The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Indar - beautiful, we must forgive ourselves, first and foremost........... stunning 

Tomorrow, the 19th - a poem/song about forgiveness.........

Aj 

Tracy Mitchell wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:00 pm

I have a previous commitment which substantially prevents me from visiting the site for the balance of the month.  It kills me that I have to cut short my NaPo adventure with all of you.  I can't tell you how pleased, awed, astonished, and gratified I am by how well this year's NaPo is unfolding.  You are a marvelous, merry band of writers.  

Though I won't have time on the site, I have written feverishly these seventeen days, and have completed my 30 poems for the month.  So, here they come, snap your chinstraps.  

Cheers.


#20

   Economides Finds

Muscle, soft tissue, with no warning 
abruptly turns to permanent bone– 
freezes in place jaws, shoulders, 
rib cages. A lone assassin, single 
molecule pulls the trigger – FOP!

Merry Maids of nineteen dancing
to Pipers of two – we reverse our 
punitive judgments, from afar we 
reconsider at the historical and
molecular level,  to find sympathy 
now, in our hearts of stone.


~

Wow, Tracy! Way to show us all up. Great outpouring. I hope you have a great trip. V

I am falling behind--overwhelmed. Please know that I spent many hours after NaPo was over last year reading and savoring the poetry, comments and camaraderie. I hope that everyone continues to revisit the archives for further comments--I will.
I'm not certain how much I will be able to participate as my mother's situation continues to deteriorate and she demands more care. My brother headed for the woods for a while. We all need time outs--so I'm picking up his share.

Thank you all for kind comments on my work--I feel I haven't responded to your generosity very well. Perhaps I'll do better later

Indar.

Take care of your mother and yourselves.  Poetry can wait.  Family can't.  TTB will still be here when you come back.

Remember you need time out as well.

Wishing you strength and peace.

Gyppo

30 ways to die.
#19

Sharp intakes of breath
triggered by the cold
pause her. 
The lower three feet
of her long pleated dress
ripple and flow in the current,
a betta who's lost the fight, yet
still determined.

More steps take her deeper,
hips then chest
shiver.
She stops again
as her warm neck strangles
to the sudden chill.

One final effort swallows her whole,
one last exhale
drops her to where she began...
beyond hope.

indar wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2019 5:00 pm

I am falling behind--overwhelmed. Please know that I spent many hours after NaPo was over last year reading and savoring the poetry, comments and camaraderie. I hope that everyone continues to revisit the archives for further comments--I will.
I'm not certain how much I will be able to participate as my mother's situation continues to deteriorate and she demands more care. My brother headed for the woods for a while. We all need time outs--so I'm picking up his share.

Thank you all for kind comments on my work--I feel I haven't responded to your generosity very well. Perhaps I'll do better later

The gratitude I owe my sister when taking care of our father can never be expressed properly. I hug her sometimes for no apparent reason.

by George

indar wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2019 5:00 pm

I am falling behind--overwhelmed. Please know that I spent many hours after NaPo was over last year reading and savoring the poetry, comments and camaraderie. I hope that everyone continues to revisit the archives for further comments--I will.
I'm not certain how much I will be able to participate as my mother's situation continues to deteriorate and she demands more care. My brother headed for the woods for a while. We all need time outs--so I'm picking up his share.

Thank you all for kind comments on my work--I feel I haven't responded to your generosity very well. Perhaps I'll do better later

You have greater needs at the moment, your mother, and please don't forget yourself.  Like Gyppo says, family first, poetry can wait... hug yourself and hug your mother.   Peace.......
Aj
 

Graveyard


Many have gone to the grave carrying the same ignorant notions they lived by:
Segregated by race and class, “You can’t eat here. It ain’t allowed.” 
Back then, people normally separated by skin color, nationality, economic class, 
gender, age, religion, or profession, would not have mingled… publicly.

Families no longer rest together among fenced-in plots, up by yonder tree.
The bullies no longer torment, nor do hoards huddle and gang up on the wayward soul.
Instead, they’re strewn haphazardly, 
save for the couples and siblings who share a headstone.

The living lay fortunes on monuments for their dead
with names, dates, titles, verse, and epitaphs
elegantly etched in marble or stamped in concrete, every symbol
carefully dictated from broken hearts and executors of duty.

If they could, would the dead bang on the lids of their satin-lined cages 
sanctimonious with unreasonable demands?
Imagine the uproar there would be, had they known
they’d all be picnicking in the same garden for eternity







while the plot thickens.


~Deb

 

Resting Place

Mourners gathered beneath the gracious shade
of a magnificent oak tree rooted in antiquity.
Three trunks gave the appearance of outstretched arms
Reaching out to grievers, murmuring, “Lean on me.”

It wore gang graffiti on its face
like thick, smeared makeup applied from one
three-year-old to another.
The giant blew kisses of catkin confetti in the breeze.

After the funeral, I strolled through aisles of tombstones.
Townspeople gathered in a cemetery
on a hill overlooking a verdant valley with patchworked agriculture and traffic.
A graveyard surrounded by folded granite in the distant mountains, cloaked in wild mustard.

~Deb


Prompted by a funeral I attended less than 24 hours ago.


 

Taxed and maxed out today, just wanted to wish everyone well. Sending strength and love to all who need it, Indar. 


I can't wait to read what everyone has posted in the last 24 hours.

It has been an honor, and pleasure taking these incredible journeys with all of you.