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National Poetry Month Community Project Posts

SOPHIE

by Diane A. Gatto, 2025

SOPHIE                                                                                                                                                   By Diane Gatto

When we first saw you, I must confess, you were not looking so good, you were truly a mess.

You had no fur on your legs, tail or around your eyes, You smelled pretty bad too no real surprise.

The foster care mom said you had some skin issues and had you on meds,                I thought ok I’ll take you and went out and bought you a bed.

“I’ll be back for this sweet doggie get her cleaned up please” I said to the lady,    She must have thought “this woman is crazy.”

She said you were about two and a half maybe three years old,                                and someone just threw you out into the cold.

At first I had to bathe you every single day,                                                                        I tried this, I tried that, was anything working I couldn’t really say.

After trying two or three I found just the right Vet,                                                      He said a more determined lady he had never met.

Soon your fur grew in and we could see what a pretty little lady you can be!

As the months turned into years  you brought us much joy,                                      You would run down the hallway and bring back your toy.

Molly and Zorro were here quite a while,                                                                   Zorro said, “You’ve got me, you don’t need another furry child.”

Come on kitties make room for just one more,                                                            Who knows what fun she may have in store?

One day out of clear blue you ate something that made you very sick,                    But with lots of love and care it was just the trick.

You managed to pull through almost two more years,                                               You said, “I’m not ready hold on to your tears.”

But alas my sweet darling all good things soon come to an end,                                You have been there for me and been a best friend.

All we know is twelve years with you was not enough, facing each day will surely be tough.

I look at the places where you once slept, and every night in your bed next to me on the floor.                                                                                                                              It will never be the same when we walk inside the door.

You would bark as if to say, “Where were you mommy? Where on earth did you go?”                                                                                                                                          My heart is broken sweet baby girl, I will love your forever for this I well know.

 

PEONIES

by Diane A. Gatto, 2025

PEONIES                                                                                                                                                   By Diane Gatto

You may cut my beautiful flowers and put them in a vase,                                              I will open up into something spectacular that will truly amaze.

Leave me alone I am my own little festival,                                                        Everything near me pales as I am quite the spectacle.

I am a proud little flower I cannot help but boast,                                                            If you add me to your garden I know you will love me most.

I am well worth waiting for though my blooms will be brief,                                 Enjoy me quickly as my time here is a thief.

 

Little Free Library Birds

by Alison Quinn, 2025

in tiny beats,

petite sparrows

peck in presto rhythm

for seeds in winter grass.

 

bobbing ’round

like dusky rocks,

not feeling the tapping

of snowflakes on feathers.

 

tiny legs and beaks

pick and pip

near the colossal feet

of vigorous tree trunks.

 

sudden flights

then coil wildly up,

the course choreographed

for the charms of branch-roosting.

 

I envy the brisky birds

then dropping small like stones,

pecking and bobbing low,

busy again in the simmering cold.

For my soon to be born Grandaughter

by Barbara Obstgarten, 2025

From the time I was a teen…I thought about…I dreamed

that someday there would be…a little girl in my life

the years would pass…sons would be born…giving me happiness and joy

and yet I wondered…what it would be like to have…a little girl in my life

the sons became men…they married…grandsons were born

I wondered if there would ever be…a little girl in my life

then came the phone call…from far, far away

that she was finally on her way…and soon there would be

a little girl in my life.

while I may never hold this baby…or feel her soft newborn freshness

against my cheek…I will know that she is finally here

a little girl in my life

I will be the face on a screen…or a box in the mail

but she will be…finally…a little girl in my life

 

Mother

by Lexi Balunas, 2025

Damning the earth

Is it too late to leave?

Leaking from breasts

and womb

and eyes

Strength that should not exist

 

Cradling the earth

In my fragile hands

Doubt, emotion

will loom

consume

doom

I am not worthy

 

Gazing at the earth

Something so big

in tiny eyes

My fragile hands

will give it to yours

and help you hold it

above salt water

 

Navigating the earth

My heart now existing

on the outside

I will blame myself

for loving too hard

fearing too often

Failing and wailing

The happiest times

of my life

 

North and South poles

One does not exist

without the other

Motherhood is

My new Earth

9:37 AM

by Lexi Balunas, 2025

 

 

Today I woke up and thought
You haven’t made yourself your
Favorite breakfast
In a long time
Wow, what a refreshing thought
My brain trying to quiet
What is its current norm
Fold your clothes
You are lazy
Do your dishes
Clean your house
You are not good enough
You waste your days
See-
Pitter patter
Blonde hair bobbing
“Mommy put on your special earrings,
They make you look
So beautiful”
I take the earrings
And put them on
Armor I haven’t been strong enough
To pull out of my closet
I cook my eggs
Careful not to burn them
Sitting at my table
Covered in unfolded laundry-
No, clean clothes-
Covered in clean clothes
And I eat my favorite breakfast
A grilled cheese egg sandwich
In the earrings I got married in
While my heart beats
Outside of my body
Across from me
With a smile
Hope

The Invisible Girl

by Desiree Comito, 2025

Invisible Girl, Thats Me

           I’m sitting in the dark all alone, where am I ? Hello, is anyone out there  ? I’m screaming out loud, but yet you can’t hear me. I just touched your hand but you cant feel me. I try to scream louder or awake from a dream. But my throat is really sore and I just lost my voice.

            I try to touch you one more time. This time you felt it but you don’t see anyone. You just scratched your head because you’re not going crazy. You just felt someone but they’re not there. What is going on, why cant you see me?

            Did l ever say something to you that magically made me become invisible ? I just dont get it, oh wait I forgot, you can’t hear me. As I think out loud at what I could of done, the sadder I become. I’m about to get sick and my alarm goes off, wake up wake up it says. Whew, it was only a dream  or was it? Because l awoke in a closet, so that was the darkness I was in.

       So as I close up this dream or reality, I will never know if you really heard or felt me. So until you tell me you did. I will always be

THE INVISIBLE GIRL

Senior Discount

by Kelly Powell, 2025

Senior Discount

A double edged mighty sword

of reality heads your way

at the movie theater

the pharmacy, the diner

inhabiting the spaces between us

the great divides

and the super conductors of chi energy

and Theraflu on sale in aisle 7

what is it that connects us

that unseen force that bonds

and divides

like gorilla glue

or melted marshmallows

dropped fireside on your sneaker

on a hot summer night

in what could’ve been the paradise

of our childhoods

fifty years ago to a day

and no, not the same as a silver spoon

or miles of grass

or miles in someone else’s shoes

letting the light in

through the screen door

with the dog and the cat

at different times during the day

but the previews are over

the movie starts and ends, a sleeper

in what seems like forever

but just a blink really

no popcorn, a first in years

the older crowd heads home

to an early dinner

“My favorite color is Yellow!”

Anonymous, 2025

“My favorite color is Yellow!”

“Yellow is the color of the sun,

It shines so bright and feels like fun.

It’s in my crayon, so bold and bright,

So much happiness in my sight!”

 

What an odd color to be the favorite of a child,

But I couldn’t help but have smiled.

For in her hands, that yellow hue,

Turned all her dreams anew.

 

A simple shade, yet so pure and true,

She had a world of joy in yellow’s view.

In her excitement, I could see

How bright the world can be,

 

By what this child has yearned,

Only then I have truly learned

Yellow is joy without a sound,

a secret reason to smile that we’ve all somehow found.