Me and the Birds
The house is quiet.
There’s a sleeping riot
That will erupt without warning
Later on this morning,
But for now, it’s me and the birds
That sit and write these words.
They squeak inside of their cage
And I translate on to the page.
Teaching the Memorable Essay
Open up the essay to get their attention
With a quote or something you mention
That’s attention getting.
Letting your audience get sucked in.
Thinking they lucked in to a setting
That they can really pay attention in.
Now list off what you’re going to tell them
So they know what you’re going to sell them
And don’t worry if they missed it
Because you’ll eventually relist it
When you conclude.
Then come up with a really good thesis,
So that when they see this
They’ll want to engage
And read the whole page.
Write the body of the paragraph next.
This is where you’ll copy text
From sources without citation
And you’ll strive for elongation
By changing the font size
Aiding the marginal eyes
Of your teachers who will be grading
Your plagiarized relating.
After three paragraphs containing a couple quotes
extremely similar to Cliff’s notes
but because you were a little more picky
you found them in an online wiki,
Start the conclusion by concluding what you said
When the reader first read
The thesis statement stated
When you first created the need
To read the page of compiled text.
Then it’s time to expand your thought
And leave the reader with the next
Thesis statement to be caught
In a stack of force fed papers
To become read vapors
Of memoryless essays on the subject
Of… of… well it was about something.
Thank You to My Eyebrows
When a droplet of sweat gets stuck,
Woven into those hairy things
After trickling down my forehead,
I’m thankful I have eyebrows.
Each bushel of hair allows
The collection of sweat instead
Of coating eyeballs with sweat stings.
The eyebrowless are out of luck.
Screen Cave
Their eyes get frustrated at the screen
That’s glowing in the dark unseen
By those engulfed by it,
Deer-in-the-headlights-lit.
Someone outside the cave
Might wave and say hello,
But the cavemen stare at the glow
Of a shadow that they know.
Hump day
Hump Day
You know, middle of the week bump day
So that you’re not going too fast.
Then there’s one more day before the last
Before the weekend
That will soon send
Us into Monday,
Just two days before the next Hump Day.
I’m tired of Lent.
A week or so in and I’ve had it
I want coffee so bad it’s
Causing me to run hot water through the filter, plain.
Then pour from the coffee pot in vain
But I get nothing but hot water.
Somehow I’ve convinced my brain
That I’m drinking a pot or
That this is better than breaking down and having a cup,
Fearing Jesus’ll catch me and ask “what’s up”
So I drink this extremely watered down version
And hope for a spiritual submersion.
In Post-Running Steps
That awkward step off the treadmill
To the Earth standing still
Makes me applaud
My legs feeling odd.
Having energy to spare
As they float through the air,
I breathe in and out accomplishment
That’s hidden underneath my scent.
Unspoken Thoughts
Your voice is constrained inside a sound
That you can’t wrap your head around,
Lest your voice would be violently
Struggling to speak silently,
Picking your words like ripe fruit,
Hoping speech would follow suit.
The Interlines
In poetry, you should read the negative space,
Where the trace of the poet’s thoughts are gifted.
Intertwined in lines of lace,
A beautiful holy space,
Where love and loss is sifted.
Coffee Prep
I woke up this morning warning myself I wasn’t ready.
I needed more sleep before I could steady
The coffee spoon without spilling
Grounds that were unwilling
To fill the filter without me.
I had to do it apparently,
So of course, I spilled grounds across the counter top
On my typical kitchen coffee stop.
BonjourPoetry 