With pen in hand I try
to pen my thoughts into manageable spaces,
like a rancher corrals unbroken horses.
I come close to closing the gates,
but mostly I miss the mark,
leaving them to run wild,
trampling new grasses that feed the soul.

I miss you. 
I watch for signs that you're here,
but either you're truly gone
or I've missed them too.
Searching every minute corner, 
wondering, “Is that you?”
My watch has no second hand.
A minute passes
and I feel each nanosecond
as I wait for your answer.

~Elise Skidmore ©2023

Note–As you may know, when I’m working on the PAD challenges I use prompts from the Writer’s Digest site for inspiration. Today’s prompt was to write a homograph poem. If you aren’t familiar with the term (and I wasn’t), homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Sometimes they are pronounced the same, but that’s not always the case So if you happen to notice words that are repeated, when normally I would’ve looked for a way to avoid the repetition, that’s intentional. I’d also like to add that I am not feeling particularly sad; it’s just the way using the prompt presented itself in a cohesive fashion.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 Comments

    1. Thanks so much, Rosemary. When I first read the prompt, I had no idea of where/how to use it, but as I jotted down a few of those homograph examples, it started to take shape, and Voilá! I’m glad you liked the results.