raindrops rainbow storms boom and blow rumblings and flow of watery blue so much I don't know
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. Frank Tassone is hosting with five line Japanese forms. I picked the gogyokha since the only constraint appeared to be having five lines.
If asked to speak I don’t know what to say. Words appear and then refuse to be. Mumbling nonsense I can’t clearly see How dots from here to there could find their way. Even so those dots begin to play And laugh as they enjoy confounding me And jeer when I pretend some honesty, But nonetheless I’ll risk these words and pray: Make a difference. Show us something new. Judge us with Your mercy. May we ask For wisdom so we'll see the pointing sign? Lead us so that we may more align With what You know is now our better task And not what we might like to see come true.
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. I am hosting today. The theme is to write a poem with fourteen lines. There’s no other constraint. I used a Petrarchan sonnet here, but no form is required. Come and join us with a poem of your own.
I heard earlier this week that the first Thursday in May is the National Day of Prayer in the United States. This has been happening on some day in the US since 1952. With our health and our economy at risk, I’m offering this sonnet as a prayer. Hopefully I am not offending the God who makes a difference with what I’ve said.
Mystery of being
Further along the road less traveled
Where the conflict really lies
I and thou
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where Bjorn offers the challenge to use the titles of books organized appropriately as found poems.
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.
Failures come. They clear the table, Wipe the surface clean. In the distance, true and stable, Something new is seen. What I thought could never be Is now the only way I see.
Linked to dVerse Poetics where Mish is hosting with the theme based on a quote from the 17th century poet Mizuta Masahide: “Barn’s burnt down, now I can see the moon.”
Also linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. I am hosting with the theme of final couplets – any poem with a couplet at the end.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5: 22-23
Gifts may come and gifts may go, but life is best when all Like trees bear fruit of joy to share in peace and self-control. Taste how patient kindness is With love and goodness, gentle bliss As faithfulness through righteousness fulfills the ancient law.
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where Bjorn is hosting with the theme of lists as the guiding source of a poem.
I’m waiting patiently. Why not? Hands stay busy all the while. Cold contrasts with summer’s hot. I’m waiting patiently. Why not? In the end all that we’ve got Is what will make us ever smile. We’re waiting patiently. Why not? Hands stay busy all the while.
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where I am hosting with the theme of the triolet poetry form.
Covering a lie is like covering one's tracks in the snow.
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. Amaya is hosting with a four part challenge: (1) The poem must tell a story in one sentence. (2) The poem must explore the theme of ‘the end of civilization as we know it.’ (3) The story must tell of an odd or embarrassing incident, either heard about, witnessed, or autobiographical. (4) It must be improvised.
It is one sentence. I lifted it without revision from my notebook so it is an improvisation. I suppose ‘snow’ could be analogous to ‘civilization’. The futility of covering one’s tracks in the snow might suggest a story where a protagonist is motivated to hope the snow melts (civilization ends) at least until the protagonist realizes that lies without the cover of civilization could be easier to spot.
Mirror, mirror, mocking, merry, How your scars are growing scary. Winter’s wonders want to tarry, Tucking tight with white the prairie.
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. Bjorn is hosting with the theme of alliteration.
It’s good that all those deeds I’ll never do Won’t block me as I struggle to obey. It’s good as well, though harder to accept, That what I do get done’s forgiven, too. That leaves the doing. May that ever stay Removing clouds that darken sunny day.
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. I will be hosting tomorrow, Thursday afternoon, with the topic of soliloquies. Think of them as talking to oneself while permitting the audience to overhear. I wrote this example of a soliloquy in iambic pentameter although any style would be acceptable for the prompt.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 