Monday, April 29, 2013

Boston Marathon poems and more

Two weeks ago the Boston Marathon bombings racked our world. Ever since I’ve experienced uncontrollable tears and deep sadness whenever I read or hear anything about the dead, the injured, the survivors, the heros, the young men who allegedly did the deed.

Times like these bring all the pain of losing my son back. Especially the suddenness of his death. They also remind me how important it is to take care of ourselves in whatever way we can. Writing usually helps me. I’ve been journaling like crazy lately, and I selected three of Robert Lee Brewer’s prompts for the April Poem A Day challenge to write about that unconscionable event in Boston.



Infested with Violence

Guns abound used for
mass killings at our schools.
North Korea's young leader
with an itchy trigger finger
gets ready to nuke the world.
A Ungandan named Kony
steals children, training them
to be murderers and whores.
And today we found
it isn’t even safe
to compete in a marathon.
Bombs awaited the runners
just as they sprinted
through the finish line.

16. a Two-for-Tuesday prompt. Here are your options:
  • Write a possible poem.
  • Write an impossible poem.

It is impossible to fathom
what goes on in the mind
of someone who decides
to kill and maim total strangers,
people who never did any harm
to the perp.
How does a mind
like that work?

22. write a complex poem. Complex is a complex word that can refer to mental state, apartments, difficulty of a situation, and so many other complex situations.

 A Complex Question

As I asked my husband this morning,
shouldn’t a sales person alert the authorities
if someone from out of state
(she took his name and address)
came up to her and wanted to know,
about the most powerful material in the store,
and then bought two bags of that stuff
paying over $400 in cash?
Now I realize this was a clerk in a fireworks store
and buying gun powder is like buying guns,
and  people have a right to do that.
But I can’t help just asking.

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