A portal really is a door, A hole in solid wall. A window shows us somewhat more, But there is nothing like a door To make us stand up tall. Of course, we have to open it. Oh, how we love the chair. The monitor suggests we sit. The door insists we open it And wander on out there.
Linked to dVerse Poetics where Anmol is hosting with the theme of portals.
On beaches blocked and empty Oceans still will drum. Seagulls once searched on this shore For bread crumbs. They can find no more. The sun turns slowly bright To fix the morning with daylight Discharging darker dreams of night. The gulls arise and soar.
Linked to dVerse Quadrille. De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) is hosting with the word “fix”.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “The World In Lockdown”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I noticed this past week that the beaches are still closed, but the boardwalks are open. I do prefer walking on the boardwalks’ hard surfaces than on the soft sand, but the sand with bare feet washed by the waves is nice too. Things will change in ways I can’t imagine perhaps for the better and the thought of that makes me smile.
Like Solomon I’ll ask for Wisdom, too, Since what I knew before as true is not - Not true enough, that is, perhaps, not true And that is what I know will never do.
Linked to dVerse Open Link Night. Mish is hosting.
I took all the photos in the summer of last year.
They didn’t have to hurry Running through the glen. Perhaps I didn’t see them, Nor me, those forest men. But if you didn't see them go on, proclaim me mad. A summer place, a happy face, Cannot be all that bad. I may as well be loony. I’m isolated, too. I smile and learn to whistle These lock down summer blues.
Linked to the Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “my summer space”. My summer space would have plants and places to walk.
Linked also to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I didn’t know what to write for a poem for Dale’s prompt and so I just let my mouth run (which is what I normally do). The result helped me keep smiling and hopefully it didn’t make others cringe too much.
In solitude I’m not alone. Memories stay near. Regrets have often held my mind. Joy as well I also find. Sweet turning made ways clear.
Linked to dVerse Poetics where Bjorn is hosting with the theme of “solitude”.
While looking here Or searching there Am I now near Or now nowhere? Alone and standing, Silly breeze, Trails and landings Restful ease. Autumn green And yellow blooms, Sunsets seen From prairie rooms. After searching did I find All that's best I left behind?
Linked to dVerse Quadrille. Lillian is hosting with the word “silly”. Also linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar in the final hours of the prompt where I am hosting with the theme of fourteen lines.
I am also linking this post to the Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “from an unusual angle”. I took the top photo on a trail in Colorado Springs. I don’t know why I decided to take a view of the trail while kneeling. Perhaps I liked the railings. It now looks like an interesting angle. The bottom photo was of a prairie in Northbrook, Illinois. I pushed all of the potentially interesting detail to the top right portion of the picture, not how I would normally look at the scene when walking through the park.
I am also linking to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Some friends decided to continue our monthly breakfast virtually on Zoom. I thought it was odd, but then I have heard of a couple recently who decided against postponing their wedding and instead do it virtually. So I guess it wasn’t all that odd after all. It made me smile to attend our virtual breakfast.
On Thursday at dVerse Meeting the Bar, I will be featuring poems with only one constraint that the poem have fourteen lines like the one posted here.
Though not the sort of Gods that I Would bother to believe in, They raise their silence to the sky Rejecting useless reasons why Without pretending they can fly Point edges up uneven. From a distance they look small And red against the range. They shock me. What was once so tall Stands dwarfed as nothing much at all. What rose majestic seemed to fall Where wind and rain bring change. Mountain heights may help me see. Foothills praise more modestly.
Liked to dVerse Poetics where Lillian is hosting with the theme of describing a place we can travel to in our minds during in this lockdown.
The top photo I took from within this beautiful and well-maintained park. I took the bottom photo at Palmer Park a few miles away. At the top of the photo just right, off-center, below the mountain range are these unusual rock formations called the Garden of the Gods.
Mystery of being
Further along the road less traveled
Where the conflict really lies
I and thou
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where Bjorn offers the challenge to use the titles of books organized appropriately as found poems.
There's symmetry as night greets day And day greets evening’s light. The virus flushed our breaths away. It’s time to win that fight. If I’m around when years go by Remembering this time, I’ll inhale breathing if I may And offer one more rhyme.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the prompt “symmetrical”.
This past week I also read Kim M. Russell’s Joe and Nelly and wrote an Amazon review. I highly recommend this story about two children and their families during World War Two in London.
Also linked to dVerse Quadrille. Mish is hosting with the word “flush”.
I am also linking to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Below are two more or less symmetrical versions of me wearing a T-shirt mask. These masks don’t take a lot of skill or materials to make (even I can do it). The broccoli sprouts that failed last week now sprout without molding. And so with two successful projects to brag about I have no reason not to smile.
There is so much I do not know And more that I won’t ever do. Repent. Stop grabbing. Let things flow Away if need be when they’re through. See which odd ones stick around Old friends I didn’t know, then found.
Linked to dVerse Open Link Night where Lillian is hosting.
I took these photos some years ago at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. I don’t think I will ever visit that park again since it is far away and we no longer have family living there, but these photos like old friends stick around in my memory.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 