Last Post for April Poem A Day - Days 26, 27, 28, 29, 30!!!

Sorry for the lateness of all this, but my husband's health took a big turn for the worse. He needed to be moved to the ICU and also needed a bronchoscopy. They did that today, but they needed to put him on a respirator for awhile. We are hopeful this will help his lung to reinflate. However, we did go to the hospital, but he is now resting comfortably. So I decided to catch up on my writing. It helps me to write a lot!!!

This is the last day for April Poem A Day. My next blog will probably be going back to talking about writing and authors interviews. 

I am going to post all the days left in this blog:

April 26, 2014
Prompt: Write a poem about Water

Water

The rain pours
over all and I 
begin to think
of the water
pooling on the
ground

Bringer of life
We grow in it
in the womb
and use it to
replenish our
own liquid.

It can be a helper
or a monster
bringing floods with
deluging rains
or swirling in waves
as a tsunami

Or it can be 
a mirrored surface
where you can gaze
and dream and feel
peace

We bathe in it
and cleanse our
skins and we wash
our clothes in it
water splashing in 
circles

Water is everything
to us and we are
part of it 
We live in each other
Needing and being needed
copyright 2014 by Barbara Ehrentreu


April 27, 2014
Prompt: Write a poem about Monsters


Monsters

When I was a girl there
were movies with monsters
playing on Saturdays in huge
theaters where the smell of
popcorn hit your nostrils as
you walked into the lobbies

But I didn't watch those
for I had my own fears
of monsters hiding in
my closet each night
waiting for me to open
and they would jump 
out to get me

So my friends would go
and tell me they had to
hide their eyes when the
monsters like Godzilla, 
came on the screen
I thought I would never
see these horror movies,
including the ones with 
zombies and vampires,
but somehow they found
me

At summer camp the night
movies with their scratchy
sounds filled the canvas
pull down screen with the
images I most wanted to
never see with the sounds
roaring over me and I a
captive audience needed
to stay and watch 

Years later I became
desensitized to monsters
of all kinds with Mystery Science 
Theater and suddenly I saw
how phony these monsters
were. I could see the craziness
of these movies without feeling
fear and found the fun that my
friends so long ago had known

Of course, by that time
I no longer believed monsters
lived in closets and knew they
really lived in the real world
where I could not hide from
them and had to pray they
would not visit me
copyright 2014 by Barbara Ehrentreu


April 28, 2014
Prompt: Write about being Settled

A Life Unsettled

I thought my life was settled
A smooth sailing until the end
where eventually all would fade
and fly away, but into this
tranquil scene arrived a storm

No one realized how strong
this storm was 
Yet it continued to batter
and smash up his body
Unyielding and relentless
it continued to destroy

Until now the body is
weak and fighting, but
needs life support
for its breath

Nothing is settled
yet and we are in
limbo waiting for 
one small body
part to be healed
and go back to
its job of holding
air
copyright 2014 by Barbara Ehrentreu


April 29, 2014
Prompt: Write a Two for Tuesday poem either real of magical or in the style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.


Magic Universe

I would weave you
a cloak of golden
threads to cover
your shoulders
and heal your
wounds and you
would walk with
your old strength
beyond the hospital
doors and into a 
world where we
were floating in
an azure sky 
flying and flitting
never setting down

And that golden cloak
woven with the threads
of healing blossoms
colored with the whims
of all dreams
would repel all sickness
and you would be whole
again
copyright 2014 by Barbara Ehrentreu


Cold Reality

The news is harsh
Doctors deliver it in
measured tones as
if they knew more 
than they are saying
but they hold onto
some truths

Nurses are the 
buffers who slip
in and out ministering
to the patient without
judgement 
They keep me whole
for somehow I feel 
like an undone jigsaw
with pieces going
every which way
Not even able to find
the corners so I 
can begin to put
them back together

copyright 2014 by Barbara Ehrentreu

April 30, 2014

Prompt: Write a poem to Call it a Day

Ode to April

Don't want to call it a day

for April has been a 

resurgence of poems

and a refill for my

soul as each day

brought its prompt

I charged into the

words as they came

to me sharing all I 

wrote for friends 

and yet to be friends

in a secure bubble

of acceptance and

friendly discussion

Never thinking for

a minute that this

wasn't ready for 

all to read, though

some might not have

been honed as well

due to the hastiness

in which they were 

poemed

But thank you for the

outlet for I feel without

it I might have dissolved

into a gooey mess and

sat alone wondering

how long I could take

this endless illness in

my husband and feeling

sorry for myself like a 

petulant teen

With my words flowing onto 

the screen my mind 

unleashed and all went into

my poems a melange of

pain and discovery, frustration

and rare moments when 

I remembered the before times

when life was ebullient and 

effortless

When he was a young

dashing man and I a 

mere slip of a girl and

we were enclosed in

each other's arms

I am not ready to call it 

a day to write a poem

a day for it soothes me

like a warm cup of tea

copyright 2014 by Barbara Ehrentreu

Until the next time thank you again to all who have tweeted and retweeted my poems. I am so happy you found value in them. As you can see in my last poem I am not ready to call it a day and may continue to write and post more occasionally. Meanwhile I am going to copy all these April poems to the Poetry section of this blog. If you missed any you can find them there.:)