Plagiarizing myself...

Sometimes, I really don't know what I'd do without Alise and her blog. I know y'all probably sick of hearing about it, but I really do owe that woman a debt of gratitude...

My creative side, the love-to-write-wanna-be-a-poet side of myself had sat dormant for so long, I had begun to forget that side of me ever existed.

Anyhoo... enuf of the "I stan for NaturallyAlise" stuff. Here are two pieces I originally wrote for her blog poetry slam. She comes up with the best writing prompts!

The first prompt is "I miss you."

In your absence

I am observant

of that sacred space

Reserved for your presence.

There is no inticement,

Nothing sufficient

to cause a violation,

to motivate migration.

Because with you not here,

there's nothing for me

on your side of the bed.

The prompt for this piece was "parts of speech."

We were past tense
and again are present tense
will we be future tense
or past perfect, is yet to be seen.

Your past participle
predicates my future perfectly,
but I don't want to split my infinitives
as I wait out the verb that's also a noun
and look to infinite possibilities.

Hope you like these little offerings!

A Slam of Sorts....

So, Ms. Alise has been on a little web detox of sorts... sometimes you just gotta step back a pace or two and take a beat....

But I really have missed her Poetry Slams on Tuesdays the last two weeks, so in a similar spirit I would like to open up the Attic and invite anyone who drops by to leave a line or two. I'm gonna work it like Alise does and throw out a topic.... sort of... and let y'all run with it. Long, short, poetry, haiku, prose... whatever you feel.

Only instead of coming up with a topic, I'm gonna direct your attention to the music player down near the bottom of the sidebar. Pick a song, song title, artist or lyric from the widget and take off with that. There's some good shyt in that widget, too. Some of the artists you probably know, others you may just be discovering... and yes, it's a growing and changing list in there, so at the end of your contribution, please leave the artist name and title of the track you used for inspiration.

Now, I know this blog doesn't have the readership of Black Woman Lost & Found, but there's a couple of y'all lurkin' out there.... Susanne...April....Karen....Quest... I sees ya! Even if you think you're "not a poet" join in! Hell, I'm no poet either!! I'm a nurse and a mommy, but that hasn't stopped me from puttin' it out there!

Ok..... so I'll start.... my chosen track... "Inna Light" by Writtenhouse.

I see the dark look on your face,

the clouds across your countenance.

And I wonder where have you misplaced

your joy?

I remember when you lit up the place.

When nothing could bring you down.

Why the fall from grace,

and when?

Rekindle that fire in the grate.

Stir the embers again.

There's really no reason to wait,

is there?

You can keep the darkness at bay.

You can find yourself once more.

You can have the light of day,

look within.

Like night coming in the middle of day,

a total eclipse of the sun,

Everyone feels that pain

at times....

And I don't know what more I can say,

to one who was once so bright;

you have to look each day,

just to find some light.

Look within.

Now, as Alise would say, it's your turn....

Inspired by Appletree

Originally, I posted this on Alise's blog poetry slam...

Inspired by Appletree...

You wanna taste the fruit of my mind?
Then you gotta respect what's mine.
My thoughts, my heart, my time.
My fruit is food for the soul that shines,
but you have to pick it in its prime.
And if you think you're worthy of mine,
You gotta know how to feed my mind.
Pretty words not worth my time.
The depth of you is what I'm trynna find.
But can you deal with this mind of mine?

ac apr 21.09