Prompt from: Stories from the Jukebox

Prompt by: Rick West primalbeet

Prompt #36 : Life During Wartime: Song by Talking Heads

No Significant Loss

A politician strolls 

Down the street

Urgency not 

Evident 

Minding his own business

Minding his own time

Reflecting on incidents and patterns 

Reflecting on the larger picture

Effective routines and lock stepped ways

Molding

Catering 

Delivering 

His thoughts

His ideas

Past the knoll on the right

Where calm protesters gather 

Chanting slogans 

Talking in peaceful tones

Predictable patter 

Open and honest

Urging peace

Urging sanctity

Urging restraint

Urging 

Urging

Strolling on

Strolling on

Past the angry young men

Past the tear gas and rubber bullets

Past the domineering attitudes

Past the weapons and destruction

Night after night

Day after day

The battle wages 

On 

On

Strolling

Strolling

Past the night clubs 

Past the dangerous bars

Where war is waged openly

For the least of provocations

Nightly 

Wildly

Disrespect intended

And delivered

Strolling on

Strolling on

Tired and sore

Tired and alone

Thoughtful concerns

Pass by the wayside

Dreaming sets in 

Vacation time

Money making ideas

Expansion on his terms

 

Echoes Of A Heart

I am participating in the National Poetry Writing Month on Substack. You can find the poems for April 8 to 14 if you click on the link below.

Day 10

Prompt by: Writer pilgrim Substack: NaPoWriMo 2026

Prompt: Write a meditation on grief.  Three short stanzas, the second of which is entirely made up of a rhetorical dialogue. 

Darkness rides on taut fishing lines

Heartbeats heavy, mired in grief

Painful, sorrowful, lacking understanding

Anger grows with no relief

Why are there echos unbidden in my ears? 

Why are there echoes as I wander through forests dark? 

Why are there echoes breaking wave upon wave?

Wishing they never had to start

Dreams alone are not suffice

Blackened conversations muted, desultory

My heart yearns for a different outcome

Not wishing to live in this allegory

Still Living and Giving

 She headed out Saturday morning,

On a mission she could not fail.

She used to host the family dinner 

Now was reduced to one small detail.

She climbed down the steps of the town bus,

The driver lifted her walker for her,

She was slow but very determined...

It was at the back of the store she was sure.

It seemed a great distance to travel

but she shuffled her walker along,

And there was the freezer section

Where the frozen vegetables belonged.

She picked up the one stamped "Great Value"

It seemed an inflated cost

She wondered what size she needed

And into the basket she tossed.

She shuffled to a line with a teller

She hated the new "self check-out"

Laying her mixed vegetables on the counter,

She had done her part no doubt.

She used to host Easter dinner,

No longer was she able to do

But she was still living and giving

Now her family had to help her too.