Innocence

Connected by a daisy chain
Fragile bonds release the pain
That separates us. Now we know
With innocence fresh love may grow.

Forgiveness brightened up the dark
And drove the shadows from the park
Where daisies dance, wind blown, and we
Are bonded, blessed with empathy.

Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics where Sarah is hosting and to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Photos: “Focusing on One of Them”, above, “Blue and Red on a Blanket of Green”, below. Hopefully they are somewhere in the bonded and blessed daisy family.

Blue and Red on a Blanket of Green

Attic

The chapel at the college Thomas and I attended had a storage room in its attic. Thomas and I went there one afternoon. We weren’t supposed to, but that made it all the more intriguing. There was enough light coming through a dirty window to see desks, equipment and oddly beds piled haphazardly around the walls. This dusty place made Thomas think of a tale of demon possession. He told stories well with facial expressions that kept my attention. The last sentence of his story, spoken while he looked suspiciously at me, was, “The devil could possess anyone.”

I say that was the last sentence, because at that point in the story, assuming there was more, a beetle, big and ugly, started bouncing up and down on the ceiling high above us. We thought the bug had gone bonkers. Besides, the bouncing was loud enough to stop Thomas from continuing his story with further hints of my being possessed by something or other. We looked up at the bug. Thomas looked at me. He had an idea. While the bug bounced up and down, up and down, Thomas cautiously crossed his two index fingers and raised his arms to target the noisy bug through them. The moment his eyes, the finger cross and that bug lined up so he could get a good shot—right at that moment—the bug soundlessly dropped to the floor.

RUNNING FROM THAT ROOM’S
SPOOKY SPRINGTIME BOUNCING BUG
BEETLE’S TURN TO SMILE

Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday.  Lillian is hosting.  Haibun should have two paragraphs of prose about something that really happened. I can’t forget that bug. There should be a “kigo” on the second line of the haiku representing the season. Mine is “springtime”. The haiku should break in two parts at a “kiregi”. I think mine breaks between springtime and bouncing when attention shifts from us rushing out of that room to the smiling bug.  By way of disclosure, neither of us went back to see if the bug was actually smiling. That’s just what I would do were I that bug and I assume only the prose part has to be factual.

Photos: “Upstairs Toward the Blue”, above, and “Climbing”, below.

Climbing

Street Photography

A sidewalk is a street for feet
With one for cars nearby.
My mind takes detours off and on
And sometimes when its good and gone
I let my spirit fly.

Photos: “Summer Street”, above, “Winter Street”, below. Linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the prompt “Street Photography”.  Although these scenes are more of the sidewalk, the street to the right is the main street off the set of town homes where we live.

Winter Street

Mundane

The everyday is everywhere in sight
And I am wearied looking at its face.
It doesn’t seem to shine with truer light.
Its presence makes me think of wasted space.
But I’m the one who’s stumbling without grace.
Your smile is all I need to let me see
The mundane blessed afresh with mystery.

Text: Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. I am hosting Meeting the Bar today.  We are celebrating dVerse’s seventh anniversary with septets, seven-line poems. There are no constraints on the poems for this prompt except that they have seven lines or contain seven line stanzas.

Photos: “Mundane Green with Setting Sun”, above, and “Mundane Car with Rainbow Light”, below.

Mundane Car with Rainbow

Deadly Sins

Constraints from sinning turn their screws in me.
I sleep to see fresh dreams of a new birth
Where everything I do was meant to be
And not to amplify my own self-worth.
If ever there’s a heaven for this earth,
And even if I’m not permitted in,
May praise be given for forgiven sin.

Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics where Amaya presents the theme of the seven deadly sins (and corresponding virtues). It is also a septet, a seven line poem, which I will be featuring again on Thursday for Meeting the Bar. All of these sevens are here because this week we are celebrating dVerse’s seventh anniversary.

Because of the theme of forgiveness at the end I am also linking this to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays. Her blog reminds me of the power of forgiveness. Without her influence that last line may well have been different.

Photos: “Heavenly Green Touched by Red”, above, and “Two Ants Many Flowers”, below.

Two Ants Many Flowers

Itch

The itch grinned just a scratch away
Like monsters edging up my skin
Who wanted in perhaps to play
Perhaps to lead my mind astray
And if I let the itch proceed
What would it need to turn today
Into a dVerse birthday wish?

Text: Linked to dVerse Quadrille where Grace is hosting and we are celebrating dVerse’s seventh anniversary. The quadrille word is “itch”. The poem is also a septet, a seven-line poem on any topic, which I will be featuring on Thursday to keep the party going.

Photos: “Colorado Springs Garden of the Gods”, above, and “On the Road to Cripple Creek”, below.  They are an itch to travel back there someday.

On the Road to Cripple Creek

Pieces of a Dream

Dreams make sense in pieces.
They show up every night.
Even when I’m not aware
They shine their guiding light.

One day I may listen
And try to understand.
I’ll dream until you find me where
You can take my hand.

Photos: “Ferns in Black and White”, above, and “Dream Pieces”, below, linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “Pieces of a Dream in Black and White”.

Dream Pieces

Broken Fence

The Fredericks bought Adkins Estate with farmhouse, barn and sheds. The farm maintained itself from land rentals to local farmers. There was also a notorious fence separating it from ancient Indian burial grounds.

That’s why they bought it. They planned to rent rooms to people wanting to spend the night in a haunted house.

They repaired the buildings but broke the fence to make it look spookier. They called their website “Visit Fredericks’ Freaky Ghost House”.

Many rented rooms and left five-star reviews until it became known that after changes to the fence, the ghosts no longer felt welcome.

Linked to Charli Mills’ Carrot Ranch flash fiction challenge with the prompt “broken fence”. Stories are required to be exactly 99 words excluding title. I searched, but I could not find Frederick’s Ghost House. Just in case there is such a place, this is a work of fiction.

Photos: “Deep Green Looking Up”, above, and “Where There’s Sun There’s a Shadow”, below. These don’t look spooky to me, but perhaps I am not looking close enough.

Where There's Sun There's a Shadow