P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 30

Write a "dead-end" poem.


INSTAGRAM


Looking me up she
Found me on social
Media wanting to be
Starting something personal.
She's cute but grown men
Don't lust after little girls.
I got plans that don't
Include going to jail.

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 29

Write a "haphazard" poem


WHAT IS THIS


Dear Heart
Just a brief line
To say that I'm
Sorry for my moments
Of silence today but
You left so suddenly yesterday I
Forgot to tell you your
Green tree frog gave birth.

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 28

Take the phrase "Important (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write the poem.

IMPORTANT REMINDER


The truth will set you free
Allows you to dance and
Flirt and engage with life.
But to know truth is to accept
The responsibility that comes
With knowing.

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 27

Write a "take off" poem.


WILD BLUE YONDER


Poised on the runway
Of life the big picture
Clearly before you all
Systems are go for take
Off gather your speed get
The wind beneath your wings
Higher and higher up into the
Wide expanse there's no turning
Back only landing safely

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 - DAY 26

Two-for-Tuesday

Write a love poem. Or write an anti-love poem.

NOT REAL LOVE


Oh he's just a friend is
How she introduced me to
hers.
I thought I was more.
We've been closer than
Close before.
Closer than most before so
I thought we had more.
Don't get mixed emotions don't
Confuse making love with
Being in love she said they not the same.

P. A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 25

Write an "exercise" poem

OM


The alarm sounds every morning
Waking me. I seek my yoga mat and
A quiet place for meditation.
My quest is for inner peace and
Tranquility exercising my mind.

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 24

Write a poem in which something is lost and then regained.


BUS STOP


I should have slept with it
In my lap but it was awkward
Didn't want to drop my new
Typewriter so I put it in the
Overhead compartment on the
Greyhound bus to Albany State
And left it there on a changeover
But by time I got to the station my
Typewriter was right there in the
Lost and found waiting

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 23

Write a "footwear" poem



I HAD GAME


As a teenager
My sneaker game was tight
All it took was a pair of
Black or white chuck taylor
All-stars converse had the market
Cornered and life was simple but
The game changed quickly in '85
When the Nike Jordan ones arrived
A new era of sneaker game was born
Where now you need hundreds of
Dollars to play I'm out who got next?

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 22

Take the phrase "Star (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase. Make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem.


STAR NIGHT

Twinkle twinkle sparkle
Strung up across the sky
Like holiday lights hung high
You brighten up the world
At night while everyone else
Is asleep

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 21

Write a poem that responds (or somehow communicates) with another poem.


DREAMS BY LANGSTON HUGHES


 I must say so myself that
Your message about dreams
Has been well received for
It is true that when dreams die
It's like a broken wing bird
That cannot fly it's pretty much
A wrap and a backup plan
Is essential to keeping the dream alive

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 20

Write a poem of what goes unsaid.


STAR LIGHT


My lifestyle
One foot in the blues
One foot in the grave
First star I see tonight
I'll make a secret wish
To get my life back right.
What did the star have to say?
This too shall pass your way.

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 19

Two-for-Tuesday

Write a "cool" poem
             OR
Write a "uncool" poem
              OR
             BOTH



BIRTH OF THE COOL


Cool is a style characterized
By relaxed emotions not
Tense or complex
Composed and calm a
Jazz thing epitomized by Miles
Dewey Davis He gave birth to
The cool dark shades on stage
Back turned to the crowd bent over
Blowin bitches brew through a muted
Horn let Dewey blow Dewey blow

P,A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 18

Write an "office" poem.

LUCKED UP


Just my luck
Stuck making copies
On Friday before a
Three day weekend.
When out of the blue
Walks Toni and her swag into
The copy room and my life.
I didn't know her name then
Just she was the finest thing
On the premises.
We met and I fell like a
Tree axed down in the woods.
Just my luck
Stuck making copies
On Friday before a
Three day weekend

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 17

Write a haiku, a poem about haiku, or write about poetic forms in general.

LIGHT OF MINE


Truth is the light of autumn
Which people profess
To want yet cannot handle

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 16

Write a poem about (or at) a food establishment.


FANATIC


Once a fan I now have
A bone to pick with
Applebee's  which goes back
A few years ago when I
Took my date to restoration
Plaza in brooklyn's bed-stuy
Do or die but had nothing
To do with food.
So why did
I have to remove my team's
Baseball cap again? Why? Because it was
About profiling and portraying
A certain image?
Well that's why I left
Without ordering.

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 - DAY 15

Write a poem with at least 4 of the following 8 words - 1. flat 2. ring 3. lavish 4. vessel 5. paper
6. black list 7. gaudy 8. tooth


ON THE LINE



The X's and O's true to form
Fitted flat on the paper
As  if held down by an
Iron vessel for you to lavish
The stencil with green paint
And print out your name
As a winner

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 day 14

Write a "time out" poem


ON THE PROWL


Admittedly aggressive
In my approach to
A lady at the tavern
Down the street but
It's been over a year
So I'm entitled to some
Risky behavior
Just let it be or better
Just let me have my way
Stop have a snickers bar
You're not yourself
When you're hungry
Better?

P.A.D CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 13

Take the phrase "Last (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write the poem.


LAST TRAIN OUT OF BROOKLYN


Honey don't go to Manhattan
The world trade center towers
Are falling down
That A train is the last one
Out of brooklyn
But I'm further downtown
The east village don't worry
I'll be home soon

P.A.D. CHALLENGE 2016 DAY 12

Two-for-Tuesday

1. Write a "serious" poem

                     OR

2. Write a "silly" poem

                     OR

                    write  BOTH




BACK TO SCHOOL?



True story the names have been
Changed to protect the innocent
Ex-student female meets former
Teacher male had a crush on
10 years ago both
Single unattached both
Want to live the fantasy is
This serious or what but
Morality male's
Gets in the way he declines
Now isn't that silly
Some say the thought
Won't go away

                   

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 11

Write a "defensive" poem


ON GUARD DUTY


It's only natural to
Defend yourself when
Being attacked mentally or
Verbally or physically where
It is more obvious that
Someone is abusing you
Pounding on your body.

But if you didn't do it
Why are you being defensive
She said why because it's only
Natural for humans to do so
I said even though innocent

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 10

Pick an emotion. Make it the title of your poem, and then write your poem.



ANGER


Of all the emotions that
Wanted to surface
Anger got the best
Of me when my phone
Broke this weekend
Just stopped working
Not my fault this time maybe an
Act of God I guess I should
Just get over it

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 9

Write a "hide out" poem



BEHIND MY BACK


I can't help but think
Right now behind my
Back there is the shadow
Of my past lurking in it's
Hide out hovering just above
The twilight where the wild
Things are guiding me ahead
To unknown paths on the roads
Yet to be traveled

P.A.D. Challenge Day 8

Write a "doodle" poem

 OCCUPIED OTHERWISE

Boring workshop not easy

Staying focused

 

If only I knew Bianca better

The who

The what

The why

The when is it time

To move your king forward

Over the checkerboard

But why is he looking

Talking at me like I'm

The yankee

Doodle dandy

Fool or simpleton

The same thing

Yes sir

Oh yes

I'm from around here too

And this is a boring workshop

So it's not easy to

Stay focused when my

Attention is occupied otherwise

On Bianca

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 6

Write an "Ekphrastic" poem



Written after observation of a photo of "Hallelujah," a graphite drawing by Raymond Lark
Photo courtesy of Edward Smith



GET RIGHT CHURCH...


Sunday go-to-meeting
Services. Benediction winding down
Pastor Brown's heated sermon get right
Church and let's go home. Miss Mabel
Feeling the spirit like fire shut
Up in her bones reels and falls back into
The next pew waving her hands from
Side to side.
Ushers rush down the aisle to administer
To her.
Praise the Lord. Glory must be
On High.

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 5

Two For Tuesday

1. Write an experienced poem
2. Write an inexperienced poem


THE TEST OF TIME

Try as I have
Even with
Years of
Writing verse
Penned anything
Close to the
Works of the early poets
Like Tennyson
And Coleridge
Master craftsmen
Whose poems have
Stood the test of time
That only centuries
Can address
And I like they
Will never know

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 4

Write a "distance" poem


WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE


The shortest distance between
Points A and B is the straight
Line I'm aiming at your heart.
Cupid perhaps on my side
This time directs the arrow
On target striking the bulls-eye.

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 3

Take the phrase "Three (Blank),"  Replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem and then write your poem.



THREE THINGS FOR SURE


Taxes, death and trouble

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 2

Write a "what he said and/or what she said" poem:



ASK ME WHY


Shy at sixteen
I asked my friend if
He would ask this girl if
She would go out with
Me. He said yes but instead
Asked for himself.
She said yes.
And although it was my fault
I don't speak to either
Of them anymore.

P.A.D. Challenge 2016 Day 1

Write a "foolish" poem



My Mystake



If I knew then

What I know now

I would have taken

The back door out

Of your life running

Like I stole  the Hope Diamond from the

Smithsonian Museum

You not who

I thought you were