What’s spooky in November
Fireworks my fear.
Bumps and groans
And nighttime moans
Entertain my ears.
Photos: “What Goes Bump in the Night”, above, and “Spooky Plants”, below, by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “What Goes Bump in the Night” and, since I think they are all mundane enough, trablogger’s Mundane Monday.
I’ve given up on the terms “selfishness” and “altruism”. Those words assume we are individuals with debts and credits in a karmic bank account that can be exchanged. Kindness, especially forgiveness, is a communal experience including even onlookers* and crossing generations. There is no point measuring it. It overflows all containers.
I remember picking up the couple in the evening as I entered I-95 in central Maine. I figured they had to go to the next town, but their destination was one hundred miles further north. They were as tired and messed up financially as I was. She was well along in her pregnancy.
That was so long ago it feels like another lifetime. I drove them to their apartment which was as rundown as the farmhouse room I was renting and left them with a smile. They never stopped smiling back.
WITHOUT MEASURING
AUTUMN SUNLIGHT OVERFLOWS
ONTO EVERYONE
*I realized this after reading Sarah Connor’s post “Kindness — haibun for dverse”.
Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday. Toni is hosting with the theme “kindness”. I am also linking this to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.
Photo: “Bright Leaves Bright Light” by the author.
Halloween will soon be here.
Scary stuff will pop–appear.
There’s something spooky when a pop
Appears and doesn’t plan to stop.
I see a man lost in the park.
We monsters dance when it grows dark.
He looks OK. I’ll let him be.
It’s best if he does not see me.
He thinks this spot is so mundane.
His ears are plugged so why explain?
Tonight when cosmic lights turn on
His mundane world will–pop–be gone.
Text: I am linking this to dVerse Poetics. Bjorn is hosting with the theme of considering the monster’s perspective.
Photos: “Maple and Oak” taken at Somme Preserves. To make sure I have something mundane enough, there’s “Below the Road” at the bottom. I’m linking these to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “A Walk in the Park” and trablogger’s Mundane Monday.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander‘st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Here is what remains after I erase all but the text in red bold:
Summer’s temperate.
Winds do shake and heaven shines
And gold and every fair declines.
Nature’s trimmed but summer shall not fade
Nor shall thou wander in his shade.
When eternal eyes can see,
This gives life to thee.
Text: Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. Victoria C. Slotto hosts and her theme is to take a text and create another text from it by erasing some of the original text.
Photos: Something to see with or without eternal eyes: “Chicago River”, above, and “Reflections Everywhere”, below, by the author.
I wear a mask to hide from you
Since you would not believe
The mask I wear below that one,
The one you can’t perceive.
That mask as well is not quite true.
It hides reality
That’s always there and never done
And one that I can’t see.
Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics. Michelle Beauchamp (Mish) is hosting with the theme “mask”.
Photo: “Sky Masked By Leaves” by the author and linked to Frank Jansen’s Tuesday Photo Challenge with the theme “sky”.
Ghosts should not wear noisy shoes.
Creak. There goes my floor.
Slippers are what I would use.
Bang: The basement door.
I tell them, “Don’t you realize?
You’re noisy. Don’t come in.”
We stand and stare with scary eyes.
They bang the door again.
Text: Linked to dVerse Quadrille. Grace is hosting with prompt word “creak”.
Photo: “Pumpkin Pile” by he author.
Some do not see beauty there.
My fingers point it out.
Some do not feel empathy–
Heartbreak all about.
I’ve taken much for granted, too.
I miss my share each day.
Tomorrow I’ll miss more with you,
But you’re not in the way.
Photo: “Autumn Path” by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with prompt “Unexpected Beauty” and trablogger’s Mundane Monday.
Whatever comes to cool the air
And make the greenless leaves descend
And make the clouds seem strange up there
I welcome as a smiling friend
Who tucks the prairie in to sleep
And offers dreams for it to keep.
Linked to dVerse Poetics. Kim of Writing in North Norfolk host with the request to write about “one autumnal item”. My item is a photo, “Tree and Grass”, I took last autumn that represents for me the prairie in autumn.
The east side of Chicago would be Lake Michigan, the most beautiful side of Chicago which I prefer experiencing from a dry distance since I can’t swim and I have no intention to learn. Hopefully this makes the city itself happy knowing that when I walk along the lakefront I prefer her beautiful arms.
WATER WAVINESS
TEASES ME WITH SUMMER’S HEAT
WINTER’S CHILLY TOUCH
Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday. Bjorn hosts with the theme of “water”. Come join us writing haibun.
Photo: “Chicago from Navy Pier” by the author.
Announcement: Christopher Fielden has accepted my story, “Keeping His Cool”, as Story 62 in Chris’s Colossal Cliche Count Writing Challenge, a 150-word-max humorous flash fiction challenge with the goal of using as many cliches as one can cram into that restricted space and hopefully still writing a readable story.
One’s friends are precious, keep them close in heart,
Even though distance can get in the way,
It’s no excuse, these days, to be apart,
Community is needed like the day.
We like to think our choices have been smart.
We like to think there’s always time for play.
Our roads may turn and lead us somewhere new
But nowhere could I see forgetting you.
Text: This is a collaboration poem with Revived Writer. She selected ottava rima with rhyme pattern abababcc as the form. Her part is in bold. It is also part of Jilly’s Casting Bricks October Challenge.
Photo: “Curve in Bridge”. I took this at the Chicago Botanic Garden and I’m linking it to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “Looking Down” and with trablogger’s Mundane Monday.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 