In each line of a 10 line poem use two words that mean the opposite of each other. This one was tough, because of the limitation of line length and the constraint of 10 lines.  Not my best effort. Trying to catch up does not attract the best words onto the page!

Winding Down

Days I think I’m crazy, the only thing that keeps me sane
is playing crazy eights, the start, stop and start again play
as each takes turns winning everything or nothing,
bitter losses, sweet rewards.

Wide awake when I start, sometimes I nod off, asleep sitting upright,
the outer me with closed eyes, while the inner me still plots strategy.
When I go to bed on ice cold sheets, I fire up the mattress heater,
look to the clear sky for stars, or check a red-cloudy sky for snow.
Near the river, I hear the geese, far off an owl hoots once then silent.
Nature sleeps in deep shadow in the park, near the shallow end of the pond.

Carol A. Stephen
April 19, 2018

This prompt provided a list of 15 words, at least five to be used. I have managed eight. It also suggested perhaps to write about something you feel vulnerable about or that you feel you shouldn’t write about.  I was thinking about what it’s like when you’ve been given opioids for pain

Opioid Dreams

I wake to brain fog, blurred memory, as if a fever broke
as I slept. Above the lights dazzle, reflection of the tinfoil wrapped
tight around the shade. Why am I in this place?

More aware now, I am not sure where I am. The ring
of lamplight darkens the shadows. Figures in white coats
enter and leave. Someone bellows on the other side of the light.

Shallow laughter. And pain.
I run my fingers down my belly, stop at the spot
where the pain begins.

I have sprouted shoelaces. Or is it a tattoo?
I remember a dream of gold thread,
embroidery on my bicep. The tinkle of cymbals.

Flashing coloured lights. The pinball machine.
I was trapped inside forever
climbing after the small white ball.

Dilaudid. Ileostomy. Clostridium Difficile.
Pseudo Toxic megacolon. This is the vocabulary
I am about to learn.

Carol A. Stephen
April 18, 2018

A rebuilt Terminator 2 pinball machine.jpg

Prompt for the 17th begins with hopelessness, to end on a positive note.

Cause and Effect

Winter wanders in weeks of darkness, and I,
in a cold despair, wander too, though
my body never travels, yet my mind spends
winter aging, becomes inseparable:
one the cause, one the effect or perhaps
the other way round.

Only when the sun returns, when the wind
blows away the snow, do my thoughts return
to hopes of spring, the cycle of seasons,
warmth on my skin.

I return from thoughts of where it all ends
to focus on where it begins again.

Carol A. Stephen
April 17, 2018

This prompt is to write a poem where animals are doing something they shouldn’t.  A no-brainer here since last night on the CTV news (April 20) there was a story….

All Points Bulletin in Nanaimo

Last night in Nanaimo, a break-and-enter.
Inside the house a woman, armed with
nothing but an ice scraper, peered out, but
saw nothing, heard only the sounds of danger:
someone breaking in.

She shook as she dialed her neighbour’s number,
hollered for help. Waited for the police.
When the RCMP arrived, she sighed with relief.
The Mounties always get their man.

At the usual command about hands in the air
the perp turned around, gave quite a stare,
and slow but sure the tiny paws rose.
Nanaimo Norm, the most Canadian of perps,
a roly-poly beaver, turned tail and waddled off.

I don’t believe there’s a warrant out, but
he might want to hide out; he knows what
Canucks do with BeaverTails.®

Carol A. Stephen
April 16, 2018

Based on an April 20 2018 CTV news story.