NaPM April 21 2015

[bena]

                                < a poem inspired by a complete stranger >
                               
                                at night
                                (of course)
                                walking behind someone who is a complete stranger
                                (a complete stranger as per the PigPen NaPM 2015-4-21 specification)
                                i feel a certain tension
                                a fear which is expected when
                                someone walks behind you on a dark street
                                (who happens to be a complete stranger too as this
                                 is a universal symmetry required of complete strangers)
                                a fear
                                a certain tension to be relieved
                                "I don't intend to harm you", I say,
                                "there is no need to be afraid."
                               
                                                    - - -

owww ray you make my sides hurt.  you must be inserting it right.

---

Meniscus


The moon hangs in the daylight hours,
a sliver of last night's memory.

I sit on the bank of the creek,
atop a large limestone rock.
Pen and notebook in hand
I await divine inspiration,
the blank pages accusing me.

The tranquility is palpable,
almost to the point of suffocation.

I stare at a water strider 
gracefully dancing across the surface.
The limbs of a fallen tree arch from the brook
as if to save itself.
Its twigs are craggy and arthritic in its reach.

A small world-worn man approaches
bent, but whistling.

His fingers are as knobby as the branches.
He holds a basketful of eggs for market in one hand
and a walking stick clutched in the other.

As he passes,
he laughs with a toothless grin
at the fool by the creek
wasting valuable life.