Poetry Stretch Results - Just Questions

The challenge this week was to write a poem that used only questions. Here are the results.

Officer Morrison's Vampire Poem
by Kate Coombs of BookAunt

Did you come at dusk, flying in bat's body?
Or did you smile your way in the door,
made welcome by the woman whose shining hair
is now stained with rust? Did you speak
charmingly to the party guests, telling tales
of old Romania, perhaps New Amsterdam?
Or did you cut to the chase, going straight
for the jugular, sucking the life from the life
of the party? And what happened
to the others? (All these spilled drinks,
broken glasses and splashes of wine everywhere.)
Are their bodies waiting to fall heavily
out of coat closets? Or did they simply run
and run till they were safe at home
and could pretend they were never here?
That they didn't leave their hostess
to deal with you, to take your hand
and welcome you into her breath,
to the bright red party of her death?

--Kate Coombs, 2010, all rights reserved

Wilbur Asks Charlotte Ten Questions
by Jane Yolen

1. Is interspecies communication
actually possible—or necessary?

2. Is the barn our world
or is the world larger than the barn and yard?

3. Do you really spin silk out of your body
or are you slowly unraveling through time?

4. How did you learn enough human language
to mount a publicity campaign?

5. What’s with the rat anyway?

6. Can food eat food?

7. Is E. B. white? Gray? Pink? Alternatively pigmented?

8. Was he truly a Dear Genius?

9. Did you have to die? Couldn’t you have just rested up for awhile?

10. Where was Pa going with that axe?

©2010 Jane Yolen all rights reserved

Steven Withrow of Crackles of Speech shares a poem entitled Giant Pacific Octopus.

LUNULA
by Diane Mayr of Random Noodling

Who picked this musical name
for the part of the fingernail
that is, in most cases, completely hidden?

How many more extravagant vocables
do we miss by not paying attention
to what is at our fingertips?

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

Are You Afraid?
by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of The Poem Farm

Are you afraid of growing up?
Are you afraid of dying?
Are you afraid to tell the truth?
Are you afraid of lying?
Are you afraid of squeaky mice?
Are you afraid of inky nights?
Are you afraid to give a speech?
Are you afraid of climbing heights?
Are you afraid of dental tools?
Are you afraid of haunted places?
Are you afraid of getting shots?
Are you afraid of tiny spaces?
Are you afraid of circus clowns?
Are you afraid of scaly snakes?
Are you afraid of lightning strikes?
Are you afraid to make mistakes?
Are you afraid to be afraid?
Why do you let your fears invade?

© Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Julie Larios of The Drift Record shares a poem entitled Jump Rope Rhyme.

Finale?
by Liz

Where does all the music go after it is played?
So present in the moment to forever fade away.
Remembered sounds and feelings held within -
Could this be gone?
Once touched, heard, met, encountered
What becomes of life’s love song?

So, it's been a long time since I've written anything. Here's my contribution.

Ramblings While Revising

Since when is judgment spelled with an e?
Why does realize look so much better with a z?
Why do alphabet books lamely eXplain away the letter x?
Why does an historian sound so strange?
Why are data plural?
I know Latin, so why do I question?
How do letters and words come together in the form of a poem?
Why must they be beaten into submission?
Why can't they play nice and come along quietly?
Why is writing so damn hard?

It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the list.