Semblance of Normal

I've never been normal
not even for normal's sake
 forty-something female
 never married, no kids
people wonder what is wrong with me
even I, at times, think there's a screw loose
 but just what is normal anyway?

I spend my time doing what I love
crafting words into sentences, or sentences into poems
 maybe, maybe not, so eloquently, at times
 and maybe this is not one of those times
but at least I'm trying -- or doing -- or being
who and what I want to be
 but just who is normal anyway?

you may pity me -- or despise me
for my seeming lack of commitment
 I try to minimize my time constraints
 but even I still have bills to pay
maybe soon -- maybe someday
writing will nourish more than my soul
 why is your life normal, who can say?

by Shawn Ann Murray © 2011

pride & vanity

snap, snap, crack and pop
twice in two days
my fingernails snap
from a hand of five perfect nails
looking manicured, pristine
that had hopes of entertaining
a wedding ring

by Shawn Ann Murray © 2011

haiku # 18

wake to thunder rains
Mother Nature's angry rage
tears of frustration

by Shawn Ann Murray © 2011

relationships in the internet age

man and wife,
face to face,
corner table,
heads down,
acer netbooks,
one red,
one blue,
coffees in hand,
silence,
as they communicate,
through email,
and chatrooms,
suddenly laughing
at a joke
sent via
the world wide web.

wanna-be

So if I want to feel like me,
as a writer, I must be free
to express myself, from A to Z.
Poe wanna-be. Poe wanna-be.

So that my Muse to freely sing,
my inspiration I must bring,
to blank paper, my pen must fling.
Curse you, Irving. Curse you Irving.

Twist of a phrase, turn of a word,
so often comes at times absurd,
no time to write, free time deterred.
King's world preferred. King's world preferred.

Fame and fortune, I want to see.
Admiration from all of thee.
Best sellers lists. Free writing sprees.
Steel wanna-be. Steel wanna-be.



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Give it a try:
I challenge my writer friends out there to try writing a Monotetra. For me, structured poetry is excruciatingly hard to write but I've challenged my friends so I had to take up the challenge myself. Let me know what you think and I'd love to see what you come up with. Good luck.

(a new poetic form developed by Michael Walker called a Monotetra: a poem composed of quatrains in tetrameter consisting of mono-rhymed lines while the final line repeats the same four syllables. The poem can be any number of quatrains. For more on monotetras, see the January 2011 issue of Writer's Digest.)