EARTH BLANKET-A poem

A new poetry attempt. I composed this in my head on a long road trip to my aunt's the other day. It was a gorgeous fall day with bright sunshine, I was driving, and hubby and I were just silently enjoying the scenery. I wrote down a rough draft when we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch. Thought I'd share it with you and hope you enjoy it. :)

EARTH BLANKET
Sharon Prater-Pope (10-25-12)  

Stirred, then shaken by the wind,
Leaves glide on invisible wings,
And fall like multicolored glitter
In the bright sunshine.  

Scarlet, bronze, golden flecks mingle,
As trees undressing for winter
Leave a multi-colored blanket
Covering the hibernating earth.

BOOK TREASURES-Poetry

BOOK TREASURES

by Sharon Prater-Pope

Accumulated books, ancient classics, exist.

Cultures take pains to make inaccessible,

Cheat men of remarkable abilities.

 

Writers, novelists, poets,

Full of imperfections,

Elaborate on honest lifelong learning

Among the constellations,

No sleep, attending to morning,

Sharing wisdom and feelings.

 

Once finished,

We have the luxury

Of reading, digesting, ciphering,

Of learning from their circles of age,

On a scale that leaves us satisfied and feeling rich.

 

This poem was formed from random words that jumped out at me from two pages in the book, "Walden" by Thoreau. I listed 47 words and used all but six of them. I added a few of my own words here and there also. I love the challenge of writing this way. :)

CHERRY LIGHT-a poem

CHERRY LIGHT

Sharon Prater-Pope (Aug 17, 2012)

Dark dreams infiltrated

                         the indigo sky,

Filled with a blood moon

                         and a swirling milky way.

Van Gogh couldn’t have painted it better,

                          to capture the essence

Of a blue-black starry night,

                          filled with a deep fear.

The Bohemian lifestyle she loved

                           in the cellar under the house,

Full of smelly mold, mice, and canned food,

                           a hidden pit full of purple shadows and coolness.

Dappled with lightness and sunshine,

                            jeans holey with mildew spots,

Blinded, she found sight within

                            while angels danced in cherry light.

MOXIE-a poem

MOXIE

Sharon Prater-Pope (Aug 17, 2012)

She felt invisible

Sitting in harmony with nature;

At peace while fairies danced

Under a cloudless sky.

The breeze carried birdsongs,

And the scent of white peonies

Floated across the pool of azure blue water.

A cherry moon hung suspended

Over the rustling leaves.

Glittery white balloons tied to tree limbs

Reflected the pink of her gown,

As angels in sock feet

Made her magic adventures complete.

All she needed was serenity

And enough moxie to believe and achieve.

I was sitting in the car watching my brother-in-law and my husband work on a piece of farm machinery at my brother-in-law's house the other day, and I got bored, so I took my sketchbook out of my purse, listed several words that just popped into my mind, and strung them together into a poem, adding words as needed. This poem is that poem. I like it, plus it was great fun! Hope you enjoyed it too! :)

KEEP GOING and FLY FREE (poetry)

My husband and I spent three days in the hospital step-down unit with his dad last week, and one day I sat in the waiting room for a couple of hours, listening to my mp3 player and trying to nap. The room was full though; worried people waiting to hear news from loved ones in ICU or surgery, all talking and moving around. As I listened to the shuffled songs on my varied song list certain words popped out at me, and I thought, 'Why not make a list of them and make a poem out of them?'

I love doing this with words that pop out at me off book pages, where I can cut the words apart and arrange them into a poem, but this day I had no scissors and, besides, I didn't want to cut up my Moleskine sketchbook.

Instead, I listed the words as they popped out at me from the various artists' songs, and when I had a page full of words in the pocket sized sketchbook I stopped and studied the words, seeing which ones could go together to form phrases and started stringing them together on the opposite page, crossing out the words on the lists as I used them. The following two poems are what I created in the two hours I sat amidst other patients' families, all of us sharing the connection of concern over a loved one.


KEEP GOING
By Sharon Prater-Pope

I know pain, confusion, purple anger,

                     and dreams, truth, reality.

I sometimes bleed and feel crazy lost.

