Dale offers the theme “midsummer” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. These photos were taken at the Skokie Lagoons where I often walk.


Dale offers the theme “midsummer” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. These photos were taken at the Skokie Lagoons where I often walk.


Dale offers “inversions” as the prompt for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. I’m not sure what inversions are so I merely rotated two photos 180 degrees. This is what I’d see if I stood on my head.


Dale offers the theme “on the coast” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. Here are some views of the Atlantic Ocean in southern Florida.
Eugenia offers the prompt “nature” for this week’s Thursday Prompt.
Nature
Sunrise yellow, orange and blue –
rain may entertain us, too.



Dale offers the theme “in bloom” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip Challenge this past week requires us to use ten of the following:
sunflower, watermelon, pool, in your eyes, clear skies, before the rain, margarita, hot sauce, zest for life, heavenly, sunshine, total eclipse, out of the blue, the whole enchilada, and yellow brick road
Loss
In your eyes I saw clear skies
before the rain that day.
All left at once out of the blue,
the sunshine and the sunflower, too,
the hot sauce zest for life I knew.
Our margarita laughing pool
shut down. You went away.



Dale offers the prompt “here comes summer” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
I submitted the following nonsense poem to Chel Owen’s A Mused Poetry Contest. The contest theme is “a silly poem about an unusual eccentricity”. It is still open for those who want to enter.
Moon Dancing
The night sky is clear and the full moon is bright.
It’s nutty I know but I’ll dance in its light.
The moon doesn’t care. “Yes, I do.” Well, so what?
“You’re nutty enough.” No, I ain’t. “You’re a nut.”


Dale offers the “freestyle” theme this week for the Cosmic Photo Challenge which means post anything you want. These were taken at the Chicago Botanic Garden.




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.


Dale offers the prompt “on a small scale” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. I’m hoping these bees are small enough.
Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip challenge this week featured occasional poetry for Mother’s Day.
Gaia really wasn’t there
the way my mother was.
The full moon of the night or dawn
were never heartbeats I’d count on
the way my mother’s was.


Dale offers “my green world” as the prompt for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.



And here is my submission to Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip poetry challenge for this week.
There’s quicksand by the pearly gates
for those who wander off the way,
who love the breezy, sleazy mud.
Then pleasure pops – another dud.
On pins and needles now they say,
“Let’s try again!” And there they stay.

Dale offers the theme “at the end of the day” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
I wrote this poem for Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip challenge. The challenge word was “swamp”.
On top the swamp is plain to see –
below, a rotting misery.
The light green algae doesn’t know.
The darkness doesn’t want to show
the fruits of deep, defiling sin.
There’s quicksand should you venture in.

