carpe-ing the diem

[Jarlsbane - Michael Ray Cotner]

today is a day
I just want to have fun

when so many times we are told
'carpe diem'

to take hold of our lives
and make something out of it
becoming in that instant
a better person
somehow able to transcend circumstance
to will ourselves to greatness

not today

I want to lie in green grass
watching cloud-fish jump
from vanilla frosting ponds

see them shape-shift into
images of Abe Lincoln replete
with stove-pipe hat

I want to ring door-bells
and run
hiding in bushes to watch as
little old ladies
curse and mutter to themselves
thinking their hearing aid battery
needs replaced

and do it again
just to confuse the hell out of them

but mostly
I want to hold your hand
while sipping root beer floats
at a ball diamond
where young kids are learning
to play the game

and later we can walk
down to the lake

skip stones
across silver smooth water
from an old creaking dock

watch as the tiny waves
continue in endless dance

mine and yours
overlapping
becoming one ripple

as a giant carp
pops his bulging eyes
and puckered mouth
above the water line

just to check and see
if we are wearing stove-pipe hats
and look like Abe Lincoln

not quite sure it slips below
the surface
like the sun slipping below
the horizon

[mfwilkie]

today is the day

I want/plan to lie in green grass
and watch cloud-fish jump
from vanilla frosting ponds * Great images.

see them shape-shift
in the wind, become
old Abe Lincoln replete
with stove-pipe hat

I want to ring door-bells then run
and hide in the bushes to watch
little old ladies curse and mutter
to themselves, thinking their hearing
aid could use a new battery.

and do it again
just to confuse the hell out of them

but mostly
I want to hold your hand
while sipping root beer floats
at a ball diamond
where young kids are learning
to play the game

and later we can walk
down to the lake

skip stones
across silver-smooth water
from the edge of an old
creaking dock

watch tiny waves
continue itheir endless dance

mine and yours
overlapping
becoming one ripple

The humor with the carp doesn't add to the poem for me, Mike.
I think it weighs down a good draft.

Maggie


as a giant carp
pops his bulging eyes
and puckered mouth
above the water line

just to check and see
if we are wearing stove-pipe hats
and look like Abe Lincoln

not quite sure it slips below
the surface
like the sun slipping below
the horizon

[Marion Poirier]

Good poem, Michael.

I like Maggie's suggestion in ending the
poem at ripple. Also, I think that
vanilla frosting should be vanilla-frosted pond.

Enoyed the read.
Marion