the Loom

Be Steadfast like Penelope,
In your craft-
Pull the set thread.

-Mrs. Karl T. Cooper, Jr.

Napowrimo: Legend

Hieroglyphics

A lounging lion, a wise old owl
A bold eye with a swirling
Lash and brazen brow,
Dance a cryptic dance
on the cool, tan, stone.
With each curious glance
Their ancient gaze meets ours
As if to say, And who are you?

-Mrs. Karl T. Cooper, Jr.

Napowrimo day 29 prompt word: Cryptic

Ruth

Ruth, alone in the world except for her mother-in-law,
Gathers the left-over wheat in Boaz’s golden field.
She has to tie the wheat into sheaves, reaping what she did not sow.

Writing Prompt: Sijo 3, 14-16 syllable lines.

Bestiary

You heard that mermaids are not true
to avoid their siren call.
And that they were probably just
A sailor’s hallucination or perhaps a Manatee.
Dragons that breathed fire-
Only dinosaurs.
Werewolves – wolves of course!
Or men- maybe they had rabies.
Griffins? Made up.
A silly notion of long ago.
And unicorns simply a mistake
In a bestiary.
And Reasonable people all agree that
Platypuses are swimming, egg-laying, venomous, mammals.

-Mrs. Karl T. Cooper, Jr.

Writing prompt: American Sonnet

St. NIck’s Feast

The night before St. Nick’s great feast
We softly slip shoes off our feet,
And set them outside our bedroom door
Before we soundly sleep,
And dream of The Holy Infant with His globe,
And St. Nick with chocolate treats.

-Mrs. Karl T. Cooper, Jr.

NaPoWriMo day 25

Prompt: How would you like to die?

I would like to die
Prepared but unaware of
Death’s precise shadow.

Proust Questionnaire with Emily Dickinson

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Dickinson: A happy lip—breaks sudden—It doesn’t state you how, But how happy is the little Stone that rambles in the road alone.
What is your greatest fear?
Dickinson: I am afraid to own a Body -I am afraid to own a Soul -I also fear a Man of frugal Speech—I fear a Silent Man—
On what occasion do you tell a lie?
Dickinson: I Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Dickinson: —
What talent would you most want to have?
Dickinson : If I can stop one Heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
How would you like to die?
Dickinson: For Beauty
What is your motto?
Dickinson: I will not stop for death.

Vespers

I don’t wonder where you are anymore.
Like I first did some twenty years ago.
It pains me to remember- its been that
Long. God is just and merciful and so
I’ve placed you In His Beating Sacred Heart.

-Mrs. Karl T. Cooper, Jr.

 Prompt: write a poem that begins with a line from another poem 
First line is from Wild Iris’ “vespers” by Louise Gluck

Superheroes Napowrimo

Achille’s heel

Each superhero has an Achille’s heel.
I don’t remember batman’s, maybe
it was low batteries or high gas prices.
That bat mobile doesn’t run on water-
(or does it?)
And Spiderman. . . probably a large bird
Would do it. But I do remember Superman’s.
Poor guy, everyone remembers superman’s:
all you need to render him useless
is just a bit of kryptonite.

Senyru

Superman flies high!
Nothing can stop him! Not much-
Just gold Kryptonite.

Writing prompt: Superheroes

NaPoWriMo a Senyru

Prompt: write a poem in which two things have a fight. Two very unlikely things, if you can manage it.

The grey elephant
and car fight- who has the true
Trunk? Neither backs down.

Mrs. Karl T. Cooper, Jr