Category Archives: free verse

April 8, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 -Day 8 – A Perfect Day Interrupted

By Kat Myrman
Background Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/users/kalhh-86169/
A Perfect Day Interrupted

It was a perfect afternoon.
The shopping mall wasn’t too crowded  
and I found the perfect parking spot
near the Sears store entrance.
Was in and out in record time with 
the perfect gift for the twins’ birthday.
It was a perfect afternoon until you
came barreling out of nowhere slamming 
my car from behind as the light changed 
yellow to red, when everything went black…
The screech of tires and car horns 
jolted me back, having been propelled
into oncoming traffic. It could have gone
badly, it could very well have been…you know…
I remember thinking then, “when my time comes
I hope it’s quick, something I don’t  
see coming, like being rear-ended 
in a mall parking lot”…I remember 
thinking that would not be a bad way to go.

-kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 8 Challenge: write a poem that centers around an encounter or relationship between two people (or things) that shouldn’t really have ever met – whether due to time, space, age, the differences in their nature, or for any other reason.

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, free verse, napowrimo, Poetry

April 6, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 6 – an empty sink

By Kat Myrman 
an empty sink

it was the unspoken rule 
a sure antidote for the insanity
that seeped through the walls
and haunted the dark rooms
of my childhood home
everything in its place and
most of all, no dishes in the sink
it was nightly chore my sister and I hated
but one we knew, if not completed 
each night to our father’s satisfaction 
when he returned from his nightly binges
we could expect to be roused from sleep
by the sound of the cabinets being emptied
of dishes and silverware hitting the floor 
ordered to clean the mess “we caused”
all because there was a fork left in the sink
or a tea cup, it didn’t matter, 
I remember hiding in the clothes closet 
to avoid his manic outbursts of rage
I learned to be perfect on the outside

eventually I realized that a spotless sink somehow provided my troubled father 
with the appearance of order
a way to hide the disfunction 
that hounded him and terrorized
our seemingly happy, little family
we looked good in Polaroid snapshots
we almost looked normal…

it would be years before I was able 
to let dishes air dry in the sink
my sister too suffered this peculiar trait
eventually we both realized that life
can be a bit messy, that unfolded laundry 
on a chair or dishes in the sink are not
grave sins, but simply signs of normal life 
and messy normal is okay
but it’s a character flaw I contend with 
because perfect is an illusion 
so please don’t judge me
by my spotless sink…I’m not trying to hide
some horrible secret or assuage my angst
sometimes I just can’t help myself
but sometimes, I’ll leave a spoon 
in the sink overnight on purpose
because I need to remember 
though I am my fathers’s daughter 
I am not crazy…
at least that’s what my therapist tells me

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 6 Challenge – And now for our (optional) prompt. Today’s we’d like to challenge you to write a poem rooted in “weird wisdom,” by which we mean something objectively odd that someone told you once, and that has stuck with you ever since. Need an example? Check out Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Making a Fist.”

11 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, free verse, napowrimo, Poetry

April 5, 2024

NaPpiWriMo 2024 – Day 5 – the hound, the cat, and the old man

By Kat Myrman
Photo Source: istockphoto.com
the hound, the cat and the old man

“happiness,” declared old hound,
“is a good chew, a bone, a stick, a chair,
it’s a soft bed, a full water bowl and 
plenty of kibble, shelter from the storm, 
belly rubs, a window with a view, and
most of all my very own human to love
who treats me kindly and calls me good boy.”

cat rolled her eyes at hound, “happiness? 
I’ll tell you what happiness is you old fool
happiness is owning a devoted human
one who serves me prime pate. I must
have a water fountain and sun-warmed 
spots to nap, a fresh litter-box, catnip
and limited touching…no belly rubs 

an old man sitting nearby overheard  hound and cat, 
“It’s true. happiness is having enough to eat, 
someone to love, i agree with you two
but it’s also satisfaction from a job 
done well, hope and dreams, it’s learning 
something new, helping others, friendship 
It’s a way of life, a choice, a blessing!”

hound flipped onto his back, “belly rub please, belly rub paleeeeeeeaze!!!!”
cat leapt up on a windowsill, “whatever!“, she hissed, as she curled into a ball.
the man smiled, happiness is this moment

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 -Day 5 Challenge: Now, let’s get to our optional prompt! Today we’d like you to start by taking a look at Alicia Ostriker’s poem, “The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog.” Now try your hand at writing your own poem about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, free verse, napowrimo, Poetry, Prose Poem

March 7, 2024

waiting for spring

By Kat Myrman 
waiting for spring

on the cusp of spring
when the world is damp and bleak
when tall tree limbs 
stretch toward the heavens
stripped bare by the fierce 
nor’easters of winter
their brittle fingers 
clutching air 
against the gray
I wonder
what if winter hangs on
and spring never comes?
how easy it is to teeter
on the edge, weary from
long, dark nights, from
the frigid nip of ice-laced
wind against my face
chilling me to the bone
how silly of me to think it

spring always comes

as if on cue 
the song of peepers
from the edge of a nearby 
creek echoes through the mist
snapping me out of all doubt
settling my wild musing
reassured now, as if…
and I think, 
I just may have a few more
springs in me left until
winter wraps me in eternity
just a few more

~kat

15 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2024, Digital Art & Photos, free verse, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

February 19, 2024

the alpha, omega, and mid-summer illusion

By Kat Myrman 










the alpha, omega, and mid-summer illusion 

she lights the room with her smile,
well-practiced over decades,
a gracious nod, a coy wink, she is
masterful in the art of ladylike-ness,
her voice like silk, never veering 
from script, lilt of laughter strategically 
slicing through the din of conversation,
charming, ever charming, polite, nice
exuding familiarity, sensuality, chastity…
she’s an illusion, perfection in red lipstick,
powdered porcelain skin, sculpted by shape wear
suffocated by the tyranny of oppressive opinion 
maintaining the status quo
keeping the peace

once upon a time she was fierce, 
a wild child, smart, inquisitive, intuitive,
magical, a budding creator creature
connected to Gaia, calloused feet
muddied from stream-tripping, 
and forging untraveled paths
she hasn’t forgotten the girl
but secretly she loathes her, 
deceived by the lies repeated to her
by those she trusted most

years from now
when the porcelain cracks like an eggshell, 
she’ll emerge, granted by the fates 
the gifts of age and wisdom as she sheds
the chrysalis that has held her through
life’s tempestuous seasons to emerge 
fresh-faced, etched by sorrow and joy
body softened, tracked by stretch marks,
age spots, her once glorious golden locks
salted gray, brittle-thin, 
oh how she will emerge magnificent 
boisterous, full-throated, opinionated
having found her voice…her truth
at long last

the girl will remember spring, come winter
you may find her barefoot, tripping streams, 
revisiting paths forged in youth,
where she’ll dance with the fairies, 
finally free 
count yourself blessed if you glimpse her
take care to listen to her song, 
however brief, 
like a lullaby in the darkness
holding us until dawn…alpha and omega
with a smattering of lunacy in the in-between
a life full lived, a force of nature
silenced when Gaia calls her home 

~kat






				

				

				

					5 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , 															| posted in 2024, Digital Art & Photos, free verse, Poetry