April PAD Challenge Day 1

Day 1
Prompt: write a foolish poem
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Getting By

no, really, I am happy and I have
friends over like twice a week
you know me, I've never been weak
and days are tough only in the first half
when coffee runs out before thoughts do
hands of the clock are the only hands
that give me goosebumps, and the time stands
still as one leg instead of two
my pillow is perfectly dry, and my shoes
shine, clothes ironed like daily
and sunsets are watched without failing
it's nice for a change to be able to choose
between the first row and the back row
between Indian and Chinese
I only called this last time, please
don't be foolish, I've let you go

April Challenge Chapbook 2015

I've finally done it! Hopefully this year April Challenge won't take that long, but so far here's a compilation of poems from April Challenge 2015. Enjoy! 

~Every line you read is a gift to me~

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 30

Day 30

Prompt: “Bury the (blank),”

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Lullaby to Hatred

Bury the words of the foolish youth

bury them deep under trash trucks

what would you choose over the truth?

peace of the mind or brass knucks?

Bury the heartache that you have caused

anger and broken rainbows

is it enough to be king of Oz

or do you need a backbone?

Bury the proud contemptuous look

stop writing scarlet letters

bury the meanings you found in a book

whoever told you you're better?

Bury the pictures of useless scorn,

weaponry of the network

bury yourself and then be reborn

shining new light through old murk

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 29

Day 29
Prompt: what nobody knows poem
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Stupidly

whenever it rains at night
I rush to the street, wrapped in sheets
on instinct, hoping you might be there
my sad prince in a wet tuxido

without watching your eyes
turn a little green as you wake up
I can’t enjoy this eternal game
of dark and light on emerging skies

my morning yogurt is tasteless
and there is no one to tell that a kangaroo
can’t walk backwards, or that Ron Barceló
is made very far from Barcelona

the clock is especially loud
when no one’s around but my sorrow
and I’m sorry for hating the coffee
a beige ghost of our orange past

I still prefer books in paper
the crunch of fresh lives between my fingers
I feel void when I have to listen
to the silence of computer screens

my own life is neatly stapled
to the memo board, no time to breathe
and no time to miss your steady heartbeat
against my ear at the break of dawn

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 28

Day 28
Prompt: a matter/anti-matter poem.

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Whole World

you could be made of anything

eyes of curious children

taps of an early rain on the door

letters chiseled on palaces

dyed in withering golden

lies on a summer portuguese shore

whispers talking of promises

names unspoken and olden

heat coming up from volcanic core

dreams in the hearts of Alices

holes and mirrors unfolding

rustles of future in tales of lore

you could be made of anything

matter does hardly matter

if I can live in the world of you

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 27

Day 27
Prompt: a looking back poem.
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before leaving the museum of our lives

I look back at the shabby tapestry

where you smile breaks into pieces

like a withered dandelion in the fall

and a famished love sits on the bank

of a shallow river in salty loneliness

and chiseled over its weary face

is this poem of mine in purple

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 26

Day 26
Prompt: take a word of two invented by William Shakespeare, make it the title of your poem and write your poem.

My take on the prompt is a little liberal. I took the final scene from King Lear and made and erasure poem out of it. I think this should count ;-) All credit goes to the beautiful, lovely William.
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Howl, men of tongues, forever!

Dead one lives! Dead as a stone lives!

Now, little thing, a hanging cross

is good, and good I see.

Follow no man, and let them think

we know what life shall taste.

Fools never pray, but you...

You see! This time we ought to live.

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 25

Day 25
Prompt: an across the sea poem. This could be a love letter, an electronic submission through cyber space and time, or a travel poem (by air or sea, though probably not car).
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Broken Record

The voice of earth is quiet
agonizing, dreadful
each time I put my ear to its cheek
I feel the chills run up my spine
with every word it speaks

The voice is of an ancient
siren: slow, enthralling
there's nothing I can fear more than that
untamely cry, unending call
a steady tat-tat-tat

A sacred earthly mantra
never changing music
each time I listen in to understand
I hear no words, but my heart bleeds
the chords unto the land

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 24

Day 24
Prompt: moment poem
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When I stopped on my way home to watch a sunset

(poetic form: minute)

imagine that: a crimson sky

the nature's dye

and I, in awe

unkempt and raw

a moment's worth a life of dawns

when sunset yawns

in hues and lights

it paints and writes

a minute after all goes dark

the night is stark

and I go on

the moment's gone

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 23

Day 23

Prompt: a historic poem.

By way of comment, I'd say there's a feel of history to the poem, rather than direct historic connotation or any connection to a historic event. The atmosphere around two people in the poem is created in a way of a 'stage' on which you can put any two people, whether lovers or otherwise, in your imagination.

