Icarus' Sister?

David Salle - Flying Down (2006)

He loved three things alone:
 White peacocks, evensong,
 Old maps of America.

 He hated children crying,
 And raspberry jam with his tea,
 And womanish hysteria. ...

And he married me

Anna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966).



She loved four things alone
Candlelight, classical realms
Ambient music and feathered wings

She hated my thrill of heights
And my long hours
And drunken spirits

And she left me...



Linking to:
Magpie Tales #136
Poets United - Poetry Pantry

I Love the Kookaburra

A kookaburra family regularly visits my Mornington Peninsula world.
Such friendly, knowing little characters.
The kookaburra (also known as laughing jackass) is part of the kingfisher family and is native to Australia and New Guinea.




Knowing character
The kookaburra magic
Reaches the spirit

So what is a friend
One who sings the earth for you
Echo of beauty


Linking to:
The Bird D'Pot
Camera Critters
Carry on Tuesday ~ What is a friend
One Single Impression ~ Echo
Poetry Pantry ~ Poets United

A Carriage Tale

At first the carriage sighed with
Grudging
Monday morning
Potential
Like simmering
Rebellion
Without the gumption to strike

Half-empty
Prison
And a little time to divert into
Alternative pleasantries

All too soon
The seats and aisles
Crammed with
Silent
Still life

(Actually
Pseudo "busyness" 
Indulging in
Electronic
Escapes)

But a seat
Unexpectedly
Vacated
Between the distillers of pleasantries and
Filled with
A studded revolution black vest
Armed with tattoos and
Helmeted with
Silky
Neonic
Green
Hair

Uncomfortable discord
Sizzled

The tattoos
Stroked the neonic greens
Constantly
As if being different was
A shifty business
While the pleasantries fried into
Medusa-like
Stony glares
Fixed
Straight ahead
Peripheral vision was
Negligible

Finally
The staged skit was
Broken

The neonics shuffled out at Parliament
Chewing gum
Fast

For the first time I saw her eyes
As she passed my window
They were large
And dark
And beautiful

But still life
Trained on

NOTE: Parliament is the name of an undergound train station in inner Melbourne


Linking to:
dVerse ~ The Art of Rebellion
Poets United ~ Poetry Pantry
Real Toads ~ Open Link Monday

Am I Still Yesterday?

Kite flying in the Rosebud Kite Festival held in March on the Mornington Peninsula each year.


Wings change tone and balance
Challenge
When Summer colours find Autumn

Midway in life's journey
Crossroads
Yesterday's child finds the mirror


Linking to:
Carry on Tuesday ~ Midway in life's journey...- Dante
Poet's United ~ Poetry Pantry
dVerse ~ Open Link Night

She was Ophelia...

Ophelia by Odilon Redon



Mirage
Sleeping young face melting in 
Some oasis rain puddle
Alongside
Some random fallen leaves
And flowers


Soon
The relentless sun
Snuffs
The last light
Burns the cursed moment
Gone


 Linking to:
Magpie Tales #124
Poetry Pantry #105

NOTE: For those who think I have re-invented the Ophelia story, I have not.
Instead, I looked at Redon's image and thought he seemed to capture the shape of a rain puddle.
And that's where my idea began.
As if, like a mirage, (my opening word) the innocent face of Ophelia appears in the rain puddle.
Like a brief, legendary moment has surfaced, re-incarnating her final moments, until the sun dries up the puddle, and she is gone once again.
Ophelia's story remains intact.

Haiku Challenge #16 ~ Sin in Haibun

There's a house not far from me that never changes.
It simply is.
To me, it is like a broken link in the chain of life. It is like a stage without actors, a sky without weather changes, an earth drought-ridden.
It's a sin to let a house bathe in the sunlight and shadows of the seasons, shuttered, alone...

No circulation
No tending of the garden
No family love

A grim door that never greets nor farewells, stands like a locked memory - of someone.
A gated driveway locked in bland nowhere. Somehow there is a sense of a child, discarded, wondering if parents will ever remember to come home; like a body adrift in limbo, seeking a heart and a soul.



Scraps of energy
Like shredded, lost momentos
Mere driveway relics

There's a house not far from me that never breathes, never blinks.
It simply survives.
It simply is.

