An open space, low vegetation,
and sunny day to see
the beauties of a troubled nation,
under God are we.
Eugenia offers “meadows” as this week’s prompt.


An open space, low vegetation,
and sunny day to see
the beauties of a troubled nation,
under God are we.
Eugenia offers “meadows” as this week’s prompt.


Then came a tap upon the cheek.
“Awake! Recall what you were taught.
The lying folk will all be caught.
The earth is for the just and meek.”
Did I forget what I should seek?
The fingers aiming everywhere
spit words like buckshot in the air.
The noise is great. I cannot hear
if that’s a friend who’s coming near
or folly dancing to a dare.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “cheek” once more to be used in an A line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge. I was thinking of Matthew 24, especially verse 4: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”


A drop of water doesn’t mingle.
It has no name to stand alone.
But we have names. We each are single.
We are, and we are not, our own.
As the prompt this week Eugenia offers the word “mingle”. I got the idea for the poem from David Pawson’s lecture, Unlocking the Bible, Genesis, Part 4. Hopefully I didn’t distort it too much.


The victory is God’s we know.
Before that there is much to do.
Some details haven’t been worked through.
True. Tragedies will come and go
and cancers ever want to grow
and dragons want a bit of fun.
They’ll run their mouths. Their lies will stun
like fists that crush into a cheek
confounding those who try to speak,
but lies will end and then they’re done.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “cheek” to be used in a D line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge. The idea of assured victory in the midst of tribulation comes from Revelation.


Our partying about the hall
was stopped by writing on the wall.
That magic hand mysteriously
wrote words we didn’t care to see.
Daniel told our heads of state –
the kingdom’s numbered: It’s too late.
Eugenia offers “magic” as this week’s Thursday Prompt. I was thinking of Daniel 5. The hand wrote these words: מנא מנא תקל ופרסין



We built them close to form a wall.
Within them we shall make our stand.
The devil’s prowling on the land
devouring the weak who fall
from sin that undermined it all.
They’ve burnt their buildings, turned them black.
Their walls have tumbled. See that crack?
Today let’s have bright doors, fresh light,
and neighborhoods prepared to fight.
Let’s trust in God, resist attack.
Dan Antion offers the Thursday Doors Writing Challenge. I selected Sofia Alves’ photograph of the doors of Guimarães for the décima above.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “black” to be used in a C line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge.

Dale offers the prompt “buildings of the past” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. The photos are from an old home preserved in a park in northern Illinois.
Here is my poem for Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip challenge.
A tiny trinket out of jade
deceptively was smoothly made.
I bought it. Why? I do not know.
My dreaming mind got caught, went slow.
I wonder now how much I paid.


A viewpoint from a worldview
will hide unconsciously
what’s false and sometimes what is true.
It justifies what we would do
and even how we see.
Eugenia offers this week the prompt “viewpoint”.


May I from truth not wish to stray.
What’s unknown underlies each whim
on which I float, through which I swim,
until I find a better way,
repent, and pray this time I may
have turned from weakness to what’s right.
My day presumes a previous night
where darkness showed me odd-ball dreams
I thought were pure till morning’s beams
contrasted evil with good light.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “whim” to be used in a B line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge.


I don’t know what I’d do with gold
unless it’s for a wedding ring.
A garden would be more my thing
with plants whose leaves were green and bold.
Between us there’s much fruit to hold.
We offer praise and share our meals.
We watch and pray. The truth reveals
our next assignments. See the ways
this paradise fulfills our days
and how each day renews and heals.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “gold” to be used in an A line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.
Also this week Eugenia offers the prompt “paradise”.


