FOP #4

29.8 2Form

this is the fifteenth
time I've cried while counting these
terrible pieces

I must hang my hat
up for the night, for seven
comes way too early.

30.1 me

I was exhausted
yet my hair touched
my pillow - and my eyes
flew wide open,
unable to drift.

30.2 username

I used to love
sitting in my grandmothers
maple tree, high above ground
where no one could find me,
until the scent of homemade cookies
filled the air.

30.3 War

I do declare
that TC has a personal
vendetta against us-
at war forever.

Or at least
until tomorrow.

30.4 money or sport

I've never been a betting woman,
every wager is money tossed
down the drain.

30.5 wild card

My legs look
as though red ants
marched over them -
splotchy
And itchy.

30.6 colour and shape

I woke up to the sun chequering
In my room - yellow squares
Gently reminding me of paper
As I log on to pnq and find out
That we've indeed burnt out britt.

30.7 nature

Crickets puff up their chests
And rumble like an orchestra -

To the crowd, only a slight chirp
As the DJ drowns out nature.

30.8 double form

Sleeping dust rubbed out
of my eye, like desert sand -
unearthing vision.

A dream-crushed shoulder -
still reaching out to my phone
pregnant with sweet text

31.1 myself

I find myself a nuisance
Even with the six-hour time difference
Pulling my presence a little farther -

But he keeps pulling me back
Like A kite, and folds me up
Until I'm hugging my knees again.

31.2 username

My oh my, what have you done
To britt, surely we didn't ask her
To stay up all night, wavering the flag
Of FOP's pride - as I'm here again
Back like an apology, hoping she'd
Forgive us for sleeping early.

31.3 war

At one point, one needs to dismiss
Their battlescars, like a papercut,
And suck on their thumbs -

In time, many more dishes
Shall be broken, and you
Will just have to wear gloves.

PROMPTS:

1. formed poem - but must be placed inside a free style poem. So write a normal poem, but add in a form somewhere throughout the poem.

2. include an item of stationery, pencil, paper etc.

3. Include a crime, or mention prison, or both!

4. Mention homelessness, or poverty.

5. Must include at least one rhyme.

6. Category : sad

7. include a piece of furniture

8. write a poem about this site!!

1.1 freestyle and form

Holy crap,
can you believe this prompt
a freestyle poem
then drop in a form
I am all written out
but one thing I can do
is add on the end
a senryu

he scratches his head
puzzled at the lack of thought
going into this

1.2 paper pencil etc

with this pencil
I can sketch
your portrait
to prove
that you have no
imperfections
at least in my eyes

1.3 crime

You caught me red-handed,
hiding sachets of our locks
mixed with blood - witchery
to tie your veins to my heart,
and all you did, was strike
a match, and leave.

1.4 poverty/homeless

with only lumps of bread
he shared the street with pigeons,
hoping for travellers to find him
entertaining enough to take a picture
as they tread on, double sandwich at hand

1.5 rhyme

with hands clasped tightly,
he strikes like a thunderclap,
unexpected, but angry
scarring birds as they flap
through the trees

1.6 Sad

I knew that reliving the past
was not the best thing to do when
the past was what it was, but
that doesn't stop me from
reincarnating memories, opening
up old scars.

1.7 Furniture

The definition of furniture
is fortuitous and grey: Here I
am sitting on my bed and wondering
if it is covered by the furniture umbrella
of categorisation, of organisation.

1.8 About this site

The roundabout of PnQ will
continue into the night until its
cars run out of petrol.

2.1 Form inside freestyle

(Shape poetry)

I already feel that this prompt
will be the stumbling block upon
which I fall
d
o
w
n
,
that the irregularity of
the marriage between
freestyle and form
will iritate my muse and mess
p my inspiration.
u

2.2 Stationary

The staple in my hand was a product
of a deadly potion of early morning,
hangover and the new self-stapling
stapler somebody thought would be
a great secret santa gift for me.

2.3 Crime or prison

I thought my drumroll heart would
set the alarm, or that a German Shepard
would jump out from a corner of the
almost pitch black house - It was all
I could hear in the night and although
the house was empty and I nearly died
of fright, I succeeded in making it
a little bit emptier.

2.4 Homelessness or poverty

I remember how a teacher once told
us how he would never give a homeless
person money, but would instead
offer to buy a coffee, a sandwich. I thought
it incredible that somebody would beg for
money and not spend it on what they needed
to sustain life instead of wasting it on something
that wore it away.

2.5 Rhyme

Ah rhyme, once my friend
and now my nemesis,
how fitting it is that I shall return
on the last day to my poetic Genesis.

2.6 Sad

The pink roses you loved
grew better on your grave
than they ever did in our garden.

2.7 Furniture

Spring in my arse, cushions worn,
uncomfortable with fabrics torn,
to sit here longer I cannot bare,
honey I think we need a new chair.

2.8 This site

Poems and Quotes and I were once
the honeymoon period when a couple
first meet and can't see each other's faults:
now we are middle-aged married couple
going about our business, dealing with our trouble.

3.1 Formed poem within freestyle

That's it, I'm done with
all these haikus, dragging up
google images of nature scenes
and putting myself into them.

No more winter nights,
no more sunshine shimmering
on meadows or hills.

No sir, no more... just a second,
how many syllables in my second verse...
Oh! I've been hit by the haiku curse!

3.2 Stationary

My pen sits ruefully on the desk,
cursing the wearing-out letters on
the keyboard edging him closer
to retirement.

3.3 Prison or crime

I lived beside a prison once,
we called it the hotel,
it had lots of beds to let
even an alarm bell!
Full board included, gym and all,
and me beside it, paying rent
and food bills, ah why not,
I'm giving up the law for lent!

3.4 Homelessness or poverty

A barely-noticeable huddle
near the entrance of an alleyway
shuffled and muffled when a group
of Superdry-wearing revelers
passed by, shouting on the way
to their warm beds.

3.5 Rhyme

Food delicious, food so nice,
chocolate, pizza, chicken and rice,
tasty treats of every-flavour sweets,
I think I'll visit the buffet table twice.

3.6 Sad

The puppies were always full of life
and they kept each other warm.
Opened their eyes, their first steps,
one month, two, and their personalities
began to shine through. Playful and affectionate
all six, and when we sold the one with more
white on her back paws the others didn't
realise they would likely never see
their sister again.

3.7 Furniture

Unknowingly taking your bar stool when you
were gone to the bathroom in a packed
sports bar was the best mistake I made
in some time.

3.8 Poem about this site

The fading mauve, almost as if
once apricot splashing around this
site is one of the most comforting
unattractive things around.

4.1 Form and freestyle

(Naani)

The date on the carton of low-fat milk,
the buy-one-get-one free offers or
availability of her favourite teabags
are the worries of Mrs. Benson.

Eighty-four, her days
of losing sleep over
wars or politics
or lost relationships are finished.

She has lived past all but
the trivial troubles of life.

4.2 Stationary

It is lucky that school children aren't smart
(or spoilt) enough to realise that
the effort they put in for a monthly
prize of a Frozen pencil or Despicable Me
rubber is about as disproportionate
as it gets.

4.3 Crime or prison

The merchant navy captain transporting
cargo from where the Red Sea greeted
the Indian Ocean spotted a skiff in the distance,
approaching. All the Somalian pirates
were missing was a black, skull-emblazoned
flag. They fired upon the ship with their
AK's, hellbent on boarding the vast ship
that paraded its affluence at their coast
throughout the year. Fortunately this time
the cargo vessel outran them and their crime
was incomplete.