desert rain

I'm going to try to do NaPo this year! Yay! Yay... Yay?!?
Ready for it to kick my butt but it's ok lol

Goals:
-write 30 poems
-have them kind of connect? as like a "story"? be cohesive? HAVE A CONSISTENT THEME
-have fun!
-write more types of poems than just freeverse, aka get out of my comfort zone
-POST. EVERYTHING. EVEN IF IT SUCKS.
-Imagery and metaphors are your FRIEND GIRL

yup. here I go. wish me luck!

Spoiler

as for replying to comments, I might and I might not. I'm busy and socially awkward, so just know that if I like your comment, I've seen it and I really appreciate it

30/30!!!!

Woohooo your first NaPo! Best of luck ella, you've totally got this.

I'm trying to do a theme this year too, so we'll see how this goes... I'll definitely be checking out your thread to see how you incorporate a theme.

I love the goals you wrote, especially the post everything + get out of your comfort zone goals! In 30 days of poetry, not every poem's going to be fabulous on anyone's thread so might as well just post and see how you grow. Good luck again!

Spoiler

this poem isn't my fav, but I'm never going to write anything if i don't just...write? it? you get what I mean probably. this was supposed to be like the over-arching theme for the month, but we'll see where I go with it

Pre Napo Poem



I love you like i love the desert,
the hills rising and falling like the features of your face
reflecting the sun, lighting up as if you yourself are trying to compete with it.
I love you like i love each individual grain
coarse and secretive that could easily slip through my fingertips
as i try to hold it closely to my aching, empty chest.
I love you like i love the night sky reflected
on your now midnight surface changed gradually through a
western-movie-style sunset that I easily could ride off into forever.

I love you like i love the desert:
from the safety of my car, where your sinking sand and
crippling heat cannot touch me, nor your cutting heat can leave me dry.
Where I can hold something and have it
be solid and whole and stay with me, and not slip through like
your parasitic grains that get everywhere, even when I promise that I’ll be careful.
Where I cannot get lost in your curves and edges,
where what was once hot does not suddenly turn frigid
just through a slapped-on sunset to ease the pain of abandonment.

I love you like I love the desert,
from a distance.

april first



I wander over rust-burnt-hills,
and sandy, sun-kissed plains.
I wonder where my feet have been,
and where my head has lain.

I wander past the towering pillars
of striped, stocky canyon rock.
I wonder if they’ve seen the sea,
if a breeze could make them talk.

I wander through meetings of prickly plants,
and outbreaks of thirsty trees.
I wonder if I’m the outsider,
if the intruder here is me.

still april first lol (this isn't a part of the overarching theme)



did you know that you can see static electricity in the dark?

last night i stared into my ceiling
(beige paint is easy to get lost in)
blanket twisted between my limbs
crackling and popping

the fear is heart stopping
legs interlocking
a soft thunderstorm in between

isn’t it lovely my eyes are the only that have seen lightning sheets

in the midnight hours
nausea and memories reign
raining down until my
stomach is steeped with saltwater

i flipped coins in my head
heads im sick, tails im going back to sleep
every time Lincoln smiled, green and glowing
until my forehead pressed
against porcelain shame

isn’t the night sick a game
i can only rhyme my name with so many words
(and sleep isn’t one of them)

i exhaled oceans
and inhaled april air
that tasted more like sunshine and Easter (green and glowing)
than 12:07 AM vomit
and a lightning blanket hastily abandoned
beneath my feet

"your parasitic grains that get everywhere"


I hate sand. It's so coarse and irritating, and it gets everywhere!

All memes aside, I love this poem, and pretty much everything you write lol. Keep writing!!!!!!

april 2nd



I’ve never seen a memory as a tangible creation
the desert does things that drugs cannot
you’ll see moving pictures in the hot
you'll boil in frustration
and you can’t not
the desert feeds off of our fixations

I used to think we were paper people but now
I think we’re dehydration and heat waves
we’re all memory slaves
our words an empty vow
thought the thing our body craves
the only torture it will allow

I saw you in the indigo hours
a fleeting silhouette against the land
I tried to take you by my hand
you wilted drooping like a flower
your image sinking slowly into the sand
the taste left behind was gritty and sour

I’ve never seen a memory as a tangible creation
but I’ve seen your shadow across the moon
across the sun-kissed sand-dunes
you are my brain mutation
I cannot escape from you
the desert is a subtle damnation

Spoiler

im not really a fan of this one but we're going with it because im tired

april 3rd



my feet trod on dusty earth
when,
suddenly,
i stumble.
my foot caught on a snaking crack
a river
rough and running through the sandy earth.
which made me think
maybe the crack was a river once;
but I’ve decided I rather like the pattern the cracks make.

ellasnotebook wrote:you are my brain mutation
I cannot escape from you
the desert is a subtle damnation

This is a gem. I would have quoted the entire poem here, but your genius shows through so prominently here. Your desert theme is so interesting and I love how you wield these metaphors.

Poem #1 and #2 have such a good rhythm and I love that rhyme scheme you’ve got going on. They’re so smooth to read and I love playing them back in my head.

Poem #3 is interesting to me, and I like the imagery of the “cracks” instead of the “river.” That’s a powerful and brilliantly described image you’ve created there.

Awesome work so far! Can’t wait to read your future poems!

april 4



I’d never seen a sun so red when I saw it scuttling along
a speck of black as dark as night
and a stinger three men strong
crawled along the sandy earth
and slipped right up my arm
with no intention to sting or harm.
So I sat there with the poisonous beast
and watched the sun melt away
at the rare sight, so raw and clear
of a monster’s wily charm.

(yes that was a VeggieTales reference, yes I am almost fifteen, yes I am socially awkwark aND BAD AT REPLYING TO COMPLIMENTS SO PLEASE KNOW I JUST APPRECIATE YOU GUYS)

@PeijiRestoration
I didn't realize it but apparently the meme just seeped into my poem. I don't like memes...they're so dank and irritating...and they get everywhere.
Thanks also for all the compliments and encouragement!

@killeham
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed my poems!

april 5th

Spoiler

this isn't apart of the theme im just trying to get a pOEM IN

i force myself to smile as water pelts my back
i sway to the music
a bouncy 50’s song
that makes you wanna sing along
even if you don’t know the words

slowly the tears mix with the water
and I don’t have to force myself to smile
i dance worlds apart
recklessly in love with living
‘cos life could be a dream, sweetheart

april 7

Spoiler

I skipped yesterday (BOOOOO ME) so I'll have another one coming out after this one

one two;
one two;
i march steadily onwards
air like rippling waves during high tide
hanging salty-sunny
internal knife piercing my heaving side
all the way
through and through

three four;
three four;
i stagger haphazardly onwards
the monochromatic landscape blinding
reflecting the sad image
of a molasses girl slipping-sliding
all the way
to the floor

still april 7th



last night i watched light streak the skies
i wanted to try something romantic
so i tried to kiss the meteors
lighting up my eyes

last night i watched dead rocks take flight
they wanted to try something electric
so they tried to kiss the ground
and lit up that dark night