A daily poetry practice to generate and sustain the Life/Lines among us, for published and novice poets alike
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Prompt
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines.
reservation
shine
triangulation
electrify
exploration
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today's words were contributed by guest curators at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, who are students in the Washington University Prison Education Project.
Poems submitted for April 29
Holy Trinity
He made a reservation
During his exploration
Of her mind
He was the one, that could electrify
Her kundalini, root to third eye
Up through her spine
Spiritual saturation
Triangulation
Of a sacral creation
That one day would shine.
— J. Thomas 4/29/21
***
Just one tiny reservation
about interceding: triangulation,
which can electrify any
situation.
You know how they
are already in so much trouble;
their relationship is already tenuous.
This calls for further exploration.
Karen Sterbenz
***
The Elder's Story
Jo Schaper
When the time came
To electrify the reservation
The men in hard hats relied
On the knowledge of the elders
Who had explored the land as children
Who knew the land by their feet
Where to step and not to step
By the cacti triangulation.
They let the trucks come
Set the poles against the wind.
They did so their wives and daughters
Could have washing machines
And light inside at night to weave
And sew and easy water from the well—
While they sat outside, listening to coyotes
Eyes green-gold in reflected moonshine.
***
Electrifying is that which soars
without question.
Path uncharted, wings wide
above the shine of the built simulations of
explorations.
Reservation returns
upon landing and once
among a triangulation of predators.
Lisette Dennis
***
Electrify synapses in
Internal exploration
That is still possible
While you have this reservation
20 years to life
A careful game of triangulation to survive
That which shines midway between the extremes
Might be the best path to thrive
K.J. Boehler
***
Where the darkness begins
Turn off the flashlight, blow out the candle, flip a switch
there is no need to electrify night. Migrating birds will appreciate
the lack of shine as they navigate from one home to another.
Other night creatures and stars suddenly bask in darkness.
Let the exploration of lightlessness begin, set aside map triangulation
and your bumbling GPS, fall into the wonder and surprise
get lost: no reservation required.
— M.E. Hope
***
Manipulation
We’d dig up the dirt through excavation
and exploration, with no reservation
about the triangulation of three generations.
Many a day we would electrify the phone
lines with our round robins. We took a shine to
the “she said-she said-I said.”
Then it got old. Or we did.
Linda O’Connell
***
“We shall not cease from exploration”
And we’ll come back to our beginning.
Because we know the distance traveled,
We’ll triangulate the future
And we’ll know just where we stand.
Like “shining from shook foil”
We will electrify.
We will dazzle.
No reservations.
Robert Henke
***
Equal Brights
Electrify the reservation,
shine a million watts
on want and injustice.
Don’t you dare give me
your trite triangulation,
your bogus exploration,
of worth vs. taxation.
Rebecca Carron Wood
***
Triangulations are used for getting your bearings,
launching your own individual exploration into
both the future and the consequences of the present.
Discovery electrifies, shines a streakewr's audacity at
the audience. You are a little shocked and lit up with questions.
You need a reservation to get a front row seat at the show of your life
zooming at all kinds of angles across the stage. Is life geometry, drama, collaboration
or just arrested development. Hide your nakedness. Don't reveal yourself.
It isn't pretty and gossip is a pain, especially if there are pictures.
— Dan Cuddy
***
It required no
extended exploration,
nor any sort of
strict triangulation.
There simply was
no explanation
for the sudden transformation.
But the shine of your eyes
was a sudden revelation
that would electrify me
with such powerful emotion
that past was left behind,
and forever set in motion.
Warren Hauff
***
END OF DARKNESS
Needing some clarity
in his vague triangulation
of the sounds he’d heard
while in exploration of the dank basement,
with reservation he moved
to electrify the situation
flipping the switch . . .
to shine upon whatever evil lurked there.
TED
***
The Lost Boy Scouts
With a spirit of exploration in their badge-speckled chests
and a manual on triangulation in their knapsacks
they set out to map the reservation.
That they were never heard from again
became a source of campfire angst for generations —
the sudden snap of a branch
or moonshine glancing crookedly off the lake
enough to electrify young minds, however prepared.
Steve Givens
***
an exploration of the
sleeping soul
to electrify the cord
of life
awake and shine
triangulation of self
without reservation
~M.A
***
Promise
White men, intent on exploration and exploitation,
Consumed by the triangulation of money, power and prejudice,
Herded the people onto a reservation,
And stole their land, their sacred land,
Which today is under the care of Deb Haaland,
Native American Secretary of the Interior.
O shine a light on our true history.
Electrify our spirit, strengthen our will
That we may live up to the promise of America.
Pam Hughes
***
Flashlight shine glints off distant object
Exploration: zeroing in via triangulation
Final approach met with reservation
Discovery's cusp will electrify imagination
--Kwin
***
Time for Deception
COVID shines a dim light on wicked viruses
our power of exploration hardly matches their deception
it’s hard not to have reservations about what we can do
triangulation of research data helps but the viruses taunt us
with multiplication and self-transformation
time for tit for tat: let’s make an electrifying wooden horse
to infiltrate the enemy lines
John J. Han
***
A Twisted Toast:
Here’s a dedication
to an electrifying exploration
with slim reservations
that shines on my triangulation
to this salutation,
for my mind is in hesitation.
Furthermore, in explanation,
any future word exploration
doesn't electrify my imagination
to clenching a poesy triangulation.
I have a shining premonition
this shall be a major preoccupation
that provokes a speedy vacation reservation.
Cheers, here, here.
Terrie Jacks
***
Your reservation has been received
The triangulation society
You are invited to electrify with your
Match more exploration more
Shine
Your match is --
Rita Hayworth
The Team
james goodman
***
In my daily exploration
I find a fallen bird.
its wings electrify,
such brilliant blue,
every feather
still intact.
Did its powers of
triangulation somehow fail?
Was it blinded by the
sudden shine of sunlight
on the glass?
I place my hand upon it
without reservation,
move it carefully
to a hidden place
in the tall grass.
J. Kiefer
***
Triangulation was the rule of law
In my family
We’d all carve out
That perfect 3-sided reservation
Secure until the wind shifted
And you found yourself
At a different point
In a different triangle
It wasn’t till I stepped back
Let a little light shine in
That I saw it
Like a geometric quilt
Bright triangles forming
A colorful pattern
Only on this quilt
They were able to
Change colors.
Electrifying
It would make a great
Board game
An interesting discovery
One that calls for exploration
And courage
Triangles have sharp edges.
Carol Haake
***
Take time to make a reservation
for an exploration in nature.
It will electrify you with an inner shine
due to the triangulation of
pure beauty, pleasant thoughts and a sense of
peaceful calm.
***
My reservation on the ward was
when an elderly man and I
locked eyes and did the shine
without speaking a word
we might electrify the whole hospital
in a triangulation
that had never been experienced
before. Let's just say this one
required further exploration.
— Matthew Freeman
***
the shine from the flashlight on the map illuminated their faces,
revealing more than a few had the same reservation.
some wanted to electrify the area.
digging and exploration would be needed.
thus began the triangulation between the ancestors of the grave sites, the developers, and the neighboring homeowners
d. bates
***
I have
no reservation
that this
triangulation
will shine on
will electrify
my exploration
by Lloyd Klinedinst
***
Headline image: David Clode via Unsplash