Author: Tim (Page 4 of 11)

Practicing zen? No.But I am drinking water and not using a prescribed poetic form today. I thought, “What could I do that would be different and interesting… to me?” POOF! (It, maybe, wasn’t instantaneous…) An idea was born.

I took a topic I bumbled across and I wrote it into 3 tercets of 8 syllables each followed by 4 Quatrains of 8 syllables each.

Why tercets and quatrains? I just liked the idea of three stanzas of three lines each, followed by 4 stanzas of four lines each. It may not even be an original idea, but I haven’t seen it before, that I can recall. It’s interesting to me.

Why 8 syllables per line? Why not? I am conscious that I wasn’t paying much mind to the meter other than syllable count. I don’t care how the stresses fell. I kinda thought the poem fells a little more zen-like, experimental, and jazzy. Maybe it’s all just dumb. Whatever. Don’t like it? Get your own blog or follow someone who likes following rules and coloring inside the lines.

So, here it is:

Plain talk

Sometimes I see when poetry
does not seem to have clarity
that straight talk alone may impart.

Perhaps a real thought so expressed
With a few clear words, black and white
Lacking false technicolor.

No obscurity in meaning
No dandy words convoluting
Flagging  in the poet’s bluster.

Like when I say, “Do Ya wanna”
then you reply simply, “I would…”
and the doubtful me then portends
a virtual “but” in the air.

Looking back three hours later 
To when I stop and consider 
The invisible “but” may be
An unspoken yes, then unseen. 

I think I should have said, “Will you?”
The answer to which is more clear.
Precisely Yes Please, or Hell no, 
where I would know what to do next. 

But unthinking as I can be
I let it sit for much too long
I acknowledge I may have missed
A chance to spend some time with you.


©2021 Tim Geoghegan - All rights reserved

Cheers!

Today is a seven line poem, with seven words per line and not more than seven letters per word. It’s day seven after all…

Here ya go:

Morning ritual

When the sun rises in the east
And cotton candy clouds line the horizon
The music thrums softly in my ears
Masking the sound of the rough road
Warm coffee keeps me moving toward work
Where constant email and phone calls await
And I just want to keep driving.

©2021 Tim Geoghegan - All rights reserved. 

Cheers!

Can I just tell you that today was a crapper. There was very little good that came out of today. I have been distracted by things I can’t even believe. Poetry has taken a back seat and in the time I did have I only came up with a single stanza. A beginning, perhaps? Maybe a middle? Or and ending… nah… it’s not an ending. Maybe I’ll share with you the development of the idea in fits and starts. It’s my blog and my poetry after all… this is how it happens… in a messy sort of disorganized fashion.

I was tempted to share a poem I wrote in 2016, but it goes against the spirit of the challenge. I meant this to be for poetry I would write each day, or in this case… a poem type thing. So here ya go:

Untitled

In the moments before bed
With a single light above
My thoughts turn to the past
And to mysteries left unsolved.

©2021 Tim Geoghegan

I suppose if you wanted to write a stanza of your own to go with this… I wouldn’t object.

Cheers!

Yep. This poem tells a story in 4 seconds. You may have to fill in a few blanks.

Meeting face to face. 

A wink.
A blink.
A kiss.
A slap…

Copyright ©2021 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved

Cheers

Coffee shops are fun places to gather material for journaling and maybe even crafting into poetic vignettes… glimpses into the lives the of people around us.

The Imayo form is a 4-line Japanese form that has 12 syllables in each line. The twelve syllables are broken up with a purposeful caesura (break) between the first 7 syllables and the last 5 in each line. 7/5 syllable counts are unique to many notable Japanese forms suck as the Haiku and the Tanka.

I like how the poem can sometimes break down into two separate stories, but together tell a more poignant story and perhaps better developed overall narrative.

This poem is a product of sitting in coffee shops and taking notes. I pulled a moment out of the pages of my recollection and tinkered it into this Imayo. Enjoy.

Could be it's goodbye...

The coffee has gotten cold - he takes another sip.
A bell rings over the door - patrons come and go.
Her napkin is still right there - ruffled by the breeze.
The empty chair speaks loudly - tears roll down his cheeks.

©️2021 Tim Geoghegan

To be certain, this poem could benefit from time and some workshopping, but the challenge is about what I can get done today. It is what it is, for now. See ya again tomorrow.

Cheers!

Sometimes you find yourself at the bar being chatted up by some lonely person and you consider why you stayed to chat other than they were buying rounds.

The Gogyohka is a poem that is comprised of five lines with one phrase per line. What makes a phrase a phase, you ask? Well, ask yourself, does it stand by itself? If so, let’s just say it’s a phrase.

Today’s poem:

Closing time?

I slowly drink
The beers he buys
watching the clock
wondering how much longer
I have to stay and smile.

©2021 Tim Geoghegan

Cheers!

Well, here we are again. December 1, 2021 and I’m casting off into the deep, dark waters of creation and experimentation with words and poetic forms. Welcome to the December Dailies. If this is the first time you’ve been to OneSureChord.com, you will find that it features poems written as part of a challenge to myself to “write and publish a poem a day during the month of December”.

Typically I choose a poetic form and mess around with that form until I have something that is poem-like. Please understand, with very few exceptions, the poems and posts you see here each day will be given roughly an hour of time from their inception to their publication. They will not be perfect, far from it in fact. This is an exercise in action and movement. The goal is simply getting something written down and shared each day. I invite your comments if they are kind and/or constructive. If you are just gonna be a jerk, get your own blog and be a jerk there.

Something I’d like to spend some time on this year is being mindful of my process and what might come up for me as I do these exercises. I hope you will allow me to reflect and share some thoughts in addition to my poems. Perhaps as part of being the audience you could share with me things that occur to you as you read and consider the exercises. I would enjoy hearing from you.

For today, I chose the “Dansa” form which is essentially an opening quintain (5-line stanza) followed by two or more quatrains (4-line stanzas). The opening line of the first stanza is also the final line (refrain) of every following stanza, including the first stanza. The rhyme scheme of the opening stanza is AbbaA and the rhyme scheme in all the other stanzas is bbaA. Note that the capital A indicates the refrain of the first line. I think you’ll see it clearly as you read the poem for today.

I think people tend to assume I am writing my poems about specific people and sometimes that is the case. Let’s just say, don’t assume too much. Enjoy! If you can see yourself or someone else in these pieces… That’s perfect.

The poem for today:

Photos from a box.

There’s something in that smile-
calming and fine,
subtly divine,
all part of her style-
there’s something in that smile.

The curve and the line,
flirtations design,
reflecting her wiles-
there’s something in that smile.

Forever enshrined
in the back of my mind,
she continually beguiles…
there’s something in that smile.

©2021 Tim Geoghegan

Ever see a photo of a friend or loved one and think, “Man! What a great smile!” I see photos all the time like that. There isn’t one particular photo that inspired this poem, but I imagine we all have a favorite photo of someone that makes us stop and think, “What a great smile.” Yeah, there’s something in that smile indeed.

Cheers! See you tomorrow…