care to dance?"
She replied "only the tango, on a full moon lit night"
She smiles, he grins the moment is fades.
“Color My World” Cousin Lauren playing her flute,
Eyes closed, I am there again.

Why would it turn out to have Horror woven within it?
Many Prayers
Say as many prayers as you want,
But at 86 she's almost shinning the gates with her breath
As She sits in a medical bed in middle of my dining room

Is the home where the physical body lives?
I have landed on the island of the misfit toys.
Or the last city you lived in?

Why across the street I had a dream, and my dreams are always across the street?
Like the strobe of the cursor, lulling you to sleep past your deadline
Always seeing the same time each night 4:23AM
Or the river of life catapulting (ME /YOU)
Onto the rocky estuary before the entrance of the sea of eternity.

Is a deadline where we expire?
It appears we have a problem of some magnitude
Our dead are demanding

Will we travel faster without armor?
Yes because I have immortalized you in words
Which are memorized and taught to dissolve once they hit my tongue?
I have been told I am logorrhea, Chatty Kathy that’s me

APRIL 14, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (BACK WASH ISLAND)

2010-04-14

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides


For today's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) Island," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. You could do a well-known island, such as "Treasure Island," "Ellis Island," or "Total Drama Island." Or you could make up the name of an island. Or you could even have a long drawn out title, such as "You'll never get me on an island" or "If I were on a deserted island."

Back Wash Island

The backwash of the Atlantic waves
Washes over my size ten foot
Hunched over, gazing upon
The gifts the wave carries in.
I walk along the beach
In silent contemplation
Collecting the treasures
And ocean’s discards.
Peace and tranquility are the sounds
Cooing and caressing the shore.
The ocean’s natural gifts given freely,
As the back wash of the Atlantic waves
Washes over my size ten foot
As it silently cleanses my soul.

APRIL 5, 2010 POEM A DAY CHALLENGE (BEING VS.SOUL)

2010-04-05

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides

For today's prompt, write a TMI poem (or too much information poem). As with all prompts, there are a number of ways to come at this one. You can make it about gossip or revealing too much personal information. You could write an information overload poem. Or...well, I'm interested to see what everyone produces.


Being vs. Soul

Affable - I am to all
Upon the nebulous of the soul
Yet stilted within appearance
The old rejuvenate ego
Becomes impromptu
Within one's havoc being
Soliloquy echoes
Perverse to the bland ostracize

Candor expressions
Relinquishes devoid of memory
Advent upon injunction
Of the bicameral fact
Being vs. soul
Which is which?