09/16/25 A New Ovillejo for a New Day

Photo Credit: juan pablo rodriguez

Who feels anxious every hour?
Those in power

Where does the devil make his perch?
In the Church

When are we most resigned to fate?
When we hate

Even now, it is not too late
To look past how it’s been defined
To ascertain what lies behind
Those in power in the church when we hate

Today’s poem is an ovillejo, or at least my attempt at one.

Blast from the Past:

Oh what do you do
With your time when you finish
With all of this hate?

09/14/25 A New Poem for a New Day

Photo Credit: Mohammad Mardani

I woke up this morning to darkness
Where am I? What am I doing?
The world feels quiet, like an absent dream
What should I do now?
I sit up before realizing that I would rather go back to bed
To that bed where my rescinding dream invites me back
Where neither time nor light matter
Where I do not need a purpose to keep going

Blast from the Past:

The wave meets the beach.
Is it a beach without sand?
You’re dreaming again.

09/09/24 A New Imayo for a New Day

Photo Credit: alatyren

He kneels for a nice long sob – soft licks smear his face
He turns his glum gaze outwards – his dog pants waiting
Tears breach the dam his eyes held – the dog strides his lap
He whimpers now aware that someone’s there to care

This is my first attempt at an imayo, a form of poetry made of 4 lines. Each is 12 syllables, split into a 7 syllable and 5 syllable section.

Blast from the Past:

Wake happy and cry
By the day’s end. Start doubting
And end satisfied.

09/07/25 A New Poem for a New Day

Photo Credit: Aurela Redenica

I
Grow
My
Grand
Lie
To
Fly
So
High

This is a poem form I invented, based on Magic 9 poems, which I was reading about recently. Basically, each line must be one syllable and must follow the rhyme scheme: abacadaba.

Blast from the Past:

I stand here confused.
I shake my wings intently,
But I do not fly.

09/05/25 A New Than-Bauk for a New Day

Photo Credit: Soheb Zaidi

It’s here I wait
At the gate where
My late bus isn’t.

I just look on
Eying dawn as
A yawn consumes

They all still sleep
Few cars creep past
No peep from them

If my eyes take
A quick break, will
It snake right past?

Today’s poem is a than-bauk.

Blast from the Past:

Once again I face
The dauntingly simple task
Of falling asleep…

09/03/25 A New Sijo for a New Day

Photo Credit: Tan Dao

She told me that we were no longer together
But I could not love again if she and I were to part
So it’s with much trepidation that I give both of you my heart

Today, I tried writing a sijo.

Blast from the Past:

A hell of a ride
We had, but you thought we were
Riding to heaven.

09/01/25 A New Palindrome Poem for a New Day

Photo Credit: Rob Griffin

Silent men
Make monsters
Scream
Monsters make
Men silent

This is my first go at a palindrome poem. The idea is that after a certain hinge word (in my case “scream”) the rest of the poem repeats the same words backwards.

Blast from the Past:

Must we feign surprise
When monsters return after
We bred them so long?

08/31/25 A Magic 9 Poem for a New Day

Photo Credit: Pexels

Eyes glued forward, beyond the rise and fall
Too afraid to look another way
The wind howls its persistent call
A slap across my face
The boat inches on its slow crawl
Nothing can change its glacial pace
“Forward!”, “Forward!” I try to call
Get me to another day
Beyond the rise and fall

Today’s poem is a Magic 9 poem, a 9 line poem following this rhyme scheme: abacadaba. Evidently, this form of poetry was invented as a typo of abracadabra, but without the r’s.

Blast from the Past:

I’ll try again to
Right the ship that veers off course
Towards oblivion