The Arithmatic of Love - Day 5: a "plus" poem

-   My love can't be subtracted   -

It will not be divided  *

+   It can only be increased

Multiplied to infinity   X

/    An imperfect fraction

In a set that's incomplete  ...)

With decimals repeating

 π  Like pi or square root of 3  

<  It's greater than forever  >

=   And equal to the world

No variables or unknowns  x,y

|   Just absolute and true.  |

Caren E. Salas

Hold that Pose! Day 4: "Hold that_____"

Hold that pose!
Give me a smile,
So later I can remenesce
How you were mine a while.

Time goes on,
And before we know
The dreams we shared together
Will be a moment long ago.

Caren E. Salas

Just Do It - Day 3: A "Tentative" poem

Standing on the edge of the swimming pool

Black lines across the bottom, the cool blue

Sides, tiled with numbers: 3 feet, 4 feet, 6.

Inhale, exhale...one foot slowly lowered

Into the water. The smell of chlorine

And the sound of ripples lapping against

The steps. Hesitation. Fear of the cold...

Not fear really, but anticipation

Of that sudden shock before adjustment.

Inhale, exhale...just do it. Just do it.

 

 

Caren E. Salas

Midnight - Day 2: a Bright Poem, or a Dark Poem

Bright
Sparkling
Firmament
Brooding midnight skies
I gaze and dream of paradise.


Caren E. Salas

Smiling - Day 1 of April Poem a Day Challenge

A friend of my daughters

And my sons

When he's with us, he feels like one

Of my own, that is.

Appearing last week

In his camos and boots

At my front door

Smiling, like he always does.

Succeeding in his covert surprise

I tried not to cry

His mother and I sharing

A knowing glance

How to make this last?

I don't know where she

Finds the strength

If his absence breaks my heart

Then how...? Never mind

Because he is here

Right now

At my front door

Smiling, like he always does.

 

 

Caren E. Salas

 

 



April is National Poetry Month, and for the past few years I've participated in Robert Lee Brewer's Poem a Day Challenge. He posts prompts on his website, which will hopefully inspire me. For Day 1 (yesterday actually) the prompt was "New Arrivals" and could be arrivals of any kind. This poem is dedicated to our friend Nate (I've mentioned him before) and his mother Sharon.

Slow Crush

An old beater, not

Old enough to be classic

Not new, shiney, cool,

But tired, worn out and rusty

And not running well at all.

 

Lifted a moment

Then slammed back down to await

A slow, painful crush

Steady increasing pressure

Which builds until destruction.

 

 

Caren  E. Salas

 

 

 

 

 

photo: i-buy-scrap.com 

Meltdown

What next? I wonder
As the panic rises up
And I can hardly
Breathe and I just want to scream

As I'm falling deeper down

Than I ever thought
I would and there doesn't seem
To be any way
Of stopping so I'm waiting
For the inevitable

Mind blowing brain crash
Emotional overload
Nuclear meltdown
End of life as I know it...

Yet I hope...for salvation.


Caren E. Salas







photo:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Operation_Upshot-Knothole_-_Badger_001.jpg/250px-Operation_Upshot-Knothole_-_Badger_001.jpg

Brain Storm

Got my coffee and my gourmet scone,

Turned off the ringer on my mobile phone.

Have my notebook out, and pen in hand

But my mind has turned to desert sand.

I'm on a beach where there's no ocean

Getting burned, I've no sunscreen lotion.

So this will be my final verse

Before this poem gets any worse.

 

 

Caren E. Salas

 

 

 

If I Were Dreaming...

If I were dreaming and I could fly

Off to Neverland  I'd go, second star to the right

I'd stay forever, never to die

If I were dreaming and I could fly

Just the pirates, mermaids, the Lost Boys and I

We'd make our adventures last morning to night

If I were dreaming and I could fly

Off to Neverland I'd go, second star to the right.

Caren E. Salas

Whiskey Dreams

Whiskey dreams in black and white
Nightmares fierce, ready to fight
Threatening growl toothless glare
All nine pounds of "just beware!"
Whiskey dreams in black and white
My little guy, all through the night.


Caren E Salas

No "Fair"

 

 

 

Dark and light, wrong and right

Up and down, day and night

Fish that swim, birds in flight

The world seems right; the world seems right.

 

Then balance sways, the tide is turned

Innocence lost, lessons learned

Blood has boiled, stomach churned

Now I've been burned; Now I've been burned.

 

My faith in others sadly wanes

My heart is locked with double chains

Each rainbow's dented, marked with stains

And so it rains; and so it rains.

 

The guilty flee while others stay

Dealt the blame, where no blame lay

How nice it is to walk away

While others pay; While others pay.

 

These days I find I just don't care

Forgotten dreams I used to dare

I go along, I breathe the air

There is no "fair"; there is no "fair".

 

 

Caren E.Salas

 

 

 

 

Sometimes I just gotta' get things off my chest. For those of you that don't know me personally, recent events have made me a bit bitter (just a bit) and somewhat cynical. Don't worry, I don't intend on writing a series of angry poems...hopefully just this one. It's a monotetra in form - I tend to repeat myself when I 'm frustrated, so this seemed the perfect fit for how I'm feeling.

What's left?

Across a moat that's filled with crocodiles
I take a step or two or three
Balancing with my pink umbrella
On a tightrope tied to a tree.

In an act that is death defying
I pirouette 'round with a smile
This may be my very last encore
So I think I should go out in style.

What sounded so easy in theory
Became more of an uphill climb
And whether I retreat or go forward
It seems I have run out of time.

The crocodiles are eyeing me hungrily
And the rope has begun to untie
My mind has been lost in the sunset,
So what's left, but to bid you "good-bye"?

Caren E. Salas

Just silly, okay, a little morbid, inspired by my recent trip to the big D.
Photo: the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

All I Need...

A bucket full of cool wet sand
Moulded, pat down well,
A feather for a flag on top
Some seaweed and some shells.

A peice or two of sea glass
For the windows will do fine,
The ocean spray and sunlight
Will make the castle shine.

A photo of the masterpiece
In case memories grow thin,
For this castle on the sand will last
Just until the tide comes in.


Caren E. Salas


This was inspired by Robert Lee Brewer's Wednesday Prompt: "measured".

A Beautiful Day

Spare some change? he asked
My immediate response
Was to shy away
His ragged clothes, his face
Unshaven, his dirty hands.

Sorry, I mumbled
Practically running away
But then I pause to think
What if that were my brother?
My father? Son? Best friend?...Me?

Reached into my purse
Found some change, a dollar's worth
Walked back to the man
Here, I said. Thank you, he said,
And have a beautiful day.

I definitely
Got the better end of that
For just one dollar
Was wished a beautiful day
From one with a grateful heart.

Caren E. Salas

Maybe

A hopeless and optomistic dreamer I

Raise my champagne glass up high

To toast the coming year.

Maybe I won't make the same mistakes

Or break the promises I never made

To those who swear I swore,

But I don't remember any more.

 

A chronic and procrastinating dreamer I

Gaze out at the somewhat cloudy sky

To find my destiny there.

Maybe if I could just play the game

From start with zero points

For once as I was getting going,

And I'd get ahead and not be owing.

 

An exhausted, underestimating dreamer I

Sometimes find I've bit off quite

The challenging buffet. What can I say?

Maybe this will be the meal

That satisfies without the consequential

Calories or price, and dessert for free.

This could be the time...maybe.

 

 

Caren E. Salas

 

 

photo by William Salas