I could feel the hot sun on my back as I swam deeper under water.

Missy told me to go into the water without her, she wanted to finish her sandwich and read one more chapter before getting her hair wet.

We had been coming to this beach since we were kids, the two hour drive started to feel shorter the older we got. We still stopped at the same highway rest stop every year, loading up on family sized bags of chips and energy drinks.

Missy would wait in the coffee line and I would run into the convenience store for food.

We always spent the first half of the day on the sand, sitting under the umbrella soaking in the sounds and smells of the Atlantic. The cost of parking in Gloucester rose every year and we would make sure to get our money worth.

It wasn’t surprising that I grew impatient waiting for my sister and ran in ahead of her. The peace I felt surrounded by salt water had no rival.

Soaking in the moment, I stopped swimming and just took a second to float. My whole body covered as I laid motionless under water. I could feel my body rising back up to the surface.

The water still held onto the sound. I couldn’t hear anyone yelling to come back.

The warmth of the sun left my skin.

I felt something slimy brush up against my foot.

Years of jellyfish stings had trained me not to startle at the feeling. Instead, my body went still. I closed my eyes tighter and willed my heartbeat to slow down.

Nervously the rate of its pumping would lead to a sting.

The slimy touch wrapped around my foot, bumpy scales held tight. Once I felt the creature squeeze onto my skin, I tried to swim back towards the surface.

Arms overhead with open eyes, I tried to orient myself.

I came nose to nose with it, a turtle headed dragon. My eyes traced its snake like body a hundred yards until it ended around my foot.

Scales of blues and greens, it studied me. Watching for the first sign of attack. It made no effort to claim any more of my leg, only holding steady to the foot in its grasp.

My lungs were running out of time but the creature showed no sign of release.

There was a moment of panic, then a moment of acceptance. This would me my last summer road trip with my sister.

The salt water that was for so long my peace, would become my coffin.

My vision lost color slowly until the edges of my vision faded and the world went black.

I woke up coughing, someone I didn’t know pushing onto my chest. My back pushed into the sand of the beach.

Once the crowd cleared, I looked down to my leg where the creature held me. There was no swelling or redness from its touch.

The only reminder left behind was blue and green dragon scale tattooed onto the leg held by the dragon.

The next year, when I finally was ready to get back into the water, my lungs never felt like they would run out of air.

Thank you to for creating a wonderful challenge, to take inspiration from local folklore.

The Gloucester serpent had sighting reported all over the Massachusetts coast during the fifteenth century.

What a wonderful and silly story, I added my own flair at the end. The best part of a folktale is being a part of it.

Until next time sweet Chickadees.

ttyn,

xx Marie

Welcome to NaPoWriMo’s week two wrap up. I took day six off, so here is April seventh through twelfth! There were a few sneaky previews published on my Instagram, so follow me over there if you want to get closer to real time updates.

I wrote a poem every day but decided to try a weekly publication approach. All the parameters are the same, I used ’s daily prompts, a tarot card pull, and a topic from my secrete notes app list.

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I hope you like this mini collection of poems for weeks two!

prompt: write a poem in the style of Cecily Parks front yard rhyme

Apothecary Cabinet (Day 7)

trinkets, tinctures, cup of glass

little spells make seasons pass

sparkles, sprinkles, days to long

add some moonbeam to this song

tap your foot and raise a hand

no one owns the grassy lands

one foot, two feet in a pinch

add a wink, try not to flinch

prompt: use a simple phrase repeatedly, and then make statements that invert or contradict that phrase

Library (Day 8)

I was not a library

I was a child sitting on your lap

I was old, cracked window frames and crumbling brick

The warn pages repaired with to much tape

belong to me

the soft corners, worn with age

I wear them proudly

I was not a library

I was a cool safe place for travelers to rest their feet

I was a 500 piece puzzle solved by a whole community

I taught the old and the young

I was not a library

my walls were

a museum of dead trees

and words written yesterday

prompt: write in the voice of an animal/plant/poem

Crow (Day 9)

The light shines off her brownish feathers

They will fall off soon, to be replaced by a uniform black

Each flap of my wing, a steady beat, we work for every moment of flight

I know my mother, and my mothers mother

I’ve watched my sisters children grow

We all grieved my uncle last spring, sat in a circle and called his name.