The red violin feeds my soul

                      as I say to trust myself,

To walk away from my way

                       and ask God to help me.

Take time for running in strawberry fields.

                        Keep going,

Nothing is forever…

________________________________________

FLY FREE

By Sharon Prater-Pope

Blackbird runs with broken wings,

Speeding into the dark sleepless night.

Emptiness arrives,

And catching her begging,

Unlatches her heart,

Changes color to love,

Listens, sings, accepts memories.

She cheats death and leaves shame.

Time teaches; it’s alright.

Come! Fly free!

I really enjoyed writing this way, and I like the poems that came out. Much more fun than the game on my Kindle that I had been occupying myself with when I needed something to do. Waiting around a hospital can be very stressful and tiring. Besides I enjoyed creating something myself in stead of playing a game that someone else had created. I found it a great way to be creative when I'm away from my studio, and all it took was words borrowed from a few songs, a pencil, and a piece of paper to make me creative and happy for those couple of hours.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and my efforts! :)

TRUTH AND CONTROL-a poem

TRUTH AND CONTROL
By Sharon Prater-Pope (7-16-12)

Stop the controlling, the manipulating;
The rules and suffocation!

Relax! Listen! Be Present!

Learn compassion, peace, lovliness, awareness.
Feel truth with contentment and ease.
Relationships are fueled by simple beliefs,
Kindness, and loving happiness.

Reteach your heart.
Sense the poet within;
Truth made good.

RESTORATION ( poem)

This is another found poem, which will probably find its way onto a journal page. I LOVE doing these!  Hope you enjoy my efforts. :)

RESTORATION
Sharon Prater-Pope 7/13/12

I found meaning
walking the enormous garden
with an open heart
paths of memory
exquisite monuments
round arches
golden orange light
enclosing darkness
I craved peace
knelt for a time
prayer for restoration
believed


Here is what the original words written on pieces of paper and rearranged to form a poem looks liked glued to a journal page, which is still a WIP. I cropped the poem out of the page.

STAY CURIOUS & EMBRACE LIFE (2 Poems)

Two poems using a different set of words than the last five poems. I'm sure I'm giving all the literature perfectionists a fit with my poem writing, and I'm sure I'm making lots of writing mistakes, but I'm writing them in the way that I feel them and having fun with them. I have learned through several workshops that everything doesn't have to be perfect to express it from the heart. And I'm so grateful I learned that. It opened up a whole new world to me. Not perfect, but way more enjoyable! :)

EMBRACE LIFE

Sharon Prater-Pope 6-20-12

Someone screamed,

I feel invisible!

I seek expression!

Imagine being pulled,

Turning to stone,

Accepting resistance,

Feeling emptiness.

The universe is a teacher.

Embrace life choices.

Smile Work Play Live...

STAY CURIOUS  (Poem 2 using same few words)

Sharon Prater-Pope 6-20-12

She apologized,

Sorry to fall over the empty chair.

She missed the stories and donuts;

The reason isn’t important.

You gave the beats,

To be danced like she felt.

Staying curious

Makes life special.

MIRRORING (Poetry)

MIRRORING  (5^th , and last, poem using same few words)

Sharon Prater-Pope 6-19-12

multiply living and learning

listen to life’s sounds

crawl, walk, run, fly

dance, paint, play music, sing

coherent writing

mirrors a bottled up personality

LEARNING TO WALK (Poetry)

LEARNING TO WALK     (3^rd poem using same few words)

Sharon Prater-Pope 6-19-12

Music soothed the drama

Coherent thinking existed

I’d answered myself

Mirrored my distant personality

I learned to walk four times;

Now I’m able to fly…

SOUL SOOTHING (Poetry)

SOUL SOOTHING  (Poem 4 from same few words)

Sharon Prater-Pope 6-19-12

 I mirrored illusion and drama,

                                               thinking I belonged

                                                                             in solitude.

Music answered.

                        I played piano for hours

                                                             soothing my ravaged soul.
Sound existed.
                                             
                                             I was no longer alone.

