The Road to Goodbye

Today is the final day of NaPoWriMo 2021. The prompt asks us to write a poem giving directions to a person to get to a specific place. I intended to follow the prompt, but my poem took on a direction of its own.

The Road to Goodbye

By Candace Shultz

I am on a road that forks and bends.

It has crossroads, T junctions, and dead ends.

Sometimes it loops in circles again and again.

Sometimes it stretches forever, and then

Finally, one day, it ends. 

A Cat Haiku

A bird trills outside

And a cat trills in reply

Wishing she could fly

Life After Death

For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo, I followed a prompt to write a poem asking questions. 

Life After Death

By Candace Shultz

What lays beyond life?

Will I feel nothing?

Be nothing?

Will I cease to exist?

Am I just a body walking on Earth?

Will I just rot in the ground, an empty husk?

What will happen to me?

Will I wander as a ghost,

Haunting the people I once knew?

An echo of who I used to be?

What comes after death?

Will I return to life as a new baby with a new name

Unaware of my old existence?

Or maybe instead of human I'll be a bug?

What will it be like?

Will I feel peaceful and happy, 

My soul living on with God in Heaven?

Or will I feel wretched and regretful,

My soul cast to hell, sinful and unworthy?

Is death just like sleeping?

Drifting off quietly into the darkness

Unaware, bereft of senses,

Until woken by the light

You rise and continue living?

The Sound of Nature

Today's poem is a tanka, which has five lines with a syllable count of five, seven, five, seven, seven.

The Sound of Nature
By Candace Shultz

Twittering birds call

to each other from their trees

under the gray sky.

A cool gentle breeze brushes

against branches, rustling leaves.

 

In My Room

Today for NaPoWriMo the prompt challenged us to write a parody of a song or poem. I chose the song "On My Own" from Les Miserables. Despite choosing the song for a parody, I really do enjoy "On My Own." You can listen to the song here. I hope you like my poem. It sounds best when sung to the music it parodies. 

In My Room
By Candace Shultz

In my room

Hiding from the children

I consume

A giant bar of chocolate

Without them

I can savor all the chocolate

But when I take a bite I hear the door

And they have found me.

In my room the children stare right at me

Then their eyes look at what I'm holding

In the lamplight, the chocolate looks delicious

And all I see is them and then my chocolate gone forever

It is only a matter of some time

Before my children will ask to eat the chocolate

And although I want to be so selfish

I will say, it's okay for them

I love them

But when a minute's over

It is gone

My chocolate's just a wrapper

Without it

The world is less delicious

I'm still hungry and the children

Have chocolate on their faces

I love them

But I just want my chocolate

All their lives

I've had to share my chocolate

Without it

My life will keep on going

But a world without some chocolate

Is one I've never known

I want it

I want it

I'll eat it

But only in my room

Day 25 of NaPoWriMo - a haiku

A field of flowers

canvassing the earth under

a darkening sky

 (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/299067231488590873/)

Love is Like a Tiger

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt suggested we find an article about an animal and replace the name of the animal with something else, then rearrange and edit to form a poem. I chose an article about tigers and replaced the word tiger with love. Then I used the information from that article to create this poem. 

Love is Like a Tiger

Love is large.

Love is strong and ferocious.

Love is bright,

But sometimes beautifully marked with darkness.

Love haunts the ruins of buildings.

It exists in the courts and temples

To the grasslands and rain forests.

Love is endangered

And reported less frequently,

But it is numerous at the same time.

Love is still long and spreading.

Rare love is longer and softer.

Love is a prize.

Driving in the Rain

Driving in the Rain

Two lanes turn into four lanes
Then it turns to five
Entrances lead to exits
My anxiety's on the rise
Raindrops cling to windshields
Water spits from cars
Mist shrouds the roads
Drivers can't see that far
Bumper to bumper
The cars are going slow
The interstate is jam packed
Just watch, merge, and go
Now our destination is in sight
I can't wait until we park
Driving on these crazy roads
Isn't good for my heart

A Rainy Day

A Rainy Day

Drip drop Drip drop

Goes the rain

Dripping and dropping

Down the drain

Pitter-patter Pitter-patter

On the ground

Pittering and pattering

All around

Plink plink, Splatter splatter

On the glass

Plinking and splattering

On the grass

Swoosh whoosh Swoosh whoosh

Goes the rain

Swooshing and whooshing

On the pane

Ding ping Ding ping

Falling hard

Dinging and pinging

In the yard

Pit-a-pat Pit-a-pat

Slowing down

Pit-a-patting Pit-a-patting

In the town

Drizzle drip Drizzle drip

On the house

Drizzling and Dripping

As quiet as a mouse

Whispering then silence

As the rain goes away

The sun is peeking

Blue skies push through gray

What Matters in Life?

