AUTO poem prompt

PAD: write an auto poem. Auto could mean automobile, automatic, automaton, or any number of possibilities.

NaPoWriMo: think about words buried in words. In particular, think about the words buried in your own name. Plug your name into an anagram generator, like this one, and try writing a self-portrait poem using words that are generated. (Don’t worry if it takes a minute or two to generate the anagrams — you’d be surprised how many different ones a name will generate — mine generted 107,144 anagrams, and I didn’t even use my middle name)!

Molly Fisk: April 24 prompt: trees near churches

BAD HAIR DAY

                  —Oh, what a tangled web we weave

                        Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, 1808

This morning I awoke with dreadlocks.

My granny would've dubbed it a mare's nest. 

What was I doing last night, 

dream-cruising with the Hells Angels? 

I contemplate the massive tangle 

strand by matted strand, or rather, twig by twig—

the catalyst from yesterday's losing battle 

with an overgrown crepe myrtle slowly dying for years—

falls out around me like a deconstructed nest

at an archaeological dig. 

As I crashed about in the underbrush, 

a hummingbird watched with vested interest. 

Patrolled and scolded me. Form follows form. 

I was flocked with a wreath of crepe myrtle

wings, stained the color of dying royalty, or sorrow.

I spray my nest with Neat's Foot oil,

bottled with enough patience to tame

a horse's tail or the industrial-sized "kitchen" 

nesting at the back of my neck.

Born with an abundance of impatience,

I once whacked my matted hair off at the nape. 

I was Samson, I was Delilah. Shorn

of my long locks, I was defrocked. 

I yanked on my hair to make it grow.

My mane is my Familiar, curled on my shoulder

like a ship's cat, or a feathered serpent

hissing protectively down the curve of my spine

to the trinity of sacrum, ischium and Ilium.

There was so much duff trapped in my hair, 

I had to sweep it out the door.

Soon, the birds will follow like gleaners

to scoop up my hair to line their nests.

5/13

30 Day Poetry Challenge: Instead of writing a poem, compose it out loud. Use a tape recorder, your smartphone, or have someone else write it down for you. Don’t over think it! Spend no more than 15 minutes “writing.”