Lily's NAPO 2018

[Lily of Archenland]

Due warning, my head has been in a bad way lately and some of my poetry is vent poetry, so there may be some dark imagery at times this year.

Easter's Fool
04/01/2018
In the midst of pastel wonder
And dizzy heat,
Too-bright sun
And prayer-garden azaleas,
I wish I could say
“I am listening, speak.”
What I say instead is
“Shut up no please”
Is
“Not that again, not that one”
Is
“It is only a little cup, but let it pass from me.”
My king, he sucked in breath again this morning,
On a slab of stone -
And played the greatest joke the world has known
In the teeth of the Devil’s laughter.
My devil, she’s still laughing.
Is this Sunday, or Gethsemene?
Shake loose my winding-cloths
And let my heart Spring forth for thee.


Visitor
04/02/2018
Would buy more minutes if I could
If there weren’t so many things I should
Be doing otherwise, regardless
I’d pull close and quiet, bless
The string of happenstance that brought you
This way when I half-felt I’d lost you.


strange fruits
04/02/2018
There’s a tree I know keeps dropping bloody fruit down at my feet -
Sadistic windfall apples I can’t easily ignore.
It catches birdflight thoughts and twists them, breaks their longing wings,
And tries to shatter all the far horizon-hopes they had in store.

And I -
I cannot uproot it, its gnarled roots have run too deep,
Trailing down brainstem and throat until it finds the heart of me.
But I -
You know I cannot leave them, all its dazed bone-broken dreams,
The destinies my demon-tree has laid in store.

I will keep on
And pick them up
In my two fragile, clumsy hands,
And take them home and heal them
‘Til they learn to fly again.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

There's a vaguery to these, but an artistic one. I hope these darker thoughts will soon fade for you!

[hobbit_of_narnia]

Ooh, I like the first two especially!

[Lily of Archenland]

Thanks for the comments, friends.
Ariel - I doubt they will fade on their own, but I am getting help in dealing with the source.

at home
4/4/2018
For now we are four,
For two have scattered.
A strange thought.
A good lot
By many a standard,
But I’m used to the footsteps
And echoes of more.
How is this too few
And yet too many?
I had meant last year to reduce it to two.
Spread my wings and fly
Into a promising rainbow sky;
Make a nest with one friend,
Earn a pretty penny.
But I never meant to be the one left behind.
For now we are four, with two on my mind.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

This one is lovely in its simplicity, yet it communicates the complex emotion underneath. It actually made me feel a little sad. Good work!

[Lily of Archenland]

Thank you, Ariel. <3
...I'm a little behind for now but if I double up for the next couple days I should be good I think. ^_^

I have a couple of newbies but having some copy-pasting difficulties on mobile, so I shall update that once I get home.

[Lily of Archenland]

college-corner cafe
4/10/2018
I visit a silly, babbly sort of refuge
Full of stranger’s talk and muffled music
With sweet and pungent smells at its centrifuge.
Above the calming clatter there’s a scree
Of some small metal monster’s feeding time.
It munches roasted beans or ice
Then falls asleep again.
The shop’s symbiosis is nice.
The shelves and counterpanes are guarded
By small silent friends of wood and porcelain.
Their patient watchfulness rewarded
By gifts of knitted garb, and patrons’ attention.


not tame
4/10/2018
Greetings and thanks
To a small wanderer,
Cage-hater,
Bright-eyed companion
For one dark moment.
Success and freedom I’d wish for you;
Swiftness for your paws,
Clever-heart.
Star-flame, burn ever bright.


[untitled so far - suggestions?]
4/10/2018
All the ghosts of generations,
Memories of field and fen
Sea and cave and ancient forest,
Deeps of the forgotten glen.
We have all contained our monsters,
In our genes and untame mind.
They still nest there, you remind me,
Past the places we can find.
But amid our krakens, treasures.
Pearl and jewel, golden spark.
Last drop of Pandora’s measures
Hope has always met the dark.

[hobbit_of_narnia]

Ooooh, I love "not tame"!
Ummm...I can't really think of a title for the last one at the moment.

[Lily of Archenland]

Thanks, Hobbit! <3 ...And that's fine, I just figured I'd fish for possibilities.

---

Sister Devil
4/11/2018
[I used a supervillain name-generator and this came out - and suddenly, she seemed like quite an interesting character to explore.
The rhythm on this and some of the rhymes ring very familiarly - I’m not completely certain it wasn’t influenced by a song somewhere
in my head.]
Sister Devil, are you coming out to play?
Meet a shadow on its wicked way
Past the corner of your eye
On the lazy street.
Oh, you may try
But you’ll never meet
The match of the girl with the fire in her hand -
Hellhound padding through the land.
Ready grin - ready as her teeth.
Finds her freedom in what yawns beneath.


courage the color of a mirror
4/11/2018
"Mirror" in the sense used here is roughly an alterego, or story-projection of self.
Some days it’s a long wait alone
And I can’t be sure who’s coming -
Whose feet are running
Toward me,
Friend or enemy;
To save, or force me to atone.
But in the dark behind my eyelids
It’s still brighter than it seems,
For I dance with sunspots and dreams.
Hold fast though I’m meant to shatter.
Wait for the wonder the wind has scattered.
Call leaves and lightning and unicorns -
Conjure as I can to distract from the lies,
Until I find I’m free
Enough to open up my eyes
And see.


Rainyday
4/14/2018
Hullo rainfall -
Soft and soothing
Tin-patter tile-spatter lullabye.
Ally of a gloomy evening,
Send my mind on holiday.
Rockabye the tree-branch cradle,
Siren-song the robin’s treat;
Fill the lane with silver rivers,
Sail tires down the splashing street.


In the Sun
4/15/2018
Sun fills up the air around you,
Shines fiery in your young silver hairs,
Glows white on your neck and cheek,
But leaves your thoughtful face in shadow.
Quiet, now. As you were ever quiet,
Slow to speak and slow to answer,
Often brooding lost in dream.
Semitropic green glows at your back,
Waxy shine on garden leaves.
When you left, you bloomed.
Learned to laugh more, sing aloud;
Be proud of your voice.
Be yourself in no one’s shadow,
Drench your garden in the light.


Quiet
4/17/2018
My head a-buzz with stinging bees;
Gold-and-shadow striped living and dying…
So quiet I miss them when they are gone,
So silent and hollow,
Still.
I want the silence.
I want the buzz and glare to die,
Leave room enough to hear
Leaf-rattle, wind-swell,
A distant bird.
Just find me a place of rest, my dear,
And you will have my gratitude.


-and, Silence
4/17/2018
“Silence, once so bright and golden,
Now when it has us all beholden
May entrap us in its darkness -
Bitter silence, Winter’s starkness”,
I wrote once, naively.
But Winter may be the world’s retreat,
Past the thirst of summer’s heat.
And if the quiet’s so bitter, it’s only
A sign that in the loud I was lonely.

[edit]
Five poems behind, then. Not insurmountable, but I'd need to stay on top of it and remember to double up from here out if I want to come out golden.

[hobbit_of_narnia]

Ooh, these are all wonderful! My favorites are "courage the color of a mirror" and "Quiet".