Cursing into the Wind IFT

[Jenlars]

So, it's a reprieve. I'll take it and try to be worthy.

1-5
Statement #1 Lightning
Statement #2 Wind
Statement #3 Water
Statement #4 Earth, aka Ground, aka Dirt
Report

6 technically according to the rules a lune
7. Fresh Air
8. Monet Ekphrastic
9-14. Six examples of abstract crap. Will link later...edit is wonky for me tonight.

[Donner]

[Jenlars]

Edit to add: thanks for the reprieve and the welcome, Donner!

1-5, which are kind of just one, but I'm calling it 5 because it's April.

Statement #1: Lightning

It was supposed to be cleansing.
A lick on the ground - just enough
to catch the old, dead, dried-out brush.
Send it up, transform it to ash,
Rain it back down to earth again
to feed the next generation
already growing in the clear space.
It should have been elegant.
It was never supposed to go
wild.


Statement #2: Wind

Just a dance. That’s not so much to ask.

Every day, the same goddamn thing.
Roll out. Hot and dry. Fast and strong.
Blow buncha shit down the canyon
Then right back up again. Bullshit.

But where there’s a flame there’s a spark.
That never hurt nothing, did it?
It got carried away, is all.

Can’t really help that now, can I?


Statement #3: Water

It’s to be expected, really.
It might have burnt itself out,
but no.
This is a rain shadow. Do you know
what that is? It’s where there’s rain
over there, but not over here.
So there’s not much to work with
if you know what I mean. Do you
know what I mean? E-vap-or-a-tion. 

It’s a thing. Look it up, sweetheart.


Statement #4: Earth, aka Ground, aka Dirt

A mother
can only
do so much.

Raise up the life
with what water
and food there is.

Seems there’s always
Enough sun though.
No shortage there.

They’ll all die
soon enough.
Burn up and
blow away,
or maybe
fall back home
to start over.


Report

It didn't really rage, just burned along like fires do in these parts.
The wind blew as wind blows here: hot and dry, fast and strong.
Under other circumstances, it might have burned itself out.
Even in a wetter year, which we haven't seen for some time,
the victims never stood a chance.

This is a dangerous climate for cultivated species.
No irrigation, no mulch, no loving pruning
to contain their spread.
Out here, they grow wild or stunted.
Either way, they fuel the fire.

[Jenlars]

What may be the start of a bad habit.

Three Fs third quarter;
mean mommy
threatens summer school.

[M]

YEEEAAAAAHHHH! Glad you jumped in! Really enjoyed your first [5]. Great start. Consistent voice (an entertaining one, at that), and I loved the elegant lightning that was never supposed to go wild and Mother Earth in particular. April, do your worst. We got this!!

[Arlene]

I like the lune at the end of the first five poems: fire, rain, lightning, nature at its worst, and sudden child-like voice pipes up.

[Emilio]

I'm happy you're diving into the fun, we're happy to have you with us! I love the approach you've taken with the lightning induced fire. And Statement #2 is my favorite. I love the sassy voice. It goes well with wind. Wind can do whatever it wants, heh? Number 6 made me smile, but mean mommy should threaten with something worse than summer school: 30 poems in 30 days..

Cheers!

[Jenlars]

Michelle, Arlene, Emilio, thank you, thank you for dropping me some fluff. Glad you enjoyed these.

Rough one tonight.

7.

Fresh Air

Our cruise takes us past smelly
Pelicans on the breakwater

Out to the marine mammal barge
(Also smelly)

There, sea lions lounge
and grunt

Like post Easter dinner
cousins on the couch

Who somehow smell worse
than pelican shit
and sea lions combined

[cookala]

I'm pushing myself to try to catch up on fluffery today but the brain is kaput, suffice it to say I did enjoy these. muchly so. keep it going!

[Julie]

Something about "loving pruning" sounds both odd and right.

Ha! "Fresh air" is perfect and hilarious.

[Jenlars]

Cookie, Julie, thank you both for the visit and encouragement. Julie, I wasn't sure about those two "ing"s, but those are right words, so there they are. Glad they seem right, if odd, to you.
I'm committed to paying my fluff debt over the weekend. I read many threads.

[Jenlars]

8.


The steps lead up from
the head of my bed.
I climb all night
and never make the top.
I wake up tired and sore.
My children are happy
in the gauzy pink house
that recedes like mountains
on the interstate.
Flowers burst from their own beds,
crowd the path, nearly block
my way. The kids
have picked a bouquet,
sunflowers the prize for this
endless climb.

[beeswax]

Jenlars: Exciting – a series on the elements/nature unleashed and I like the energy in these poems. The last poem – about exhaustion I think, made me remember going to bed and waking up early and still exhausted, when mine were little and needing much from me. It’s got bones I think. I like the symbolism of the sunflowers the kids gather.

[Jenlars]

Bees, belated thanks for your comments! Glad you see potential in the last on. I'm partial to it.

Poems in a separate post. I'm having issues with keyboard responsiveness. Poo.

[Jenlars]

So, not only did I NOT get caught up on fluff, I'm way behind on poemical posting. I have some saved up though and now I'm ahead. Thanks, April!

9-14: Six examples of abstract rambling

I
Half rack baby back
Two wetnaps
Tomorrow, a fast

II
Vertical toe seam
enrages
knickers in a twist

III
Whisky sour eyes
the honey
At the door. Fuck him.


IV
Sleeping in hotel
rooms is hard
and so’s the neighbor

V
Account management
seminar
in razzle dazzle

VI

Dear Wisconsin, snow
in April
is not cute at all.