2020 APRIL POEM-A-DAY, PROMPT #28

/ Poetic Bloomings

Welcome April! A poet’s favorite month! 🙂

DAY 28 prompt from Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides:  Two for Tuesday! Write a look back and/or a don’t look back poem. 
Link to Poetic Asides PAD Challenge Day 28

Want to use a form, and need help choosing one? Here’s our Bloomin’ list ( 😉 ): Inform Poets .

Welcome to April, Bloomers! We’re glad you are here! We will provide Robert’s 2020 April Poem-a-Day Challenge prompts right here at Poetic Bloomings each day.  We will suspend our own Sunday prompts during April, in favor of simply poeming alongside the WD Poetic Asides group.

If you share your poems here (and we hope you will!), we also want to urge you to post at PA, as well.  The idea is not to take away from Robert’s site, but to have a place where our Bloomers can easily share our poems daily, and interact and encourage one another throughout the month.  No need to wait for moderation, here.  We are a small and intimate group. We know you!  And we are better for it!

ANNOUNCEMENT:
This Friday (May 1), look for Walt’s weekly “For Your Consideration” prompts to begin again.  We will also resume our Sunday morning “Seed” prompts, and Wednesday “Inform Poet” prompts.  Enjoy the remaining days of Robert Lee Brewer’s April PAD Challenge at Asides, and then let’s jump back into tending our garden here at Bloomings!

❤

Connect, keep healthy, and poem on!

41 thoughts on “2020 APRIL POEM-A-DAY, PROMPT #28”

  1. SATCHEL PAIGE COMES TO MIND

    He had
    some great sayings,
    one, about looking back:
    don’t do it, for something might be
    gaining.

  2. D
    A
    Y
    28

    Trying to Recall

    When was it, at which point,
    that I started looking back,
    trying to remember?

    When was it, I wonder,
    that bananas lost their flavor?
    Though I think, lately, they found it.

    When did it happen,
    that all my friends got old?
    Not all of them, but most.

    When was it, exactly,
    that running became impossible?
    And, recently, walking sort of hurts.

    When did it happen,
    that all my friends got old?
    Not all of them, but most.

    When were the years
    that my parents died?
    I think I’ve now outlived them.

    When did we stop traveling,
    was it after that long September?
    Maybe we live now where we used to go.

  3. Successful Navigation

    4/28/20

    Look back only briefly, my friend,
    only to see where you’ve been.
    Then press ahead, eye on your goals,
    to avoid life’s pitfalls and black holes.

  4. SCORCHED EARTH, by Walter J Wojtanik

    Condescending diatribe,
    incendiary words meant to consume
    the essence of all in its path.
    A logical progression
    in the succession of all things in sight.
    Leaving nothing behind,
    an endless string of pathos and heart,
    a man who could fashion line,
    chapter and verse, and what’s worse,
    stand by his convictions to rise
    above the smouldering ashes,
    proverbial phoenix of passion’s pyre.
    The fire within becomes his sin,
    leaving nothing in his wake,
    taking stock of every nuance
    of worded profundity, the undoing
    of a finely crafted association,
    no celebration; no elation.
    Just the station to which he has
    himself resigned. For in his mind,
    he holds the flint that will spark
    his survival; a revival. He will not
    look back lest he turn to salt.
    Poetic Gomorrah is burning.
    He will not fan the flames.
    Just let the bastard burn and walk away.

    • I don’t know your story, Walt, but this leaves me very unsettled. Powerful words and images and I like to think of “For in his mind, he holds the flint that will spark
      his survival; a revival. He will not look back lest he turn to salt.” as a rising of your phoenix.

  5. NINE MINUTES, by Walter J Wojtanik

    You come and stay for hours,
    amidst the psychedelic flowers
    and impossible scenarios.
    Running past streets and barrios
    with Joses and Marios, looking
    for solace in a night full of frightful
    turns and plot twists. You’ve wished you
    can finish a complete thought,
    but your REM cycle keeps running out of gas.
    In the foggy distance, a wail. It never fails.
    It seems just when you get
    to the good part of your dreams you have to depart,
    trying to restart every nine minutes for an hour
    until your snooze alarm comes back to call.

  6. I’ve written more than one on the idea of living in the past, looking in life’s rear view too much. Here’s another:

    Focus

    The journey of life is likened to
    A perpetual vacation of sorts
    The major focus is straight ahead
    With side glances here and there
    So rarely do we look in the rear view

    But when we do it should be for reference
    For where we’ve been is important when
    Considering where we are heading
    Or to correct a possible wrong turn
    And get back on the right road

    So look back sparingly
    A quick glance once in a while
    Keep your focus on life’s road
    And live full speed ahead

  7. Another day, another press briefing, and another news media filled with as much hype and alarm as they can muster. It’s sad, but that’s the state of affairs in this divided environment. Hopefully they’ll all get together and quit playing politics, but I doubt it. It’s the age-old fight between good and evil that will go on until the return of Christ.

    The Corona Look-Back

    Who was wrong or who was right
    Who acted first or who drug their feet
    What could have been done differently?
    Only time will give answers

    Where it came from is still in question
    And who knew that didn’t speak up?
    Is there a vast conspiracy from a group
    with evil intentions and money galore?
    Only time will give answers

    It’s obvious that politics are at play
    It’s obvious our rights are being trampled
    It’s obvious the hype is massively overblown
    And it’s obvious we will get through this
    Just how, only time will tell

    One day we will look back on Corona
    Hopefully with all the right answers
    Some will be appalled at the truth
    Others will vehemently scream in denial
    Hopefully we will learn the lesson that
    Nothing is at all as it seems
    Still, only time will tell

  8. Musings on Looking Back

    One thing I’ve learned. What’s done is done.
    The past has been written in indelible ink.
    Carved into a tree. Etched on glass. Chiseled in stone.

    I feel the seconds moving in a steady stream
    yesterday is gone and the day before that and the
    day before that all the way back to the first I can
    remember. All those gone days. Gone.

    I salute you, yesterday, thankful for getting as far as I have.
    But, I’ll not slow down and deconstruct you, or grieve, or
    wish I’d done this or that because I must be nimble to keep
    step with the seconds remaining and write on in indelible
    ink the history of me.

  9. I’LL NEVER LIVE IT DOWN

    At times, my mind gets drifty,
    and I sound pretty ditsy.
    Like when I said
    (my face is red)
    that hindsight’s fifty-fifty.

    © Marie Elena Good, 2020

  10. Milestones

    During the times I feel like
    I’ve accomplished precious little,
    I like to look back and try to remember
    everything I did manage to pull off.

    And for one freeing moment
    I forget the regrets,
    botch ups, boo boos
    and all the stupid things
    I’ve surprised myself with
    over the years.

    Patting yourself on the back
    once in a while is healthy.

    Memory Gifts

    I love to look back
    and write poems about my childhood
    and pass them off to unsuspecting relatives
    at family reunions.
    It’s interesting to get different perspectives
    of the same people and events.
    And when someone does actually remember
    the same thing it makes my memories
    less like a dream.

    Early Memory

    One of my earliest memories
    is when my aunt made me a birthday cake
    with red roses and green lettering.
    She held it down low so I could see it.
    I said, “It looks delicious.”

    She and Mom laughed,
    expressing their surprise
    at me saying such a big word.
    I wondered, “How stupid do they think I am?”
    Ever after, I wonder if there are times
    when I make a child feel that way.

  12. Caregiver

    She never looks back
    Her past is now the present
    Tomorrow never comes
    I will pick up the pieces
    Be her guide into the future

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