Flirting with Inspiration

Pen by Anna Langova

A poem is playing 

At the edges of my mind, 

A metered temptress enticing me 

With come-hither rhymes

And innuendos of alliteration 

That never quite spring to life.

In Case of Writer’s Block, Break This Poem

Word Help by Anna Langova

I collect words,
abandoned syllables
of overheard conversations
tucked away for a rainy day,
stashing “itinerant” and “furtive”
in empty pickle jars in the pantry,
“mercurial” carefully folded and slid
between boxes of winter clothes
in the top of my closet
next to “pedantic” and “demeanor,”
“serendipity” carried in my pockets
until threadbare and tatty,
files and notebooks overflowing until the day
I recycle those collected words into poetry,
something to touch the dreams of another’s soul
by exposing my own.


Written for the Poetic Asides Poem a Day Challenge Day 11 prompt, to write a poem with “In Case of (blank)” as the title.  Also written for the prompt from Poetry Jam asking about the contents of our pockets.

Junkie Poetics

Salvia by Ben Kokolas

poetry burns in my blood,

strengthening me

as I forge meaning 

from words and lines,

a luscious roll

through syntax 

and 

connotation,

an addiction I can never

walk away from

having surrendered fully

to the insanity;

but let those words 

linger unsaid in my mind 

and I shake 

in uncontrolled withdrawal,

a fraud revealed 

for all to see,

a trespasser 

into the world 

of the artist,

a shell of a writer

frantically counting

syllables on my fingers

while

muttering incoherently

of iambic pentameter,

begging for 

just one more verse,

one more fix.

~~~  This poem was written in response to a prompt from Poetry Jam asking us to write about a love/hate relationship.

Bottlenecked Inspiration

Pen by Anna Langova

some days the hardest part

of writing is forcing

ideas fermenting

in my brain

past the

bottle-

neck

of 

un-

certainty

into my pen

and onto my paper

to share with the world.

~~~ This poem was written for a prompt from Imaginary Garden with Real Toads asking us to use the word “bottleneck.”