Costly victory

Pier 21 Prompts

Queen’s Gambit Accepted was originally published in My Fair Lighthouse on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I don’t remember how I forgot,
or when the story of my life
turned to fountain pen blots.

I am not saying I ever was particularly good
with names, or places or facts,
but in this moment your face is all I got.

I slot memory after memory into vacant air
like dominoes but no pair ever seems to match.

Yet, you smile at me with encouragement and love,
one I still deeply feel and know is true even if
I can’t recall the moments that we shared. I’m scared,
but you are here and that is all I need,
though I fear that I have to let you go,
not that there’s a choice.

This is not a breakup, no moving house or quitting job.
This is holding the hand of your soulmate as now and here
turn to late and there is nothing to do
but spend the past seconds, moments and tears as two.

But this is the same merciless strutting of time,
that no matter how hard you try,
you can’t manage to stop or slow.

All you can do is savor what’s left,
as life tears apart the people we were
and the dreams we once had.

Thank you very much for reading my response to Willow Schroeder’s writing prompt on My Fair Lighthouse.

Pier 21 Prompts

Now, I like what came out of it, it is by no means perfect, maybe it is a bit too wild but in my opinion, it adds value to the poetic experience and, if nothing else, it was a fun challenge for the weekend. What do you think?
Do you prefer the “clean”, “plain” look of minimal formatting with all the focus on the words, or do you enjoy added expression through structure?

I don’t remember how I forgot was originally published in My Fair Lighthouse on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The scent of rain after a storm

I loved the scent of rain on hot pavement.
The thought of all the grit and dust and dirt
being swept away. Loved the feeling of drops
hitting my skin, absorbing into my shirt.

I loved the formation of rainbows in the sky.
I would drop my things and rush outside
each sunny day with plump, gray clouds,
to stand witness to the falling crowd.

I adored the sound, in its spectrum of rhythms
and speeds and tone,
playing in ensemble with thunder,
or whispering tranquility alone.

You called it one of my quirks
and you gave me the ever same look
of playful irritation, a rolling of the eye
arms crossed around your chest and you’d smile.

You were a girl that worshipped the sun,
as the outdoors were your home,
that your childhood did not provide,
and I loved you despite but,
sometimes you’d leave, leaving me to abide.

I loved the scent of rain,
as once I could smell the petrichor,
it meant you’d come home.

Here I stand, now alone,
with my nose going numb,
It is late; I should sleep,
yet it rains and I weep.

Thank you, Willow Schroeder, for the prompt.

Pier 21 Prompts

Petrichor was originally published in My Fair Lighthouse on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A man who had made up his mind
to not be confined by his womankind
one night he did flee
on a boat oversea,
left his wife and their children behind.

Didn’t know what such life would incur
as a lonely and lost voyageur.
He was gone a whole year,
sucking women and beer
and yet, he kept longing for her.

He still loved her and hey, apropos:
did he not leave her with embryo?
And so he did return
but his wife did him spurn — 
turns out, she had moved on long ago.

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything with constrained writing and this marks the very first time I’ve written limericks. It definitely brought me a lot of enjoyment to play with the rhythm of words and massage them into the meter and rhyme scheme. Thank you, Willow Schroeder for the prompt.

Pier 21 Prompts

Seeking Adventure was originally published in My Fair Lighthouse on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Drinking under the stars until my vision blurred,
with sparkling * dots * * being all the company I needed.
A night kneeling high on life on death’s doorstep,
who had seemingly taken his first day off in all of eternity.

Waking in a hospital bed, seeking out understanding eyes,
but finding none, nor a reassuring arm on mine.
I knew then I wouldn’t see you anymore — I couldn’t see you anymore!

Still I kept my distance and left you alone.
And it was hard. Oh it was so hard. And it was pain.
An unfamiliar one, unlike the pains you can secretly enjoy.
I was no sick kid, spared from school and cared for by loving hands.

I was a man once, who summed up the wrong parts,
and found himself reduced to nothing.
No emotions, no aspiration, no opinions,
to accompany me through the darkness.

And I thought about you, oh did I think about you.
What else was there — had been there — in my life but you
to live for, to help me in coping with life — with having to live?

Then you show up in my dreams and it feels so good to dream,
and it hurts so much to wake, there isn’t more for me here — there’s less.
If one look of pity can be spared by a speculative benevolence,
then please … ! … ! … ! … allow me back into the unconsciousness.

My body aches when I lie, though.
My back, my hip, my sides.
Need to get out, move my deserted limbs,
yet I feel nothing thinking about it, besides:
Where would I go, anyway?

But you are everywhere I look.
I hear strangers ask for you,
I see you in the company of acquaintances,
and I long for you.
But I promised to myself and — having no one else to promise to — 
I am afraid — that that’ll have to do.

But you tracked me down and here
in this run-down pub we are finally
Reunited.
I take in your scent and press my lips against your cold exterior,
pour you down and ride the waves of your flavor,
make me merge with you and you become mine!

I can’t help but wonder
if my guardian angel
has finally grown weary of me,
yet somehow I’d welcome it,
as so it is finally I,
who can get lost this time.

This is my response to a Pier 21 writing prompt on My Fair Lighthouse:

Pier 21 Prompts

Reunion was originally published in My Fair Lighthouse on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.