2023 NaPM 17 April

[RiverNotch]

There's three 2016 prompts I remember really enjoying. I've already shared the first one, so here's the second, originally for that year's 16 April. 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. 

Topic 16: Write a palinode retracting a view you wrote about earlier this month.

Form: any
Line requirements: 8 lines or more

[TranquillityBase]

Once upon a poem
I condemned my love of books.
Without them what would I be?
Not much more than a beast.

In truth they are a divine treasure,
holy relics of discovered worlds,
leaden type that my alchemical brain
transformed to gold and made imperishable.

I hope to pass them on some day
and though I’ll be sorry to see them go,
I know their power will live on
in this life or another.

[Mark A Becker]

Worth their Weight

On second thought
I will not melt them down.
I've found I rather like
having them around- these
simple circles of gold- reminders
of the folks I loved.

The feel of them still lingers-
the gentle touch of fingers-
on my shoulders, through my hair.
I resolve to keep these rings
safe within my care-  each its own
memento of one no longer here.

[Wjames]

In youth I wished myself destroyed
and merged with everything,
but now I've grown to see the joy
a single soul can bring.

I hope that death is not the end
to who I am on earth,
I pray my soul is heaven sent
to bask in love and mirth.

[CRNDLSM]

Puppy eyes from my sweetheart
Fool even the craziest, her hugs pure.
I worry; no joy lasts forever.
an awesome miracle -
A wrenching desire -
I'm a daredevil in disastor
Pre ware of a trauma
Leaping into a slaughter
Ready to be devastated

[Quixilated]

Retraction:

I lied.

Look, just look at these hands!
Of course they have aged,
time and work have weathered them.
They used to be so soft,
unused to work or wear.
And now—

sigh.

They aren’t getting younger—
those new families with their fresh faces
and no signs of weariness or defeat in the eyes.
I know this.
But the alternative is …

it is less than satisfactory.

[RiverNotch]

Early Dawn


How could I
have felt that the world
was ending when

it was my first time
experiencing sunrise
just after midnight,

my first time where
the air was both
cool and heavy,

where the summer
threatened neither
to burn nor drown?

the summer I learned
that years began
in fall, not winter,

and spring, like her,
is always just
around the corner---

[dukealien]

Without Apostrophe


Perhaps it always was mistaken
to idolize George Washington.

Yes, he was great and indispensable
what with his leadership, his precedents,
and his almost unbearable honesty
and humility.

But as a republic, not a protectorate
or some other dodge to avoid
self rule and self-control,
is it seemly that we should have needed
not just the bright and bold–
Jefferson, Franklin, and an Adams or three–
but a leader so superior?

It’s all fine if you believe in Providence
as he did.
But if you don’t, if you believe in
bending arcs of history
you can explain Washington
but not his existence.

So let us have a Presidents Day
without apostrophe
and try to forget the indispensable
by pretending every politician
who lost himself in Washington’s shoes
deserves the same respect.