*150 words

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 16 – February 16th – Theme or Word: Sin Form: Haibun

The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Her mood today...

A tree in the Dromana Hills shedding its winter coat
Mother Nature is out and about getting ready to change the seasons!

Form for All - dVerse - Rime Royal
From Gay Cannon:
To celebrate new beginnings, I thought this week we’d look at one of the oldest forms in English, Rime Royal or Rhyme Royal. Traditionally, the name Rhyme Royal is said to derive from The Kingis Quair (“The King’s Book), attributed to James I of Scotland (1394–1437), but some critics trace the name to the French chant royal.

The rhyme royal stanza consists of seven lines, (usually) in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. In practice, the stanza can be constructed either as a terza rima and two couplets (a-b-a, b-b, c-c) or a quatrain and a tercet (a-b-a-b, b-c-c). This allows for a good deal of variety, especially when the form is used for longer narrative poems; and along with the couplet, it was the standard narrative meter in the late Middle Ages.

+ Poetry Pantry #60

Her mood today's a sparkle in the breeze

She longs to feel the colours of the earth
She haunts the textured barks and greens of leaves

And from the soul of darkness springs a firth
The phoenix cycle wheels to legend's birth

A Tinkerbell awak'ning Spring's surprise
Her mood today's a scent of summer eyes




The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

A Tribute to Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne"

To me, Leonard Cohen's song Suzanne reaches into the secret darkness of the yearning soul.
It speaks to the physical, spiritual and social conscience.

One Stop Poetry ~ Celebrating Leonard Cohen
+ One Shot Wednesday
Poetry Pantry #57

Among the sensual secrets of the soul is a longing to
Devour
Drain
An eternal flagon of
Nirvana

On the bank
The river bank
Remote
Tea and oranges
Earthy heavenly juices
Wines from
A river of
Real diamonds and
Gold
Wait

And there too is a new Siren
Suzanne
A blind girl
Blind to synthetic social scaffolding
A gypsy
A matchmaker
Twining
Humble heroes and
Seaweed from
Children and
Mornings


One Stop Poetry – For Poets, Writers & Artists


The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Farewell Writer's Island

The Week #25 prompt for 2011 is “VISION OF THE FUTURE”.
This is the week we all sail off to new adventures, and the last week that Writer’s Island will be open and offering writing prompts — at least in the foreseeable future.
The island has been offering prompts since 2007.
From Rob Kistner: Pardon my sentimentalism, but I have included a piece of art I created quite a number of years ago for my daughter, whose 39th birthday is next week. It was inspired by a photo taken of her and I in 1979, when she was 7.
It is entitled: “A Father’s Love” which is filled with dreams of the future.

+
Poetry Pantry #56
~

Snippets of wildflowers
Precious life in barren earth
We see your beauty
Now

For too long
We lost the real colours of living
Robots
Warped and charged with electric threads

For too long
We lived
A screened life

And now
Fresh worlds are the feasts of kings and queens
Kings and queens of our own lives
Content to welcome sunlight
And cast shadows with our children


Hosted by Rob Kistner
LOCATION: in the Sea of Words
LONGITUDE: Imagination
LATITUDE: Creativity
CLIMATE: Warm winds of wonder


The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Clout

Another view of my shadowy archer
~
MKLO ~ First line prompt ~ Clout Limerick
+
Poetry Pantry #53
~

A man who was proud of his clout
And loved to holler and shout
Drew a bow one too many
And lost his last penny
So now touts the grace of a lout.


Mad Kane's Limerick-Offs is hosted by Madeleine Begun Kane



The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Reach...

Rob Hanson's Photography
One Stop Poetry ~ Picture Prompt Challenge
+
Poetry Pantry #53
~

If only
Memories ringing
Draughty shed
Leather scents
If only my grandfather
Could reach for the phone


One Stop Poetry – For Poets, Writers & Artists


The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Gourmet Limerick

Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ The sign for a boutique restaurant at Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula
~
MKLO ~ Gourmet Limerick
+
Poetry Pantry #52
~

A fellow who loved fine cuisine
Confronted his office canteen
This lunch is a farce
As low as witch grass
And don't soothe me with free caffeine
~


Mad Kane's Limerick-Offs is hosted by Madeleine Begun Kane



The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Beware thoughts...