FLYING COMPLETE (Poetry)

COMPLETE FLYING (Poem 2 using same few words)

 Sharon Prater-Pope 6-19-12

I asked,
Thinking I could belong,
But bottled up illusion existed,
And a self-ravaged personality.
I thought I’d known need,
Acted like a coherent being,
Liked music, played piano.
Undisguised drama answered…
Learn to walk in solitude.
Writing alone,
I fly complete.

MUSIC'S ANSWER (Poetry)

A poem I wrote using random words written on pieces of paper, then re-arranged to form the skeleton of the poem, to which I then made adjustments from the heart. Fun! And I like the poem!

I actually wrote five different poems using the same few words. This is the first one. :)

MUSIC’S ANSWER

Sharon Prater-Pope 6-19-12

I played piano alone,

                                thinking undisguised drama existed.

I thought acting distant

                                         to shake the illusion

                                                                  would soothe myself.

Music answered.

I’d need solitude…

Two Haiku

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope you're having a great time with family and friends. :)

Here are two more attempts at Haiku using the prompt from Jill Badonsky on her Facebook page. It's basically two different versions of the same poem, but I like them both, so thought I'd share them both. :)

midnight
shooting star
flashes across the dark indigo sky
speed of
life

______________________________

star
blazing trail
across the black velvet sky
pan flash
life

Haiku

A haiku attempt from a prompt by Jill Badonsky on her Facebook page: 1 word, 2 words, short sentence, 2 words, 1 word...

warmth
dancing light
caressing my body and soul
mellow yellow
sunshine


Who knew that I would love trying to write poetry as much as I do? :)

Tears-a poem

GRIEF TEARS 

Sharon Prater-Pope (4-24-12)

Grief tears flow from my deepest core,
Like a waterfall with no shutoff valve.
For months they erupt from my eyes,
Glide down my cheeks, and drip off my chin,
Crashing onto my chest,
Soaking my blouse.
Memories and loss
Mix with salty water.

No turning off…

Suddenly they stop.
No turning them back on.
The pain of loss still sits in my core,
Etched forever
Like stone carvings under a waterfall,
In the crevices of my heart and mind.
Food and fat layers replace the tears,
Providing a wall of comfort and distance
From the risk of more hurt.

The walls only cause more pain…

Borrowed Things-a poem

BORROWED THINGS

Sharon Prater-Pope (4-29-12)

We own nothing in this life.
Not the next breath.
Not the next heartbeat.
Not our eyes.
Not our thoughts.
Not our time.
Not each other.
Not our children.
Not our families.
Not our friends.
Not our pets.
Not our land.
Not our homes.
Not our cars.
Not our bank accounts.
Not the beds we sleep in.
Not the food we eat.
Not our bodies.
Not our health.
Not our lives.
Not our creativity or talent.
Not our material things.
Not our sentimental things.
Not our memories.
Not the earth…

All on loan to us
For a lifespan,
To use and take care of while we’re here.
To be taken at any moment,
In a heartbeat.

The last breath drawn
Leaves it all behind
For others to use or abuse.
None of it ever really owned,
Only borrowed for a moment.

We go out of life
As we came in.
Naked and alone.
Bringing nothing.

Taking nothing…

Tears Freefalling-poem

TEARS FREEFALLING

Sharon Prater-Pope (4-24-12)

Freefalling tears,

Liquid prayers

Cleansing the soul,

Making way for new growth.

SOLITUDE

SOLITUDE

By Sharon Prater-Pope

In solitude

I am smart

I am inventive

I am brave

I am confident

I am free spirited

I am not clumsy

I am not anxious

I believe in my creativity

I am a beautiful soul

I am okay with my body

I am spiritual

I am sensual

I am a dancer

I am joyful

I am strong

I am fragile

I am a dreamer

I am one with nature

I am a child of God

I can do anything

I can be anything

I am myself.

I am fearless!

But then I’m never

Really alone... am I?

MARRIED STRANGERS

MARRIED STRANGERS

By Sharon Prater-Pope

Day by week by year

One by one by one

Negative words, actions,

Emotional pounds,

Pile up

Until all that’s left

Are two strangers

Sharing a house.

Only when one is taken

Does the other realize

What has been lost…