You won’t see me until the spring

Maybe you will mistake me for my larger cousins

The ravens are so much like us

Using sticks and tricks to eat and survive

We take what we need, and sometimes we take because we can.

We are lucky to learn from each other

Growing and changing, but keeping our ways

Generation to generation.

Prompt: write a meditation on grief

Ghost - (Day 10)

I hear you when a song

plays on the radio. A

stem from your funeral

still hangs in my car.

A photo of you sits

on my bookshelf. Keeping

my most precious treasures

company.

I still remember just what

your voice sounds like.

But I know one day,

I will forget.

Prompt: Erasure poetry

Chances (Day 11)

down on one knee

fists

knife

attacking.

Yet,

skill kneeling on the ground.

only seconds to get through.

trying to keep the fear.

my knees buckle

I accept my fate

think of something

I came here

to find you.

prompt: a poem that recounts a memory of a beloved relative

Lemons (Day 12)

Grandma Rosemary’s kitchen always

smelt like lemons and bleach

she lined up handmade

potholders above her sink

we would pick her blueberries every summer

then run inside with purple stained mouths

the drawer with her deck of cards

would always catch when you opened it

a game of gin rummy

we would bet Oreo cookies and Cheerios.

she never let me win

i wanted more chances to try

I hope you liked these poems! One more shout out for for coming up with such wonderful and thought provoking daily prompts. Which one in collection one was your favorite?

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Thanks for reading.

ttys,

xx Marie

Happy Palm Sunday (Orthodox) / Easter / Passover / First Sunday night in April to all who celebrate (I no longer celebrate Palm Sunday or Easter, instead took the day for rest). The Artemis II is officially closer to the moon then it is the Earth. Christina Koch has traveled farther into space than any other woman. I am in awe of this crew.

April showers have officially begun in the North East and today I napped to the sound of raindrops crashing against my window. How lucky am I to have a soft couch to sleep, roof to protect me from the rain, and window to let me safely listen from a distance. Many do not have these pleasures.

I decided not to run with the provided NaPoWriMo daily prompt for today so I could focus on gratitude and softness. Both the prompt provided by Writers Pilgrim and my daily tarot card, pushed me in the direction of conflict and tension but the world has enough of these things.

So instead, I will focus on the cards inverted meaning and a gentle topic from my personal list. Please enjoy softness as we wind down the end of this first Sunday in April.

softness

plush pillows and gentle touch

the wind whispers and the trees sway

at her song

buds flourish into petals,

then sink back into soil

coffee and tea both start with dripping water

in a chipped cup shes loved

for years

Happy spring, happy sunday, happy trails. Meet you right back here tomorrow.

ttfn,

xx Marie 🌻

Its NaPoWriMo day four 🪶🪶🪶🪶

Today’s prompt is all about embracing a ‘traditional’ poem format around the theme of weather. ’s official day 4 prompt, craft your own short poem that involves a weather phenomenon and some aspect of the season.

Our from the list theme is rain boots and our tarot card pull of the day is 🥁🥁🥁

Rain Boots

Rubber soles with little daffodils,

Birds fly, chirping Maui parrotbill

Bumps cover my skin,

a dry cold felt in my bones

I wish to be known

by the sound of boot splashing,

and the song of my laughing

This poem feels so sweet 🥺. Thank you for all these delightful daily challenges. You should go check them out. Even if you aren’t interested in writing your own poetry, they have so many amazing poetry recommendations.

ttys,

xx Marie 🌻

Welcome to poetry after dark, were I think it’s a good idea to publish something I wrote after 9 PM. I’ve spent my day working and doing all the evening things, so this is the very first moment I have had to open my laptop.

