It is Finished

Dear reader, it is a bittersweet day. Today marks the end of #OctPoWriMo.  I can honestly say that I am a bit sad about this. Every day for the past 31 days, I have written a poem based on a prompt from one of our wonderful organizers. Every day I have pushed myself. Somedays it came easy, some days I struggled mightily. But, I did it. And I am proud of it. I probably wrote close to 40 poems in the past 31 days. Knowing what I have done serves as motivation for what I need to do...I need to write. It's in my blood.

Thank you to the organizers and prompters for taking us on this fantastic journey of poetry. Julie, Morgan, Amy and Tamara...thank you. If I missed one someone, I apologize and offer you a special thank you as well.

Thank you to all the poets who contributed their poetry. Reading your work gave me so much inspiration. I have made new friends, and for that I am grateful. Also thank you to all those who read my work. I am humbled that little ol' me could write something that so many enjoyed. I hope our journey together doesn't end here.

And that, dear reader, brings us to my final poem of #OctPoWriMo2014. As the tears fall from my eyes, and as my heart beats a little bit faster, let me say that it is finished.

Rod E. Kok
October 31, 2014

It is finished.

A journey of sharing

is over.

I do not know how

to deal with this.

From the excitement of early morn,

being prompted to write,

to the wonderment of late evening,

seeing how many actually read

my work.

It is finished.

A truly heady experience,

emotions ran rampant

for 31 days.

I gave you my heart

on a readable platter,

my soul was visible

to all who cared to see it.

It is finished.

Never have I written

so much poetry,

rarely have I had

such a feeling of

accomplishment.

I am a blessed man

to have met

so many

great poets,

great writers

better people.

It is finished.

Time to breathe,

time to relax.

For in the big scheme of things,

it has just begun.

The Day Before

Hello dear reader. Today I stepped way outside my comfort zone. Way outside. I chose to take today's prompt and write a Terza Rima. This form is a poem with an eleven syllable count in each line and a rhyming scheme of aba, bcb, cdc, dd. Talk about a huge challenge! My fingers were kept busy as I counted, and my mind was going nuts trying to make sure everything followed the rhyming scheme.

And so, here is my poem, based on the theme 'On the day before...'. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Rod E. Kok

October 30, 2014

The day before you agreed to marry me

we were confident that our life would be grand

how little we knew about what was to be

The day before our world crashed we had not planned

for things to go wrong with our new baby bump

but we felt grace delivered through our Lord’s hand.

The day before your doctor confirmed the lump

we still saw our future as sunny and bright

nothing has changed, we’ve made it over this hump

Through 20 years, we have never lost our sight

we are not alone, and all things turn out right.

Passing Years

Good morning, dear reader. The prompt for day 29 of #OctPoWriMo is love and relationships. We were given a pretty broad field to play in, and I chose the one that comes naturally to me. My poem today is for my dear wife, my best friend. The line in this poem that is my favorite is 'If not for you, there is no me'.  What is your favorite? 

Rod E. Kok
October 29, 2014

The years are passing by.

Without fail, we watch

a timeless passage into

tomorrow.

Daily I pray for

our love to remain

strong.

Without fail, we make

mistakes, causing hurt

grief

sorrow.

We forgive.

We forget.

Time moves on,

and we grow

together.

Passion does not fade,

our own brand of romance

keeps our hearts warm.

Without fail, I realize

the truth.

If not for you,

there is no me.

All that I am

is for you,

because of you.

The years are passing by,

and we are watching

their passage.

Hand in hand,

in love.

Together forever.

Two Sides

Day 28, dear reader. Day 28. I never would have thought to make it this far into #OctPoWriMo, but I have surprised even myself. And what is more surprising is that I am enjoying the art of 'thinking outside the box'. I have tried a couple different forms, and tried a couple different approaches. It has been enlightening, and a growing experience.

So, what does today bring us? I have written a double etheree. An etheree is a 10 line poem that consists of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 syllables. A double etheree is the same, except the order of lines/syllables is reversed in the second verse. 

Today's poem shows two sides of me, both of which very much are real. At times during #OctPoWriMo, I have felt both sides. Thanks to those who have encouraged me *cough Jessica Scott cough* to keep going. The theme we were given to work with was 'hunger' + a secondary 'feeling' word. I chose to use hunger not as relating to food, but rather in relation to my writing and my craft. I hope you enjoy today's offering.

Rod E. Kok
October 28, 2014

doubt

questions

doubt myself

no confidence

my own worst critic

motivation is gone

I hunger to find it back

I long to feel good about me,

feel good about the words I’ve written

but I don’t think I can do this much more

overflowing with confidence, I write

ambition rises like a phoenix

fires of yearning burn aloft

passion for writing to you

joy of sharing my soul

hunger to write more

words are my life

I will write

words of

love

Alone

Hello once again, dear reader. The prompt for day 27 of #OctPoWriMo is sleep. We were given some key words to work with. I was curious as to where this prompt would take me, and the result is quite unexpected. I decided that I did not want to write in my normal form, which is free-verse. I have stepped outside my comfort zone a couple times this month, and have enjoyed every minute of it. Discovering new ways of exercising my brain and honing my craft is exciting and refreshing. I did write an acrostic poem and have a nonet as a WIP, but neither of these will get published for now. 

Today, I went with a cinquain. You can read about this particular form here.  In short, it is a 22 syllable poem, non-rhyming, with the syllables per line being 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.  I don't know if I strictly adhered to all the rules, but there are different schools of thought about the cinquain, different ways to do it. I did stay with the syllable count, as that seems to be the most important. I hope you enjoy this poem. It is very much in line with what I posted on day 26. The prompt naturally led me here. 

Rod E. Kok
October 27, 2014

asleep

immersed in dreams

subconscious thoughts of you

warm and safe in our bed, alone

come home