Poem in Your Pocket Day!

It's Poem in Your Pocket Day today, amidst National Poetry Day. I think I'll write several poems of different types in honor of the day.

Here's a haiku:

CHEERIO GUZZLER
He noses the ground
My dog loves those cheerios
Search well, little dog

Here's an ABAB Poem:

 

PACK ATTACK

I'm going to Ireland

So freaked, I can't wait

I'm already packed

I've saved the date

I've brought many things

To trade with  the natives

Scout patches and clothes

I'm being creative

I've crammed my suitcase

And sometimes I wonder

If, with all that junk,

I'm making a blunder

At the end of the day

Will people just chuckle

When my giant suitcase

Won't zip up or buckle?

This is a Free Verse Poem I wrote for those women out there who keep lonely, silent vigil:

BRIDGES

She lies in her bed at night

Next to a stranger

Who lives in her husband's skin,

Remembering what once was

And now is not. 

She wants him back--

The long ago him

Whose eyes lit up

When she came near

Who longed to cuddle on the couch

And go places together

Who spoke of dreams 

And planned with her,

Him, the father of her children,

Her knight in rusty armor.

She wants to reach out

To tell him why

They are so far apart

But there is no bridge.

He has gently walled off

His end

With computer keys

And push button kisses, 

Kind (or unkind) refusals,

And perhaps thoughts

Of another woman
Separate, always separate,

Just 1 and 1 with

No plus sign in the middle.

And there is no time

For deep conversations now.

Those they have, only seem to end

In vitriole

And spite. 

She's the Eternal wrong, now.

The less than.

When did that happen?

"So talk," he thunders.

What can she say to that?

His ears are closed.

His heart is dusty.

He is absent,

Grown distant and icy.

She used to batter at the wall

With bleeding fists

Praying with all her might

That God would 

Make a chink in the stone.

But that doesn't mean

There will be someone on the other side 

Of the wall

To listen.

She stands silent vigil

Alone

Because she will not cut the rope 

Or burn the bridge

Or leave the wall.

"Then make me a stone," she says.

A stone in his wall or a stone on his bridge.

"Make me a stone."

For stones last.

© 2016 by H. Linn Murphy

For more information on Poem in Your Pocket Day, try this site. And keep your favorite poem in your pocket for a lovely day!