Today’s poetry challenge is to get inspired by Prabodh Parikh’s Treasure Hunt1 and “write a poem in which a profession or vocation is described differently than it typically is considered to be”. After consulting my box of tricks, our theme is Solar Panels and our tarot card is Knight of Quills aka swords.

Salesman

Close another before the month end,

what happened to save the planet,

approve another build plan,

before the money goes to the competitor,

she didn’t care about dollars or signed paperwork,

greed tried to sneak into her veins,

while the power grid failed,

the big boy in charge gets rich,

and she just wanted to help.

This prompt really challenged me and honestly I really strayed from the path. Thematic guard rails aside, I really like it. We will see if I still feel the same way in the morning.

The point of a daily challenge like this isn’t to have 29 perfect poems, it’s just to write them down and share them. So, on the 3rd day of the challenge, I get another green check. Done is better then perfect after all.

ttfn,

xx Marie

Happy NaPoWriMo Day 2!

After reviewing ’s prompt for today write your own poem in which you recount a childhood memory, I was a bit stumped. Between a few concussions and other things, I don’t actually remember to much from my childhood and adolescents. Then I remembered, I have a secret weapon and I went to my office to grab my cards. I didn’t even shuffle today, I just picked up the deck and looked at the bottom card. What was looking back at me, the moon.

This gorgeous card symbolizes intuition and dreams. That is absolutely perfect because of two very important things, one yesterday was a record breaking event for humanity (the launch of Artemus II) and two I was a space kid.

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Growing up, I was sure I was going to be an astronaut. From maybe four years old until thirteen this was the only career path I cared about. I read every book in my public libraries children’s department on the moon, the planets, and beyond. Since, I have pivoted a few times and ended up in research in a much broader sense but the moon card gave me the inspiration I needed for today’s poem.

The Moon 🌙

Little girl with feet on the ground

Your world reaches to the stars

Reading stories that take you beyond your world

like a rocket, no one can hold you back

Flipping smooth pages, imagining the thick

fabric of the space suite, holding you in

the gravity holding you down releases

nothing can keep you

you hold the controls

you are the one in command

the moon will welcome you

and the earth will eagerly wait, for you

to come home

I hope you liked the moon! Thank you again to for another delightful prompt today. I hope you, the reader, have an opportunity to write a poem today or sometime this month.

Meet you back here tomorrow.

ttfn,

xx Marie 🌻

Happy first day of National Poetry Writers Month (NoPoWrMo)!

My goal is to write and publish one poem almost everyday. On the 15th, and I publish the first of our All Roads Lead to Rome series. This months prompt is a missing person returns and I have ideas.

I have a list of themes sorted out in a note on my phone, and I will be following the poetry challenge provided by and day one is all about girlhood.

Today’s challenge, write a tanka poem which is five lined Japanese poem structure that closely resembles a haiku with a few extra lines.

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These poems will have 3 points of inspiration. The first being the poem type provided by Writer Pilgrim, the second being a topic from my notes app list and the third will be a tarot card pull. Today I pulled what is serendipitous the most perfect card for this topic, the six of teacups (aka the six of cups).

This card represents nostalgia, childhood memories, and innocents. Hand to the sky (I know its April fools but I do not participate in pranks), I swear I did not go searching for this card. I shuffled a few times and this card sat at the top of the deck.

Girlhood

She makes wishes on weeds

For sunny days and cold lemonade

She trusts what you say

So be careful with her heart

Promises make memories

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Come back tomorrow for another poem, the topic seeds and sprouts 🌱

Have a wonderful day, you are so loved.

xx Marie

I pulled up to the house with my truck full of gear like any other call, lightly tap down the break until the engine fully stops in front of the brownstone house and stomp on the clutch to move the gearshift to parked. Bert makes a hiss of defiance, pushing 300,000 units, he should have been parked and pulled apart for scrap years ago. He was my mothers before me, she covered him front and back with little paintings of tree frogs and garden snakes. You would think I was a gardener, not a chimney sweep.

