bananas for bananas

bananas for bananas

a banana is
the perfect fruit

ask anyone
and they’ll tell you

literally anyone...
what is it about bananas
and why are they so special

oh i can list a few reasons
how do i love thee, fair banana...

almost ripe, firm, smooth on the tongue,
a tinge of green, bittersweet

in smoothies, puddings and
in muffins and cakes and

quick breads (warm from the oven, sliced thick, slathered with fresh butter) too,
long, lean, and luscious, perfect

to eat raw, sliced or mashed,
to take along anywhere

already wrapped, delightful to peel
such a fine fruit...the banana

who wouldn’t love them

~kat
———————-
For NaPoWriMo2021 Challenge - Day 5: Find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem. I chose Rita Dove’s poem, “Flirtation” (see below).

Flirtation
BY RITA DOVE
After all, there’s no need
to say anything

at first. An orange, peeled
and quartered, flares

like a tulip on a wedgewood plate
Anything can happen.

Outside the sun
has rolled up her rugs

and night strewn salt
across the sky. My heart

is humming a tune
I haven’t heard in years!

Quiet’s cool flesh—
let’s sniff and eat it.

There are ways
to make of the moment

a topiary
so the pleasure’s in

walking through.

Rita Dove, “Flirtation” from Museum (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1983). Copyright © 1983 by Rita Dove. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Source: The Poetry Anthology 1912-2002 (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2002)



Sunday’s Long Overdue, Long-Winded ReVerse Poem – 4 April 2021

Hello dearies...it’s been a long dry spell, with only intermittent blips of light peeking through the dark of winter...and me taking time to breathe after holding my breath for so long. I have missed this place and you, and the Muse has been an elusive imp for several seasons now, giddy I suspect with the woods that surround my house and weary of my rote tiny existence behind these walls of COVID-induced shelter.

You may have heard. We had an election here in the US. Sanity won, but only by a heartbeat. The losers, sore and swift to cry foul, attempted a coup, failing, still loom, waiting for their golden god’s next marching orders. I am happy to say that I am learning to breathe again...big breath in...big breath out...my head filling again with words, tossing around and jumbled, ready for the picking. It feels good to be back...slowly but surely I am.

Sunday’s Long Overdue, Long-Winded ReVerse Poem - 4 April 2021

and me breathing...
thank you dear strangers
do not linger
compassion prevailed
their footprints in the dust long disbursed to the wind
age of Aquarius dawning
tick tock tick
full cold moon on ice
wash away the pain
when the air swelled, when time shifted,
words upon beautiful words whispering,
the clouds fell to earth tonight
it shouldn’t surprise us
how you dance with the wind when tempests roar
my weary bones need no persuading;
liberated only in name
bound in symmetry
here on the brink
only to be nipped
now heartless, empty
weary of promises, promises impossible to keep
the irony of it not lost

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week...or in this case, the past several months.


no peace

no peace

people were asleep
when tragedy erupted
no rest to be found

for the woke, yet another cause
to engage the masses, stir hearts
invite others to do their part
the irony of it not lost
on those who paid the heavy cost
misfortune used by profiteers
will fill their pockets spreading fear
so champions with motives pure
are swallowed in the noise, obscured
the reason for their angst, not clear

let them take the streets
break out the crazies near and far
to disturb the peace

~kat

For Ronovan’s Challenges this week, a few Haiku, prompt words Comfort & Erupt, and a Décima, prompt word Cause - A-Line Rhyme. 
THE QUICK DESCRIPTION OF HOW TO WRITE A DÉCIMA:
1. There are 10 lines of poetry that rhyme.
2. 8 syllables per line.
3. There is a SET RHYMING PATTERN we must stick to. ABBAACCDDC OR two stanzas of ABBA/ACCDDC.

NaPoWriMo 2021 – Day 4 – promises, promises

photo courtesy of @SpaceLiminalBot
promises, promises

they never returned, even with faces
masked, big screens, media rooms and sound
bars had saved them from having to cram
themselves into uncomfortable seats, elbow
to elbow with strangers, potentially
dangerous, infested with deadly viruses
or worse, brandishing assault rifles,
the noisy demons in their heads begging
to be slaughtered in the bloodletting
of innocents...no, they weren’t going back.
renovations could not disinfect the crazy,
protect them from the madness, for they
had grown comfortable in their shelters,
unwilling to risk contact with deplorables, cult
crazed zombies, veins boiling with infection and hate...
it’s been years now, since these doors
were shuttered, renovations teased on
a tattered marquee, the people had long grown
weary of promises, promises impossible to keep

~kat

NaPoWriMo2021 - Day 4 Challenge: Select a photograph from the perpetually disconcerting @SpaceLiminalBot, and write a poem inspired by one of these odd, in-transition spaces.

			

NaPoWriMo 2021 – Day 3 – old tree

old tree

on the forest floor
lies the shell of an old tree
stubbly roots exposed, its core
now heartless, empty
grist for grubs, in death humility

~kat

For NaPoWriMo 2021 - Day 3...Off topic, but I promise to work on my personal deck. It seems like a worthwhile project to inspire future poetry. For today...a Horatiodet (my own short version of the Horatian Ode...a Form i came up with when i was doing daily micropoetry.) A Horatiodet is a total of 5 lines, syllable count: 5-7-7-5-9 / rhyme scheme: ababb. In other words, it is a short Horatian Ode (only one stanza), a form based on the style of Horace, Quintus Horatius Flaccus (December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC), the leading Roman lyric poet.