May Golden Shovel #21

source: Summer Is Coming. Let the Words Flow

 

Words line up neatly in dictionaries, until summer

Heats the pages. Pages curl restlessly until one is

Tempted to fling itself from the binding, coming

To dance in sunlight. Sunlight rinses words loose to let

Them alchemize in any order: meaning the

Existence burnt into is new. New sentences of words

Revolutionize my mind as language takes on original flow.

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

·        

 

May Golden Shovel #20

source: Transforming a Fake Reality into Real Drama

 

Fireflies light up the meadows, transforming

Fields into a galaxy hugging the earth, where a

Constellation mirrors Orion, luring owls in their hunt to fake

Nests where sleeping mice feel safe in reality.

Ferrets, sloths, pangolins wander lighted grass streets into

A confusing dreamland where prey hide in real

Time, welcoming an escape from life or death drama.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #19

source: What This Town Needs Is a Concrete Whale

 

He hitches up damp denim overalls in the morning after what

He feels is a call from unknown forces to bring this

Vision of trash turned into beauty to his town.

He cannot know how wants turn into needs

Desires into demands, peace into war. What is

The elusive route away from days drowning in a

Maelstrom, tsunamis of jeweled seas battering concrete

Dikes, planting seeds of the invasive whale.

---------------------------------------------------------

 

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #18

source: Finding a Sailor Lost to Ice and Time

 

She joins the exploration team in hopes of finding

Answers to all questions. She believes certainty is a

Requirement for wisdom. An alien sailor

From a galaxy far away whispers in her ear a lost

Knowledge of only question after question. She splits to

A shady world, leaving a closet full of known ice

And fire, opening up to unknowns, uncertainty, and

So many questions that overdoses on time.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #17

 source: Three Ways of Looking at a Performance

Auditions for summer start in three

Weeks. The summer months search for ways

To make themselves the hottest by the obvious of

Too much sun. June throws her pearls before swine, looking

For a salty advantage. July throws red-white-blue-green-orange fireworks at

A dumbfounded sky. August breaks all heat records as a

Hurricane floods Earth for 40 days, in a total performance.

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #16

source: In a Renamed Town a Legacy of Violence Continues to Play Out

 

She remembers a time when her town in

The new country was a haven from memories, a

Balm to help her build a new family. She is renamed

Shiloh in hopes she will bring peace to her town.

Golden granite lines the path leadingv visitors to her home, a

Large room roofed in azure slate tiles, with no walls,  a legacy

Of the ancient tents of her people. Visitors seek her guidance of

Insights, for she has a way of speaking that averts violence.

Yet the battle between old residents and those who claim ancient rights continues.

Her visions alarm banshees, whose cries alert to

Dangers minute and huge, dangers of scarlet sweet that play

To greed and fear, dangers pretending to be thrown out. 

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

May Golden Shovel #15.2

source: Pipeline Hack Reveals Seams in Nation’s Cybersecurity Armor

 

Their attack on the oil pipeline

Did not require metal tools, only a coded hack

Devised by a human brain. The damage reveals

Arrogance embedded in big business. Its seams

Split, exposing basic weakness that lies in

The hope that ignorance will protect the nation’s

Infrastructure. But who will create the code for cybersecurity

When future coders prefer games to true armor?

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #15.1

source: Unearthing the Roots of Black Rebellion

 

It should not be so difficult, unearthing

America’s past and present in black and white. The

Facts exist today, tomorrow, yesterday, their roots

Not entombed in an ancient past. The face of

Truth is not Medusa’s. How long will it take for Black

Lives to remain real for whites when Blacks are not in rebellion?

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #14

 source: A Vision That’s Epic and Brutal

 

The plot to save democracy unravels a

Skein of weeds and lies. It promotes a vision

Of sourdough, of braised love, of salted action that’s

Protecting its defenders. It could be the most epic

Picnic, feeding all, or it could drive off and

Abandon democracy, defenseless against those brutal.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

May Golden Shovel #13.2

source: Sign of Relief Amid a Frenzy of Gas Buying

She hopes there will soon be a message, a sign

To tell her what her next step should be, whether of

Moving forward or backward. She wonder what relief

Will look like, one step up, two steps down, amid

A cacophony mordant yet joyous, voices in a

Language she once knew before the frenzy

Of today overtook soft memories of

Gloom. She lacks enough gas

To escape the forced urgency of buying.

