https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2024-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-4
(in case of visual issues the poem reads)
courage is not just
the rushing in recklessly,
occasionally courage is
knowing that I have
lost my nerve
and then stepping
forward anyway.
I will make sure
I am always taking
the forward step,
Even though I don’t know
I will always have the nerve
to back up my move.
How strange it feels
to pick up the pen,
with the intent to write.
As if I could peel away my skin
and let poetry see the light.
Exposure of the soul
in a way that few would
understand,
leaving my pen sitting limp
suddenly in my once so eager hands.
I feel like it should not stop me
the idea that I might be misunderstood,
instead I will let flower the words
and see if I can find the art within.
Samhain
By
Patricia Harris
Rolling pumpkins
glowing eyes,
decaying leaves,
admist costumery…
candy sacks in tiny hands
haunting the streets
until the nights end.
The veil is thinned
on this night of revelry,
It brings the ancestors
to weave the joy into
all that might be .
He is not My friend
By
Patricia Harris
He said he was my buddy,
My brother, my bestie,
Anything to get me closer.
He wanted me to want more,
Wanted me hooked on
What he had in store.
He is not my friend,
He is the chills in the
Middle of the night,
He is not my friend,
He is the last minute
Need to fight.
He is not my friend,
He is my dealer.
So I am nearly done with Human Shaped Verse. It’s Time to ask again. What do you think should be my next volume?
Kids say the Strangest Stuff
By Patricia Harris
Why do we grow out
Of saying the most fun
Things that can come to mind?
Hurry up and save the toothbrush,
Avoid the trip to the planet
Made of stench and stinky feet…
Be made of turtles if you need to.
Why did you stop talking to
The monsters in the closet anyway?
Kids understand the world,
The wonders that keep it alive…
So though they say some of
The strangest things,
I think the kids see more than
Anyone else does in a lifetime.
*Poet’s note. This is absolutely inspired by my friend Jenny’s Dante. She messaged me three things that he said and it reminded me of the moments when my kids were little…and I realized that kids have a magic that we tend to forget by the time adulthood comes.
Building Walls
By Patricia Harris
Everyone is so busy building walls
that we forget the reasons why
we try to hide within.
Keeping your heart from feeling,
keeping it from breaking,
is safer than trying to live
don’t you know?
building walls in front of my dreams
stops the pain from ever entering,
it stops people from touching the tender places
that I can’t heal from the other hands
that left me broken.
Bitch with me
By Patricia Harris
The urge to just complain,
Not that you want to
Really anything change,
Just venting steam to release
And start again.
This is in the nature of the game,
Instead of fixing the problem
Whine and complain,
To feel better again.
Pattimouse 