Poetry – Page 34 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Silver

Rippling water
Rippling beach
Calm and sunlight
Within reach

Linked to Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt “Silver”.

Sue Vincent's #writephoto icon — Sue Vincent’s #writephoto icon

Story

Oh, that is a blessed story.
Defeated, now arise, renew,
Unchained, inspired, come ride on through
Darkened, deadly territory.
Everlasting praise and glory - 
How light prepares the morning's run
And nighttime rivals daytime's sun.
Breathing freely and rejoicing
Singing words we all are voicing
This story ends. It's never done.

Linked the Ronovan Writes where the theme is to use “story” and an A or C rhyme in a Décima, a 10-line poem in 8-syllable lines with rhyme scheme ABBAACCDDC with optional stanza break after the fourth line.

The illustrations are some of my photos while walking in the neighborhoods of Miami Beach. They may or may not relate to the poem depending on your imagination.

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

Facing Change

The change I’d face began to dawn
Though hidden by dark cloudy seas,
A flood with opportunities
That I would miss when I moved on.

They vanished when they saw I'd gone.
Why did I leave them? I don’t know.
I watched and waited, wanted so
To make it right, at last renew,
Have something in my hand that’s true,
But in the end I let them go.

Midsummer

Umbrellas aiming to the sky
Are open on the beach.
Some are yellow, some are blue,
Some are multicolored too,
Smiling within reach.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme “midsummer”.

Linked also to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I was wondering what made me smile this past week of midsummer and then our daughters texted me, “Happy Father’s Day!!”. There it was. That made me smile.

Green

Anywhere that green can grow
It sends its roots to make a stand.
It’s open to the darker land
Where roots grasp earth and do not show
While leaves enjoy the sun’s warm flow.

Red and other colors spill
Their envy on green's living will.
Love is what the faithful do.
Repenting helps the world renew -
Remove the rot, make room and fill.

Drum

The up and down of beating drums are heard across the lake
As falsehood twists the message and the drummers take no break.
The solid door, self-righteousness, defends. It’s locked to win.
Convinced that truth rests safe inside is where truth can’t get in.

Linked to dVerse Quadrille. Mish is hosting with the word “drum”.

Shadows and Silhouettes

The shadowed edge
Where dark blocks light
Shows warmth of day
On fading night

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “shadows and silhouettes”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The beaches opened on Friday. I waded in very warm water on Saturday, a beautiful day, and smiled.

Today

I woke up to a risen sun
And clouds consumed with gray.
I take a pen and start to write.
In spite of charms from morning light
I haven’t much to say.

I often blame this on my brain.
Why pace so, to and fro?
Impatiently I start to stress.
Persistence generates a mess
Then drains. I watch it go.

Another stanza? Oh, why not?
I have a lot of time.
I scribble some and cross that out
Then doubt what it was all about.
At least I still can rhyme.

Linked to dVerse Open Link Night. Grace is hosting.

I noticed from Kim M. Russell’s post that we each have poems in Visual Verse this month. My submission is Birds, Cats and Dogs. A poem by Jane Dougherty is also there. Visual Verse sends an email with an illustration at the beginning of the month. Poets are limited to 50-500 words and one hour to complete a poem. At the top of the page is a “Newsletter” link that you can use to get on their email list.

A Life

What she did so long ago,
Or didn’t do, we now don’t know.
   She tripped some dudes and others who
With twisted true-false love were bled.
By some stone of one marked dead she stopped
   When all that no one knows of her was through.

Linked to dVerse Poetics where Laura Bloomsbury offers the challenge to imagine the life of a deceased person. I imagined the lady in Longfellow’s In the Churchyard at Cambridge.

Shades of Gray

The ocean’s gray without its blue
And gray without the people, too.
But I’m not feeling all that gray.
I got through May. I'll go for June.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “shades of gray”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. What’s there to smile about? Well, we’re still here. I got my life reorganized a bit, true, but perhaps that was all for the better. I need to do some housecleaning every once in a while. And this past week it did rain a lot. That made me think of hurricanes and Noah’s Ark until I saw the double rainbow in the east.