Bitterness and Wind

I decided to live dangerously in October. It’s a scary month, so I’m going to explore a form of poetry with stringent rules that moves at a rapid-fire pace. I’m going to write blitz poetry. This unusual style, developed by Robert Keim, has set rules using connecting phrases to create a 50-line verse titled Bitterness and Wind.

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Line 1 is a short phrase or image. Line 2 is another short phrase or image using the same first word as line 1. Lines 3 and 4 starts with the same word used as the last word of line 2. Then, lines 5 and 6 use the last word of line 4. This pattern is followed until line 48. Line 49 uses the last word in 48. Line 50 begins with the last word in line 47. The title is three words long. The title format is the first word of line 3, a preposition or conjunction, and the first word of 47. You can’t use any punctuation. Luckily, these poems don’t need to rhyme. This poetic adventure will either be a lot of fun or leave me frustrated. I almost made it. but I came down with COVID. This poem I will call Bitterness and Wind. It’s the first piece of writing I did for almost a month.

Bitterness and Wind

Taste of Covid in my throat

Taste salty with bitterness

Bitterness of wasted plans

Bitterness fighting the good fight

Fight against an enemy you can’t see

Fight with a deadly disease

Disease never evolved in a wet market

Disease designed as a bioweapon in a lab

Lab filled with mad scientists

Lab mixing and match

Matching the deadly ingredients

Matching to make a germ cocktail

Cocktail to illuminate population

Cocktail to intoxicate humanity with fear

Fear of the future

Fear of the science

Science that brought us the deadly disease

Science done in the dark

Dark corner of test tubes

Dark imagining of the mind

Mind set on manipulation

Mind set on speculation

Speculation on control of humanity

Speculation on the best crisis

Crisis that shouldn’t go to waste

Crisis best used to manipulate

Manipulate the masses

Manipulate our souls

Souls searching for answers

Souls like vacant eyes Jack-O-Lanterns

Jack-o-lanterns staring from front porches

Jack-o-lanterns with carves faces

Faces hard against the cold fall air

Faces with phony smiles

Smiles to hide the fear

Smiles from carved lips

Lips afraid to speak

Lips that no longer talk

Talk about things important

Talk about a glorious future

Future hid behind COVID nightmares

Future canceled because of dark winter

Winter coming soon

Winter with green leaves on the branches

Branches of the restless trees

Branches tossed by the wind

Wind tossing debris around

Wind of change and disperse

Despair

Around

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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