2023 NaPM 1 April

[RiverNotch]

This was the very first prompt in this forum, posted, appropriately enough, by milo.

Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month. I know my poor organization and planning skills are now burdening you with the extra pressure.

Topic 1: Write a poem comparing sleep to an animal
Form: any
Line requirements: 10 lines or more.

[TranquillityBase]

Sleep is an animal
that feeds on dreams
an omnivorous shape-changer 
locked in a fragile cage
with a wilderness of brain
to run, where unconscious prey
sing to the predator.

When sleep ends
the animal lives on
in an alien wakefulness.

[dukealien]

Night Blob


Sleep, you formless jellyfish
so seldom there when one would wish–
surrounded by your piscine friends
which, dreamlike, swim among the bends
of your envenomed floating arms
undaunted by their nightmare harms
as if unreal.  But there is more
to jellyfish or man-of-war:
for at alarm-clock’s tidal ring
they float away but leave their sting
entangled in awakening.

[brynmawr1]

Could I sleep like a dog
on a hot summer porch?
Oblivious to the flies that harry
around. Only the occasional twitch
to signal my survival, chasing
that proverbial rabbit of my dreams.

But I toss and hope
to turn to slumber, harried
only by the thought 
of the coming dawn.

[Tiger the Lion]

Long Winter Night

Upriver the salmon 
are packed like sardines.
The Grizzlies gorge on their brains
and toss the carcass like trash.

Downstream the Black Bears
feast on fresh headless fish
descending like manna.

Both snub winter
on bloated bellies
so long as they remember their place.

[CRNDLSM]

Lights and shadows camouflaged
crouch.
Patient silence,  perfect killer
timing.
Grassy fields, jungle leaves, mountains,
  couch
Under cover, prey instincts Bells
ringing

[Quixilated]

When the sky becomes ink seeping through paper fibers,
and the shadows grow monstrous large
and cannot remember their former shape,
when silence prickles against the skin
whispering horrible nothings into the mind’s ear,
then at last Sleep comes purring.
With quiet assurance it curls into a ball of fuzzy warm.
Nestled against the heart, Sleep sleeps contentedly
making the dark and the shadows and the silence
bearable for a while.

tinkering zone …


When the sky bleeds dark
like ink seeping through paper fibers,
and the shadows grow so monstrous large 
they cannot remember their former shape,
when silence prickles against the skin 
whispering horrible nothings into the mind’s ear,
then at last 

Sleep comes purring. 

With quiet assurance it curls 
into a ball of fuzzy warm.
Nestled against the heart, 
Sleep sleeps contentedly 
making the dark 
and the shadows 
and the silence 
bearable 

for a while.

[RiverNotch]

Daily, in our town,
from house to house, a crow
totters, leaps, flies,
testing for their panes
windows, peering in
for seeds, coins, baubles,
occasionally eyes,
marking the shut with scratches
and twice swooping
through all the open.

[Wjames]

I hunger for flesh.

It does not matter if it is dog or cat
or worm or snake, or spider legs
in the mouth of a frog
kicking at the stomach of the fox
giggling insanity at the crescent
shining red on my eyelids
and soft on the fourty seven sheep
sleeping soundly in the fold,
while I stalk the fence.

[Mark A Becker]

Animal Language

What
mysterious
language 
is spoken
within
the dreams
of napping
animals
that I can
almost
understand?

[TranquillityBase]

When the sky bleeds dark
like ink seeping through paper fibers,
and the shadows grow so monstrous large 
they cannot remember their former shape,
when silence prickles against the skin 
whispering horrible nothings into the mind’s ear,
then at last 

Sleep comes purring. 

With quiet assurance it curls 
into a ball of fuzzy warm.
Nestled against the heart, 
Sleep sleeps contentedly 
making the dark 
and the shadows 
and the silence 
bearable 

for a while.

I like your tinker the best.  Marvellous first stanza.

[Mark A Becker]

tinkering zone …

Wow Quix- that is some great tinkering. So happy to see you!

It's really great to have so many of us on-board for NaPoMo'23- like getting the band back together.

What a lovely lot of April fools we be...
... Mark

[Semicircle]

Trapped in
the day's events,
muscle twinges on
mechanical route

feet dragging across
the asphalt
searching for rest

like a trout at sea,
unaware of
murky water