musings, life lessons & poetry from Theresa Jarosz Alberti

Tag: April

Poetry Challenge Day 5: “After-Days”

I didn’t follow the prompt for this one, so looked around in the Notes app on my phone where I sometimes write down snippets that could turn into poems someday. The first line of this poem had been sitting in there quite a while. Can any of you relate to the topic? I hope not!

After-Days

What do you do with old, worn-out dates,
once celebrated, now fading to gray?
They’ve been an automatic reflex for so long,
anniversaries marking the calendar
like tombstones so solid
I keep stubbing the toe of my heart on them
as the months pass by.  Continue reading

Poetry Challenge Day 3: The Best I Can Do

Getting in my Day 3 poem a bit late in the day. I’ll keep this introduction brief– I think the poem says it all!

The Best I Can Do

Today
is one of those days
when the writing prompt is “delight”
and my mind is a blank.
Outside my window
it is still crusty gray winter in April.
Spring seems far away
and I’ve been dragged through
some hard times for quite a while.
Haven’t we all?
My mood is low
and the cruel weasels in my head
are too loud. Continue reading

Poetry Challenge Day 2: Why I Live Here

When winter goes long, like it is this year here, it’s good to remember why I live here. I’m not that fond of snow and ice and freezing temperatures, but I don’t want to move away. For me, the pros outweigh the cons.

Today’s prompt was to read more about the history of haiku and then to write 3 of them. I ended up writing 4 just to say what I wanted to say.  They’re short!

Why I Live Here:  Minneapolis Haiku

 

House in the city.
Wilderness is all around.
Urban meets forest. Continue reading

April Brings a Poetry Challenge and … Snow

Welcome to April! It’s National Poetry Month, and I’ve decided to try another write-a-poem-a-day challenge like I did back in 2018. It really is a challenge for me but I could use a creative nudge these days. I aim to write a poem and post it here every day this month. I hope you’ll follow along, and please post any of your favorite poems in the comments.

It’s also the time when Minnesotans are yearning for signs of spring, especially after a long and extra-snowy winter like this one. Mother Nature decided to play an April Fool’s prank on us instead and add several more inches of snow to the crusty snow that was still on the ground. My social media feeds have been full of winter wonderland photos today. Beautiful, yes, but we are so over it now!

Today’s prompt from the London Writers’ Salon was based on the poem Having a Coke With You by Frank O’Hara: “use the wisdom of Frank O’Hara and write about how being in the presence of someone you love can turn an ordinary moment into a transcendent experience.”  I didn’t quite do the prompt but it did inspire this:

Both And

“I’d like to buy the world a Coke
and keep it company.”
–1971 ad campaign commercial

Sometimes it’s hard to remember
the good in the world
when the shouting is so loud
and the gray tidal waves
never stop beating the shore
with their force. Continue reading

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