Neonic collage created in Picnik
~
Carry on Tuesday #108 ~ This week, we have the first sentence from William Least Heat-Moon’s novel Blue Highways:
Beware thoughts that come in the night
+
Poetry Pantry #52~

Doors open to trojans
Dark steeds
Beware thoughts that come in the night

Hosted by Keith's Ramblings


The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Old Questions

Banquet Scene with a Lute Player by Nicolas Tournier, 1625
~
Magpie Tales #67 ~ Willow's Picture Prompt
+
One Shot Wednesday #47
+
The Poetry Pantry #51
~

I know that this is no "happy families" get together
These are your close friends
Bound by time
I am just your
Incidental trophy

Our lute player tinkles Ariel's song
But he plays to closed souls...

Just this once
PLEASE let me join your thoughts...

I am sure you are rattled by
Galileo's increasing
Assertive claims that
Our Earth
Is not the centre of the universe

But the point is
Do you dismiss his claims
In line with our Catholic teachings
Or do you and your friends
Wonder
Could it be

I see you peering at the trembling shaft of moonlight
And one friend follows your gaze

Are you seeking answers
Do you fear what the answer may be

And I am slowly realising that
If the Earth is not the centre of the universe
Then
Neither
Are we
~

NOTE: Galileo Galilei(1564-1642) was an Italian scientist and astronomer who supported Copernicus' heliocentric view, which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe. Philosophers and clerics denounced Galileo to the Roman Inquisition early in 1615.
In February 1616, although he had been cleared of any offence, the Catholic Church nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture".
The date on the prompt image seems to fit in with these events.
~


Hosted by Willow


One Shot Wednesday @ One Stop Poetry – For Poets, Writers & Artists


The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Symbolic Statue

Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ A statue by a small waterfall at the Enchanted Maze Garden, Arthurs Seat, Mornington Peninsula
~
Today's Prompt ~ English Sonnet
+
The Poetry Pantry #48
~

To hold a gift of Nature in your hand
To be at one with tiny breathing life
To see the charm of water souls on land
To feel the pulse of peace without the strife
Is knowing that the treasures of this earth
Are not the precious metals that we think
Nor are they gems that promise wealth re-birth
Nor are they guarantees that pain will shrink.
It's understanding that we share our space.
We live to give a richer life to all.
Our mansions are our inner hope and grace
Where Eden gardens blossom strong and tall.
And no one knows the universe within,
A secret world beneath a clay like skin.
~


Today's Prompt is hosted by DL Dodge

The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

The Zero

Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ A clock in a shop window at Mornington
(edited in Picnik)
~
Poetry Form Monday ~ Shadorma
My response to
1. Annie Welch's poem - Untitled - draft 2006
2. Dustus' Rainy Day Jersey
+
Poetry Pantry #45
~

1. The zero
That single second
Contains far
Paradise
When past and future scams burn
Frozen party trick

2. The zero
The scream that is mine
Coffee space
Lacks a soul
My empty drowning highway
My pen to glory
~



One Stop Poetry – For Poets, Writers & Artists


The Poetry Pantry is hosted @ Poets United

Metal Tales

Photo by James Rainsford

Click on the photo to see a gallery of his photos

~

One Shoot Sunday Picture Prompt
+
Poetry Pantry #45

~

A moment to hold the briefcase

Clenched

And look up

Shoppers on a mission for

Must have accessories

Text to text

Words
Travelling light

All connected by gaffa tape webs of

Oily inflation

(Imaginary of course)

And those who dare to dream
Another reality

May only see

Some pseudo

Heavenly stairway

In pseudo sunlight

A hunk of

Empty
Lifeless

Shiny metal

On the move

New pilgrims to a new Canterbury?

(P.S. I just have music in my ears!)

One Shoot Sunday is hosted by Dustus @ One Stop Poetry
NOTE: hedgewitch's response this week rocked me!
The title of her post is Blue Nowhere.
A blue wind wheeling to a blue nowhere! Like a tinted reality! This beautiful poem scoops up the senses and lets them flounder, delirious in a delicious nowhere!


The Poetry Pantry is hosted @ Poets United