8/7

I feel

Cool clean breeze 

through my open windows

where my cat sits

waiting

watching

for birds

for the day to blossom

out from the early morning

mist

I sit

pen in hand

and my chat noir

waiting

to bloom words

out of the morning fog

of my mind

10/4

Please come home

she pleads

in the mid night darkness

in the sloth of afternoon

and most of all

in the aching early hours

when my grief

consumes me

a vampire of my vapid life

My longing

sits 

on my tongue

like rice paper

adhering 

to my tastebuds

with all the intentions of the write

words

before rendering 

to a gummy glaze of regret

and then

nothing

but a faint

taste of bittersweet

sustaining

memories

remain

11/30

Numbness creeps in

on the heels of emptiness

Everything echos

with the silence

of your departure

I built a raft

try to stay afloat

in this storm

I have built

a home here

with many rooms

to hide

memories

in

closets 

to bury

emotions

way in the back

Numb is a neighborhood

no one admits to living in

what this low entry cost

no money down

dream offers

is a lie

a high interest reverse mortgage on your life

no one will take it 

of your hands

what you have done

no matter the price

foreclosure for me

is not an option as I am bound

by a sister promissory note

my only option

is to burn the place to the fucking ground

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 10  

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 9

*Translations: C'est l'heure de la moisson des mots - It is time to harvest words

l'entrée des artistes - artists entryway

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 8

Original Artwork ©Jenni Astramowicz 2019

"Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it's there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It's a wave.

And then it crashes in the shore and it's gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it's one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it's supposed to be." - the Good Place

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 5 

I am seething

stained

red

 red toothed 

my tongue

black 

mouthful

of

FOMO

and forgotten promises

as if

the blatant

fruit

forward

plunge

into an unseasoned

 oak

casket

promises

more

than

thrusting

headlong

into the shivering

nameless cube

Quick!

Steel

away

these gilded bangles

 lie

Disgorge

yourself

taste

freedom

If not now

when?

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 4 

my intentions

swirl

and 

spill

from the table of sky

endless in the blackness

a void

a dance 

I do all too well

I spy

a red giant

inglorious

expansion

from a massive

hot 

wet dream

walking along the Seine

one wonders

as I wander

will I

burn

bright

as 

Paris

lights

at

night

or 

will 

all my once

stellar notions

 decompose

in this deep and dank

 oubliette

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 3

They say you can smell it

the promise

fills the air

with burning wires

melting plastic

and the searing

sting

of

chlorine

clean

before

 the lightning

strikes

the sweet 

the sharp

ozone zing

lingers

like perfume

as

she passes by

a storm in the making

moist

and

warm

all her edges

humid with sweat

and

want

OctPoWriMo 2022  Day 2

* Coup de Foudre (Fr)-stroke of lightning; a sudden unforeseen event, in particular an instance of love at first sight.

*Photo Courtesy of Marie-Laure SOUQ

OctPoWriMo 2022 Day 1