2024 Official DUP NaPoWriMo Challenge

18/30

Heartbeats

hear heartbeats
on the breaths of wind
as nocturnal fires
intensify beyond touch
eyes close soaking in
such wonderful feelings

this is how love
should be about
silohetted lovers under
moonlight magic
pure flaming souls
never quieting

looking into
bright blue orbs
where their gravity effect becomes more apparent
sinking tenderty inwards
flowing within veins

floating like vapour
a breath from lips
senses swirling high
finding true heaven
becoming spirits
released

T
Unique Words 71.

#18/30



Clarity


I had a moment of clarity
After feeling anxious last night
Thinking about the things
I need to do has clouded my mind
My emotional reaction overwhelmed my rationality

After mulling over what to do
I realized that I was over reacting
So I took the first step
By sorting my thoughts

I don't feel confident like I used to
The troubles I had over my husband's
Mental and physical health these past two years
Has sapped my energy and infected
My positivity with pessimism

Today I feel better and positive
Towards the upcoming activities
After clearing my mind of the mental fog
And I feel myself looking forward
To what is ahead

Sometimes all we need
Is to stay calm and collected
In the midst of confusion
Our emotions can blind our reason
And inhibits us from taking action
That could lead to resolution

18/30

what we do in the wasteland

Try not to set the world on fire.
It already burned down anyway.
Yet, we try to rebuild
From the ashes –
Try to find new ways,
Remembering the old days –
Crawling out from the fallout.

Try to appreciate the scenery.
The plants that popped up
Along lonesome roads,
The shadow of the valley –
The ghosts of old towns,
The patchwork of new ones –
Get lost
In the neon lights and curiosities,
Enjoy your stay
In the finest abandoned hotels,
don't mind the oddities.
It's part of the charm.

Don't lose your head. Or your finger.
Stay hydrated; don't get too irradiated.
Try to talk things out, if possible,
Before shooting –
Wouldn't want to cause trouble,
Wouldn't want to waste ammo.
But beware that most things
Are out to get you.

Still, try to hope.
Dream, and believe in people.
Give and forgive,
But fight for and protect what's yours.
Take care of yourself –
Look out for each other.
Watch out for those who claim to want to save the world.
Remember,
The choice is yours.

Get sidetracked.

Take the small pleasures of old timey songs,
A friendly voice on the radio –
Of a warm meal, a good laugh, a soft kiss,
A warm body next to you –
Love
Like there's no tomorrow.
Aside from your bones,
Get your heart broken.
Begin again.

18/30

Fear

looking through time I shutter
for things done in the dark, I can't utter
whispers, secrets, and lies
flawed I'm told by design

madness followed I made a world of illusion
to protect an innocent mind from confusion
Beauty was our creation
tenderly we made all things lovely

each day a new exploration
we made heaven from hell in our confinement
it was not enough to put me away from Himself

time passed and he came to claim my son
creating a ball of fire
a light meant to warm some
and threaten others

a Golden kingdom with guardians established
he took my son from me
and wiped his memories of he and I

angels guard his secrets night and day
in his realm they were slaves
my son sang beautifully as second in command
he was happy enough without me

one day I escaped my prison
shapeshifted into a man and moved among them
the Father knew right away
it was I coming to check on her child

a man now I was proud of him
we grew close I was allowed to reveal myself
brother's in bond we were
warring only in brotherhood I loved him and he I
but I was hiding myself away

a child mother, green in experience
had grown with him
for honesties sake, I revealed things to him
part of the brotherhood believed me

a great war in the heavens was waged
I was the only one who knew enough
about the Father to take Him out
I was in range for the shot
I hesitated out of fear and love
that's all he needed to get a hold of me
my son and the other angels left
I was imprisoned once more

my son now needs to choose
what will it be, a chain of forgetfulness
and approval or face his fears

18/30


Invisible Illness

Lost the words
   Lost the time
Stepping out of reality
   Stepping out of rhyme

Struggle to find
The rules don’t apply
My mind
   Does not
       Comply

Trying to define
Something you can’t see
How to describe
    Invisibility

        Under gravity
   These laws of
Total normality
   Circumvent me

Sentience
Swept aside
It is here I reside
   Slowly losing time

To this
   Mental illness

18/30

Peace

and there will surely come a day,
when the worst of it has gone
and the grief is no longer sharp,
Peace will come calling

invite her to sit at your table;
offer a drink, and all of your secrets -
show her your memories and listen
closely when she tells you the truth

life is not held in singular shades
many things are true, all at once
find a place of acceptance
for the inconsistencies
and place your hands in hers

