Here is my poem for Day 30 using the POETRYisEVERYTHING prompt: Pick out four lines from the last 29 days; incorporate them into a poem that reveals something most people probably do not know about you.

I took this one further—this poem consists entirely of lines from poems I have written over the last 30 days.

1
Catch me now, I’m …

2
On his birthday, the seven-year-old decided
he should be sad

Eyes hardened into a glaze
I became a futile gesture

I thought it was a good idea

3
Pretend this is what you wanted

4
I have to take seven types of ambiguity a day
then my drooping fists, lumbering, dumb
or shorn of hands altogether

I don’t like to say too much

5
A catalogue of my obsessions takes many forms

6
And you have to admit
what should have been obvious from the beginning:
to worry about the current is to drift, rudderless

That’s how the castaways got stranded

7
Don’t shy away from drowning

8
We kissed for the last time
licking the sacrament walls
etched into flesh without scarring

7
I never went back again

8
There is no relief from grief
the deep sea is hungry

I wish this feeling could last forever
because I’m all out of optimist blue

9
This is the intermission

10
Long shadows bring no relief to the past
negation works hard every single day

Always make sure you wear your armour

11
Be aware that there is more

12
I imagine you arriving late
everything turns bright

Imagine which shadow you see first

13
Cameras will record the aftermath

14
A photograph above a name
the drama of a stray mark

All the words that spring to mind
it could be an awkward conversation
a chance to breathe easy

I don’t know what happens after that

15
In photographs, she is always smoking

16
The doors close

In the end, it was mostly waiting
not at all satisfying

17
This is where we are now

(29 April 2019—posted April 30th)

---

Wishes sometimes have consequences is available today for ordering from your favorite local bookstore!

IndieBound search: https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=wishes+sometimes+have+consequences

If they can’t get it for you, you can always find it on Amazon:
Hardcover: https://smile.amazon.com/Wishes-Sometimes-Consequences-Kevin-OConner/dp/0998878154/
Paperback: https://smile.amazon.com/Wishes-Sometimes-Consequences-Kevin-OConner/dp/0998878162/

Information about my other books can be found here.

Or, if you like, you can use PayPal to donate a buck to help support my efforts by clicking on the button below: