so, i left yesterday's poem in the google docs' default font (arial) to remind myself it's unfinished; it hasn't been fully formatted & refined. (this includes the screenshot of said google doc poem for social media.) today, i thought to call these "practice poems," hoping to further ease my perfectionism. we'll see if that all works in the long run, lol

 this poem, which actually tried to meet today's prompt head on for once, lmao, was kinda fun. i scribbled most of it out in my note pad after listing various things "that cannot speak" and i felt i'd learned something from, then transferred that to google docs, filled in/deleted a couple of bits, and worked out line length/meter/whatever for a bit. it could take more work, but it is a practice poem after all, lol

 anyway, enjoy! 

 

day 16 - roadways

by tophie palmer
#napowrimo2026, apr 16 

stretching long, spreading wide, sprawling onward

like a single, endless, exhausting web——

for they are all one monster; merely named

segments that even continents cannot break.

direction, so called, is a trick: we just

have places to be; you can drive “along”

as easily as perpendicular

(which is which?)

dead ends, so called, are just jokes for the mind:

for there’s always another way; the choice

remains yours——take a seat or turn around,

no matter!

powerlessness, so called, is a sick ruse:

we built these things and we can break them down;

the strictures, so perceived, cannot hold us back

for long.
 

 

 

image by Pexels from Pixabay