Month: December 2020 (Page 1 of 4)

In the dark, the sound of fireworks
echos through the neighborhood
shakes the windows, 
scares the dog,
bothers the cat. 
This year comes to an end
with the same old noises:
guns, pots, pans, whistles,
boom boxes, car stereos,
horns, yells and cheers.

In my mind, the sounds are similar,
echoing from the past to now, 
shaking confidence,
scaring the heart,
bothering the mind. 
The year comes to an end
with the same questions and
doubts, fears, rejections, 
dismissals, cold shoulders,
snubs, curses and blames.

The sounds are only a distraction,
echoing and drawing attention
from what is real,
and true,
and honest.
The year comes to an end
with new possibilities for 
joy, peace, health, wealth
friendship, education
fun, laughter and love.

Everything from here is a choice.
Nothing is written.
It is all possible.
You can make it so. 

Happy New Year... 

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.

The imayo form is interesting… hope you agree.

Separate Ways

He wonders how it went wrong - she doesn’t look back
The dog whimpers once again - angry words remain
Broken dishes in the sink - tears begin to fall
He turns to go back inside - she runs a stop sign.

One more to go. Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.

Feels like I’m overachieving writing three poems when only one is required.

Ultimately the three become one…

Guitar
Sore fingers
Need more practice

Bike
Sore butt
Must ride more

Sometimes
Good things
Require some pain.

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.

In the spirit of not giving up… I took a moment to think about my morning in a cinquain… and it’s what you get today.

Today
Walking, throwing...
Sunshine obscured my view.
Missed birdies time and time again.
Disc golf.

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All Rights Reserved.

Yep… Eavesdropping and ideas go hand in hand. If you don’t want someone to listen to your conversation, don’t have the conversation in public.

Making nothing out of something

It is nothing to say the words 
someone needs to hear,
but is it appropriate 
nonetheless?
Because he is nothing;
She is nothing;
They -
are nothing.
So it is, saying anything - 
Is nothing.
Even when anything is 
I love you. 

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All Rights Reserved.

Yep, the idea well is dry, or perhaps just really muddy so the bucket isn’t picking up anything worth using, sooo…

Picking the right words
only seems to happen when I get
enough sleep and 
make the time to work.

Cheers!

Today I received a request to write a poem about “escape”. Initially I thought it would be an easy task… but it’s not. I have the halting starts of several possible poems, all narrative in nature. Narrative poetry is hard… or t least I find it difficult. It should be as easy as telling a story, right? Well… I had to restrict myself to a form to get it done, otherwise the project was taking on way too big a scope to tackle in a day.

I chose the pantoum because it is fairly straight forward and to the point.

So, for my friend who requested a poem about escape, here is the product from today. There may be others as well, but I’ll have to let you know when I finish those.

I go to the woods 
seeking an escape. 
Leaving my life behind
for a moment at least.

Seeking an escape...
Down a forgotten dirt track.
For a moment at least,
I have only what lays ahead.

Down a forgotten dirt track,
where no one can find me,
I have only what lays ahead
up around the next bend. 

Leaving my life behind,
I go to the woods
Where no one can find me,
Up around the next bend. 

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.

Yep, the form today is called a trimeric. I’ll let you figure out how it works. 😉

The Christmas season asks too much sometimes.
Being joyful and finding goodwill for men...
especially if you consider time spent in shopping malls,
searching for a perfect gift for someone. 

Being joyful and finding goodwill for men 
sounds lovely in theory of course...
but in practice it is completely tiresome.

If you consider time spent in shopping malls...
It’s amazing that people ever actually venture out.
Alas, there is always a sale to be shopped. 

Bah! Searching for a perfect gift for someone
who will likely not appreciate the effort involved,
and might even return it, just to have something to do. Humbug!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.

And so there is this…

A black capped chickadee
came to town today
looking for trouble.

He is always whistlin’
hey-yo hee hee hee
while he’s stealing crumbs.

He jumped up on my car
there in his brown shirt
And grey coat, searching...

Searching for a handout.
He won’t work for food
but he’ll steal your fries.

The black capped chickadee
Came to town today...
then he flew away. 

Cheers!

Note: Revised 4/26/2021 This poem initially was about Selasphorus Rufus which turned out to be a hummingbird. My research was flawed due to a bad source so we check more than one source going forward.

On another note, Black-Capped Chickadees can be found pretty much all over the Pacific Northwest stealing crumbs and being curious.

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.

Thricubes are poems built on threes. Three lines, each with three syllables, converging into three stanzas. Seemed like a fun activity, especially after playing disc golf in the rain on a semi-flooded course. This was at least a warmer option.

Here’s a try:

Cold rain falls
gathering...
A river.

Flowing fast
down and through
the valley.

All things go
back into
the far sea...

But ya know… we’ve been here before, who cares? Norman MacLean covered it …

I only said I’d write a poem a day. I didn’t say they would be earth shattering or amazing.

Try one of your own in the comments and show me something new, if ya like.

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan. All rights reserved.