Month: December 2019 (Page 1 of 4)

Well… tonight you don’t get a poem. You get a super short story. Enjoy.

Getting To Know You

I sat down at the bar and ordered a whiskey, neat. She sat down next to me a few minutes later. We exchanged greetings and continued to drink in silence for a quarter of an hour. Somewhere around the beginning of my third whiskey she struck up a conversation. I learned that we were from the same county and had lived most of our lives within thirty miles of each other. She told me she was recently widowed for the third time. Not knowing what to say I turned back to my drink.

The drunk to her left asked her, “What did your first husband die from?”

“Food poisoning.” was all she said. 

“Well, what did your second husband die from?” he continued on.

“Food poisoning.” she responded and took another drink. 

“So, let me guess, the third one died of food poisoning too, right?” the fellow was belligerent.

“No,” she said quietly. 

“Well, what did the third guy die from?” he bellowed. 

“Knife wound.” she said, looking into her glass.

“Knife wound?” he was puzzled.

“Yes, he wouldn’t eat his dinner…” she whispered. 

________________________________________________

Cheers!

I was asked to be a bit more proactive in my warnings when my thoughts are not all happy, happy… Proceed at your own risk…

I tried on your shoes today 
 the ones with all the holes
 in the toes and heels and soles
 and covered in filth unknown.
 
 They tell me to truly understand,
 I need to do this. You know…
 walk in someone else’s shoes?
 For a mile or so… or less.
 
 I went about a hundred feet
 and I could feel the tongue
 twisted over and tucked under, 
 I started to adjust it out...
  
 but then I thought... No!
 This is dumb. I have my own shoes
 and they are much nicer and cleaner
 than these ridiculous things.
 
 I took them off and tossed them. 
 They landed in the gutter 
 by the curb where you had been 
 sitting quietly smoking weed.
 
 I don’t want to understand
 I don’t want to carry that load
 It’s not that I don’t care,
 it's that I don’t have the will.
 
 I walked away and as I turned
 from that street to another
 I saw you sneaking back,
 squatting to reclaim your shoes. 

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

Loneliness begins at arms length
 and continues into time away 
 crescendos in a dark room
 with the hotel light flashing
 vacancy, vacancy, vacancy
 outside all night.
 
 Yes, it is a vacancy after all
 when the "love" is no longer enough
 and the laughter quit long ago
 as the walks grew shorter
 and quiet like a church on
 Tuesday morning.
 
 So desire wanes into acceptance
 that this is all there is
 and nothing can cure loneliness,
 not the booze or drugs or whatever,
 so you quit and find a certain
 hollow emptiness...
 
 and it fills you, that emptiness,
 with bitterness, grief and hate...
 but you never say a word 
 because it’s not proper 
 it's not ok to tell them
 how you feel.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

I couldn’t think of anything to write today. I was blank. In these moments I have often tried to break the dam with a freewriting activity I call a “brain dump”. I set a timer and force myself to write for that specific amount of time. If I can’t think of anything I just repeat things until a new thought floats to the surface. The biggest thing is I keep the words flowing, even if they don’t always make sense.

This entry is what, I guess, you might call a found poem. I pulled words and phrases from the 549 words I wrote to try and capture a theme. Is it a “poem”? Sure. Is it a good poem? Who cares? It was the output I could muster in my allotted time. Remember, I’m not aiming for great poems, but to simply finish the challenge by writing something each day. Four days to go.

Here ya go:

It's Your Move

I don’t want to play this game 
 anymore, it has gone on and on
 and it doesn’t make any sense
 to waste another day pretending
 that any of this means anything. 
 The cards are shuffled and dealt
 the time has come to go all in
 or fold and walk away. It’s time. 
 It’s time to be honest.
 it’s time to speak truth.
 it’s time to make a difference.
 it’s time to stop hiding. 
 it’s time. It’s time.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Seems like I need to do something… 😉 What do you need to do?

Cheers!

So, this is a form I read about in a list of poetic forms and it was intriguing. It is based on a rhyme scheme that is (sort of) like the word abracadabra, you simply remove the r’s. I was also reading about several forms that include refrains. As it turns out this form is conducive to a refrain (of a sort).

Here’s what I jotted today:

Magic

There is magic in her eyes,
 I can see it in the dark.
 It’s there with no disguise
 but you must look close to see it.
 It will take you by surprise,
 and catch you unaware.
 To ignore it would be unwise,
 as it will leave an indelible mark.
 There is magic in her eyes.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

Santa, how I wish
 I’d get off the naughty list but…
 being good’s no fun.

Phone it in

In the event of an unexpected issue that leads to an unexpected nap my readers should expect the unexpected, like when a prose poem appears in an attempt to explain why the expectations of an expectant readership are suddenly being let down. We expect this poem will not meet the audiences expectation so we apologize and expectantly await some comments.

Yeah… I fell asleep and botched day 23. Sorry.

Cheers!

Lot’s of birthdays this month, mine included. I was having a conversation with a friend who said something about getting older that prompted this poem. I am also looking at my watch. It has apparently died. Sad.

I chose the Haibun. It’s a nifty little form that combines a prose poem with a haiku. I am not super keen on how this one turned out, but I am kind of tired of working on it. A change here makes it clunky there… It is ok right now. Perhaps someday I’ll work the kinks out.

For now:

Down the Drain

Time passes more quickly each day, like water nearing the bottom of a drain, circling faster with less distance to cover, racing to the end. 

 The watch sits staring
 its blank face not keeping time
 but life continues.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

If you are looking for gift ideas… that new Apple Watch is pretty sweet… Ha! Cheers!