National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 27

Domestic Poltergeist

Ever the open minded skeptic,
horror reader and ghost tale writer,
scoffer of spirit orbs, believer of dreams—
sudden sufferer of missing objects
eyeglasses, coffee cups, one rhinestone-studded Sketcher,
surely the work of supernatural forces
and not related at all to age.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 26

Unfinished Poems

cracked like pottery in a collapsed tomb
colorful fragments heaped in disjointed piles
hours, weeks, months devoted to restoring
a recognizable form
which may or may not
be a thing of beauty
or a thing of utility
or a random assemblage of words.


(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 25

Sin of Omission

Just pick it up, like dropped stitches
don't unravel the whole thing
or halt the pen, the brush, the needle
to whine or mourn the blowing sand
fill the paper, the canvas, the workbasket
with the work of the day at your hands.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 19

www.featherblessings.com

Feather Blessings

Desperation, not greed
put all of them under my pillow
with faint hope that one
would float over my sleep
and bestow a gift
to ease my pain.
Prosperity and Health
flirt unabashedly
alternately smiling and pouting
teasing gently - barely showing
the dark underside of their wings.
Love hovers closely with soft embraces
a downy envelope of comfort
which allows Peace to fly high
illuminating the path
no longer strewn with broken glass.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

NAPOWRIMO 2011 April 18, 2011

Persephone in 2011

Wintering in the Underworld
like a snowbird flown to Florida
with all of the heat
and none of the light
and plenty of old codgers
leering at my eternal youthfulness
knowing just the touch of my foot
above ground brings the life
they can never again create.
They grovel at the foot of my dark throne
not daring to speak my name
and watch with leaden hearts
as I ascend into the light.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

NAPOWRIMO 2011 April 16 & 17, 2011

April 16, 2011

The Obligatory Poetry Month Limerick

The writers of poetry know
that a limerick's the wrong way to go
if expecting to meet
the "poetry elite"
serious sonnets are more apropos.

(c)Noreen Braman

April 17, 2011

At the Writing Desk

Cleaning the keyboard helps me think
enough dog hair to knit a new dog
and crumbs of unrecognizable origin.
The dust on the screen may actually be
remains of the wall spackling from last spring
still swirling in invisible streams
each time the forced air heat comes on.
Three pens that don't write
a photo printer out of ink -
stuff I only notice
when I run out of words.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 15

Family Time

The wives tales were right they grew up in blink
toddlers to adults with no time to think
how time would rush by while they burst into bloom
how my heart would expand to give them more room
to grow their own lives and stretch their own wings
as we experience together all that life brings.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 14

Wrong Number Roulette

Months now, answering calls
meant for a vote-in TV show
playing nationwide all hours of the day
they won't change their newly-minted number
we won't change our years-of-tradition number
one digit differentiates the two.
I don't ask for whom the phone rings
every time the hot line lights up
i worry about a real client
trying to get through
and hearing me not listening
but just saying
"sorry, wrong number."

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 13

Left in the Dust

distance brings perspective
measurement on a grander scale
but the grit in my eye still hurts
no matter how far the horizon retreats
or the growing darkness depletes the view.
best to turn around and face the unfamiliar
as night rotates slowly to dawn
illuminating a path of possibilities.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 12

Anniversary

No flowers in the church
all the statues draped in purple
no music, a silent procession.
a Lenten wedding frowned on
but Korea was calling the Marine
his new bride to keep house alone.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 10 & 11

4-10-11
 Sunday Night

Weekend over
staying up too late
sleep brings the rush hour

4-11-10
Monday Morning

email is offline
Friday's problems still remain
quitting time comes quickly

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

NaPoWriMo April 9, 2011

Unpunctuated

Each year
I fill a space
with poems
words hit the page
like April rain
hoping to nourish
a seed of
beauty

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

NaPoWriMo April 8, 2011

In the Eagle Nest

the fearsome, feathered hunter
wields deadly beak and talon
in swift strikes from the sky,
but in her lofty windswept nest
she is soft and slow and silent
as she shelters chicks in her wings.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 7

Maybe It's Not Poetry

Finally the numbers flow in rhythm across the page
lining up like perfect sonnets,
feeding into kaleidoscopic jewel-tone pie charts
rolling as easily off the printer
as pretty words out of my pen
majestically choreographed and inspired
by the all-seeing and all-knowing gods
of the relational database.
maybe it's not poetry to you
but it is epic verse to me.

(C)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 6

Not My Mother's Daughter

a birthday haiku

my years now equal

her total span of living

but I am still here.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 5

Reinvention #3

Two years from that sharp turn
in a road that was rarely straight
yet could still lull the most careful driver
into the rocks and gravel on the shoulder.

Two years from steering so close to the edge
that daylight blinked under the tires
and sand showered down the embankment
the wheel muscled into last minute response.

Two years that started with smoking brakes
on the downhill, desperate hopes for no oncoming traffic
settling at last in the valley of potholes
rough driving but at least no more panic
just a bumpy, slow ride on uneven pavement.



(c)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month 2011 NAPOWRIMO April 4

MOTTO

Live with an open mind to
see the unseen
hear the unheard
feel the unfelt
learn the unlearned
hope the unhoped
to open the heart to love.

(C)2011 Noreen Braman

National Poetry Month NaPoWriMo April 3, 2011

Blanket

The measured threads
untouched by shears
woven with love
for the one to come.

(C)2011 Noreen Braman

NAPOWRIMO 2011 April 2, 2011

In Search of Lucid Dreaming

She wants to know where she will live now,
I remind her she is dead.
She talks about the sailing ship
she is supposed to board
I tell her she is meant to go
I remind her she is dead.
Tonight I must grasp her hand
and hold her in my gaze
and ask her to speak plainly
so that we both may rest.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman

NaPoWriMo 2011 April 1

April 1, 2011

April wakes up dizzy
dream phantoms circling
wet snow slapping the window
vague uneasiness heavy on her chest
the night had not been restful.
She goes out in the predawn
to where the sun should be rising
to relieve battered March
of a year bathed in chaos.

(c)2011 Noreen Braman