April 1: National Poetry Month–No Foolin’

I’ve been participating in the Poem-a-Day challenge on the Writers Digest site for more years than I can count now. This year, I decided to expand my reach a little, checking out some other daily poem prompt sites where I can meet my poetry friends. This first is in response to the NaPoWriMo prompt for day 1, and the second is from Robert Lee Brewer’s Write Better Poetry site:

I Remember There Were Cowboys

I’ve since learned not to read the copy
of the novel with the movie tie-in cover,
preferring instead my own cast of characters,
an anachronistic gang of actors, family
and friends—a younger Sam Eliot,
Penny, a student from last semester
who only opened up on paper,
my Nana, Sam Bush, and the waiter
with his dreadlocks tied back.

Instead I’m stuck with Jane Fonda, 
Jimmy Smith, Gregory Peck, staring
at the reader from the paperback.
The plot eludes me—but for Pancho Villa, 
before he opened all those cafes
in strip malls, and Ambrose Bierce,
the Devil’s Dictionary done, 
ready to disappear without a trace,

I remember there were cowboys,
maybe a gunfight, surely a girl.
Was there a happy ending, someone
riding off into the sunset? Did she
ride away with him or stay behind,
dabbing at her eyes with his handkerchief?

and my “optimism poem:

 Looking Up

What’s best about rock bottom 
is the narrowing of options—
stay where I am
or rise

Down in the darkness
those shadows 
on the wall of the cave
paralyzed me

But as I rise toward the light
my fears are less substantial
than the shadows of birds
and bunnies,
nothing more than moving fingers

I may not make it to the mountain top
but I long for the view
as I climb.