Twenty Four Words

I'm so glad the Presidential election is over. I still worry about how Obama will handle his new role as President come January 20, 2009. Like many of you, I am hopeful, but cautiously so. For now, however, there's really nothing else to do but wait for his term in office to begin. While we wait, I give you this.

The Twenty Fours.

I've been working on this poetry project for quite some time. I liken the verse to a combination of haiku and sonnet in that I tried to stick to a specific form and meter. I have no rationale for constricting myself to 24 words over 5 lines. It was an arbitrary decision that made sense at the time I started this project.

Here's what I have so far.

1.
Maple eyes inlaid with
The smiling lines
That show the beauty of her age.
I am visibly shaken
By each sideways glance she throws.

2.
The juice of a hard lozenge
Occupies my tongue
And coats the fire in my throat
Dousing my outrage
Before I speak my mind.

3.
Until logic tells me otherwise
I plan to live
A life for which one
brutal truth exists:
With you is where my love lies.

4.
If I could turn
My words into morsels
Of rice, fish and vegetables,
I'd write my hand ragged
Until all the hungry are fed.

5.
Time is my ally
Until the moment
I draw my next to last breath
When I realize the sadness
Of a life without you.

6.
The hollow in my heart echoes
the clamor of your love.
It captures your rattles,
bangs and glorious music
played softly in dissonant tones.