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

·        

 

May Golden Shovel #13.1

source: Residential Areas Hit as Fears of War Grow

 

She tiptoes past mansions in the residential

Parts of the city. She’s hiding in gilt areas

Where goblins cannot see her. She fears a hit

Of ancient anger aiming at her heart as

Stories she’s never known unspool her fate. Fears

Gallop through her sleep, disarraying dreams of

Justice and injustice battling, at war

With peace and calm, unsure where to grow.

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

May Golden Shovel #12

source: Post Names First Woman as Top Editor

 

Stars glaze the night, sending a blog post

Reporting news from time’s origin. It names

Prophets from centuries past who claim the first

Humans created histories in starlight, written by a woman

Shaman. She leads her people to a feast as

Strong storms crash on a beach leading to the top

Of a pyramid staffed by not one editor.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel poem #9

source: Where Will Our Masks Go Now?

 

She searches for the moment where

Time slows, quickens, reverses. She will

Wrap time in knots, hopeing our

Need for certainty masks

A deeper need for time to

As far as imagination can pop now.

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

·        

 

May Golden Shovel poem #11

source: Ready or Not, It’s Covid the Musical

 

He’s auditioning for a role, whether he’s ready

for the political world or

It is ready for him. He is not

Your usual politician. He believes it’s

Not too late to smash the pandemic of covid.

He has a plan for recovery of the

Economy, by giving everyone a part in a musical.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #10

(I’ll catch up with #9 tomorrow, I promise myself)

 

source: Too Dark to See the Light Side

 

If you hadn’t been too

Late, I would have missed the dark

Spiraling galaxies sent to

Warn us of dangers we didn’t want to see,

Dangers within us. We couldn’t see the

Ways we fled from the light,

Fearing clarity would reveal us on the wrong side.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel #8

source: Job Growth Slowed in April, Muddling Expectations

 

She had been searching a long time for a job.

The pandemic was nearing an end and growth

Was assumed. Her search slowed

Despite everyone thinking jobs would open in

her area. But she found nothing in April.

Rent was due, her savings depleted. In the future muddling

Through could not continue. What were her expectations?

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

May Golden Shovel poem #7

source: Child’s Grave Is Earliest Known Burial Site in Africa

 

The boy is the last to die. The child’s

grave is simple because his people are exhausted from digging grave

after grave. The sickness comes from outside, is

strange, with symptoms not seen before. Its earliest

sign is a rash creeping up the body from the feet. It resists all known

remedies. The people bury the dead far from their village, a site

cursed by unknown forces unresponsive to sacrifices. The site

is avoided by the people, but children dare to dart in

and out, playing in a land they do not call Africa.

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

May Golden Shovel poem #6

source: A Maternal Theme and It’s Not All Sweetness

 

Why is there only one day for a

celebration of “Mom”? Why is the maternal

steeped in stereotype? Why is the theme

of motherhood so fraught for both women and

men? Is it because it’s

the source of our existence? Why not

let our mothers be both good and bad, have all

emotions? Why should she be only sweetness?

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

·        

 

May Golden Shovel #5

source: For Struggling Familes, a Tough School Year Risks Becoming a Lost One

 

The abandoned schoolhouse stands sentinel for

Children who left long ago, struggling

For jobs, for food, for worth, for dignity, whose families

Could not support more children. A

Family of horses take over the tough

Work of managing the fields surrounding the school.

They step delicately into a year

Of your dreams, gallop triumphantly, nuzzle risks

You would not take on your way to becoming

An orphan, a genius, an addict, a

Scholar. Horses cannot bring back the lost

Children, whose lives unravel one by one.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.