April 30th - Steamed Hams

Nine of Spades - Steamed Hams

Steamed Hams But It's An Elizabethan Sonnet

The entrance of my lord leaves me abashed

But sated soon he’ll be by luncheon grand

Ye Gods! My special roast is turned to ash

Yet yonder dive ignites a cunning plan

(musical break)

My reckless tongue declares I’ll serve steamed clams

When Chalmers comes inquiring o’er the smoke

With ostentatious plating of Steamed Hams

I misdirect him trying not to choke

My lies proliferate beneath his gaze

I use my humdrum manner as a ballast

When Chalmers sees my kitchen all ablaze

I tell him it’s Aurora Borealis

Though Seymour you strike me an offbeat man

I must declare you steam a damn good ham

Smell you jerks later!

April 29th - Ba'al

King of Diamonds - Ba'al

The Cult of Ba’al Hammon

In Carthage they killed children

If the Romans are to be believed

Infanticide as tribute to a god

Who from wizened hands could

Birth a winter foal or smash ships  

And men to oblivion –  whose mercy

Came in mild droughts

In summer rains

In the name of Ba’al Hammon did

Learned loving parents put their children

To the knife and when completely bled

They burned the tiny bodies

Till their little ones were

No more than ash

For the offering

We may be wise not to trust the Romans or

To want to think of slaughtered babes but

Now we know how easy it can be for any

Learned loving empire to sacrifice its children

For imagined safety

In exchange for nothing
But an idea

April 28th - Parabolas

Seven of Hearts - Parabolas


The Use of Calculators

You giggle with your friends

About a raunchy program 

Someone coded and was

Passed around to almost 

Everyone’s advanced machine

Your teacher doesn’t turn around but

Clears his tired throat and tugs

The collar of his short-sleeved shirt

He wonders where there could be 

Humor in parabolas

April 27th - Black Holes

Jack of Clubs - Black Holes

Sometimes you are so crushed

By the density of your own

Mass that it seems impossible

For light to enter anywhere

But if you dive head-first into 

The Blackness you can open

Your eyes to the dazzling of

Galaxies never before seen

April 26th - The Big Bang Theory

Two of Clubs - The Big Bang Theory

The Seagull in the Auditorium 

The moment you see the gun

On the classroom desk

Lit conspicuously 

Made of papier-mâché

You can picture the teenager

Responsible for the big bang 

In the final act backstage waiting

Stomach upset bouncing knees 

Gripping their wooden plank

As if it were the most important thing

In the universe

April 25th - The XFL

Three of Diamonds - The XFL

Ball / Control

The concept of 100 million dollars

Becomes real as soon you spend it 

Aware of growth potential but really 

Yearning for control of 

The bodies of better men

You work to take away their options
You want to be the reason that they stand

April 24th - Imagine Dragons

Eight of Hearts - Imagine Dragons

A gecko bolts across

Your bedroom floor and 

Suddenly you wonder what

Caused someone to

First imagine dragons

April 23rd - Twin Paradox

Jack of Diamonds - Twin Paradox

I stand still

Faster than I can comprehend

You continue buzzing l

Am in the same place but you

Keep moving while

My limbs freeze and my

Face drops you keep moving

Away and once you finally

Come back around

I am still

April 22nd - Shea Stadium

Queen of Clubs - Shea Stadium

One Moment, Shea Stadium

It still exists in sense memories

Unsubtle smells of sneakers

And Spring and hot dog water

Cigarettes and layer

Upon layer of lead paint

Aged and mixed to somehow

If by alchemy transform to

Something pleasant and profound

A carrier of old sounds - snippets 

Of Gary Glitter songs of organ music

The comforting unsettling way

Thirty-three thousand voices can 

Disappear and chant as one

And then of course

My grandmother’s voice

I can hear her now 

As I softly pound my fist against

My kitchen wall and I pretend

That this is really orange plastic

Cool and smooth and tensile

That I am testing how it bends

Watching how it moves against

My tiny fist

April 21st - Rick Santorum

Two of Hearts - Rick Santorum

Google “What is Santorum”

If you personified your leading hit

You couldn’t be more full of shit

April 20th - All Dead, All Dead

Four of Spades - All Dead, All Dead

Seven-Year Glitch

You are already dead

According to some iffy science

Due to evanescent cells

The You who made your memories

Is mostly long-dissolved

Withal the afterimage lingers

You and the others

All of the beloved others

All dead

Some new

April 19th - Obits

Five of Spades - Obits

Alumni Magazine Death Notes

Flipping to the very back the moment

It arrives I read and without breathing

Re-read every name 

Exhaling 

Only when completely certain 

Your name isn’t there

April 18th - The Hubble Telescope

Jack of Hearts - The Hubble Telescope

The Ultra-Deep Field

Then again

Time can also be a flat canvas

With an incalculable level of detail

Which you linger on and puzzle over

And fall in love with and get 

Angry about as you trace your fingers

Along the brushwork maybe 

You marvel at the technique and when 

You’re finally ready to take a step away

The composition overwhelms you with its
Thirteen billion points of light

Check out an early Hubble Telescope themed poem here:
http://putyourcollardownelvis.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-12th-demise-of-space-shuttle.html?m=0

