I Paved My Own Path - a haiku

In response to today's NaPoWriMo prompt, I wrote a poem responding to "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

 

Two roads diverged in 

a wood, and I took neither.

I paved my own path. 

 

 

Crocheting Dreams

The NaPoWriMo prompt for today is to write "a poem in which you describe something that cannot speak, and what it has taught or told you." I love to crochet, so I decided to write about yarn and how it has dreams to be created into something new. 

Crocheting Dreams
By Candace Shultz

Yarn speaks to me
Every color
Every texture
Every size
Has a story to tell
Has a longing to be
Something
Something special
Something wanted
Something loved

A blanket for a newborn baby
Who will outgrow it but still
Take it everywhere with them
When they become a toddler

Warm socks for a grandma
To keep her feet warm
When she walks on the
Cold floorboards of her home

Mittens for children
To keep their hands 
From freezing in the cold
As they throw snowballs
And make snowmen
On their day off from school

A cute cat plush
For a little girl or boy
To hold close to their heart
Or a daring dinosaur
To play with every day

Yarn tells me
It wants to be created
Into something new,
To be held and cherished too.
It's just waiting for me
To make its dreams come true.

 

Love in a Cup of Coffee

For Day 15 of NaPoWriMo, today's poem is a love poem, but not a traditional one. I dedicate this poem to that first cup of coffee in the morning that helps me face the day. 

Love in a Cup of Coffee
By Candace Shultz

I love you truly,
my morning coffee. 
You fill my cup 
when I am empty.
You wake me up 
when my mind is numb.
You give me energy 
when I have none.
You make me happy
when I smell your scent.
You make me feel alive
with just one taste.
You jump-start my heart
when the fatigue is erased.
My grumpiness fades
and I am carefree
because I found love
in my morning cup of coffee.

Facade

For Day 14 of NaPoWriMo, I was challenged to write a poem involving technological advances. My poem is inspired by how people use artificial intelligence to create fake videos and images of themselves and others. 

Facade
By Candace Shultz

Are you real?
Or are you just pixels
of a face rearranged
on the screen to look
like someone else?
Do I even know you?

What is truth anymore
when everything
can be turned to lies?

I don't want a facsimile,
a false truth, an illusion,
an artificial face hiding 
behind a computer screen.

Give me authenticity.
Be genuine. Be real
in your words and actions,
in the face you present
to me and the world.
Give me your truth,
and I will give you mine.

Your First Steps

For today's NaPoWriMo prompt, I included a "remembered, cherished landscape" in my poem. I chose the front yard of the apartment complex where my daughter learned to take her first steps.

Your First Steps
By Candace Shultz 

In the front of our apartment,
I chose a little patch of grass,
Cut short and pristine,
The most beautiful color green.
The sun warmed our faces.
The wind rustled leaves
From a nearby oak tree.
It was the perfect place
To take your first steps.

I placed your feet down
On the lawn, and suddenly
Your smile became a frown.
You clenched your fists
And released an awful sound.
You cried at my betrayal for
Putting you on that wretched grass,
But I praised you as I watched
You walk towards me with sass.

One step, two steps, and then a third.
You toddled towards me undeterred.
Your first steps! Oh, what a sight!
You are my star, my joy, my delight!
You left behind that grassy green.
You reached my arms, and then you leaned
Into my embrace before I lifted you high
Into the bluest sky, showering you with praise
And looking at you with love in my gaze.

Love of Reading

In today's poem, I tried to follow a prompt to describe a memory of a family member I love in which my thoughts echo today. I chose a memory with my Grandma. 

Love of Reading
By Candace Shultz

Grandma sits in her rocker,
A book open in her lap,
The lamp lit on the table beside her.
I borrow a book from her shelves
Upon shelves of Harlequin novels,
And I feel a little risque
At reading romance as a young teen,
But Grandma doesn't mind.
She just loves that I love to read.

More than twenty years later
Down the road of life,
I have lived all kinds of lives
In so many different, wonderful worlds,
The Harlequin romance just one
Of the many genres of books that I open 
In my lap as I sit in my own rocker.
Thank you, my dear Grandma, 
For all those stories that you let me read.

 

 

In Pursuit of Love - a blackout poem

Today's poem is a blackout poem! I love blackout poetry. I followed the prompt from this NaPoWriMo site. 

  

In Pursuit of Love
By Candace Shultz

An enthusiastic flower
Feelings of exultation
Oh joy!
The lover seen
A purpose new
Both eyes intent
In pursuit to nothing else. 

 

 

To make my blackout poem, I used page 21 in the book Our Bird Comrades by Leander Keyser found on this website.