Not Going Anywhere Soon and a reflection on Home—two Tyburns #NationalPoetryMonth

Bouquet Today by Jason Baskin

There's such a difference between people who are marking time and lively spirits who savor life each moment. When Jason brought this quick sketch home, I knew he captured a certain joie de vivre that the model must have exuded.  I love the light and life in this piece. The woman is right there in her moment, enjoying the heck out of that bouquet of flowers. She is not taking them for granted. She is holding them like a newborn baby. Cradling the moment as if it is precious to her.


So I wrote this little Tyburn* with this lovely woman in mind.


Not Going Anywhere Soon

praying
staying
greying
playing
I am praying on staying around
greying and playing; standing my ground


Inspired by Allison Joseph's prompt, "Home is where the ________is," Judi Korpi Webb penned a tight Tyburn that fills in the blanks and makes her home sound as warm as a crackling fire in the hearth:

Home is where the laughter is

Laughing

Giggling

Roaring

Cackling

Family cackling and laughing now

Bonding while giggling and roaring loud

*What is a Tyburn, you ask? It's a nugget of a poem. A concise encapsulation of an idea or moment. It's a simple six-line poem in which the first four lines consist of simple two-syllable words that rhyme. The last two lines rhyme and are nine syllables each. They incorporate the words from the first four lines. It is standard to incorporate those words in the fifth to eighth syllables of the last two lines, but Judi and I took liberties, because sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

*Do you have a poem about marking time? Or one about savoring the moment? How about a Tyburn? How about you share it?