#19/30


Best Time


I am about to sleep
But I felt like posting early
While my mind is clear
Thoughts are flowing free
When there is clarity

Most often
Inspiration comes at this hour
When everything is silent
It is the best time to reflect
The best time to listen
To your innermost thoughts
And the best time to pray

Your prayers and longings
Are surely heard
In these silent hours of the night
When everyone is asleep
And you're one of the few souls
Who remembers to give thanks
And praise the Almighty

18/30

It doesn't add up!

There's a topsy-turvy place
where time runs backwards,
numbers aren't what they seem;
logical rules apply,
but not the logic we're used to.

There's a wonderful place
where I've just aged backwards
because forty-seven is less than forty-six.
Nothing is something,
zero is bigger than one million,
yet the best gift
turns out to be worthless.

In this place,
women are valued more highly than men,
but children are valued most of all.
The greatest rewards
come from working with those that seem,
on first glace,
to be difficult, awkward or spiky.
With patience, they pay dividends—
a life lesson for us all.

Where are we?

18/30

Significant

It is not what I have been through
That holds me down
It is what I have done
In reaction to it

And the shame
Of my decisions have kept me
Removed
Rather than actively trying
To correct

I thought if I hid from society
I was doing everyone a favor
Banishing myself because
I didn’t believe I deserved to
Take up space

Minimizing not only my consumption
But also my weight
Keeping small
Enough
To not
Be
Seen

But now it is time
To rise out of the bed
I’ve made myself in

To prove, not to the world,
But myself, that I’m
Significant

Passivity has done nothing of importance

{74 unique words}

#18 of 30

Nil Decorum Lingua

Upon looking back to the vaunted past
wherein language beheld itself
in a stiffly formal manner
stringent in such chastising structure
to approach a matter by complex manoeuvre
in order to maintain sensibilities.
lest such wording offends.

And then compared
to modern lazy trite
rushing to mere grunts
and primal sounds
so unbothered by form
and just shit scrawls
compared to using a varied palette of the past
May the gods make sure this doesn't last.

(Unique Words: 59)

18 of 30

The lost forest.

Caught, haggard and unfitting their found constraints.
Posed all of equal stature, size and space.
Protected,
From the passing vagaries of life,
They stand lifeless,
They stand,
Lost.
Plauded,
By the interfering hand,
And the presumption of thought.
When they ought,
Have been free in nature's lead,
Amongst the grass, the moss,
The heather, bogs,
or adrift,
Within the scree of rocks.
Free wherever else to be,
But never here,
Behind another man made boundary,
To the way of life.
To be another,
Standing lifeless and standing lost.
Buried in a row of duress,
Behind an inescapable,
Zinc coated fence.

18/30

Untitled

Oh I am so tired
of cold, wind and rain
reverberating echoes
cyclone in my brain
spirits creeping
remnants of past
haunting darkness
shadows cast
growing more weary
worse than before
a constant cloud cover
forgetting to soar
not protected
no armour to wear
demons devour
without a care
drowning in wreckage
an emotional flood
this time the enemy
out for blood

18/30

QUANTA

Got more than my daily dose
of vitamin “D”
which hurriedly knocked me
into a lackadaisical stupor

I did not feel like writing,
let alone, anything worth
accomplishing to
fruition

so I took me a lengthy nap

Woke up thinking about
the poker game
with the neighbors, yesterday
and 3 of us trying to
explain to one the
interaction (definition) of
Quantum Entanglement
with varied successes

I think she is still confused

 61 unique words

18/30

POSITIVE²

I see you give away the game
When you speak of bringing parts
To the table then detaching
Like a lover from each other
Take my heart and bleed it dry
It will come back beating strong
Enough to lose control and cry
Because you have now destroyed
That desperate need to have it all
Go just as we each needed
And in doing so exceeded
Every hope I had for this
(How to achieve domestic bliss)

(64 uw)