#CosPhoChal – Page 31 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Food As Art

Pumpkin piles rising high
Pointing to the blue fall sky.
Going up perhaps a mile
Or just enough to make me smile.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “food as art”. I hope those pumpkins or squash taste as good as they look. They are from two different fall displays at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. One unexpected thing happened this past week. I realized I have now re-seen all of the Pink Panther movies including the not so great ones. There’s nothing left to watch. That made me realize that I will have to crawl out of my comfort zone, take a breath of fresh air, and find something else to risk watching. And that made me smile.

Symmetrical

There's symmetry as night greets day
And day greets evening’s light.
The virus flushed our breaths away.
It’s time to win that fight.
If I’m around when years go by
Remembering this time,
I’ll inhale breathing if I may
And offer one more rhyme.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the prompt “symmetrical”.

This past week I also read Kim M. Russell’s Joe and Nelly and wrote an Amazon review. I highly recommend this story about two children and their families during World War Two in London.

Also linked to dVerse Quadrille. Mish is hosting with the word “flush”.

I am also linking to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Below are two more or less symmetrical versions of me wearing a T-shirt mask. These masks don’t take a lot of skill or materials to make (even I can do it). The broccoli sprouts that failed last week now sprout without molding. And so with two successful projects to brag about I have no reason not to smile.

Birds, Bugs and Bees

There go the birds and busy bees
As I disturb them walking by,
Stalking sometimes on my knees.
They rightly feel the urge to fly.
They know I’m there and don’t care why.
Mosquitoes on the other hand
Come closer and with gusto land.

Linked to the Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the prompt, “the birds and the bees” with “all the varieties of our feathered friends and with all bees, bugs and creepy crawlies allowed”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I am trying to sprout broccoli seeds, but they seem to mold in the mason jars. Solution: keep trying! One thing did work. I was able to make a mask (of sorts) out of a t-shirt. I put the t-shirt over my head and then raised it up over my face. I use the sleeves to tie it in place behind my head. And that success, even if the broccoli sprouts so far haven’t worked, made me smile. Thankfully I don’t have to go out much.

Also linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar in the last hour for the prompt for seven-line poems.

They're Not Dumb They Know I'm Watching — They’re Not Dumb They Know I’m Watching

Through an Opening

Those rocks weren’t strong enough to close the hole.
Light kept helping plants not go astray.
Hope refocusing renews its goal
Pursuing evermore without delay.
Arise and praise. Celebrate and stay.
Though nighttime blindness closes sleepy eyes
Truth lifts morning with a fresh surprise.

Linked to the Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the prompt “Through an Opening”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. There has been nothing special or unexpected this past considering all of the news of the virus. That there is no new reason to fear is my reason to smile.

Linked to dVerse Quadrille where De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) is hosting with the word “close”.

The poem is a Chaucerian stanza. I will be featuring seven-line poems this Thursday on dVerse Poets Pub for Meeting the Bar. The only constraint is that they have seven lines. They don’t have to be Chaucerian stanzas.

Pick a Color – Snow White

I remember falling snow
When flakes of white put on a show.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “pick a color”. I picked snow white.

Also linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where I am hosting with the theme of final couplet.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Looking back on my photos for something with a specific color I recalled these walks through Techny Park in Northbrook, Illinois, in November during the first snowfall. I love taking photos while such a snow is falling. It is peaceful and left me with a smile.

Inside

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “inside”. Although the dove was technically outside, it seemed as if she just came in. That was Kiki our cat with her head inside that cup.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. With everything going on we can still take walks in the park which is something to smile about.

Up Close

All the details I have missed
Are hiding what stays true
Adding pleasure to the kiss
Of life made ever new.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “macro” or close up photos.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. In the midst of taking precautions for this virus and the market crash, my smile is that the family seems closer together.

Spring Has Sprung

The Spring is stirring from this cold dead white,
From dark beneath oppressive night.
The searching sun reveals how bright
And fresh is morning air.
May I walk within such light
Where mercy soothes, where tears turn right,
And humble hope plants flowers everywhere.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Prompt. Dale offered the theme of “Spring has sprung”.

Linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile with thoughts of a coming spring smile to everyone.

Also linked to dVerse Quadrille. De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) is hosting with the word “stir”.

Liquids

Wavy water, sunny sky, 
Smiling while white clouds float by.

Linked to The Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the prompt of “Liquids”.

Linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. My smile this week is much like my smile for the past weeks. Every day this past week has been an opportunity. I smile and hope I lived each well.

Set In Stone

A miracle I’d like to see
Might make some mountain slide.
Explanations won’t agree.
The miracle I’d want to see
Would peel this raging heart from me
That seeks a place to hide.
The miracles I’d long to see
Would make my mountains slide.

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

Linked to The Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “set in stone”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. That I’m here at all is enough motivation for praise, thanksgiving, hope and a smile.

Also linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where I am hosting with the theme of the triolet poetry form.