All my equipment on the other hand, that is all state of the art. Kelc worked with me to perfect the designs for each one. The industry standard caged belt clip wire pipe cleaner is coated with color changing rainbow rubber. It sits iridescent when its turned off and hung up inside the van. Once I plug it in it turns a honey yellow then slowly changes to midnight blue as it works on the project. When the task is done, it plays a delightful little melody designed after archaic cutlery cleaning devices we saw once visiting a museum.

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Today I visit Ms. Clar, her apothecary production has been stalled due to her whole kitchen filling with smoke last night. She called my assistant in a panic, begging for the first spot of the day. I step out of my van, leaving my equipment behind to walk a curacy lap around her home. After looking over her exhaust vents and chimney spout, I head to her front door. She opens it before I had the chance to knock, which is unsurprising in a town of witched. I almost never knock on a door in Mount Rainn.

“You are first on my list Clove, I heard you got smoked out last night.” I tell her avoiding eye contact at all costs.

“You have always taken your time waking up Winnie. 10 in the morning is not what I would call first thing.” She says looking up at me with a scowl.

“I get up when I feel good and ready Mrs. Clar. If I wanted to punch in at 8 I would work for the mill. Now would you like me to take a look at your spout or make my way to my next client?” I tell her, putting as much honey in my voice as I can.

She raises her shoulders in a puff and turns to let me in. I walk around the maze of her cottage, dodging book cases and old reading chairs as I make my way to the hearth in the kitchen.

I move the unlit candles, caldron, and dried herbs out of my way then grab my torch from my pocket and have a look inside the whyth.

“Clove, have you been whistling as you simmer again?” I ask her, with my head up the base of the chimney.

“You know my remedies come out the best when they are made to a little shanty.” She tells me.

“You have attracted a family of magpie pixies. Would you like to formally invite them all the way in for tea or for me to send them out?” I ask her.

“I think I would like to invite them in.” She says sheepishly. I snap my finger and a allowance of entrance scroll appears.

"Sign the piece of parchment on your table then burn it with a light green candle. The pixies will be granted entrance to your home. You will still have the authority to ask them to leave at any point but they wont get stuck in the chimney on the way in.” I tell her.

While she signs the paper and I have confirmed the magpie pixies have left the chimney, I head out to Bert to get my equipment. I tie up my hair then place the loop of my forest green apron around my neck and secure it around my waste. Then I get to work cleaning out the debris left behind.

Once I am finished, I reassemble the wood in the fireplace and point to create a spark. After fifteen minute, the room remains smoke free.

“Margie will reach out for payment soon. If you have any questions, ask them directly. Goodbye for now Clove.”

I make make my way towards the door as Clove and the pixies settle in for a cup of tea.

*link corrected

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“Wink! Did you grab both posters from the printer last night?” Nicole asked me frantically, pounding on my hotel door. I blink a few times, quickly stretch out then I sit up.

“I’m up Nicole. Two seconds.” I say, swinging my legs over the bed.

I look down at the two cardboard tubes as I tuck my feet into the slippers by my bed. Then I walk over and open the door. Nicole is four feet tall with bright icy blue hair and shimmery purple skin. Today she is wearing a soft brown dress under an embroidered forest green apron dress. Underneath it all is one of her fluffiest cream colored petticoats.

“Nice earrings.” I tell her, as I move out of the way, inviting her in. Not that she would stop me if I tired.

“It was between these and the dew drops. I have been going over my note cards for four days straight Wink. What if I black out up there?”

This is her first academic conference since our dissertations where accepted last spring. Nic took the summer off to travel while I was doing field research. I have already spoken at two other conferences since leaving school.

“You have done this three times a year since we started grad school. You have been talking about the foraging paths of Green and Pink Woodtuft Mushroom Gnomes since we were twelve. You have single handedly painted every door frame in my apartment with examples you found while researching.” I lean over to grab her by her shoulders and shake them, “You will kill this presentation, just like always. Now go grab your poster board.” I point to the cardboard tubes.

