Cento for NWCU

You are young, so young,
I can walk through lonely aisles
Always finding what I want in you.
The words aren’t right.
They never could be.
I held you too tight
And you slipped through my hands.
I poured myself into you.

Stroll with me in green -
Hard rain falls
Our twilight spins
Lost in constellation.
The fire whispers
Background jazz.
Pasts forgotten
I kiss you in your sleep.
Bright stars dimmer in the cold.

Prompt from Wednesday Wake-Up Call 26.12.12 Collage to Close the Year. We were challenged to create a work from other works throughout the year.  I chose to write a cento from my two collections, Night Poems and Haiku in the Night.

And now an introduction from a vampire!

Hi there. I bet you've heard of Ben's chapbook Night Poems by now. If you haven't, good! It's been terrible for business. Imagine, someone enjoying the night, contemplating its intricacies and NOT getting eaten in the process!?

Maybe we vamps simply had it too good; fear, power, multi-million dollar movie contracts... but that's all over now. Ben Ditmars has simply made the night too interesting and sexy. I can't feed under that kind of pressure. So, go ahead and read the damn book. Between you, me and NOT the other vampires... it was rather engaging.

Susie Clevenger's Photograph of Night Poems!

I recently sent Susie Clevenger a fellow friend and writer at Confessions of a Laundry Goddess, Susie's Sentences, And There is More, a copy of my poetry chapbook Night Poems.  She took this marvelous picture after getting it. I might frame it!

Blooper Reel

The editing process forces one to make hard choice. Some poems, though you feel fond of them, just don't fit, transition or sound right within the collection. These are the outtakes from my chapbook of poetry Night Poems. *queue laugh track*

18:02

Christmas lights

Alone and distant.

Their screams and yells

Have faded into thoughts.

Snowflake memories

Too dark to see.

03:09

Bottles to bottles;

Breasts to more breasts.

Learning to speak,

Regretting your words.

Crawling away,

Forgetting to walk.

Crying for everything,

Crying for something.

Soft food to hard food

And back to soft food.

The cycle’s as ugly as

It’s less than beautiful.

04:48

My wallet and my mind

are drained. The weekend’s

hit its end. And so have I.

Sleep is rushing in.

I feel the current

Pulling me.

I can’t resist,

Don’t feel the need.

It’s comfortable and

Beautiful like death.

01:27

I’ve left my consciousness in pieces

A little here, a little here,

Stashed in mothballs,

Jammed underneath the bed

Between a floorboard

With my tell-tale heart.

You see cobwebs in the attic,

I see neurons clinging to a surface

That I left behind.

03:25

Some of us are dying.

                 Right now.

You might know a few.

You might know more.

You might not care.

It might brush off.

But never stay off.

Feel your pulse.

It’s ticking down.

Your heart’s a clock

With broken hands.

05:31

Selective cataracts blur visions

In my memory. Fog sifts, distorts

Refusing to blank out completely

Mistakes that I have made.

I think it almost would be worth forgetting

And repeating just to feel my conscience clear

Itself as if a taped confession recorded

Over with smooth jazz.

Much love to the most magnificent Marion.

Also this lovely moonflower.

I don't think anyone's ever left a book a better review.

Unmasking the night from gloaming to dawn, Ben Ditmars' "Night Poems" shimmer and shine like sky diamonds in the black velvety heavens. From silvery moonlight references to a magical firefly's elusive glimmer, each and every poem illuminates the mind's dark corners and startle in their beauty and lucidity.

I thoroughly enjoyed each of the 29 short poems, titled with a time. One of my favorite poems is "02:20:

"a night so dead
the lights are off
playing footsie with the moon somewhere
beneath the clouds.

dim paths will unwind themselves as
street signs stretch and yawn."

If you like heartfelt, sincere, vibrant poetry, then you'll love these gems by Mr. Ditmars. I highly recommend "Night Poems". I can't wait to read more of his awesome poetry.

Night Poems

Ben Ditmars' chapbook of poetry, Night Poems is now Available on Amazon for Kindle and Print.

So, the chapbook of poetry is on Kindle and soon to paperback! I decided to go with the file name I initially tagged it with as a title. You can always read more about it in the Bücher tab as well as check out my other works. But on another note a sincere thank you to my loyal commentators. You keep me writing and I love you. Hugs all around.

Also, Fern wrote a truly wonderful poem for me on her blog, Feigning Fern. You should check it out. Or else. I'll take the hug back. Just joshing I wouldn't do that. It won't be as tight though. Okay, I can't promise that either. But check out her site.

Pebbles in the Lake

This poem is featured in Ben Ditmars' chapbook of poetry, Night Poems. Available on Amazon for Kindle and Print.


Pebbles in the lake are

Children of boulders

Sinking to the sand and

Seeing hazy sunlight

Through the surface.

Segmented beams

Become a glow at night

For those embedded,

Unable to escape.

We dream in stasis

As the fish swim by

And divers brush their hands;

Bring warmth in long,

Forgotten crevices.

Disorderly Love

This poem is featured in Ben Ditmars' chapbook of poetry, Night Poems. Available on Amazon for Kindle and Print.


Love isn't orderly.

It bleeds; it stains

In memories pinned up

On refrigerator doors.

Drawings and report cards

Stacked with letters, doodads

On an otherwise dull surface.

We sacrifice aesthetics

And our own reflection

In the glossy chrome.

Night Poems

Ben Ditmars' chapbook of poetry, Night Poems is now Available on Amazon for Kindle and Print.

So, I'm considering this new project.  It might have and probably has been done in some way before but I think I can put my own unique spin on things.  My goal is to write a book of poems written at night in different places, instances, etc.  I'm of the opinion that everything is that much more interesting after the sun goes down and everyone's asleep.  Let me know what you all think.  If anyone wants me to send them some of what I'm working on, I'd love to do that too and get your opinions that way.

Because I'm a Fuck-up

This poem is featured in Ben Ditmars' chapbook of poetry, Night Poems. Available on Amazon for Kindle and Print.

The words aren’t right.

They never could be.

Because I’m a fuck-up.

It all seems insincere.

I try to back-track.

Can’t convey.

It’s all the truth;

It seems a lie.

Because I’m a fuck-up.

My laugh is hollow;

Echoes off your face,

Retracts, jams down my throat

To choke me as I gasp, you watch,

Considering your next move; to save,

Or let me die.  But you know the latter

Has more solace in the end for me.

Because I’m a fuck-up.