The Sky Gave Me Its Heart

On By Adam AstraIn Poetry, Poetry Challenge, writingLeave a comment

~Week 49: Cento~

The Sky Gave Me Its Heart

The sky gave me its heart
No one believed what happened
Will they wake with their hearts wanting to play
fallen Phoenix that sang out from the fire of union

There are wars where no one marches with a flag
so I run to my garden and start digging potatoes
with such love and power

Most carry their values and knowledge in a jug

I guess I should not have jumped naked
desperate in need of
a blessed gratitude
and even a man can become

A note on my original cento

I chose to create my poem from a single anthology: Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, edited and translated by Daniel Ladinsky. From this anthology, I decided to borrow one line from each of the twelve featured poets in sequential order. The line number from each line in the original poem coincides with the number of the line used in my cento. For example, the third line of Rumi’s ‘The Way Wings Should’ became the third line of my own poem, and so on through the poem’s twelve lines. My cento features one line from each of these poets (listed in order): Rabia, St. Francis of Assisi, Rumi, Meister Eckhart, St. Thomas Aquinas, Hafiz, St. Catherine of Siena, Kabir, Mira, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Tukaram.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Cento form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

My Muse, she sings but softly

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~Week 48: Rispetto~

My Muse, she sings but softly

My Muse, she sings but softly these warring days
With her harmonious sisters Voice and Verse;
Their chantsongs echoing faint and far away,
Will not reach me here to end this silent curse.
To dark and ancient music, to thund’rous drums,
We used to dance the twilight, shimmer, and hum.
I need their sweet music, their timbre, and tone.
I can hardly bear to sing my voice alone.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Rispetto form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

June 20, 2020

On By Adam AstraIn Poetry, Poetry Challenge, writingLeave a comment

~Week 47: Seguidilla~

The legendary dance halls
Of Barcelona     
Are empty; all the dancers
Are dancing at home.
Meanwhile, in Tulsa
Ignorance throws a rally;
Every seat is full. 

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Seguidilla form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

Witness the Power of Growing Things

On By Adam AstraIn Original Poetry, Poetry, Poetry ChallengeLeave a comment

~Week 46: The Nonet

Witness the Power of Growing Things

Witness the power of growing things:
Revolutions of nature, life
Like leaves and petals spreading,
Like stems and trunks rising,
Voluminous fruits,
Tender berries,
Bound in a
Single
Seed.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Nonet form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

June Garden

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~Week 45: The Dodoitsu~

June Garden

Black-eyed Susans, snapdragons
and lavender for the bees;
sugar water, Wendy’s Wish
for the hummingbirds.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Dodoitsu form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

Handshakes and High Fives [an epitaph]

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~Week 44: The Epitaph~

Handshakes and High Fives
? – 2020

While bows and waves
May yet survive,
We must say farewell
To handshakes and high fives.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Epitaph form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

I Sing the Blues

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~Week 43: The Monotetra~

I Sing the Blues

When all the words I write confuse;
When my weak voice won’t reach the muse,
And life shows me no other hues,
I sing the blues; I sing the blues.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Monotetra form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

Staying

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~Week 42: The English Madrigal~

Staying

For now, we are content to stay inside.
The troubles of the world will wax and wane,
But as each season ends, our love remains.

Sometimes the storms of early May will hide
the sun and send a sudden rush of rain.
For now, we are content to stay inside.
The troubles of the world will wax and wane.

Although we’ve had to set some plans aside,
The garden will be waiting and will gain
As all of life will strengthen by our pains.
For now, we are content to stay inside.
The troubles of the world will wax and wane,
But as each season ends, our love remains.

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the English Madrigal form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —

Featured Poem: Mark Sanders – The Still Life

On By Adam AstraIn mindfulness, PoetryLeave a comment
Image by liuksena from Pixabay

The Still Life
by Mark Sanders

Now — just at that silent place,
between sadness and gratitude,
wind-worn balances we all weather —
a cardinal leaps from a bare trim limb,
its red bloom lingering. The sun down
in deepening darkness
where night clouds consume it,
evanescence of orange and purple.

How moment passes, how memory
holds. The heart must break
if it has ever felt joy. The heart must
break because diminished things matter,
and having mattered hold, still.
You were here. For us. Then break, heart.
Your fingers lie upon the pulse of our days.

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~ Reproduced from the New York Times article~
~For more on Mark Sanders, click here ~

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~I claim no ownership of the content shared.~

at my desk

On By Adam AstraIn Poetry, Poetry Challenge, writingLeave a comment

~Week 41: The Kimo~

at my desk

beside a leaning stack of old notebooks
one hand rests on empty page
one on warm coffee mug

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Click Here to learn more about the Fifty-Two Form Poetry Challenge.

Click Here to learn more about the Kimo form.

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— A sample of what you’ll find at my new blog, Astra Poetica —

~ Featuring a new form every week! ~

— Creative works are owned by the author and subject to copyright laws —