For Day 21 of NaPoWriMo I followed the prompt to write a repetitive poem.

What Matters in Life?

Look up

Look up from your phone

Look up from your book

Look up from the computer

Look up from your Nook

Pause

Pause doing dishes

Pause sweeping the floors

Pause doing laundry

Pause doing chores

Pay attention

Pay attention to your children

Pay attention to your husband or wife

Pay attention to your friends and family

They are what matters in this short life

Limerick - My Cat

My Cat

I have a cat that is very rude.

She jumps on the counter and eats my food.

She breaks all my things.

She steals all the strings

And walks around my house in the nude.

Dirty Dishes

For Day 19 of NaPoWriMo I was challenged to write a funny rant about something that gets on my nerves. I do not like washing dishes. I much prefer to use the dishwasher than to hand wash, but even when using the dishwasher, the dishes still end up in the sink in a sticky, stinky, food-encrusted pile of mess, which I then have to touch. If I were more on top of things, the dishes would be put in the dishwasher after every meal and snack, but often I don't get to it until after dinner time, and by then the sink is completely full as well as the counter. If only magic existed and I could snap my fingers and the dishes would be instantly clean and put away. Alas, that is not the case. Instead I've decided to write a poem that rants at the dishes to wash themselves so I don't have to do it. 

Dirty Dishes

By Candace Shultz

You filth-encrusted pot,

You sticky syrupy plate,

You foul-smelling cup of old milk,

Rinse yourself off

And wash away the grime.

You drunken glass of wine,

You yeast-odored beer stein,

Pick yourself up out of your stupor

And clean up your mess.

And you there!

All you lying haphazardly in a pile,

Just diving into the sink with no care,

Form a line and walk yourselves 

To the dishwasher if you don't want to scrub

Each tine of the fork,

Each curve of the spoon,

Each sharp point or serrated edge of the knife.

All you dirty dishes just lazing all about,

Take a bath and wash yourselves.

Don't forget to dry.

Then go home to your cupboards 

And settle neatly on your shelves.

I'll see you in the morning

When it's time for breakfast.

Snowflakes

For today's NaPoWriMo prompt, we were asked to write a poem based on a chapter title from Susan G. Wooldridge's Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words. I chose the title "snowflakes and secrets" from chapter 20 for my inspiration. 

Snowflakes
By Candace Shultz

Snowflakes

* * * * *

fall

softly

* * * *

silently

* * *

kissing

the earth

* *

whispering

sweet

secrets

to

the

peaceful

night

*

Sleep

I am so excited! My poem from yesterday, "There's a Mouse Inside My House," was featured on NaPoWriMo.net today! I had a lot of fun writing that poem, especially using the Skeltonic verse. I feel so honored and grateful to be a featured poet. 

Now, for today's prompt we are to write a poem involving the moon. Today is also National Haiku Poetry Day, so I decided to write a haiku involving the moon.

Sleep

The new moon beckons.

My eyes drift closed in full dark.

Sleep invites me in.

There's a Mouse Inside My House

My poem today is in Skeltonic verse. You can see the prompt requirements here. 

There's a Mouse Inside My House
By Candace Shultz 

I saw a mouse
Inside my house.
I screamed and ran away.
I got my cat without delay
To make her catch her prey,
But I was just betrayed
Because my cat only stayed
While her tail swayed
And the mouse, afraid,
Ran under the dishwasher.
My cat began to purr,
Not a hunter, for sure,
So I yelled at the mouse,
"You can have this house!"
And I moved shortly thereafter
To the sound of teeny laughter.

 

A Cup of Tea

This poem is dedicated to my mom who loves tea, though I'm not sure she ever gets a chance to relax. 

