Favorites From a Facebook Collaborative Poetry Project

Michelle at Today's Little Ditty has the roundup!

I recently began putting a line or two in my status on Facebook. From there my Facebook friends leave comments creating the remaining lines. It has been fun to watch these poems progress and grow. It has also brought some who don't usually write poetry to join in with a line. It's less intimidating to generate a line but can be tricky when the poem is in flux.

Here are some offerings from the project:

The hurricane, a thief
leaves the grass
spiked and colorless.
Sand, driven into the weathered boards.
Wind whips about
funneling and twisting back into the dark eye
of a wrinkled face
of a hopelessly insecure little round man.
Rushing water unleashes gas tanks to bounce and bob down the river
tearing century old covered bridges to shreds.
Fear and rage keep me tethered
tying me to the inner vortex.
As if the hurricane-thief thought,
I will take everything and leave you grass.
Spiked colorless grass.


Tea Biscuit Memories

As my honey dipped spoon stirs my tea
the aroma of biscuits fills the air.
I hear my grandmother's steps cross to the oven.
"Almost ready," she calls.
The smell fills her kitchen.
My stomach growls in anticipation
as they emerge
golden hued and inviting.
Her house coat is tattered and worn,
much like her skin it shows the age and wear.
Every wrinkle is a story to be heard.
She takes a long drag on her Lucky Strikes cigarette,
pulls on the red flowered oven mitt and opens the oven door.
Each artisan creation kneaded with love unconditional
aroma and aesthetic needed to create a memory.
As I waken, I feel blessed for the visit
and can still smell the faint aroma of her floating in the air.
I gaze at the curtains that once were hers.
Hear her laughter and wise words.
She lives in my heart.
We pour green tea in fancy cups, in her honor.
We call ourselves, Cassies's Girls.

Facebook Collaborative Poetry Project April 1-6

I started a project on Facebook that I didn't originally know would take off. However, it has and I have to share the poems here. They have been fantastic, original and inspiring. Here are the first six poems created by my Facebook friends and I.
**Keep in mind these are in their organic form, as they came in. :)

April 1^st

My heart is breathing words,
spilling onto the page without thought.
I write a lot of words, that only make sense to me.
Onto the page.
Words of unspoken love and hope,
Words of compassion and peace,
Words scrawled 
Across the page, from the heart .
That lift effortlessly
Into the azure sky
Melting the frost
Of a long winter
That kiss the ground
And bloom the flowers
That bud the trees
And ruffle my hair
The words are mine alone, yet they speak to others
We form a bond with every verse. 
We change the world with every word.
Making in each word as if it were the last.
Beautiful words that touch the souls of stars that shine brightly

April 2^nd

I listen 
Intent on writing
Only the words 
Not to be forgotten
like the tear drops
on my windowpane 
washed away by time,
leaving only an 
invisible streak scar
I whisper the names
of trinkets stored under
the cover of an old notebook.
A yellow pansy, a cartoon from the New Yorker
sent by a college suitor, a black and white photo
of a girl I once knew well. In bursts I remember.
Scramble from my pen,
Take up residence in my notebook,
Waiting to be
Refined.
And again in bursts, the kids come home, slamming the door open, yelling, "What's for dinner, Mom? I'm starving!"

April 3^rd

My thoughts lit by fire
I search in the ash

Desperate to find 
What I know is now lost
I look to the sky
the clouds full of dust

I’m mesmerized by flames that glistens toward the stars

as the sky explodes with brilliance

and fills my soul with the stars

My mind rumbles 

Memories burning to be set free

Restrained only by the sanguine regrets of choices not made

And our struggle to accept our missed opportunities while building new dreams

I push at the dust,

watch it dance in the air.

Swirling through time,

I search for reason and rhyme.

How I wish I could sparkle as the flame I once was,

that my layers of colors would be somehow understood.

By no one but me

Dance in my head,
Eager to find their way into the world. 
They hover and smolder
They crackle and swirl
The flame is lit
New ideas explode!

April 4^th

Hunting doubted dreams, 
I tiptoe with my net
quiet like a mouse, 
slipping through the dark
Stalking my prey,
ready to pounce
To be a spider with webbed fingers, 
but then my dreams be burdened with chances of rain
or a sudden burst of light letting my secret slip away
Standing silent I put down my net and listen

April 5^th

Mingling limbs, entangle the night

The moon rests upon their branches.

Swaying gently in the wind

Stretching to reach the worlds above

Stars gaze down in adoration

love

Gazing up at the sky above

The whispers heard by only a few

Yet many knew their name

They float just out of reach

Silver moonlight surrounds them

Reach, Reach....They are yours.

April 6^th

Weathered memories

plucked by fingers frail

Like the string of a bow that now sits unused

Past celebrations play like movie reels in the mind.

emotions tumble in swiftly changing

Tears once shed in joy, now fall in sorrow.

But still, hope resides in the pages of this book bound by time

and chapters not yet ventured

With every ending bringing a new beginning

Every beginning bringing new memories, seasoned until weathered again

It's a salt and pepper life, with a dash of paprika.

A splash of wine, some lemon zest, the scent of joy, and a sweet caress.

Slip to the back of the mind to be retrieved in the dawn of a new day