Zero

There are zero days left.
Zero tethers binding me.
Zero tears shed as we
close in on the end.

The month marched forward
but so did our pens.
We traveled all over
with cheese and crusty bread.
We sword fought with crabs —
Earthworthy poets on the shore.
Our fine nibs were no match
In this man versus crustacean
but they grew used to our company,
even deemed us worthy wordsmiths
(though we were lousy at sparring)
and we sat together on the beach
to greet the sun.

Individually wrapped
in our suits of armor
we said our goodbyes
could not justify staying in one place
just yet.
On our way we picked up
the discarded things we loved
keeping them by our bedsides
Each one a memory newly formed
and wet like noodles.

When nights were cold
we’d curl up by the windows
sipping vanilla chai
falling asleep to the
scritch scritch scritch of our pens
only to wake with ink-stained fingers
grasping at the whispers of a riveting dream.

Outside it is raining.
Perhaps when the Sun makes her entrance
there will be a rainbow.
We breathe in the petrichor
and start to feel better.
We gather the rain kissed violets, grape hyacinths and dandelions as we walk.
Weave them into crowns
Our rule never lasts long.

Our journey is coming to a close.
Why does it feel like yesterday
when 30 days have transpired?
With X-many days ahead
and a word count non-zero,
I plan to live every one of them
with a pen in my hand.

~*~

I made it four lines into this poem this morning before deciding to call out all 25 A-to-Z poems I’ve written either by name (like with “Bread”) or some part of the poem (like sipping vanilla chai in Opus No. 1).

I found this poem incredibly satisfying to write and I hope you find it just as satisfying to read.

The poem is written out in Jado Inferno, a Birmingham Pen Company ink. I used the Mariana Trench fountain pen with a stub nib because there was no way I was going to write all 50 lines with the dip pen.

Here’s what the first draft looked like.

Thank you for reading, for commenting and for liking. And I’ll see you for the last to last post, the A-to-Z review.

~*~