2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Fifteen - Halfway there!

Today's prompt for Writer's Digest 2015 April Poem A Day Challenge is: An Adjective Titled Poem.

Lost

I know
That these words
Will never be enough

I know
That our country
Which you Bravely
Sought as solace

When you fled from
Trouble Back Home
Has In the Darkness
Raised It's Ugly Greedy Head
And Destroyed
The Life You've Built

Your neighbours
Have listened to the lies
Fed to them from up high

But they do not know
That we are all Africans
Whether from the South or North

I know these words
Will never be enough
As your children cry
And you wonder where to go

But if they come at you
With petrol and knives

Fight your way out
Fight your way back
Back to the Rainbow nation
We all fought so hard for

And I will be there
With open arms
Waiting

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Fourteen

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest April 2015 Poem A Day Challenge is: Write a poem about Honesty or Dishonesty. I chose Honesty.


The truth Hurts

I expect nothing less than honesty
But I've lied my way

Out of tricky situations

Used my gender
As an excuse
Not to stand out

Acted like I didn't know
What was going on

Kept my opinions to myself
So that you would accept me
(Not that that ever helped)

Stayed silent and small
So as to not rock the boat

Turned my anger inwards
And blamed you!

The truth hurts
But it was my choice all along.

April 2015 PAD Challenge - Day Thirteen - Confession

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest Poem A Day challenge is: Write A Confession poem.

Confession

Not being born Catholic
I always liked the idea
Of being able to anonymously
Confess my sins

To sit in the darkness
And let all my secrets out

I love the intimacy of strangers
So I confess to you
On these virtual pages
Which hold my shadows and secrets

Will you forgive me world
For what I have done?

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Twelve - Damage

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest April Poem A Day Challenge is: Write A Poem About Damage.

No Song To Sing

We think we’re young
But we are broken
Our minds are closed
Our mouths are open

So few words are truly spoken
Our eyes tell lies without emotion

We think we’re young
But we are broken
Our minds are closed
Our mouths are open

Keep reaching out
Not reaching in
We don’t have have
A song To sing

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Eleven - A Season

An Irish Winter

The first time I saw snow
I was in my late twenties
But I might as well have been three

As the snow started to drift down
Outside our college window
Without thinking
I jumped out of my seat mid lecture
I ran down the stairs
And into the snow

It was colder and harder than I expected
And I swirled around
Like I was Winona Ryder in Edward Scissor Hands
The cobbled streets
Became the sets of every American Christmas movie I had ever seen
If Father Christmas himself had landed his reindeer on my path
I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid
As Jingle bells wafted out of every pub
And happy Dublin children screamed with glee
I was a million miles away from South Africa
And I believed in the magic of an Irish winter

April 2015 PAD Challenge - Day Ten - A Third Of The Way Done!

Today's prompt for the 2015 April Writer's Digest Poem A Day Challenge is: Write a 'How' Poem.

How It Should Be

Normally I find meeting new people difficult
It’s A Cold World Out There
Of Transactional relationships
Built on Broken Promises and forgotten dreams
But this week
This week, I fell in Love!

Wednesday morning
You arrived right on schedule
Your life began And so did we

With new roles to play
You’ve Broken all our hearts wide open

It was Love at first sight
No questions or analysis
I knew exactly what to do and how to be

No one gets a handbook on this stuff
But the answer is simple
Just Love
No need to run or fight or hide
Just Love
The world looks friendlier
Now that you’re in it

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Nine - Work

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest April 2015 Poem A Day Challenge   is work.

Jobs

If we ever meet
Don’t ask me what I do

Potential employers have gazed at my schizophrenic C.V. with one eyebrow arched
But what they won’t see
is that I’ve tried the 9 to 5 in gloomy London
and ended up interviewing my colleagues about their dreams

Flew half away around the world because of love and ended up with heart break

Ran away to the ocean to play videographer at a Shark Cage Diving company for the sum total of One.Whole.Day (A Great White Ate My Camera)

I’ve seen that the rich can’t buy happiness while singing Happy Birthday Dressed As Snow White For A One Year Old’s Birthday

Heard the woes of the lonely, the ignored and the outraged at 3am on late night radio

I felt insane playing a cheetah for Chinese tourists at an African convention as they posed and took photos

I’ve listened to the stories of what it’s like to be Jewish and Irish in Dublin

And made sure that the drunk Dutch Rock ‘n Rollers could sit up straight for their interviews

I’ve helped clear the clutter in people’s homes while they told me all their secrets

And I still don’t have a Degree

So If we ever meet
Don’t ask me what I do

Like it’s supposed to mean something