Poetry – Page 30 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Mice, or Rather the Mouse

“There isn’t much we mice can do.”

“Let alone one mouse”.

“What has a lion ever done for us? He’s probably trapped for a good reason.”

And so they tried to discourage Tamar from helping the lion escape from the ropes binding him.

“If you’re going to help him, don’t lecture him about his diet.”

“He might eat you.”

“Or smash you.”

Tamar recognized him. He’s the one who let her go. A quiet voice told her to gnaw the rope and then get out of the way.

So she did and when she did the other mice helped.

Linked to Carrot Ranch’s September 17th Flash Fiction Challenge where Charli Mills offers the theme of mice. This is a retelling of Aesop’s Fable of the Lion and the Mouse.

Fall – Décima

Dark witches of the winter know
Some spells they heard in full-moon fall.
Their Ba’al doesn't know it all.
His shadows flicker where they go
When morning light lets failings show.
Those who wake in time may see
How ignorance loves mystery,
How feelings masquerade as good,
How petty sins start ticking. Could
They all explode mechanically?

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use “fall” as a rhyme word in the B lines where the rhyme pattern is ABBAACCDDC. The photos are from around October/November of last year.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image — Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image

As Summer Fades

Slip from summer into fall.
Then winter brings us cold, white days,
But spring, that wonder of it all,
Leads back to summer anyway.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Prompt where Dale offers the theme of “as summer fades”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It was raining this past week and so I worked on a puzzle in computational number theory. The challenge was to verify the 3x+1 trajectory-length records by running a different program to find them. Using Python my best time for integers under 670,617,280 had been over 700 seconds. Last week I was able to reduce that to 352 seconds. That made me smile. If I believe what others have achieved, they can do it in under a few seconds. That’s my goal unless it stops raining. Even if I get it below 10 seconds, it is about as significant as solving a 1000-piece jig-saw puzzle, but at least I will be able to verify the larger records that have been found.

Blend

I feel as if I ought to send
A warning out to one and all:
Beyond the bend's a cliff, a fall,
A tragedy, a blur, a blend
Into a gorgeous, awful end.
And then inconsequentially
What would become of you and me?
Ah! Let it come here anyway.
Yes, Come tomorrow. Come today!
Embrace the opportunity.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use “blend” as a rhyming word in the A lines. The poem has ten lines with rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.

Trail at Palmer Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Look to the Skies

Look up. Look down.
Reflecting water shows
The sky as all around.
Morning sunshine grows.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “look to the skies”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It’s midnight. Soon it will be Monday morning. I can’t think of a good reason (that I haven’t already reported) why I’ve been smiling this past week. Being able to calmly watch the sun rise over the pond below is a blessing that reinforces the default smile. Although the August wildflowers are past their peak in the Forest Preserve, the forest and trails are still there and sometimes I am as well.

Look up. Look Down. The sky is all around.

Serenity #writephoto

Blue on blue with patient blue
Caressing me and also you.
But should you say it’s red instead
Insisting that I bumped my head,
Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps that’s true,
But I still see a pretty blue.

Linked to Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt. She provided the photo below for the prompt.

Sue Vincent's photo twilight — Sue Vincent’s photo twilight

Sue Vincent’s Image for #writephoto

Tip

“No need to worry. You look good.
You’re healthier than most I’ve seen.”
His diet’s simple, conscience clean -
Except when doing what what he would
Instead of what he knew he should.
Some end will come. Although he'd pay,
No doctor then could make him stay.
Perhaps today the ground will tip.
On what’s unknown, his feet shall slip
And then, like dust, he'd blow away.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the rhyme word is “tip” which should appear in a D line where the rhyme scheme is ABBAACCDDC.

Twist – A Six Sentence Story

Gerald said the only problem with Tim’s life was that it had no twist to it.

This surprised him. He owned a multi-trillion-dollar company that gave the Moon a sustainable atmosphere allowing mass colonization. His manipulated philanthropic foundations kept the world rational during the Second Propaganda War. As he saw it, twist or no twist, someone should give him a medal (and many had).

Gerald admitted he couldn’t pin down precisely what bothered him about Tim except to say, “The only twist I see in your life, Tim, is that you were born, but that should have been just the beginning.”

Linked to Six Sentence Stores where Denise offers the prompt word of “twist”.

GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley's six-sentence-stories icon — GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley’s six-sentence-stories icon

An Interesting Perspective

Even pigeons have a view
When looking out on me and you.

Linked to the Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “an interesting perspective”. I chose what might be called the “pigeon perspective” assuming the pigeon is walking on the ground.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Another week went by. From some perspectives that may seem inconsequential, but the thought that we were all given the privilege to live it made me smile.

Endless Whining

Endless whining - what a bore,
Unforgiven - evermore,
Not one whit better than before,
Grumbling, grumbling - such a chore.

Linked to Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt. The challenge this week is to use some form of the word “endless” and exactly 18 words.