My Word of the Month Poetry Challenge poem

Hi everyone,

Here’s my Word of the Month poem.

where you find it

mechanic by trade
garage behind the house
early polio victim
knuckled around on powerful arms
shriveled legs swiveling forward

four front teeth top and bottom
wife with twisted body
disturbed reclusive son
unsmiling mother-in-law
keeping things together

taught me how to collect bird wings
let me pick pears still green
paid me five dollars to letter
a sign for his garage

one moonless night
played hide-and-seek
with his son and me
only found him finally
by the glow of his cigarette
up in a tree

who would look for a cripple in a tree
why would he think he could do it
cut his arm trying didn’t care
threw back his head
roared with glee

sometimes it comes unexpected
joy in the dark in the yard in a tree

(c) David L. Harrison, all rights reserved

And the first Word of the Month word for 2020 is . . .

Hi everyone,

How’s this for a good word to start 2020? JOY

I thought 2019 was a stellar year for your poems inspired by the monthly words. Thanks for each of them. I look forward to the 2020 outpouring of creativity and all the support that will come with it.

Onward and upward!

A new gift from a fading page

Hi everyone,

Here as promised is my Word of the Month Poetry Challenge poem.

Gift from an Old Journal

My mother spotted it,
partly obscured by
green grass beside the walk,
brought it to me
still violet blue in death.
“You probably have a lot of these.”

Thrilled the way I used to be
by magic capes and decoding rings,
hardly believing my good fortune,
I cradled the fragile wisp in my hand —
the new star of my collection.

Gazing now at the careful entry,
the fragile page in my first journal —
my 12-year-old self,
my mother,
the rare blue butterfly —
gather to me once more for a joyful moment.

(c) 2019 David L. Harrison, all rights reserved

Quick update

Hi everyone,

So where are all the Word of the Month poems, including mine? I’ll make you a deal. If you’ll write and post a poem next week inspired by our word — BLUE — I will too. I have a short week coming up but I promise to get my poem done and up to share.

On another subject, I hope to make a decision within the next 72 hours about a new agent so that will be a relief. During the same period we hope to get the lights and decorations on the tree and add those annual Christmas touches here and there around the house. There’s a symphony concert this afternoon that we hope to attend and tomorrow we’re going to a Christmas choral program at Drury. Last night we had a lovely pizza dinner at Robin and Tim’s so all in all this weekend is shaping up to be a good one.

Next week it will be head down every possible minute. I have a ton of stuff to get done before I escape from the wheel again.

Word of the Month word for December

Hi everyone,

Sorry I didn’t get our new word posted yesterday. We were moving around a bit and I lost track of the date. Cory, have we used BLUE yet? I don’t have the master list you sent me with me. If we’ve used it before, I hope it wasn’t recently. Either way it’s a good word filled with ideas.

Off we go, into the wild _____ yonder!