April PAD (Poem-a-Day) Challenge: Day 14 "Sundays in Oklahoma"

It’s Sunday evening, and here I sit (on my front porch, accompanied by Scotch and cigarettes), preparing Saturday’s poem. I do hate falling behind like this. I intended to follow Friday’s poem, which I posted late last night, with Saturday’s poem, but ideas were lacking at 2am. Often I think better late at night. Yesterday, that wasn’t the case. Perhaps anxiety, multiplied by my wife’s even greater anxiety, about the severe storms in the area coupled with exhaustion from a day filled with family activities limited my cognitive function. The family activities were fun, even more so than usual, and included opening day at Cherry Street Farmers’ Market, hanging out at Shades of Brown, and an afternoon poetry walk. Here are my girls taking a break during the walk to “write” their own poems.

Pardon the long intro. Let us get to work. The prompt for Saturday, 14 April is “write a doomsday poem. Some of you may remember the world was supposed to end last year (actually twice last year), but that’s nothing new. Every few years there seems to be a new “end of world” prediction (anyone remember Y2K?). In fact, this year had a movie made after it in relation to the Mayan calendar (btw, my dad is one of those who actually believes in the 2012 doomsday prediction), and there’s a whole industry built around end times preparations. So why not write a poem about it?” I find this an interesting choice after the “unlucky poem” prescribed for Friday the 13th. My “unlucky poem” was quite dark, so a humorous interpretation for Doomsday may be in order.

“Sundays in Oklahoma”

I had a sip of wine at church, but
the Rector wouldn’t tilt the chalice enough.
I fired up the grill in the afternoon, immediately
craving an ice cold brew. Then I recalled
the date–Sunday. Only 3-point on the shelves
at the corner store. Package stores shut
for the holy day. Whole in my day.

April PAD Challenge: Day 1 “Scenes Shot in Super 8″
April PAD Challenge: Day 2 “Adobe Café”
April PAD Challenge: Day 3 “Confession Booth”
April PAD Challenge: Day 4 “100% Juice”
April PAD Challenge: Day 5 “Uncle Harry”
April PAD Challenge: Day 6 “Hide ‘n’ Seek”
April PAD Challenge: Day 7 “Political Discourse”
April PAD Challenge: Day 8 “Heart 2.0″
April PAD Challenge: Day 9 “Yoga Class”
April PAD Challenge: Day 10 “Holly Bushes”
April PAD Challenge: Day 11 “Spring”
April PAD Challenge: Day 12 “Something Wrong”
April PAD Challenge: Day 14 “Tough Luck”
10 National Poetry Month Activities

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