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Ennui

and if you never see the light of day
when lips are tight, and hope is safely locked
behind them, wincing like a cornered prey
my arms are open, I’m your toughest rock


where night meets death, and you stand inbetween
your lips go white, your hands ball into fists
the future in your eyes, a mere sheen
my open arms are bleeding at the wrists


when you can see in every aging man
yourself and stop to check if you still breathe
that day the war is lost forever and
my arms will close around you in a wreath

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 22

Day 22
Prompt: nature poem
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World’s Song

the world is beautiful. again
and it sings as I wake
the music welcomes new day when
it’s about to break

the sea could sweep away the town
yet it rolls with a yawn
the clouds, cute as they’re now
are indelibly strong

the wind could tear me apart
but it lulls through my hair
the sun… where do I even start?
dances out of its lair

I walk the ground like all men
feel it moan and ache
and I’m reminded again
all it takes is a shake

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 21

Day 21

Prompt: Write a “what you are” poem, or…    

Write a “what you are not” poem.

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Waxing and Waning

two candles I saw once in church

one melted around its black wick

the other untouched, a proud stick

and people always chose the scorched

I took the orphan, kindled it

I don’t even know why I did

the two were alike, both without flame

yet candle put out isn’t the same

as candle forever unlit

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 20

Day 20
Prompt: My (blank), the (blank),.. .
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Senility

my God, the world has grown old!
mountains fall, the strongest fall apart
rivers go dry, all memories dry out
new saplings come, young offsprings come about
where years end, a time lapse gives a start
so few grew wise, the rest grew fast and bold
the story goes on untold

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 19

Day 19
Prompt: an authority poem.
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Authority

(poetic form:Interlocking Rubaiyat)



the perfect buzzing of a hive
where labor and submission thrive,
and procreation is the aim;
a perfect allegory of life.

there's no love, there's no shame;
the endless circle of a game;
no winners, prizes or applause:
some lose it all, no one to blame.

each fighting for a common cause,
each needing purpose, seeking laws.
along the blade of someone's knife
each walking straight without pause.

why acting up? why start a strife?
when instinct is the only drive,
a beehive never comes to war;
a measly allegory of life.

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 18

Day 18
Prompt: pick 2 vowels and write a poem using words that only contain one or both of those vowels. For instance, write a poem with words that only have a “u” and “o.” Also, the letter “y” is wild–so the words “my” and “gypsy” are freebies.
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Wanderers

(vowels 'e' and 'a')

the aged embraces felt that all
we waded rage where rage was safe
we kept remembrances ephemeral
between three walls and seven chafes
we slaved and wandered, waxed and waned
caressed the beasts and let them free
whatever came, we faced the bane
relentless jetsam, heart and me

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 17

Day 17
Prompt: swing poem
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Changing Seasons

the strings of early autumn rain
stream through my veins and I often
dream that I´m falling leaves, I ride
the swings and slides of wasted time
that sling me higher and apart
I lose the roots of long reaped past
my youth is waltzing to its dusk
with the relentlessness of age
withering pieces of my heart
refuse to settle on the ground

On the edge of the sylvan woodland a dryad calls down the autumn leaves. My homage to the beautiful colours of autumn and dedicated to the memory of "The Emporer", Britain's largest stag taken down during the rutting season by a poacher this autumn.
Painted entirely in Corel Painter using one acrylic brush and one blender.

by  Martin Eager

http://www.digital-art-gallery.com/picture/9121

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 16

Day 16
Prompt: science poem
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Impasse 

the scientists have always
been very keen on seeking truth
they like to put the world to use
to see life through a moon phase
to measure pain in cold days
and calculate affection rate
they register reflexes
by testing Ys and Xs 
to see if X and Y can mate
when love is pictured in a graph
I'm asking the revered staff
without BUT or MAYBE
can X and Y be happy
if X and Y don't know math?

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 15

Day 15
Prompt: pick an adjective, make it the title of your poem
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Diaphanous

in principle, it's all simple
truth will out, all comes to light
but if we trust the filming
industry, a closer look hides a lie

obscurity dulls your senses
unless you know exactly where
what is, and yet dark advances
mysteries burn and secrets flare

so, next time you go out or stay in
watching the night be born and the day die
wonder if you see more when the sun's not shining
or, if it is, you see more of the sky

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 14

Day 14
Prompt: write an honest poem or write a dishonest poem
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honesty is hot tee

drunk in a gulp

before it's cooled

lies are lukewarm

water teasing

your thirst for truth

before you're schooled

April PAD Challenge 2015 Day 13

Day 13
Prompt: confession poem
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Confessional

priests have always made me nervous

I’m a shitty liar
if there’s any decent purpose
to my life it’s fire
burning bridges, burning slowly
truth that needs no bleaching
what is burning on the surface
doesn’t make me holy
truth is something to aspire
born of no teaching
if you ever feel like preaching
I’m the perfect choir