April 17th - Time and Space

Two for the price of one -

 

Black Joker - Time

Red Joker - Space

 

 

Time

"I need some time"

You say but you are

Wrong

It is impossible to need 

Time - for time is

Only an illusion

I remind you at a

Slightly louder volume 

Than the din around us

And you realize once again

Just what you've started

Time

(I pause for effect) 

Is an Illusion

You may try to grasp its

Steadfast hands

But with your touch

They crumble into -

(I talk while chewing) 

Sand - You 

Cannot do but contemplate

The cruel mirage that is its

E’er determined face for 

Time 

(I mix my metaphors) 

Is a Closed Circle

Wherein taking time to 

Move yourself away from me

You are in turn - in reality - 

Closer to this moment

And to me

Than you were in the first place

(Let me finish)

Time

Is - at the very least - a Spiral

A great Nautilus! The shell

Of a sempiternal snail

On which you may try and

Trace your life along a line

But if you dare look back

Unfortunate Eurydice

The line will curve

And all at once you'll see

Your past your future

Flowing inexorably toward - 

(I choke on my grilled cheese)

You look away from me

And stab your food 

And sigh

"Yeah...

I need some time"

-

Space

When I say I need

Some space I don't

Mean just from you but

Also from the ground

Beneath my feet the

Cells of my skin

My bones

April 16th - Dead Friends

Four of Hearts - Dead Friends

Yesterday I saw your face

Only from the side but it was

Enough to petrify my insides

To drop them shattering

On the tiles of some arbitrary café

I had entered on a whim but

Now which had been sanctified a holy place

My hands shaking at the impossibility

Not breathing but alive

Coffee splashing and burning me

And there it was – your profile

Unchanged by years

More than a decade now

In my peripheral

I caught you mouthing a song you never knew

I was afraid to really look

At you knowing

You would disappear but

Forcing breath and resurrecting

Your name finally back to

My tongue

I did look at you

And once again swallowed your name

Because of course it couldn’t be

Your face

April 15th - The Noguchi Museum

Queen of Diamonds - The Noguchi Museum

Unseasonable April, Noguchi Museum

Cold afternoon breeze

Bears the scent of flowers and

Voices of the stones

April 14th - Steven Universe

Nine of Diamonds - Steven Universe

Love does not conquer all things

There will always be despair

And death

But still

The light in your belly

Has the potential to save 

Everyone

April 13th - Republicans In Name Only

Three of Spades - Republicans in Name Only

For the sake of liberty
You raise your voice
In public spaces
Denouncing those in power
And their overreaching hands

But when called upon
To lead -  to share
The toil and the burdens
You throw your own hands in the air
And clamor for a king

April 12th - Chain Smokers

Eight of Clubs - Chain Smokers

I light another

Off the burning end

Losing finite units of time

In exchange for watching

Another precious handful

Of profiles pass

April 11th - Lines

Ace of Diamonds - Lines

e.g. “My Name is Jonas”

A single phrase will knock you

Right off of time’s track

Momentarily 

Recalling some long-gone April

The Sun and the smell of mulch
The line from a song

You once knew completely

And then

As your engine rights itself

Progressing forward once again you

Hum what you remember

April 10th - Orbits

Five of Hearts - Orbits

Tidal Locking

You move away from me

To set the stage for your returning

Or do you only come around

So you can leave again?

I know better than to question that

Which can be balanced by equation

Nonetheless in every phase 

I always see your face

April 9th - Apocalyptic Dreams

Three of Clubs - Apocalyptic Dreams*

Waves III

I see it grow on the horizon
Nebulous then unmistakable
A churning rising darkness
The beach is always peaceful
There's always time

Placed on some higher ground by dreamers' logic
Atop a distant sandy hill I think of everyone below
Their bathing suits and bright umbrellas
Sunning and smiling when water
Ripples past my shoes - and then recedes

Still gaping at the rising darkness
I shake you out of sleep
Frenzied, spitting, pleading
"When the great wave finally crashes
Tell me there will still always be time"


