Spring Park Bench redux

 Good morning dear reader

Jenni wanted us to to explore a past collaboration we may have participated in, and that led me directly to 2014. A project I worked on saw me paired with a British artist named Heather Burns. We came up with a piece called Spring Park Bench. I wrote, she drew. We inspired each other, and after many iterations of the piece, we came up with what I would consider a masterpiece. I will post the original Spring Park Bench to provide context, followed by my poem for today. I hope you enjoy.

Rod E Kok

What seems a lifetime,

time has passed

since I sat

on that park bench

in the spring.

What seems just yesterday

since we spoke;

words and art

entwined together

forever.

Heather and drab,

you and I;

passion for our

art

ignited a wellspring

of emotion,

of color.

What seems a lifetime

since we sat

on that

park bench 

in the spring.

shadows

 Hello dear reader

Day 3's words came late to me, but at least they arrived. Morgan gave us prompt dealing with shadows in our lives. What has us spinning and spiraling? I love writing about shadows, and mental health. I think that is reflected in today's effort. Today also marks my first piece that isn't free form. I wrote a Haiku today. And for me, it just works. I'm super happy with this work. I hope you enjoy it.

Rod E. Kok

abandoned shadows
left behind in a dark world
here they come again

silence

Day 2 of OctPoWriMo brings us a prompt from Bianca. She spoke of a storm she sat through, and encouraged us to write a sonnet or an ode about storms we have been in. I chose to write free style, as I'm not quite ready to tackle a different form. That will come. But for now, I give you silence. Please enjoy.

Rod E. Kok

 It is that noise,

low 

rumbling…

that noise 

which is fading

deep into

my mind.

(a momentary reprieve

from

raging storms)

silence

then it starts again;

rolling around

my brain.

fading

relinquishing it’s hold

on emotion.

Now all around me

is 

silence

i am who i am

Hello dear reader. It is time. It is time to embrace my love of poetry once again. It has been a long time since I have participated in one of the Poetry Writing Months. Inspired by conversations with a couple of teachers at work, I decided that for better or worse, I would write this year. And I am truly excited by it, yet I approach it with some trepidation. I am not confident that my words are able to meet my own standards (which happen to be the only standards that matter when it comes to my writing). But I am doing it. I am writing 31 poems in 31 days. 

Our first prompt, given by Morgan Dragonwillow, is about shining our light. Admittedly, this is probably not my best. But it is only day one. And i am who i am. I write what I write. Please enjoy (or not). Either way, OctPoWriMo is underway in a positive way.

Rod E. Kok

October 1, 2022

i am who i am
faults and all;
nowhere near perfection,
not even close.
Mistakes glaringly obvious,
oft repeated.
Hard lessons have not
been learned.

i am who i am
warts and all.
Many decades of experience;
years upon years of failures.
Missteps followed by deficiency
of effort.

i am who i am
growing slowly
or not at all.
Faith is dying;
I feel I am not
trying.

Yet…

i am who i am
working hard to
be kind.
Do unto others
and all that
stuff.

i am who i am;
I choose to look
forward.
I choose to be
influentially positive.
I choose
to shine
my light.

My Own Advice

 Dear reader.

Remember me? Yeah, I'm the guy who used to semi-regularly post his sad attempt at poetry on this site. And true to the history of posts here, I will once again post another sad attempt. It's been almost 2 years since I've published a poem. It's good to finally write something I'm happy with.

Today's prompt comes from dVerse Poets Pub. The words I chose to use are bellow, tempestuous, dulcet, seethe and beseech. Please enjoy.

RK

There is no everlasting remedy

to the dulcet tones

of melancholy;

nor is there redress

to the bellowing

of silence.

All I know 

is a seething mind

in turmoil;

a tempestuous argument

between myself

and I.

We beseech one another

to forgive.

But I never heed

my own advice.