ABC, Easy As 1-2-3

A breath can determine everything;

Faith, gullibility, hope.

Innocent justice kills.

learned music never

Overtly plays quite right

So tell us, verily, with

Xylophone, yuequin, zither.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month 2019, day 19. Prompt was to write an abecedarian poem, which strictly means 26 words using the letters of the alphabet as the starting letters of each word, in order. No idea what this one means, but it’s a fun challenge. Title today is borrowed from the Jackson 5 classic.

Susan Across The Ocean

It almost didn’t feel like a proper sendoff

No body to remind us of your presence

on this side of the eternal sea

Just an ornate box and some old pictures

From when you weren’t sick.

I will miss the stories you would tell

over and over, and over again

To my children, your grandchildren

As familiar as the drive to Virginia

Or morning sunlight on the tranquil pond

In the middle of the woods, down that half-mile

to get to your last house.

They still tell them to each other

When something reminds us of

horses, or snakes, or donkeys.

We will have to make up

Our own stories now

And someday tell them to

your great-grandchildren.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month 2019, Day 18: Prompt today was to write an elegy that communicates sadness through physical detail, not just abstract words. This one is for my mother-in-law who passed away last year. The title today is borrowed from an old song and album by The Silos.

Rose Colored Glasses

Perched upon her nose, I help her to see the world

In all its beauty and its faults

The dew on the grass, a spring morning

A crude drawing from a classmate of her being boiled alive

Stars, millions of stars on a clear country night

The boy that she dated once, asking for more

The mountains of a country far from home.

The choir singing at her grandmother’s funeral.

I help her to see the world,

sometimes I wish I didn’t make it so clear.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month 2019, day 17: Today’s prompt was to write about something from an unusual point of view; this one is from the perspective of the glasses worn by a young girl. The title comes from either the country classic by John Conlee or the R&B hit by Kelly Rowland, depending on your age and musical taste.

 

John Coltrane Stereo Blues

A stack of black metal and plastic

on a corner cabinet shelf

Wires and buttons, numbers and notches

just another dusty part of the furniture

until you flip the power switch

opening a portal to other worlds

of sound and emotion

Play some John Coltrane on the stereo

and try to convince yourself it’s gonna be alright

You’ve got some fine wine in the freezer

to help you make it through the night,

Or through December, when like Merle Haggard

You’re making plans to be in a warmer town.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month 2019, day 12: Prompt was to write about something dull that you have, and why you love it. This one’s about the stereo system I’ve had for 3o+ years in some form or another. Today’s title comes from one of my favorite bands, The Dream Syndicate.

 

Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

I can steal some steel

meet up with some meat

wield a wheeled chariot

and bust a bust over your head

nobody is fazed when common sense is phased out

The timbre of your voice is like timber falling in the woods

The more we are grown, the more we groan

We’ve been content to weave our words

whether the weather is good, bad, or indifferent to our whims.

If you guessed that a homophone is our honored guest,

you would be right, that’s what I write about today.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month 2019: prompt was to write a poem featuring a list of “things,” my ‘things’ were, of course, homophones–words with the same sound but different spellings and meanings. Song borrowed for today’s title comes from the classic C + C Music Factory dance track.

 

Taking Care of Business

“If it doesn’t scan, it’s free!” She says

as equipment failure, packaging difficulties, and frustration

combine to hold up the line forming to her rear.

If only I could give away everything that caused me grief

made me stumble or delayed my escape from reality.

Just let it go, no payment required.

As the world waits impatiently for their turn to kick someone down.

Would it make me happier, or just postpone the agony

until the next inexplicably happy customer

tries out their tired cliche on another tired employee

who’s working hard, not hardly working.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month, Day 8: prompt to incorporate jargon or slang phrase from a job into the metaphor of your poem. As a longtime retail manager, this was too easy. Today’s title borrowed from Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Joy To the World

I give you joy, I give you peace

The kind of joy that wakes you up in the morning with a smile

looking to the day with anticipation, not dread

The kind of peace that passes all understanding

To be a refuge and keep the world at your doorstep

knocking, but unable to come in and upset the balance

Of a joyful, peaceful existence.

The kind of joy that is contagious to be around

spreading to the others you’ll see

The kind of peace that makes peace with others

To be the example and keep the violence of life

from affecting those you love,

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month, Day 7: prompt was to write a poem of gifts and joy. What would you give yourself, or give others, if you could give anything? I chose joy, and peace. The song I borrowed today’s title from? Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World,” one of the most joyful songs I know.

 

Feeling Gravity’s Pull

Let’s begin again, begin the begin

Do you feel just like starting over?

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

 

Nothing is wrong if you only win

are you in need of a makeover?

Let’s begin again, begin the begin

 

I think we missed the original sign

Was it not repeated, over and over?

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

 

Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in

Do you think that I’m a pushover?

Let’s begin again, begin the begin

 

Sinking deep into the brine

did you stop to smell the clover?

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

 

Start, stop, and start again

Is this the starting or the finish line?

Let’s begin again, begin the begin

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

• Kevin Oliver

National Poetry Writing Month 2019: prompt was to write a villanelle with several elements–use of ‘borrowed’ lines (example was from song lyrics, which is where I also cribbed from with a couple of R.E.M. lines), creating an ‘opposition’ between the two main repeated lines. Poem title comes from a different song by R.E.M.

 

 

Don’t Be Sad

About last night, I’m very sorry.

I only saw it from the corner of my eye.

Moving fast, too fast to avoid;

like a storm on a summer afternoon

catches you without an umbrella.

The impact was small, a couple of bumps

and it was over except for the guilt.

Should I go back, look for an owner

or ignore it and keep on going?

Would a child encounter the carcass

in the morning and grieve for their loss

Or would a buzzard be thankful

the Lord had provided another meal?

Don’t be sad; I think it was just a possum.

• Kevin Oliver

(National Poetry Writing Month prompt, day 4: write a simple, sad poem possibly in sonnet form. I kept the 14 lines and brief format but left out any semblance of rhyming.)

 

Beneath the Damage and the Dust

It isn’t hard to do.

Take it off the shelf,

if you can find it behind the others

piled up over years of neglect.

Dust off the cover and the edges

watch out for the paper wraparound sleeve

with quotes and comments that convinced nobody

but which keeps the real outside in good condition.

Open to a page, any page,

and just read.

• Kevin Oliver

(National Poetry Writing Month, Day one. Prompt was to write something giving instructions on how to do something. Title stolen from a favorite old song.