Friendship Mornings

A Rispetto, an Italian form of poetry, is a complete poem of two rhyme quatrains with strict meter. The meter is usually iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abab ccdd. A Heroic Rispetto is written in Iambic pentameter, usually featuring the same rhyme scheme.

Friendship Mornings

Another day has come and gone
Beginning with a morning walk
A short time after dawn
Rhythmic steps and lots of talk
 
Catching up with longtime friends
Affection never ever ends
The news was sad but great to share
Years pass by but friends are there.

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Where There’s Smoke

Photo by Yassin Mohammadi

Where There’s Smoke
 
The smoke of fires raging near and far
Fills the sky, reddens the rising sun
Heavy-lunged I gasp, give in, grab my mask
 
An N95, the mask I bought to save myself
From the coronavirus community spread
The industrial mask I wear in crowded spaces
 
Soon I breathe without sputtering
The burning in my throat ceases
Lungs lighten as I draw in a long, slow breath
 
I recall my childhood smoke fixation
A kid’s obsession with cigarettes
How Mama cured me in one draw
 
How she set a lit one ‘tween my lips,
Coached, Now suck. Just like you’re
drinkin’ Coca Cola through a straw.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

These Times

Today’s prompt called for shifting from your head to your heart–even being “whimsical.” Whimsical is not my forte. Especially not right now.

But I did follow through with the suggested form, a Loop Poem in which the last word of a line becomes the first word of the next line.

These Times
 
These are trying times.
Times that have set us back
Back as our confidence wanes
wanes as our country flails
Flails to overcome illness
Illness plaguing individuals
Individuals and society as a whole.
Whole legions cry for mercy
Mercy, peace, equality, health
Health and an end to the pandemic,
Pandemic that’s forever changed us.
Us, the ones who boasted pride
Pride as we led the world—
Worlds apart today.
 
But even now we see the positive
Positive gleanings from the rubble
Rubble that could have crushed spirits
Spirits, though, rise
Rise in resilience.
Resilience will see us through.