A few poems...

The Poem-a-Day challenge I participated in over at www.writersdigest.com ended on April 30 and I was SO proud to fully complete it. Since I didn't discover the challenge until a few days into it, I had to go back and play "catch up" with three or four poems. So, I thought I'd post a few of the last ones over there that I completed. (And now, I'm seriously thinking of how I want to document the whole month's worth of poetry. I think I want to create an art journal with the poems and different collage-style images. Maybe someday in the not-to-distant future I can work on it!)

So, first off, the guy who started the challenge has now started a once-a-week challenge on Wednesdays and the challenge yesterday was to write a poem about the weather (sorta random, but an interesting idea still). I wrote this one...

"100% correct"

I knew it.
I knew that this guy would get it right.
again.

how can he be so cocky?
so confident in his psychic abilities,
looking into his cloud-colored
crystal ball?

I wanted him to be wrong.
I prayed for him to be wrong.
crossed my fingers, even.

but,
he got it right again.
for the second weekend in a row.

yep,
Wednesday was sunny and clear.
Thursday was bright and beautiful.
Friday was perfect.

and Saturday?
it started at 5 a.m.
and didn't stop until Sunday was over.

the bottom dropped out.
the cats and dogs fell.
my daughter sang the "go away" ditty.

and there went
the park,
the ballgame,
the plans.

and so,
this week I'm hoping
that he'll be 100% correct again,
but only about rain on
Tuesday.

And then, to catch up with a couple of poems I did for April.

The very first challenge (which I missed) was to write about a "first" something. I did this...

"Firsts"

the first time you

make love,

try sushi,

give birth,

step onto an airplane,
step onto a stage,

can be
"oh my god,
what do I do now?"
scary

but scary can become
exhilarating, can become
delicious, can become
miraculous, can become
spectacular, can become

liberating

And then, appropriately enough, the final challenge of the month was to write a poem about a "last" something. This is what I wrote...

“At the End”

When all is said and done,
and I’ve shouted my last hurrah,
turned the final page,
put an end to things

it will be as if my days
stretch behind me,
ahead of me,
and around me.

And my mind will
wrap around what it never could
grasp,
and my eyes will
see what was always hidden.

And I will have release,
into the love I always knew
was there,
but could never fully
fathom.

And my
joys,
faults,
successes,
failures

past,
present,
future

will
collide into
Grace.

Taking part in the challenge was extremely satisfying and I really am going to try and keep writing poetry at least once a week (since it's so very different from the type of nonfiction writing I write "for a living," it's very freeing to write and I totally enjoy it!). It was one of the most creatively satisfying things I did all year, in fact! (And, again, I challenge you to try your hand at poetry...even if you've never written a line of it in your life!)