I’m publishing an average of around one short piece per day on Twitter, including a mix of poetry and prose, so I’m posting a “highlights reel” here, and the rest can be found on my profile, @PeterRavlich.
If you enjoy ultra short form work, there are hundreds of other poets and writers creating moments of delight, tension, wonder and bravery, most consistently using the hashtag #vss365.
Prompt: Ocean (#vss365)
Yours is the shore
and the shallows
yours are the deeps
and the docks
You are the ocean
whose bellicose
bellows
give beat
to this heart
as it clings
to the rocks
Prompt: Nectar (#vss365)
Your nectar is far
too sweet—
I can’t stop sipping
the heart is
blameless here
but it still hurts
to feel it slipping
#Hamilton #AngelicaSchuyler #TakeABreak
Prompt: Nostalgic (#vss365)
The volumes on
my mental shelves
are battered
Like every book
I’ve ever loved
too much
But those pages are
pristine
that really matter—
Every visit
restored
with a delicate
touch
Prompt: Estrange (#Poetryin13)
Is there
an inverse
corollary
or tacit
apology—
rearrange
estrange
and this
remains
Prompt: Charisma (#vss365)
I know it’s problematic
to conflate sincerity with reality—
to make a character emblematic
when the stage and the page
are more suited to static impressions
than actual accuracy…
But as for charisma
it’s clear there’s
no deficit here—
Miranda’s Hamilton
is revelatory
owning his story
and an absolute
revolution to see.
Prompt: Xenophobe (#vss365)
Losing fear
is liberation;
Holding it
habitual
But when that fear
is fabricated
facile, false and fanciful
An arbitrary othering
of any trait you
don’t digest
You’ll find my
sympathy
is slipping—
please don’t
put it to
the test.
Prompt: Orphan (#vss365)
I sometimes wished
No,
often
while the belt was
coming down
in the latest
punctuation of
my faults
That some other
explanation
for my
being
was at hand;
that could
justify
escape from
these assaults
Prompt: Pachyderm (#vss365)
How ponderous
our parries
when that trunk
gets in the way—
yet how deftly
we deny
our own
détentes
Prompt: Liberty (#vss365)
The figure of
Liberty beckons
with a valiant
verdigris mien
While behind this
inviting impression
Is an irony
cast for a queen
Prompt: Demogorgon (#vss365)
Your petals
seem peculiar
and your botany—
bizarre
While I hate
to hasten rumour
I can’t fathom
what you are
Open wider
let me see—
those look
remarkably like
teeth
just a second
maybe three
to get
my head in
underneath…
Prompt: Angel (#vss365)
You used
to call me angel
but I thought
my wings
were gone—
that time
had marred
the feathers
that I’d fallen…
I was wrong
I was silly
and afraid
but those
do not reflect
on you
and if I soar
again it’s only
‘cos you were my
angel too