I let go of the hotel door and watch it shut. Then I turn toward the closet and grab my outfit. I packed grey suit pants and a pinstriped vest. I put it all on quickly then walk over to the mirror to sort out my hair. I just got it cut so my dead ends are finally gone. It sits just past my shoulders. I put half of my hair up into a black claw clip and turn to Nicole.

“Okay, we should go set up our posters downstairs and then go get breakfast.”

She nods, handing me my poster tube.

“Do you think they have gooseberry muffins?” She asks.

“I think I saw some when I checked in last night.”

“Okay, lets go!”

I put on my conference wrist band and put my lanyard on. Everything we need access to is on the wristband. The food and nearly all the events are covered by our ticket price. Since Both Nic and I were invited to speak, it was basically all free to us.

“I am all done with everything at 3:30, do you want to meet by the silver pool right after for drinks?” I ask.

“It will be the thing that gets me through the day. Lets go Dr. Shoe. You have a talk on the benefits of Brittlegill mushrooms for Pixie morning sickness to get to right after we get muffins.” She says, squeezing my hand and walking with me toward the elevators.

Prompt: Write from the perspective of someone who receives a gift they didn't know they needed but genuinely adore.

I was sitting at my desk right after lunch when I saw the notification from the front desk at my apartment complex, a package had been delivered. My building is old and we don’t have one of those key code storage boxes. We have Ed, he is the door man and building super. He keeps packages behind his desk for twenty four hours. If you don’t pick it up within the day, he leaves it in the lobby. Boxes in the lobby will get taken.

I was going to go visit my folks after work. They live by a lake now and I like to spend my weekends sitting by the water. I have my overnight bag in my car. Going home would add forty-five minutes to the drive. I don’t even remember ordering anything recently. Ed doesn’t add pictures to his notification emails, so I don’t even have a clue to what it could be.

My mom has reminded me twice to set up notifications with the postal service. She did it four years ago when she moved to the cottage with Dad after selling their house. Mom said it just felt too big for them now. She swears by it and doesn’t understand I have other things to worry about then a daily update from the post office on what bills will be coming it.

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Its not my birthday and the holidays aren’t for months. Its just me, mom and dad. Whenever one of them orders me something, they send me the tracking number and text me everyday until it shows up. I take a sip of my burnt office coffee and accept that I will need to drive the extra forty-five minutes this afternoon.

I spend the next three hours responding to emails and going to a few meetings, but all I really think about is what could the package be. Maybe I had become on of those over stress people who sleep shop. I hope I didn’t order something to expensive or wasteful.

The clock finally hits five and I pack up my bag and head home. I get park and leave almost everything in my car. I only take my phone and my keys in with me. I walk through the door and see Ed leaned over his computer typing away.

“Hey Ed, I saw your message earlier. Do I have a package for pick up?” I ask.

“Right here.” He reaches under his desk and pulls out a small box.

Its wrapped in gold paper and covered in glow in the dark star stickers and little planets. The packages looks the ceiling of a child’s bedroom.

I take the box back to my car and put it in the trunk unopened, then get into the car myself and head to the lake.

I grab the box along with the rest of my stuff and bring it all in. Dads car isn’t in the driveway, he must be out doing something.

“Hey Mom! Where’s dad?” I yell as I shut the door.

“He is out getting dinner. Should be back in a little bit. Get yourself settled.” She calls from the kitchen. I hear the water running.

I head to my room and put everything down. I sit on the edge of the bed and look at the box for a minute. There is no return address. Just my address and all the stickers. I find a corner and carefully pull the wrapping off. Underneath the gold paper is a simple brown box. I pull the tape of that as well. Inside all I can see is an abundance of purple and blue paper filling. I stick my hand in and feel around. I pull out a simple necklace sized box. The bottom is white and the top is light green.

I open it up and on the bottom side of the lid it says, “your turn.”

Inside the box is a small rock. Yellow geodes grew into it. Just then I remembered, when I was ten or eleven I had joined a list of thousands of people to one day receive a piece of the moon. It was a government program to send out pieces that couldn’t be used for experimentation.

My very own little piece of the moon. Best use of an extra forty-five minutes.

