Countless Pieces of Hate [Free Verse]

Countless pieces of hate
Tumble through our days,
Clogging up our Flow --

Tiny bites of thought
Pit us against
Imagined adversaries...

But aren't all adversaries
Imagined adversaries?

Those who act badly against us
Are only adversaries
If we slide them into that
Mental basket.

PROMPT: Work / Life Balance

How do you balance work and home life?

Live in the moment.

My Soul Runs Cold [Lyric Poem]

My soul runs cold, and I
Fear it might be dying.
It rises into the sky --
Horrifyingly flying.

How'd it achieve liftoff,
And race to such a pace?
It started to just drift off...
Now: the cold vacuum of space.

Dare I hope for a snap back
When it reaches tether-end?
Or intergalactic bushwhack,
Stumbling lost with no descent.

Maybe, it'll sprawl on forever
To the universe's edge.
I might not be so clever,
But I'll be a universe full-fledged.

Rough & Tumble [Lyric Poem]

Oh, no, no! Don’t you get your gun.
It’s not that kind of wicked fun.
It’s just that rough and tumble stuff
Where one can say, “Enough ‘s enough!”
And go your separate ways, knowing
That the fight is still ongoing,
And it’ll never really be done
‘Cause it’d never truly begun.

Row Me into Nowhere [Lyric Poem]

Row me into nowhere --
The middle of the sea --
To drift without a care
As waves roll under me.

Row me into nowhere,
That vacant stretch of sea,
To watch blue skies, so fair,
For an eternity.

Row me into nowhere;
I'll bob upon the waves.
Let me make it my lair:
Free of rascals and knaves.

Row me into nowhere
When all the good are gone;
I'll breathe that salty air
Until my soul moves on.

PROMPT: One Positive Change

Daily writing prompt
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

After transitioning from tighty-whities, through boxers, and on to the boxer-brief, I think I have finally found the path to downstairs bliss.

“All the World’s a Stage” [Soliloquy from AS YOU LIKE IT] by William Shakespeare [w/ Audio]

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwilling to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side.
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

NOTE: Sometimes called the “Seven Ages of Man,” this soliloquy is spoken by Jacques in Act II: Sc. 7 of As You Like It.

PROMPT: Unique

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

Genetic code and life story.

“Ode on Solitude” by Alexander Pope [w/ Audio]

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by the day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,
Together mixed; sweet recreation;
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” (479) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The Carriage held but just Ourselves —
And Immortality.

We slowly drove — He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labour and my leisure too,
For His Civility —

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess — in the Ring —
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -

Or rather - He passed us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground-

Since then - ‘tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity -