2026 Poetry Challenge - Poems

Radiate

Another week day, work day, 
with chores and calls and reports
and errands and expectations to come.

It will be a full court press
until I rest my head
and I know this will be
my last pocket of peace,
if I grab it, hold it, fight for the moment.

I slide open the buffet drawer,
pull out a lighter,
grab a pair of crystal candlesticks.

I scoot my breakfast bowl to the side.
I turn my phone face-down;
it is not welcome where I am going.

I light twin flames,
center them in front of my eyes.
A flick and a targeted point here and there,
and I've done it.

With the first spark of the EZ Reach,
hot, stale air flees my tight mouth,
rushes past my nostrils.

Two candles and their wobbling flames
push the creeping To-Do list to the periphery,
bring me a microdose of meaning,
a pinch of purpose, a gram of grounding.

Change the rules, break the pace,
halt the chase of morning chaos.
It's magic, and I've made it, I own it.
This minute is mine.

Poet, writer, photographer and slightly distracted day-dreamer who muses on (gestures at everything) from the petty to the profound. On a semi-serious, fully earnest search for meaning in the mayhem. Perimenopausal, melanin-deprived, irony-enhanced recovering perfectionist Type A+ millennial woman. She balances the ever-continuing quest to Know Better/Do Better, with the distinct ego-death of parenting a smart, full-throated child who was raised to know the power of her voice. Mothering a teen means catching a side-eye in almost every interaction. Diana navigates the minutiae of everyday life through seeking the magical in the mundane. Follow along and laugh with her as the world flames out!

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