Prompt: Write from the perspective of the stardust inside your bones remembering what it was before it became you.

It was before breathing. The space around us was so vast you did not know you had a neighbor let alone had the ability to see or know them. Everything was quiet. There were no pins to hear dropping. The quiet was calm, it was all we knew.

Then there was the first big change. A noise so loud it changed your very composition. We slammed into things we didn’t even know where real, maybe they weren’t before that moment. After the loudest noise, we started to feel. We felt movement, motion for the very first time. We had spent the previous eternity sitting alone and now we were among billions of billions.

Having community for the first time is strange when its not something you’ve ever know. The quiet was comfort, it was all we knew. Then there were others, moving and growing. Moving came first, then growing.

Not only could you experience thing you didn’t before, but they could change you. Make you into a new, make you bigger. Make you more.

Sometimes neighbors made us grow for the better and sometimes they made us grow for the worst, but each of those changes were valuable. They were necessary to get to you.

There were so many milestones. Movement, growth, warmth, touch, life, consciousness, then finally our most favorite and most nuanced milestone, connection. Connection started us as a little green bud at the edge of a forest. From there we grew harshly until we had energy to spare. It took a while before having something to spare.

That spare energy became a little humble berry. We all celebrated our first humble berry and what it symbolized. We were stepping into a new milestone, living instead of just existing. From there, a small creature came and pulled us off the steam to eat. Warming their belly for just a moment with something from our life. We had a small part in helping them grow.

Many moons later, we were a leaf sitting on a tree. The cold came and our hold started to loosen. A storm came with heavy rain and strong winds. We were blown just far enough away from the tree to turn into soil away from those we knew there. Another moon came and went, sometimes we wondered what it would have been like to land their instead of here. Our leaf body begin to harden and to crumble. We returned to the soil again, as we had so many times before.

It took lifetimes of moons before we joined others like us to create you. There are infinite stories written just to get to you. We would write infinitely more just to meet you just as you are.

Prompt: A character in a fantasy world takes their unique vehicle for a test drive. Write a descriptive paragraph about what transport might look like in another realm.

Walking into the small corner shop I saw the flyer for small single flyer animal shifter vehicles. Looking around, the room was full of nearly realistic metal bunnies. I was drawn to the smallest one, it was mostly made of copper and steel. I pointed to it and the clerk waved me to the next door.

When I walked through the room opened up to a stadium sized indoor racetrack. It was quieter then I expected. The other interested shoppers testing out their racers. The shopkeeper brought me the bunny, a manual and a set of keys.

“Don’t turn it on until you get downstairs and only listen to the advice of the ones in a vest.” She told me, handing me the stuff.

The bunny was light, half a pound at most. I walked down to get in the short line, reading through the first few pages while I waited. When it was finally my turn for a test drive, the next vested employee flagged me through.

“Did you read through the manual?” He asked.

“Does the first four pages count as reading thought?”

“Good enough. Sign this and head down to the track.” He said, handing me a clip board with a waver. I signed it and handed it back.

I put the metal bunny on the ground and clicked the lower button on the key ring. Within three seconds the bunny had transformed into an eight inch wide board with two strap-ins for my feet. I stepped onto it, putting each foot into a strap and pulling them tight. Once I stood back up, I pressed the top button and the board started to raise. I leaned back, putting weigh on my back leg. The board lifted up slowly and once I was at the height I wanted to leveled out my feet. Once the board was flat, I look off.

The board went an easy 35 miles an hour and I circled the track a few times. Once I was confident this was the one, I finished my round and tilted down my front foot. The board slowed down and headed back down to the ground. I unhooked my feet, walked out and clicked the bottom button. The board shifted back into a bunny.

I pressed the button on the back of the keys and the bunny started to follow me off the track.

“Any questions?” The same vested employee asked as I started up the ramp again.

“No, I would like to take this one.”

He handed me a tablet to pay, I tapped by card.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“No, you are all set. Have a good day.”

I looked down at the bunny.

“Let’s go.” And together we walked out of the store.