A Cup of Tea

By Candace Shultz

A cup of tea, never coffee

She doesn't like the taste of coffee

English tea

Earl Grey

Irish Breakfast

As long as it's black

With lots of sugar

And some milk

Make sure the mug is oversized

Big enough to fit sixteen ounces

She'll sit and savor her tea

And then she'll sip some more

Relaxing and rejuvenating

In the stillness around her

And the caffeine within her

Kandake

Today I wrote a poem about the meaning behind my first name, as prompted by Day 14 of NaPoWriMo. I learned that my name originated from the Bible in Acts 8:27 where the term kandake (pronounced kan-dak'-ay) is mentioned. Kandake means queen or queen mother in Kush, an African kingdom. It was later Latinized into Candace.

Kandake

Can you really know a person by their name?

Am I innocent and pure?

Never sinful?

Do I look like a glowing queen?

Am I regal? Beautiful?

Can you really know me by my name?

Early connotations fade when faced with reality. 

Junk Foodaholic

Candy, chocolate, potato chips
From the pantry to my lips

Reese's cups, oh so yummy,
Settle forever in my tummy

Bags of barbecue and nacho chips
Make their way down to my hips

Cheeseburger and french fries
Go straight to my thighs

McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut
Right down to my round butt

All this delicious tasty food
Puts me in an eating mood

Limerick - Marshmallow

I once knew a cat named Marshmallow,

Who refused to trust any fellow.

If one came around,

She'd run, outward bound,

Her belly jiggling like jello. 

Dear Pollen

The prompt for NaPoWriMo today is to write a poem in the form of letters exchanged between myself and another person. I decided to write a poem to pollen (obviously not a person) because my allergies have been much worse this last week. I'm ready to feel normal again, well, as normal as I can get with having allergies all year round. 

Dear Pollen

By Candace Shultz

Dear Pollen,

Today I heard your oak numbers are very high.

No wonder my eyes are itchy, red, and dry.

My nose is runny. I keep on sneezing.

At night I'm coughing, sometimes wheezing.

My sinuses hurt. My head, it aches.

Knock it off, for goodness sake!

Please don't continue this any longer

Or I fear my allergies will only get stronger.

Sincerely,

A human who just wants to breathe

Dear Human,

I do apologize.

Our tiny grains are on the rise.

You must suffer so that we can live.

For this reason, please do forgive.

Sincerely,

Pollen everywhere

There's No Manual for Life

Today I followed this prompt from NaPoWriMo: listen to a song, take notes on the contents of my junk drawer, and then create a poem combining the two. I chose the song "I Need You Tonight" by the Backstreet Boys. For inspiration from my junk drawer, I used seeds, a blender manual, tea lights, sunglasses, and a little snow grow kit. 

There's No Manual for Life

By Candace Shultz

She started out as a little seed

Needing warmth and nourishment to grow,

But instead she was covered in snow

And her little light couldn't shine.

Now she hides behind the shades of her glasses,

Never letting anyone see her sad eyes.

Having been through so much,

She cannot speak her mind.

Her words just come out all jumbled,

Like food in a blender, all mixed together,

No easy way to parse out all the pieces.

 

She wants to unfurl her petals,

To feel the warm sun on her skin,

But instead she feels colder,

Unable to open her heart

Because she doesn't know how.

How to Write a Haiku

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt is to write poetry in the form of a to-do list of an unusual character/person. I decided to try the to-do list form, but I opted out of using an unusual character. 

How to Write a Haiku

By Candace Shultz

• Eat breakfast
• Drink coffee
• Write a poem
• Stare at a blank page for twenty minutes 
• Fall asleep
• Wake up
• Play Dr. Mario
• Watch Netflix
• Try to write a poem again
• Scratch out words with a pen
• Eat lunch
• Pay the bills
• Scroll through Facebook
• Attempt poetry for a third time
• Write a few lines
• Read it
• Hate it
• Erase it
• Then write a haiku

Writing eludes me. 

Or is it the other way? 

I escape writing.

Mist

 A misty morning

Tiny water droplets cling

to the cool spring breeze

Love

Today for NaPoWriMo I wrote a Fib poem, which has six lines with a syllable count of 1/1/2/3/5/8. After the first six lines of my poem I then went backwards with the syllable count of 8/5/3/2/1/1 for the last six lines.