*not quite tweet length

April 8th - Coded Language

Five of Clubs - Coded Language

11th Grade, Period 2, Day 104

Another endless morning

Spent together waiting

For another bell to ring

You speak to me

In dots and dashes

Your fingers on my knee

April 7th - Lucky Numbers

Seven of Clubs - Lucky Numbers

Exceptions, Chinese Takeaway

You don't believe in
What you can't explain but

Still you crack a cookie every
Time and mouth aloud

The hidden phrase as though it
Spoke out just to you then

Place it gently in your purse like
It could be a living thing

You always play the lucky numbers

April 6th - Overload Cookies

Ten of Spades - Overload Cookies

Sleepover Years

Another night of laughing
- Uncontrollably -
Thanks to public access TV
And lack of sleep
And the sugar
From two separate cookies
Bonded together

April 5th - Spirals

Ace of Spades - Spirals

Spring ends - the old snail

Returns to its hollow now

Filled with empty shells

April 4th - Over The Garden Wall

Nine of Clubs - Over The Garden Wall

If you haven't see this show before, I strongly suggest you buy it or binge it on Hulu ASAP.


Everything is Nice and Fine (all the time)

Surveying our manicured lawn
We wince at the sight of
A single patch of brown grass

But as babes in the wood
Shivering and manic
All the world is green

April 3rd - Points

Ace of Clubs - Points


You do your best
To avoid jammed fingers
An injured heart, skinned
Knees

But past a certain point
You can die
From chicken pox

April 2nd - Twenty-One Pilots

Eight of Spades - Twenty-One Pilots

Another Tuesday Morning, Flyin' High

Still sober after four whiskys
At this faded Teterboro bar
Outside waiting for some man

Once starched, now crumpled
A nameless man - another
With restless steady hands

I watch the waning moon
Cigarette in my red mouth
Waiting for a light

April 1st - Dead Dogs

Four of Diamonds - Dead Dogs

Sammie II

You return

Soft as you were

When I first knew you

And here again

You kiss my hands

Time folds on itself

It seems - as I again

Look into your eyes

Your empty eyes

-

Inspiration:

National Poetry Month 2018

Dear Readers,

It's that time of year again.

For the ninth year running I will be writing a poem a day for April - as it has been arbitrarily designated "National Poetry Month". I stole the idea for this project from Jon Berger, whose prolific output is always an inspiration.

The first incarnation was in 2010, so if the apocryphal idea about our cells regenerating every seven years is to be believed, I am an entirely different person than I was when I started this project. I'll leave it up to you to decide if that's a good thing.

All poems this April will be tweet-length, because even if time is an illusion it is a rare commodity these days.

The rules:

- I have compiled a list of 54 prompts, each assigned to a different playing card

- In the morning I draw a card to select a prompt

- I write a poem on that prompt that contains 280 or less characters

- By the end of the day I post it here (but not on Twitter because fuck those guys)

The complete list is below:

2	C	The Big Bang Theory
2	D	Sandy Hook Truthers
2	H	Rick Santorum's Nonsense
2	S	The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer
3	C	Apocalyptic Visions
3	D	The XFL
3	H	Desnudas
3	S	Republicans in Name Only
4	C	Dead Leaves
4	D	Dead Dogs
4	H	Dead Friends
4	S	All Dead, All Dead
5	C	Coded Language
5	D	Statue at Lee Circle
5	H	Orbits
5	S	Obits
6	C	Fyre Festival
6	D	Woodstock '99
6	H	Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day
6	S	The Hindenburg
7	C	Lucky Numbers
7	D	Wild Cards
7	H	Parabolas
7	S	Rafts
8	C	Chain Smokers
8	D	One Republic
8	H	Imagine Dragons
8	S	Twenty-One Pilots
9	C	Over The Garden Wall
9	D	Steven Universe
9	H	Helium
9	S	Steamed Hams
10	C	Overload Cookies
10	D	Magic Cards
10	H	The Cube
10	S	Yellow Rat Bastard
J	C	Black Holes
J	D	Twin Theory
J	H	The Hubble Telescope
J	S	The Space Force
Q	C	The Lemon Ice King of Corona
Q	D	The Noguchi Museum
Q	H	Sunnyside
Q	S	Shea Stadium
K	C	Innana
K	D	Ba'al
K	H	Orpheus and Eurydice
K	S	Scylla and Charybdis
A	C	Points
A	D	Lines
A	H	Circles
A	S	Spirals
Joker	Black	Space
Joker	Red	Time

Thanks for reading friends, acquaintances, secret admirers, secret scorners, lost loves, bored hackers, lonely bots, and people who opened this link by mistake.

Poem #1 will be posted here sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, happy National Clam on the Half Shell Day!

- Z