I invite my muse to stay for a long weekend
but it’s difficult finding my apartment
in this labyrinthine complex.
My text message directions are simple:
Turn left at the old Quaker Meetinghouse (not the new one)
Turn left at the run-down home by the lake in autumn
Turn left at the divorce you know is best for both
Turn left at the tree with poems rustling in the leaves
You might think you’ve turned completely around
but (Surprise!) it’s a spiral
I’m just not sure
if I’m at the center
or on the fringe.
But she still can’t find me
so I tell her to drive to Ohio
fifty-something years ago
that’s where it all started
and if she wants to get to where I am,
she’ll just have to take the same path.
(My final poem-a-day for April combined two prompts, Robert Lee Brewer’s write a surprise poem and the Poetry Superhighway’s write a poem in which you give very bad directions on how to find you.)
(Whew! I don’t have to write another poem until my next Fraiku!)
Bartholomew Barker, Poet 
We made it! Time to collapse. I haven’t written this much poetry in years. Not sure how good it is. And I have you to thank for it. (You can take that however you want.)
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I will accept both the credit and the blame. I figure that if I can get one or two of the thirty poems published (after revisions, obviously) then it’s been a successful month.
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Publishing? Well, I don’t know if I’ll go that far. I might submit a few. I don’t know.
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Then it’s already a success. The world is thirty poems more beautiful than it was on March 31st.
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32, actually :) Nah, 62. Add in your 30 as well.
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What a great poem, Bartholomew! Heck of a strong finish, congratulations!
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Thank you, Stacey! I am rather pleased with how it came out too.
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Fantastic Bartholomew! Congratulations! 🍾
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Thank you, Gypsie. And congratulations to you too! Your output this month dwarfed mine. You were regularly posting poems twice a day.
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Thank you so much Bartholomew – but to be fair, you work a full-time job and I am home. So, no competition there. Plus the quality of your missives was outstanding! ❤️
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Thank you, Gypsie. I suppose when I retire I’ll have to write two poems-a-day in April. (Ack!)
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I’ll be watching!! 😉
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You nailed the bad directions prompt. Very fun. Congratulations on Surviving the month
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Thanks, JM! I’m satisfied with my work this month but glad it’s over.
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Very Good
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Thanks! I can finally take a night off.
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To the tune of ‘Ding-dong The Witch Is Dead’ from ‘The Wizard of Oz’…..
Ding-dong the poems are done
Which old poems?
The April poems
Ding-dong the April poems are done.
They’ve gone
As all of Bart’s poems do
Onto his blog for you
To read and ‘like’
No more will he
Have to follow prompts
He can just let go –
So –
Heigh-ho the merry-o
Sing it high
Sing it low
Let them know
THE TASK FOR APRIL’S DONE!
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We’re not in April anymore!
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Hmmm…Labyrinths & Spirals…..
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/08/24/bernie-bell-walking-the-labyrinth-following-your-path/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/04/30/beltane-spiralslife-death-re-birth-on-going/
That’s LIFE.
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Yeah, I was hoping that no one would point out that spirals and labyrinths are really quite easy to navigate.
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A long and winding road, no doubt. Great imagery.
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Thanks!
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Love this one! Those muses sure do like to get lost.
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Thanks! I guess they wouldn’t be muses if they were reliable.
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