Pretend there's no drought
Last night's rain filled up the creek
Even the rocks drink

Talking about grief
until the skies crack open.
A hailstorm in spring.

Parallel parking
Grateful for rubber pylons
Bending, bouncing back

The table's set with
pie upon pie upon pie
and I'm satisfied

Only had one wish —
A sunrise birthday breakfast!
Wishes do come true

Whistle, all aboard
There's no place we need to go
but round and around

Goals, promises, plans
Efficient, well-oiled day?
Put the brakes on that.

Oh, sound the alarms!
Nevermind elusive sleep
Dog shakes in the day

Well lookie here — dusting off the old blog for Poetry Friday!

(Truth be told, back when I was in the thick of blogging, Poetry Friday was always, always what I loved most. A simple celebration of language at its purest, of connecting to others through that language, of trotting about all Friday morning, from one spot to another, remembering old favorites, discovering new ones. I'm so glad to be a part of that today…)

So. Here's the deal. During those days, I met and grew close to a little clutch of very wonderful women and writers. We ganged up to work on some group poetry projects — a crown sonnet, for example — and called ourselves The Poetry Princesses. Because why not?

Recently, we re-connected and discovered we were all missing poetry in our lives so we decided to challenge ourselves anew. The result? Pantoums. With the unifying line "I've got better things to do than survive" — from an Ani DiFranco song — we each created our own poems and are sharing them today.

The prompt actually resulted in two pantoums for me, and here they are:

And This, and This
(with thanks to Ani DiFranco for the line “I’ve got better things to do than survive)

Appointments, bookmarks, lists
I’ve got better things to do than survive
Each moment is a chance just missed
I take off knowing that I won’t arrive

Yes better yet, from you, a kiss
Each moment something not to miss
Touch here, and there, and this, and this
Appointments, bookmarks, endless lists

The Food Movement
(with thanks to Ani DiFranco for the line “I’ve got better things to do than survive”)

Oh, please – the relentlessness of meals
The menus, so contrived
The local beets, the grass-fed veal
I’ve got better things to do than just survive

I want to cry, “Who cares?”
The local beets, the grass-fed veal
I take them in like necessary air
and say "Oh, please!" to all these unrelenting meals

Thank you to Poetry Princess and friend Laura Salas for hosting today — visit her here — and thanks to you, too, for stopping by. Enjoy your Friday!

I've been burning the midnight oil these last couple of weeks, thanks to a number of presentations and critiques that have required my attention.

Haiku 19

Lamp looks like the moon
Lopsided and barely lit
No one howls or bays