Three Poems Created From A Single Word

This style takes a single word and then do a free write to whatever follows. Like the chance poem there can be surprises.

Handsome

My girlfriend said she fell in love
with a man so handsome
he could have been a model for Michelangelo.
So attractive he could have graced the Vatican
or been on the cover of GQ
wearing the latest fashion.
Of course I expected to see a Greek God.
A man with chiseled features, carved in marble.

Instead I met someone whose heart was generous.
I was startled by his gentleness and didn’t notice
the scars on his face until he mentioned them.
His princely charm was reflected in his easy laughter.
I was captured by his clear conscious
and sincere desire to be civilized.

I too fell in love and will do whatever
I need to take him from her.


Thrift

Some said he was thrifty
he didn’t waste so he didn’t want
horded today for tomorrow.
Some called him prudent
but his family found him stingy,
a rain cloud in the Mojave.
All would surely die
if they didn’t leave him
so one by one they ran away.


Grief

When his wife died
his blood turned cold
he didn’t talk
didn’t covet.
A stationary artifact
long forgotten except
for an occasional lizard
perched on his shoulder
gathering heat from
the afternoon sun.

Daylight or nighttime
he could be found,
a silent creature,
like a stone,
sitting alone
in his garden.