Toys

 
We had few toys. The mud pies that we made
We’d sell for mud-pie cash or try to trade
For treasures that would fortify wild dreams
That didn’t need much more than that we played.

Linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge where the theme is “toys”. The The photo below is a hiking trail through a golf course which may be a kind of toy. I don’t golf, but I do walk this trail. The featured photo are the eyes of a beautiful troll we bought many years ago made by 5 Arts Studio in Cosby, TN.

I am also linking to dVerse Poetry Forms where I am hosting during February on the ruba’i quatrain form.

Hiking Trail Through Golf Course

Harbinger

 
Some signs predicted mountains soon would crash
And we would, too, like stones dropped in the deep
Where doubt takes over truth in dreamy sleep
And counting doesn’t compensate lost cash.
Those signs suggested treasured stores held trash
Since death consumes what excess we might keep.
But who needs more?  The miser, too, will weep
When life moves on for both the wise and rash.

By what we take for granted we are led
And what we give makes rich the giving hand.
The blessings she proclaimed link me to you.
I don’t remember much of what she said.
Her words I doubt I'd ever understand.
Her voice though sounded kind. May it come true.

Linked to dVerse Poetics. Sarah is hosting the the theme of harbinger.

Beautiful Day

Sharpest, Deepest Sleep

 
Beneath soft covers steeped in dreams
Sleep reveals golden schemes
Left from sharper, warmer day
When calmer night with moonlight beams.

Oceans deepen. High waves spray.
Bounce the ball as children play.
Nothing need be as it seems.
No one turns their own away.

Linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “sharpest image”. Also linked to dVerse Quadrille. Mish is hosting with the word “steep”.

Linked to dVerse Poetry Forms – the Rubaiyat. I like short tetrameter lines and how the AABA rhyme scheme allows the quatrains to be interconnected based on sound.

Sharp With Sleepy Reflections

Deep Shadow

 
It took its chilly time to shed its light
And turn blood-red in darker, deeper night.
I finally realized its end had come,
But trusted once again it would shine bright.

Linked to dVerse Poetics where Lillian is hosting with the theme word “shed”. The photo above is the Moon in dark shadow through my phone when I went to bed. It looked more amazing in real life.

Evening After the Lunar Eclipse

In a Blur

 
I’d rather flow in given grace
Than try to race or go away.
If things get blurry, I don’t care.
Come, take me where you will today.

Linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “in a blur”. By focusing on the foreground that I normally don’t pay attention to, I blurred the background that I do,

More Background Blur

Colonnade

Fernando and Pedro walked the boardwalk with a colonnade of condos on their left and the ocean on their right. They stopped at a mural. The artist painted a somber woman with an orange and gold halo walking past an archway.

Fernando remarked, “There comes a time in one’s life when one reaches the age of reason. One only wants the best. And then one wants to give it all away.”

Pedro asked, “And what if we never reach that age?”

In the warm winter winds  they admired the mural of that woman.

“Ah! But what if we do?”

Linked to Charli Mills’ Carrot Ranch January 17: Flash Fiction where “colonnade” is the theme for this week’s 99-word story and to Sue Vincent’s Imagination #writephoto prompt.

Sue Vincent provided the photo above. Charli Mills provide the photo below.

Charli Mills’ prompt for this challenge

Coin Laundry

 
If I could only wash my age-soaked heart
The way I do these clothes in this machine
And trust in thirty minutes it’d be clean.
I’d likely try it once or twice to start.
What soap would do the best to tear apart
What’s good from what has grown with time too mean?
I’d make it cleaner than I yet have seen
And wash it everyday - if I were smart.

These quarters are too little I confess.
For payment ancient angels might want more
Since no one gives forgiveness out for free,
But then came dreams of lucid mystery.
They weren't what I thought I was looking for
Yet I felt clean enough to let them bless.

Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where Jilly is hosting and the form is the sonnet with enjambment. I hope there are some lines above that represent enjambment.

Flower