Stay Down: Revolutionary ImproVerse Haiku

Making snow angels/
won’t ease the pain when you slip/
and fall on lake ice.

Natural Noise: Revolutionary Blogging Free Verse

BOOM!!
You know what it is.
You’ve heard it before.

It’s lake ice
cracking,
contracting,
expanding,
shoving
and shelving.

Never that loud.
Never rattling the windows.
Never shaking the house
and your chair.
Never that violent.
Nature at her best.
Coolest.

BOOM!
You run outside,
look up,
making certain
it’s not a cold war
jet,
no “bombs bursting
in air”,
BOOM!

You walk over
next door,
look inside,
talk to the construction guys,
making sure
they didn’t blow up.

The BOOM!crashrattleshake
you heard
is what you thought.
You’re part
of the freezin’
season.

But even though
you know,
the BOOM!
still surprised
and scared you.

Just for a moment.
Just a little.

Your heart beats fast,
BOOM!,
boom,
boom,
until you learn
for certain,
it’s just Mother Nature
playing percussion.

Cool.
Real cool.

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Weight Loss Incentive: Revolutionary ImproVerse Haiku

Making the lake ice/
crack as you walk is a good/
weight loss incentive.

Shedding A Stinky Parka: Revolutionary IMprov Poetry

I wore my old stinky parka
because I was afraid of freezing.
Then, one day, I felt the warmth
of the sun on my face.

So I unzipped it,
pulled it off,
threw it away,
and stood there in my swim trunks and t-shirt.

And the sun was warm,
and the air was calm,
and though the lake still had ice,
the geese were flying north.

I jumped in
over my head,
and washed myself
in the frigid water.

And when I climbed out over the
slippery, ice-covered rocks,
I was clean, and refreshed,
and alive, and warm.

I left my stinky parka by the shore
and walked away.
The stink wasn’t on me.
It was something I carried.

Polar Bear is Not a Dip: Memories and Green Lake Polar Bear Poetry Plunge (includes Video)

It was, I think
New Year’s Day, 1971
When I stood on the brink
Of a frozen, sub-zero Lake Michigan.

I, then just a teen,
Dove in for the lark
Didn’t know what it’d mean
On the shores of Doctor’s Park.

Now, decades have past,
And I, a much older, wiser man
Have returned again, at last,
To take the plunge while I still can.

So why do I again come freezing
On a cold, sunny winter’s day
With nose running, lungs wheezing?
Because I have something to say!

It’s life’s lesson learned taking the plunge
Decades past, at 10 below
Run in, leap, dive, lunge!
Don’t take it slow! Go. Go! GO!

Here is the video of this poem

Here is the video of the entire group: