Tag: NHBPWC 2015

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 30

~ Nortina S. ~ 2 Comments

She still can’t open her eyes.
I cradle her pink, oval
face in my calloused, Black hands.
Paint chips still on my jeans—
finishing a job when I got the call.
Mother extends a blessing hand from the bed,
pink band around her wrist.
Her scratchy voice says Rosa.
The little body cupped in my wide arms wiggles.
Her nose scrunches. Her lips quiver.
She opens her mouth and releases a shrill scream.
My first reaction to the birth of
my precious baby girl—
Her breath stinks.

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

And I am done with my poetry writing challenge! Yes, I have successfully written a new and original poem every day for 30 days (though I never quite confirmed that 30 days would be the goal).

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 29

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

Grandpa’s lady friend
comments on my weight loss.
“It don’t mean nothing
if she ain’t got a man.” He’s
still upset I didn’t get my
MRS. degree in college.

© 2015 Nortina Simmons 

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 28

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

I heard the voices,
knocked over trash cans. I saw
the blade plunged into
his back. Blood pooled on asphalt—
seven minutes until death.

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 27

~ Nortina S. ~ 1 Comment

Love Haiku #4

scoop powdery snow
into hands, bring to puckered
lips, blow me a kiss

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 26

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

Sleet pelts my head—
I left my hat and scarf
at home—
my hair is stiff in the
frozen air.
I trudge through the ice—
my feet numb in my boots.
I’m shivering for the warmth
of my bed and snuggie.
I enter my 2-bedroom apartment—
the air has been turned
down to 56.
Thermostat Nazi strikes again.

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 25

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

She had reached
her breaking point.

Her blood boiling,
anticipating her to end it.

Then the temperature cooled.

The wind blew her
hair across her face,

wrapped her shawl
around her shoulders.

White flakes of frozen
dust fell from the sky.

Standing center
of the intersection,

her arms outstretched,
she tilted her head,

stuck out her tongue.
She didn’t see the car

skidding on the frozen road.

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 24

~ Nortina S. ~ 1 Comment

After Valentine’s Day Haiku 

I might have gained ten
pounds from all the chocolate
I ate yesterday

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

 

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 23

chocolate hearts
~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

Single Ladies Haiku

Valentine’s Day means
red velvet cake, chocolate
kisses to myself

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

 

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 22

Woman sitting in bathtub with water
~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

My lover called himself a wolf.
I didn’t believe him—
his lips were too soft,
his eyes too green, naive—
but when we made love
for the first time,
he flipped me over
covered my head with a pillow
defiled me from behind
the way he’d seen it done in
endless internet movies,
and I finally understood.
He said he liked it—
relished the illusion.
I cried into the lukewarm
bath water of our
porcelain tub when I
realized I wasn’t
the first girl he’d
explored his fantasy with
but was the only one
who consented.

© 2015 Nortina Simmons

No Holds Barred Poetry Writing Challenge: Day 21

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

Bloodletting
a primitive practice—
physicians lacked
the knowledge of
modern medicine—
a strike of the hammer
against the pick into the
skin, let the thick
blood marred by
toxin, parasite, disease
drain from the body
and cure a soul of misery.
How is their belief
different from those
with zebra stripes
along their arms?

© 2015 Nortina Simmons