Peter Adam Salomon

Day 25 of my October challenge of “31 Days of Poetry inspired by Lynne Hansen’s ‘October challenge of 31 Days of Art’” based off the prompt word ‘cemetery’ below.

Boneyard

She’d promised to wait but grew tired of waiting
There’d been promises to keep and time kept passing
She believed in him, if not in them, in the ways his hands struggled to hold her even tighter the more she slipped away
The way he whispered when she wanted to scream and the way he screamed when she wanted to whisper
The way he said her name and that he could never touch enough of her enough
Those nights stolen from others and from themselves
Stolen away, sharing secrets that were better left unsaid
Still, she’d promised and the waiting was easier after death than before

Their love had been a forbidden thing
Defying family, soul, and god
A glance could kill and had
A touch, thievery against the law
A sigh, a smile, a kiss, a touch
And damn the hells below
So much promised in a single word
The moment she said ‘hello’
The gods are kind and the gods are weak
They’re petty, vengeful, cruel
And none more so than a cu***ld king mourning beside a grave

She’d promised to wait, but not for long
There were rules to follow and rules to obey
She’d promised him so many promises she’d lost track along the way
Anything to escape a man she’d never loved and never liked
A sigh can be faked, a kiss endured
A smile means nothing when freedom’s at stake
She’d promised him a welcoming bed
If only he’d kill the man she’d wed

Instead, he chose to tell the king
About the bounty on his head
For his service, he lived a long and wealthy life
And never kept any promises to the king’s deceased wife

The title of whatever book ends up being published with this beautiful cover is obviously yet to be determined (well, except I think do this one) but Lynne creates her own titles so I’ll be naming each poem with whatever she comes up with.

All of this to say: these are covers created in less than a day. And poetry created in less time than that.

I started this poem thinking she’d come out of her grave to hunt down the man who she’d grown tired of waiting for. Somewhere in the middle of the poem that idea changed a bit. It happens.

-Peter Adam Salomon 10/26/2020 (free to share with attribution to us both, thanks)

Day 23 of my October challenge of “31 Days of Poetry inspired by Lynne Hansen’s ‘October challenge of 31 Days of Art’” based off the prompt word ‘slither’ below.

She Wakes

The king was known as an evil man
With a wicked son with such wicked needs
Each governess tried to keep him in line
But paid the price with each passing year
The first was tender, the prince newly born
But caught his father’s eye, never to be seen again
One tried discipline and punishment
Until paying the price when the prince paid back
Another tried kindness
Until finding the bones of the last to try
Still a different one had a different tact
And met the same fate when the prince grew bored
The last was lovely, fair and delicate
Only to die just the same at the prince’s whim
And now, a new governess takes her turn
With the bad seed prince at the age of nine

The prince was known as an evil child
With a wicked charm and a wicked grin
But this governess was different than all the rest
The king thought it funny but never thought too far
He was cruel, indeed, but not very wise
This governess brought to court a child
A daughter she’d raised for one purpose alone
Revenge, she sought, on the prince and king
For the death of her eldest who’d never been seen again
The first to die at the hands of the king and the hands of the son but not the last by a long long way

Her daughter was gentle, shy and sweet
Just a little younger than the prince
The king saw a victim father and son could share
But the governess was wiser than both
And had a secret no one knew
She’d sold her soul to the elder god
Who lived so deep beneath the dark dark sea
Most had forgotten he’d ever lived
And still more had even forgotten his name
She’d prayed for days after her daughter’s death
Made offerings to the god to ease her pain
Until finally he came to her one lonely night
And gave her a daughter in place of her soul
Made of hatred, poison and spite
Created for murder, vengeance and death
The babe woke rough upon her birth and rougher still when the god’s curse woke

She raised the child and raised her well
For during the day, she was gentle, shy and sweet
But at night, the girl was god herself
Returned at last from a bitter curse
The king was cruel but not cruel enough
The prince was evil through and through
Together they’d killed and together they died

Her daughter was vengeance, born and raised
Half human, half goddess, but mostly god
She wakes at night with a wicked grin
For there’s always another prince to kill and mother’s soul came at a dreadful cost

The title of whatever book ends up being published with this beautiful cover is obviously yet to be determined (well, except I think do this one) but Lynne creates her own titles so I’ll be naming each poem with whatever she comes up with.

All of this to say: these are covers created in less than a day. And poetry created in less time than that.

Sometimes I think it might be easier when I don’t know how I want a poem to end. That way I’m not thinking as much as writing. This time I knew where I was going but got a bit tied up in getting there and getting there maintaining the sea shanty sort of rhythm I was trying for.

I hope it works.

-Peter Adam Salomon 10/24/2020 (free to share with attribution to us both, thanks)