They Blush at Their Shocking Beauty (2020) photograph by Maria L. Berg

A to Z Challenge

variation(s) – the transformation of a melody or theme with changes or elaborations in harmony, rhythm, and melody.

vibration – Any rapid, repeating undulatory or tremulous movement; it is vibration that causes all sound.

virtuoso – One who is extremely skilled at performing upon an instrument

NaPoWriMo

Prompt: Writing After James Schuyler’s “Hymn to Life” a prompt by Hoa Nguyen

PAD Challenge

Prompt: Write a remix poem

This prompt inspired me to look back through what I’ve written this month and the one poem that inspired a remix was the one that started with a line from the anne carson bot: A Future Voice in the Dark. Changing that first line and the title, got the words flowing into my present tense poem to go with the Hoa Nguyen prompt.

The poem

To Study This Twinkling

How long can I study this twinkling? A vibrato in time and space defining now. I remove my pajamas to put on sweats, I am on the way to the mailbox, walk to the car to make sure it starts, the red BRAKE light comes on, it roars to life, I hear “DIY Quarantine” from a voice on the radio, flip the key to off and open the door, so I won’t hear anymore. I jump out, pull the door handle to make sure it’s locked, habits leave traces of the before. I continue my journey, moss creeps across the driveway, bits of dead fir branches rest on the bushes, the mailbox has spiderwebs over the lock. I am delighted to see Poets & Writers in there. I don’t see anyone, I don’t hear a car, I hurry back. The drizzle is cold. I place the mail on the counter–wash my hands with soap and water. But the magazine? I use hand sanitizer on the magazine, but I’m not ready to sit with it yet. I hear “this is it, the apocalypse” and “I’ll pay you at another time.” Words that alligator to this moment. Uninvited, they bite right through. “I go back into the breathing method,” words of a mountain climber clinging to sanity guide me to common ground. The sun breaks through, the world completely changes. Shocks of crimson and blush, pearl and violet jar my senses as I swivel. I grab my camera and run outside. This study ends, a new one begins.