Category: Free Verse

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry1 Comment

Banshee

Charlotte Hamrick

BansheeGather round the table dressedwith Granny’s wedding china and Brussels lace cloth,for a banshee has spoken,returning three times in my dreams, her long, russet hair whispered overmy cheeks, her pale eyes held me between purgatoryand heaven. But dreamsare not reality unless given purchase.So eat from the briny breathof the sea, drink from the fruit of sun-kissed grapes, kiss with life-loving lips and pray our charms hold back death. Na/GloPoWriMo day 30 prompt: Today, try writing your own poem that discusses a real or mythical being or profession (demons, firefighters, demonic firefighters) with the same sort of musing yet dispassionate tone. … Continue reading Banshee

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 20264 Comments

Altered

Charlotte Hamrick

AlteredThe song began, flowing over my bed in gentle waves, the breeze coming through the window shifted the air around me in a way I cannot accurately describeexcept it felt and smelled like the damp saltiness of the sea at night. The song & the scent created moments that felt familiar in an ancient way, as if I was saturated in another time or level of being, an altered state, a cell-deep shift. It lasted for a few moments, then faded away with the song. NaPoWriMo day 24 Prompt: Today, we challenge you to write your own poem that takes … Continue reading Altered

Free Verse, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry6 Comments

Early Life

Charlotte Hamrick

Early LifeThe small kitchen porchThe morning glory vine that twirled up the porchThe grassy hillThe groundhog that lived on the hill The creek across the road The creek so clear, running with minnows The stone Spring House The jars of canned goods, cool in the Spring House The flower-studded front lawn The rabbits that played on the front lawn at twilight The big country silence The whip-poor-wills that sang out in the silence The bed at the top of the stairs The bed that hugged after a long day of play NaPoWriMo day 15 prompt: Today, we’d like you to … Continue reading Early Life

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 20264 Comments

Saturdays on Soul Train

Charlotte Hamrick

Saturdays on Soul TrainPlatforms, bell bottoms & paisley printsFunky Chickened & Bumped the Soul Train line,one hour once a week cool moves & us glued to a rock & rolling tv & music in mono but all so special in its scarcity.Now then every granny, toddler, & all in between TikTok, Facebook, Instagram their moveson phones, tablets, laptops, streaming & streaming& streaming into infinity,on tv every consumer-driven product sells itself dancing,none of it special, it all blurs into flailing arms & legs,white noise & puppet images —Click Na/GloPoWriMo day 14 prompt: Today, we challenge you to write a poem that … Continue reading Saturdays on Soul Train

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 20263 Comments

Basket

Charlotte Hamrick

Basket After Jane HirshfieldIf my eyes fall on the basket sitting on my dresser,I marvel for the millionth timeat the skill and time it tookto create a vessel of such beauty and strength, echoing the beautyand strength of the hands thatshaped it and I marvel at the timewe visited the little shopon the reservation where it was sohard to choose just one and I marvelnow at the beauty and strength of you,how I took it for granted, how hard it is to choose just one memory of us together, happy I don’t have to. Na/GloPoWriMo day 13 – I’m off … Continue reading Basket

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Springtime Freshness in Every Puff

Charlotte Hamrick

Springtime Freshness in Every PuffHalf-used, a green and white crinklypackage hides amid a twilight of dust bunnies.A set of five small fingers grabs it out into light & air, an alien environment.I am confronted.O little sister. I see the beginningof your life in this moment.Whether by instinct or observation,you knew and you cared. You weresmarter at 6 than I was at 16. Na/GloPoWriMo day 12 prompt: Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem that recounts a memory of a beloved relative, and something they did that echoes through your thoughts today. Continue reading Springtime Freshness in Every Puff

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 20261 Comment

All I Want

Charlotte Hamrick

All I WantI am not a starfishI’m a woman of earth and boneOf rock and rocky wordsWhich I do not hide behindI speak clearly which sometimesIs perceived as bluntBlunt is good, there’s no confusionWith bluntI am not a starfishI have always had a plan althoughSometimes I floatI suppose that is starfish-ishWe should be flexible when neededI am not a starfishButWe both have predators so We both keep our eyes openHer five and my twoStarfish will sacrifice a limbTo evade a predatorI will sacrifice complacencyI am not a starfishI cannot change colors butI can change my mindIf respectfully presented with facts … Continue reading All I Want

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry1 Comment

Air So Still

Charlotte Hamrick

Air So StillOctober 2005Parched ground, wind-burned foliage,you’d think there was a droughtinstead of a storm of rain falling like sheetsblown sideways on a clothesline.Hurricane’s winds blew everything away.Plant, bird, animal, human.But flies soon returned – coffin flies,they were called – everywhere,everywhere, crawling on everything.Everything being the debris of livesscattered everywhere.Then, dragonflies by the hundredsreturned. It was so odd when the groundwas so dry, the air so still, a dearthof activity by animal and human and yetthe beating of wings by my ear.* I went off prompt for day 4 of Na/GloPoWriMo because I was inspired by my friend Matt Dennisons … Continue reading Air So Still