soliloquy for two

the stars aligned perfectly,
bringing us our time
to join together.
like your favorite robe
i enfold you;
like an old cap,
you crown me
king to your queen,
bless me your highness.

we could probably complete
each other’s
sentences,
once we know the story lines.
we have swum the same rivers
at different crossings.
we have sown the same seed
in different fields.
our songs weave harmony with melody,
indistinguishable and perfect
in our voices joined.

for this we have waited
patiently,
suffered indignities from those
who thought they knew,
smiling even in our pain
to know somewhere, somehow,
we would find the other,
and lo! we did.

i can bring you no gift
greater than my self,
standing naked before your eyes;
and in your infinite wisdom
you make me feel
unashamed and free
to love and be loved in return.

morass

so now, again,
i must unbundle
the cold dying tendrils
of love be gone,
must lift my leaden heart
away from the morass
of silver vows and bodily fluids,
to grope thinly for
that place of forgiveness
lost in the vacuum
of your leaving.
betrayed yet again
by a child of god
who believes my spirit
is somehow less than hers
because my peace with that same god
looks only dimly
like her ceremonies, her rites, her ritual;
that my peace makes me somehow inferior, today,
unworthy of her love
even in small dimension,
after all this time.

Garçon!

Write two pages on what was unfolding in the brain of the most recent person to serve you, while the service was being performed. Candidates might be waiter, bus driver, housekeeper, flight attendant.

Panorama

Go as high as you can in a public building or other tall object. Write a descriptive page or poem on the view.

god-damn café

coffee’s cold,
potatoes greasy,
eggs are runny.
what kind of
god-damn café
is this, anyway?

(untitled)

soft as silent snowflakes
on this october afternoon,
one can almost hear millenia passing
in the solid visage
of stones in a wall.
the patience of rose-banded basalt
is the stuff of legend.
these rocks can wait an eternity
if need be,
and likely will.

breaking the stillness
in the far distance,
an engine revs
and tires squeal.
stones don’t care.
In their silent setting,
they don’t say a word,
don’t flake so much as
an atom of sorrow
at our passing, us humans.

A whazzit?

Find an interesting and unusual picture or photo and craft a short story plot around it; then write the story.

Panorama

Go as high as you can in a public building or other tall object. Write a descriptive page on the view.

A new life

If you could pick a different occupation and start it today, what would it be? Trace both the pros and cons of this new line of work.

Aloha, polar bear!

Pick a season, and write a letter to or a poem for a person who has spent their life in a place which does not have that season. Pique their sense of wonder.