writing

Late Autumn

~ ~M ~ 23 Comments

Damp and decaying like timeworn leather, the
wind stirs each fossilized apparition.
Holding fast against the sultry winds of
time; clinging, dependent, on limp limbs. These
creaky extremities reach for silhouetted faces,
haunting shadows with limited life. And in
withered strain feeble fists persevere, while the
sufferings of the season wilt within the crowd.
Littering the pavement like languorous petals,
inky remembrances of rosier days pass on.
In the bleakness of the night with a
shudder and a sigh, wasting away in the wet
rot of decomposing rainbows. Now black
and spoiled against the barren bough.

© 2023 Michelle Cook

 

*Golden Shovel Poetry Writing Exercise
The only rule for this type of poem is that each word of your source poem must appear as the last word of each line in your poem—and they should be in the order that they appear in the original. Your poem will contain as many lines as your source poem has words.

Here’s the poem I chose to use. (So if you read down my poem, the end of each line uses all these words in order.)

In the Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

by Ezra Pound


Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/branches-tree-black-and-white-rain-4621320/

Wrinkle Road

~ ~M ~ 6 Comments

It all began
on wrinkle road
a story so profound
it must be told

But who am I
to expose the truth
and knowing the world
they’ll just want proof

So back n forth I go
holding my tongue
with sweaty hands
ready to be wrung

Juicy details
begging to burst
but I’m just me
and my lips are pursed

Looking around
no soul to tell
helps quiet my mind
and the images quell

So I’ll save my story
for another day
too good to tell
anyway

© 2023 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/wrinkled-old-faded-paper-past-470799/

*On my recent adventure to visit my family, I encountered a road named Wrinkle Rd. I was driving about in the middle of nowhere when I saw the road, and the name just sort of stuck with me for the rest of the day. So after much deliberation, I finally decided to challenge myself to write about it. But too many thoughts were racing through my head as I pondered such a place, and in the end, it seemed like a place of unlimited possibilities. So I leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide what profound things may happen on Wrinkle Rd. Maybe you can even write your own story or poem about what you think goes on there. ~M xo

You

~ ~M ~ 22 Comments

You find me in
the busy of day;
no matter how
you find a way.

A brief moment
to send a kiss,
it’s the kind of thing
you never miss.

Every opportunity
you seek me out
and oh, the love
I feel throughout.

Even now,
while you’re asleep,
I feel your love
in dreams so deep.

Connected by
a force unknown;
you’ve become
my one true home.

© 2023 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/people-couple-man-woman-kiss-hug-2603522/

Just reflecting

~ ~M ~ 27 Comments

Do you ever wonder why things
can’t be as they were
Time always changes things
and causes such a stir

People eventually change
and that’s because everyone grows
still I miss the old ways
and change I do oppose

I miss when my kids were little
the times of simple bliss
now the world has gotten so hectic
everything’s amiss.

I struggle with the here and now
and the moments way back then
still knowing I’d never want to do
all those years again

As great as they really were
life was hard then too
I guess I need to remember that
whenever I’m feeling blue

One never really thinks
about the day their children will leave
and it’s sad when they forget you
It’s something you forever grieve

I know my very own parents
probably feel the exact same way
but the distance makes it harder
and so we drift away.

And friends are difficult to follow
everyone’s here and there
but there’s only one of me
though I’d love to be everywhere

And now that I am older
I find myself learning to be still
sinking into the background
not looking for a thrill

Still I am very happy
and maybe more content than most
but very humbly I say that
for I’d never want to boast

I do enjoy my life though
and yet some days are still so sad
but they’re few and far between
and for that I’m really glad

And today I’m just reflecting
missing those who’ve gone afar
and I think I’ve come to accept
I have to leave them where they are

© 2023 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/young-woman-meadow-lie-relax-girl-2194038/

I remain…

~ ~M ~ 42 Comments

I remain in slumbered thought
And yet my mind aches to go
To be what I should be
To know what I should know

And yet here I sit as always
My body fighting with my mind
The balance between them both
So off-kilter so unkind

The brain at war with the bones
The bones set in stubborn recluse
I fear not even an earthquake
Could shake my body loose

Stuck in that realm of isolation
Peering down on a grand parade
Wishing to be part of everything
Will no one come to my aid?

I’ve become like a stone statue
Watching the crowds pass by
Already in my coffin
Stuck in my mind’s eye

The world hums around me
I’m a lone spectator to the buzz
I remain in sequestered solitude
Free from what the world does

© 2023 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/sunset-woman-field-terrace-sun-5842173/