Love
By Candace Shultz

Love
is
stopping
the car on
the side of the road
to pick my favorite flower
out of a ditch full of orange
tiger lilies just
because you
want me
to
smile.

Phoenix

Phoenix

By Candace Shultz

Your words wrapped around my body

like a lover's embrace.

They whispered in my ears.

They stuck in my throat until I choked.

Like a python, they squeezed the air out of me,

suffocating me until there was nothing left.

Years later, the words have faded

like smoke lifting in the wind,

but the emotions they evoked still linger.

I am a candle, my flame snuffed out

by your cold careless breath.

My footsteps echo in the dark.

I stumble and fall as I walk blindly

up the stairs in the pitch black,

but I rise up again and again

until I feel the chains falling away.

My little flame reignites and flickers.

Then it blazes as it burns away the pain,

and I rise from the ashes renewed.

Summer

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt asks us to find a poem and write a new one based on the original by keeping to the same shape (number of stanzas, lines, syllables, even first letter of each line). I used Jill Alexander Essbaum's poem, "Easter," as my inspiration. I didn't keep strictly to using the same first letter of each line or even the same amount of syllables, but I tried to keep to the same shape as her poem.  

Summer
By Candace Shultz

is a season
of joy.

Through grass
I run

and play
with friends.

We smell flowers
and try to hold

butterflies on
the tips of our fingers.

Often we
idle

in the pool
on hot days,

and we all eat
ice cream, the heat

lulling us
to a quiet content.

My birthday brings
the summer

to an end as
I celebrate

with my friends and
family.

Fall will soon
be here.

Bottled Up Inside

Bottled Up Inside

Rushing

Roaring

A geyser in my mind

Raging

Ranting

Minutes from erupting

Seething

Swearing

Steam rising from my head

Boiling

Blowing up

Pressure building in my brain

Exploding

Expressing

Anger needing to release

Let it go

Let it out

Can't keep it locked inside

Here I go

Here it is

Screams piercing from my throat

Tears running from my eyes

Body shaking from the hurt

Head pounding from the pain

Let it out

Let it go

Breathe

Mischievous Kitty

Today I made a list of 100 words based off of the prompt from NaPoWriMo, which you can see here. Then I randomly picked four words (feet, cat, screech, Reese's Cup) to use in my poem. It was a little challenging, but I had fun with this one. 

Mischievous Kitty

I lie on my stomach 

against the soft green blanket 

that stretches across my king size bed.

My restless feet dangle over the edge.

My fingers tap tap tap on my phone

as I match colored pills to defeat viruses. 

I don't hear my cat

sneaking up on me.

I don't see her pounce.

But I feel her sharp claws digging.

I feel her tiny teeth

piercing my skin.

I screech! I lunge off the bed!

But she's already running away,

disappearing from my room.

I sprint after her anyway:

my heart pumping,

my foot aching,

my blood on fire.

I see her run downstairs,

her feet flying over the steps,

so I chase her, time moving slow

as I take one step at a time down

into the living room where she stops.

She lies down and stares up at me,

daggers in her eyes as I yell at her,

my finger pointing: BAD KITTY!

She lowers her face and licks her paw.

And I just shake my finger at her

before walking away in search 

of a Reese's Cup and a Band-Aid 

to cure my anger and my pain.

Follow Your Dream

Look up to the stars

shining brightly, and become

who you're meant to be.

Darkness Descends

National Poetry Writing Month begins today! For the month of April, I will be writing one poem a day. Some days I will follow a prompt, and other days I'll just see where the written word takes me. 

Today I followed a prompt from NaPoWriMo.net to get outside my own head and view the world as a stranger might, to "make the world strange." I was challenged to write a poem inspired by Seductive Fantasy by Sun Ra Arkestra. After watching the video a few times, this is the poem that I wrote:

Darkness Descends

I lay in my shadow,
Pulled into three:
Body, Mind, Soul.
I cannot see.

The earth is spinning.
The lights are bright
Until darkness descends
Into the night.

Upside down.
Inside out.
The world is changing.
I'm filled with doubt.

Something holds me
In the palm of its hand,
Making sweet music
That I don't understand.

Its face looms closer,
Sparks flying from its eyes.
I tremble and whimper.
My throat fills with cries.

Its mouth opens wide
And devours me whole.
Darkness descends:
Body, Mind, Soul.