APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-EIGHT

APRIL PAD DAY 28, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a poem about matter or anti-matter.

INCORPOREAL

Moonlight discloses her

Pale and white

she sits astride a unicorn

her long, silver hair glows

with an ethereal light

her lips the color of pomegranates

lush and full 

her gown drapes down

in folds to her waist

a silver coronet, twisted and curved

encircles her head

slippers made of rose petals

peek from beneath her flowing gown

in one hand she holds a gilded cage

on the other sits a white dove 

beside her flows a silver spring

the pale moon floats on it's surface 

white flowers, their petals unfolding

open in the silver moonlight

emerging from soft slumber 

dreams fade away, reality paints the day

her phantom image slips away

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

APRIL PAD DAY 27, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a looking back poem.

REMEMBERING

These old hand were once

soft and smooth 

these old hands were once small

sweaty and dirty

as they held a ladybug

perched on the tip of a little finger

they once hugged a daddy's neck, 

made mud pies for him to taste

they wiped away tears

clapped with glee

held a crayon

then a pencil, then a pen

they trembled as they wrote

their first love note

were glorious with brightly

polished nails and silver rings

they curled and combed willful hair

nervously smoothed a new dress

before a first date

joined another's at the altar

were deft as they sewed a fine seam

these hands cradled babies

changed countless diapers

wiped away tears and hurts

held aging parents 

cradled them close

while memories faded

now these hands are knarled

and twisted with age

younger hands now soothe

this brow and hold me close

while I cling to memories

lest they fade away

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-SIX

APRIL PAD DAY 26, 2015

For today’s prompt, take a word or two invented by William Shakespeare, make it the title of your poem, and write your poem. 

ODE TO BANDIT

A tiny fur-ball

I found him beside the road

didn't think he'd live

but he surprised me 

and grew to be one seventy

pounds that is, weighed more than me

he turned out to be

practically, almost, absolutely, untrainable

named him Bandit

bought him a bed

that's where the cat sleeps

he prefers the couch 

he farts, gets up and leaves the room

he digs holes, big ones

dug one under the fence

took a short vacation over at the dog pound

not even a guilty look on his mug on the ride home

sat in the car seat with his head out the window

ears blowing in the wind, just as pleased as punch

he barks at the neighbors cat,  digs in the trash

tore up my bed pillow, all over the house

ate a whole pizza he stole off the counter

threw it up on the living room rug

but he also warms my feet on cold nights

sleeps beside me when I am sick

never gets angry or calls me names

doesn't hold a grudge, or slam the door

never leaves in the middle of my story

never points out my faults

thinks I am the greatest person on earth

meets me at the door every evening

what more could you ask for in a best friend!

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-FIVE

APRIL PAD DAY 25, 2015

Today's prompt is to write an Across the sea poem.

FALSE LOVE

You went across the sea

wait for my return 

empty promises

you never meant to keep 

scattered across the heavens,

tears like diamonds 

fragile glass stars

shattered 

fell to earth, swallowed

by the hungry ocean

 angry tides 

picked them up 

hurled them upon the lonely beach

our love that you swore was forever

is nothing more than

crystal sand upon the shore

J KUYKENDALL

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-FOUR

APIRL PAD DAY 24, 2015

The prompt today is to write a moment poem.

A MOMENT OF DESPAIR

There is a feeling of despair, 

of hopelessness, of quiet rage,

a growing hostility, 

a silent desperation that screams

for a need to change the twisted,

pervasive, controlling love that grips

our lives and threatens to  separate 

our paths forever.

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-THREE

APRIL PAD DAY 23, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a historic poem.

CIVIL WAR

Brother against brother

Blue against gray

A nation divided

Yankee against Rebel

Confederate or Union

North and south

Lincoln and Davis

The blood of a nation

flowed together

in the trenches of Shiloh,

Antietam and Fredericksburg

Chancellorsville and Gettysburg

They were filled with the blood 

of victory and defeat

Fought in a thousand places

from fields of Pennsylvania

all the way to Louisiana

From New Mexico to Florida

the war between brothers 

stained the battlefields with blood

from Gettysburg to Vicksburg

After five long years 

what started at Fort Sumter

ended at Appomattox 

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLEGE DAY TWENTY-TWO

APRIL PAD 22, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a Nature Poem.

It's not in my nature

to nurture

an unkind word

J Kuykendall