2023 NaPM 5 April

[RiverNotch]

The 1 April prompt of 2019 -- first one to be inaugurated by billy -- was likewise the most popular one for its year.

Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month.

Topic: Write a fearful poem containing the words lemon-drop/s.
Form: Any.
Line Requirement: 8 lines or more.

[Mark A Becker]

Remember Me

I am only 10 years old
and way too young to die!
I prob'ly should’ve picked out
something else to buy.

But no, I had to have ‘em,
then I ate the whole dang box!
I might be the first kid ever
to be killed by lemon drops.

[CRNDLSM]

A cut.up from 2019 lemon drop poems

Under a sullen light,
With narrow strips of golden sand,
Above the budding bleeding hearts
Eyes too tense to even blink
That crack like glass
The lights will flicker out of sight

With a two-toned taste - a little bitter
That after years of smokeless soldiering
nightmares darker than lucid is luminous
I am in that same tired dream
again.  That's how I remember we first met
with a club, a tray, an explanation 
(After all it was a gift), and now
a single lemon drop

[Semicircle]

Vigil

Stood sentinel
boards creak
feet shuffling
their weight.

Out in the field
rustling leaves,
lemon drops glisten
by porch light.

[TranquillityBase]

Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round Up

First one was in 1957
when the town was “overrun”
livestock and pets and people getting bit.

They spray gasoline on the holes to their dens
to force them out in the open.

Three or four thousand pounds they collect.
They’re about 2.5 pounds each, 
so do your own calculation
on the slaughter that follows the show.

Rattle snakes are shy creatures
the rattle is not ferociousness 
it’s crying out in fear.

But no one’s going to adopt one
and name it Lemon Drop.

[brynmawr1]

The tragic year 1968, at one
I almost met an early fate
eating breakfast at a Denny's.
My parents, young as they were,
gave me a hard candy to keep
me quiet, a lemon drop I think.
Well quiet I was and also blue.
Frantic, they tried to leave
to get me some help, but couldn't
until they paid the bill.  Just then
the drop dissolved enough to pass
and the rest is chronicled in history.

[dukealien]

Candy Pills


In my pantry slouches half
a bag of honey lemon drops
which scares me every time I see
it standing there.  This January
I caught COVID, likely at
a seafood place: my throat swelled up
and burned in sinus sympathy.
My doctor gave me nothing, not
so much as aspirin–  you see,
all curatives are out of bounds
because a certain president,
much hated, offered hope with them.
It was a wretched week I had
with only lemon drops to soothe
a flaming throat. That’s why I dread
those innocent hard candies for
there’s still no cure, just sour-sweet
non-cures in place of drugs reviled.

Based very closely on a true story.

[Wjames]

When a lemon drops
in your palm, and there is no sugar
to meringue, or steak to marinate,
and you have only swallowed saliva
since the full moon lost a quarter
in a bet with the wind
over the weight of the harvest,
guzzle the juice and ration the skin.

[brynmawr1]

When a lemon drops
in your palm, and there is no sugar
to meringue, or steak to marinate,
and you have only swallowed saliva
since the full moon lost a quarter
in a bet with the wind
over the weight of the harvest,
guzzle the juice and ration the skin.

not sure I have the authority to elevate this to hog status, but I would if I could.
amazing.

[Quixilated]

Lemon Drops

I drive the coast with the windows down,
as the sun dusts the world in golden light. 
While the salt-wind weaves 
my hair into wild mermaid waves,
I savor the last of my lemon 
drops.

I sing along to my favorite songs,
and make plans with a pie and a picnic
and the second half of a delicious book.
There’s a bump in the road and and a jolt,
the groceries shift and one lemon
drops. 

My brand new car begins to groan,
it seems the jolt shook something loose.
Nervously eyeing the edge of the cliff, 
I push the breaks with no response.
The road bends and the lemon
drops.

I remember liking this prompt the first time around. I love the ‘odd couple’ prompts that force two unlike things together. Also, I’m enjoying the tidbits of history and memories that are introducing each prompt.  It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the 10 year milestone!

[RiverNotch]

Who's afraid of the college blonde
whose favourite drink is a lemon drop?
Most days, when I'm a gentleman,
I'd rather pour my bourbon in a glass
of honey, citrus, and warm water
but when I thought we were alone
one night, I mixed a whiskey sour
instead and she could barely tell
the difference, she went down
just as quickly on my couch....

[Mark A Becker]

since the full moon lost a quarter
in a bet with the wind
over the weight of the harvest,

Dang Wj- those are truly great lines!

[Wjames]

Thanks, Bryn & Mark - I like that one.