napowrimo # 23

Today's prompt: place your narrator in a situation she/ he would not normally encounter.


The Flower Child Who Became a Flower


I’m back! Peace, brothers!
So what am I? A marigold?
Outtasight! Don’t need bread ,
don’t need a crash pad.
I dig that. But, if I’m a marigold
I’m a better looking one than anyone here -
good stem, fine leaves
great petals. I feel my essence.
So, what happened to you guys,
you look terrible, all chewed up.
You gotta mellow out.
The pigs do that to you?
You fought back, right? That don’t work.
Passive resistance – that’s the ticket.
Peace and love. I see we’re
in the front row here, right where
the fuzz can get at us.
What is this –the People’s Park?
I’ll show you how to go with the flow.
I’ll have you all lookin as good as me
in no time. So who’re these
big slow snail dudes moving in?
Groovy! Peace and love, brothers!

                             Wanda McCollar



note: In many countries marigolds are planted solely to lure snails away from the rest of the garden.

napowrimo # 22

Prompt is for a Wordle.  Use one, some, or all of the folllowing words: reverberate, dizzy, squall, tomorrow, emporium, flinch, fierce, rust, saffron, pepper, tendril, crow.  I got all but 2.


Tide’s Turned

First, tendrils of smoke crept under the door,
then, the fierce pungent squall of
grandpa’s medical marijuana burst forth
as we entered his bedroom, reverberations
of his laughter peppered with colorful invectives
greeting us in the laden air, making us even dizzier.
Propped by pillows, sitting on top of his covers
wearing red pajamas, worn slippers and his saffron
smoking jacket - “No rust on me,” he crowed.
He was happier than I’d seen him in a decade.
Not Mary’s doing, Apple’s. He had an iPad
and could read again, write again. “Tomorrow,”
chuckled our nonagenarian, “ I start writing my memoirs.”

                                   Wanda McCollar



(This inspired by a news item in tonight's CNN about a 99 year old gal overjoyed she can see to read and write again by using her new iPad.  Hooray for technology!)

napowrimo # 21

The 21st prompt deals with flaws as opposed to perfection, or perhaps both.


Some People Just Don’t Understand Parenting


She accepted the act of giving birth
as an agony of course but
she had hopes it’d
be worth it. Then she fussed, and
pampered, coaxed, and pondered,
couldn’t leave well enough
alone, but finally, with some small pride,
and no doubt overlooking what flaws
they might have, she let them go forth
and BAM one was stamped
ordinary, another flat, another
strange, even (horrors!)
predictable.

She put them all away.

                Wanda McCollar

napowrimo # 20

Write a poem about a hero.


Ode to the Caped Crusader



You know, Batman, you made more sense to me
than that other guy in the blue tights, after all –
how could he fight crime on a reporter’s pay
even if he didn’t have to buy plane tickets,
better to be a rich philanthropist and have a batmobile, batplane
and all those cool gadgets stashed away in your bat cave.
I understand the utility belt
and the boots and bat cape and the need to fight crime
but I was disappointed you chose Robin
it should’ve been Batman and Wanda,
lord knows my skinned knees proved I practiced.

                                                Wanda McCollar

napowrimo # 19

Today's prompt - write about a moment of sudden understanding.


Knowledge Often Arrives Ungraciously


In Japan where we lived
it dishonored neighbors
to lock one's front door.

A neighbor would never knock
but open the door and call
Anata wa koko desu ka?
If receiving no answer,
honored neighbor was free
to remove shoes at the threshold
and wait inside.

My shower room adjoined
the living room. Need I go on?
It was a good warm shower
I enjoyed that day until
I spied a very large spider
on the opposite wall who then
jumped across that safe space
to within inches of my face.

I ran shrieking into my living room
and there sat my landlord
most formally attired,
most formally posed,
in contrast to my nudity, of course.

Without a twitch of eye
he said in his impeccable English,
I wish to invite you and your family
to dinner next week but I see
there is a problem with the plumbing.

                       Wanda McCollar

napowrimo # 18

Today's prompt is to write about a feline creature - tiger, panther, or a bit more domesticated.

Interruption

Seeing me busy,
with a swift silent leap
she’s on my desk,
pausing  to lick her paws
nonchalantly
before she curls herself
on my keybemop
                          aa
                            fd x
                                lll
                                  ll
                                  ll
                                  l

             Wanda McCollar

napowrimo # 17

The prompt is to write about one of the essentials:  Fire, Water, Wind, Earth.  This took me a long time - found myself going on at great length.  Taught me to cut to the quick!

Earth
             “In earth as quiet as thy father's skull.” King Richard II, IV i

Where worms poop
and bacteria flourish
in wet muddy bubbles,
telluric bowels
of clay and silt,
in darkest silence of
mold and fungus,
our dead regenerate
into fertile soil, a
cycle that’s worked
for a very long time.
This much we know.

       Wanda McCollar