Poets Salon: Thinking Outside the Box

POETS SALON

– 04/08/20

Hosted by Kath Abela Wilson

pink sunrise
the day doesn’t know
the bad news

morning glories!
the stalking intrusion
of deadly nightshade

~ Kath Abela

Carol Raisfeld

Making light of heavy things is how many people cope, including myself. It keeps many of us from losing hope that although things may get worse, they will eventually get better. Offering humor as a balm to soothe nerves can be healing by tickling funny bones and decreasing stress hormones. It’s hard to realize this is temporary, but it is.

There seems to be a deeper feeling of unity on social media. I am so grateful for the creative connection and support.

claustrophobic
he could only think
outside the box

after school
at the candy store
no more sharing gum

3 bras
made into 6 masks
Covid 19

cleaning lady
texting instructions
on how and what

putting a back
on Barbie’s house
Covid-19

donation
jock straps for masks
we’re in it together

Ο Ο Ο

Roary Williams

Viral Verse

empty
intersections
where the
homeless
used to stand

New York park
a man in a truck
comes with a ladder
and takes down the
basketball hoop

in back of the hospital
six refrigerated trailers
lined up at the dock

in the funeral home
bodies wrapped up and
left on the floor of
the empty chapel
like extra folding chairs

the dog
tells me under
no circumstances
is he going to take
another damn walk

the cat
opens the door
so I can go outside
then goes back to
sleep on the couch

lost remote
I have no idea how to
turn on the TV

I would
trade my
television
for one of
your kisses

we start off
with phone sex
and end up talking
about what we had
for dinner

pandemic
the infection
of you

my friend sends me
funny virus memes
and sometimes I
laugh until
I cry

alone and alone
under this night sky
watching wish after
wish after wish
burn up

every few minutes
I’m taking it
one day at a time

the part of the fight where
the bear is on top of you
and you punch him hard
in the face hoping he’ll
decide not to eat you

the beeps and alarms
so loud they almost
drown out the ER doctor
apologizing on camera
for not saving everyone

Ο Ο Ο

Roy Kindelberger

In the Darkness

Winter Solstice Eve. I get home from a long day. My two cats greet me. With meows, purrs, and scratching of the furniture. I empty some boxes of Christmas stuff that came in the mail. The kitties, of course, use the boxes. Climbing and hiding. After they’re through I take the boxes to the recycling bin. Unknown to me, one of the cats, the boy, sneaks out behind me. They are house cats. Hours later, I notice. Where’s Nugget? We search the house and then outside. Neighbors tell us there was a traumatized cat outside our door. But he’s nowhere to be found. We shake kitty treats, search trees, and bushes. It’s cold. No kitty.

winter solstice
cowered under bushes
out of the darkness
kitty reappears
happy reunion

He is all wide eyed. And his sister gave him the business. Every time the door opens since, he runs off and hides somewhere in the house.

Ο Ο Ο

Michele L. Harvey

social distancing
seems not on their radar…
bees caress the face
of each wide open flower
and pack their bags with gold dust

her unique way
of thinking outside the box…
wildflowers bloom
in all the nooks and crannies
surrounding her little house⁰

Ο Ο Ο

Anonymous

Invitation

“Let me know what you discover.”
Okay, here is what I discover:

Many good restaurants nearby are still open and still make great dinners. Only trouble is—they are take-out only. So here is my brave new idea. Recall that after a typical show of mine, someone invariably says that I am brave. I always downplay it, saying I just do what I like. Now, I suggest a brave act for the three of us. Are you ready?

Tell me which restaurant you prefer and which orders you like. I will order, pick up, and set the table here. It’s a round table, not red, but brown, a little smaller than yours, and will bear a white lace tablecloth with fine china. I have only three rules—touch elbows only—wash hands—six feet apart, excepting those who live together may sit side side-by-side. Saturday or Sunday evening will be fine. Is that brave and defiant, or what?

oh, it was just
another wild idea.

I didn’t really expect you would.

take care
at home
and be safe

Ο

Thinking Outside the Box: Quotes and Credits

Carol Raisfeld: “This new lifestyle that has taught many of us not to take anything for granted and the quietude has me looking inward, one day at a time.

inside the day
inside the night
inside myself

It feels like there is a collective pause around the world, yet birds have begun to sing again and skies have turned blue once more. Living and sharing in this time of Covid-19, we will get through it together.”

Carol Raisfeld lives in Atlantic Beach, a barrier island close to New York City. Being alone in this difficult time she feels inner silence sometimes speaks the loudest. Hearing the comforting sounds of the sea, knowing it will go on forever is life-affirming. Her poetry, art and photography appear worldwide in print, online journals and anthologies.

Roary Williams: “An old coyote hiding from the virus on the mesa under the blue skies of the high desert of New Mexico. Writer, musician, and thinker. @CoyoteSings on Twitter.”

Roy Kindelberger: “My poem reminds me of no matter what it’s like outside, it’s better to be home. Especially during this pandemic. That’s where our loved ones are. Even if they’re not at our home…right now. I have two wonderful daughters, Hailey and Emily. I live with my beautiful wife, Jaci, in Edmonds, Washington. We also have two cats, Poppet and Nugget.” Click to know more about Roy and his poetry.

The poet & artist Michele L. Harvey was told it was impossible to grow roses at her zone 4 farmhouse. Undaunted, she took that as a challenge: “In old cemeteries mom was often planted with her favorite flower and that favorite flower was often a rose. Antique roses survive by sending out little runners or ‘copies’ of themselves, which can easily be pried up, potted and transplanted. In this manner Michele began collecting unnamed, antique rose seedlings from local cemeteries, old homesteads and roadsides. Before long she had a garden overflowing with the old rose fragrance of forgotten roses.”

Kath Abela‘s haiku “pink sunrise” and “morning glories!” begin her 2017 chapbook collection, Driftwood Monster, written in response to the 2016 US election: “It’s amazing how they speak for our present crisis as well. The first poem was originally published in the wonderful senryu journal Prune Juice.”

♣ Send your submissions by midnight Sunday, Pacific time, on the theme: “Kindness”, “Our Sense of Time“, “Finding A Good Mood“, “All Those Within Our Troubled Times“, or suggest your own theme. Send short poems, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kath Abela by Facebook message or click here to email her directly. We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple Submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, comments on the theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, if possible.
3. No attachments except photos.

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