Days off
these days
are for
carefully scanning
my body for signs
of life
desperately scanning
my mind
unraveling
the truth
of my friends
crying to the
moon for help
having a hard time
holding my head
up high
folding in,
caving in
to the noodles
of blankets on
my bed
letting go
watching
my hopes
take flight
like a
balloon
in the
wind
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
MAMA BIRD 
Terah, I like the way you get the most out of your time off. 🙂
Haha. I used to do things like workout and vacation! I must be charging up for something great 🙂
Hi Terah, here I go or am. Am I still being moderated? Sounds like a good idea. Wish I could get the hang of doing it myself appropriatly, when required by circumstances. My failure in that regard might of cost me my job, but it sure makes reading poetry fun. This is my day off and I get to read VanDusen poetry, catch up on the latest, and as usual I thank you for your boldness in sharing your life through your writing. I will read an Edith M. Thomas poem by phone I think. Talk about signs of life, your writing reveals you to be more alive than most. Why is that so hard for us to see in ourselves but so easy for others to see? Anyway you are free to think of me as a resource my belonging hasn,t changed, Kind of like somebody,s old junk car or book you have been left with and wonder what on earth that would ever be useful for. Now you,ve made me hungry with all those mysterious “poetry bars” for breakfast. I,m gonna try and cook some. Thank you again. P,S. I,m reading poetry at the lodge again this year.
There you are! Oh, and I am no longer receiving your poems by phone as my phone number has changed. But I want you to know that they always left me with a smile or a tear or a teary smile. Poetry. Beautiful. So simple. And true if only for a moment.
Reading poetry at the lodge? What day? If I am down I will go. And maybe read something if you’ll let me.
I’ve started reading at a poetry open mic. I suck at reading poetry. People like hearing long poems but reading short poems. I bring my short poems and just as someone gets settled into me reading, the poem is over and people say ‘is that it?’ and I say ‘yes, weren’t you listening?’ Which, often times they were not. I am a short show. Need I write longer poems to perform? I’ve been writing shorter poems to be read.
OK so I did a poetry reading last night and am thinking over the long poem short poem question. I had half the guests attending,that was three, and they were actually putting puzzles together, and Martha was asleep on the couch, so I got to do whatever I felt like, long or short. You know I cheat though, I read and recite, recite is always better, dead and well anthologized poets. I only do myself when asked and then only the tried and proven. People do like the long story with a surprise ending. I think that you are good at putting that twist at the end of your poems. It is the string that ties the poem up and makes a single entity out of the words and phrases. A good poem is always figurative and often, especially in a short poem, it is the last line that gives depth to the whole work. And you are good at doing that and I would think do well to emphasize those poems in your readings. I have found though that series of a few short poems in between longer stories and dialogues work well to keep the attention. Introductions are helpful as the listeners are not starting in the dark so to speak. I personally enjoy many of your descriptive memoirs as much as your poems, some of them, although I suppose since they are only a piece of a much bigger picture they don’t usually have that string to tie them up and make a poem out of them, and I think without the string, long or short, you will hear ” Is that all?” I hope that this is intelligible and helps. Love you Terah and keep up the good work.