Over night oats wait;
While crystal flakes skate
Twirling on icy air
With delicate frozen flair
Glinting in gelid starlight
Decorating the bitter night
The moon pours silver down
Covering the frigid town
In soft white counterpanes,
’Til noting else remains
To greet the distant sun.
Houses wake one by one
To wintry zeal
And steaming oatmeal.
Written for dVerse.
Winter is here, stop and wait, it is time to hibernate
Snow is drifting all round, a white blanket to replicate
Rest your eyes, rest your head, until all the snow’s fled
Sweet dreams through the night, ’til spring comes back with the light
Written for dVerse Quadrille #238
Where did my head go?
I’ve searched high and low
The counters hold dirty dishes
And the bones of fossilized fishes
In the cupboard’s only some jam
Chips, moldy bread, and spam
My head’s not on the table top
Nor under (the floor could use a mop)
Checked the couch cushions; not there
Not even some stray strands of hair
It seems my head’s not anywhere about!
Guess I’d better get the old unicycle out
And cycle on down to the shops instead
I’m in desperate need of a new head.
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash |
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| Photo by Hans Eiskonen on Unsplash |
When my fairy godmother gave me this room
It was green and fresh; ready to bloom
Light filtered in one sunbeam at time
Filling the space with possibilities sublime
Here a chair and there a shelf of books
And a wave of a wand would make a cheerful nook
A place to take a seat and rest and sing
To take shelter from every trying thing
Alas, what great curse has come upon me?
What witch cackles at my sufferings with glee?
Where once I sat sheltered from life’s storm,
The light is darkening fast and goblins swarm
The room is weed-choked and far too stale
And I, only a princess, am far too frail
To lift up a hand and lift this vile curse
Is there no rescue from this wretched verse?
And yet - if I move this chair, throw out this box
Scare off the goblins and banish the rotting socks
Perhaps I can at least begin to reclaim my own;
Yank out the weeds and dust around my throne
Find the edges of the room and let the light back in
When the room is clear once more; at last begin
To wave a magic magic wand at possibility
And recreate a majestic haven of tranquility
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash |
She walks where waterlilies bloomed
Nearby the hanging boughs of yellow leaves
Lift on the breeze before falling doomed
Rippling where the watered mirror receives
Anything it can from the open air’s open hand
Here she removes two well worn shoes
Paying sure tribute from the upper land
And wades where e’re she’ll choose
dVerse challenge using these words in order near – can – remove – sure
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| Photo by Alyzah K on Unsplash |
Here in opulent splendor I lie
On such a wonderful, lavish nest
That no mortal shall from me wrest
Though a thousand heroes dare try
For did they gather up this treasure dear?
Did they hunt down each precious book?
Scour through libraries or Dead Sea nooks?
Or wait patiently for a new release each year?
No! T’was I that braved the world
I that raided pyramids and monasteries
And infiltrated Alexandria’s Great Library
So on my scrolls and books I’ll stay curled
Now I patiently order my prizes online
E-books, audio, hardbacks; they’re all mine.
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Bob van Aubel on Unsplash |
Within the tower,
Imprisoned.
Counting each hour,
Sits the monarch
Bespelled.
Waiting for a spark,
Dreaming of rescue,
Wishing on fallen stars
For a daring coup.
Aid finally calls,
Shattering spells.
Returned to his halls,
The monarch bestows
Honors on her,
His valiant knight.
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Laura Kapfer on Unsplash |
The glossy wind bustles
Elbowing sleepy clouds away
Until the sky smears blue
Then plunging downwards
Jostling summer leaves
Breezing past piqued foliage
For a novel look below
At shaded creamy pages
Inked with bewitching phrases
Resting just a spell
Rustling between the covers
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| Photo by Olga Tsai on Unsplash |
Glimmering licorice waves
Cover the sun in sleep
Unveiling midnight enclaves
And the secrets they keep
Here an insomnious shipwreck
Groans for a guiding star
Fish darting over the deck,
While ghosts look after the sandbar
Where starfish sparkle mid
Night and concealing surf
Written both for dVerse's Quadrille and Compound Challenge
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| Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash |
Dragonflies supply vat dye,
Whereby tie dye neckties
Dandify shy magpies,
Defying sly butterflies
Plying fluorescent dye,
Applied on bow ties.
Thereby war cries zip by,
Spry allies stand by.
Nearby, horrified walleyes
Clarify, rectify, pacify.
By and by, mollified spies
Buy shoofly pie.
Written for dVerse.
Walleyes are a type of fish. Shoofly Pie is a pie made with molasses.
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| Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol, Madame Monet and Her Son |
Sun-soaked grasses tangle
With mottled teal blades
Frolicking all together
While buttercups gambol
Startled skirts skitter
Twist this way and that
Folding between blues
Dipping in purple and white
The jade parasol pines
For a place in the sky
Canopy spread wide
Bobbing like a buoy
Rippling clouds gleam
Rich with silver and pearl
Rolling in summer waves
Rollicking across the sun
So the breezes twirl
Whisking through clover
Puffs of ivory and cornflower
Fluttering with the wind
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash |
This fated reel I hold within my hand,
spins once; spins twice; spins thrice; and then again.
Counting out the measure of a life;
the destinies of every living soul.
Whether they be of plenty or of dearth,
tears amid treasure or laughter with lack;
all these, contained within the thread I ply,
come to every mortal both small and great.
I am not moved by reproof or censure,
nor yet by praise or sumptuous libation.
This alone I offer; my only view:
though sorrow aches, it flees; but joy endures.
Clotho is one of the Three Fates of Greek Mythology.
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Razvan Mirel on Unsplash |
Effervescent baker Tiffany
Had an electric epiphany
Electing to add an ephah
Of enchanted yeast
To her emerging feast
Expanding her elegant eclairs
Exponentially
Enveloping every kitchen surface eventually,
She exclaimed, “Can I evade excess?
Perhaps there’ll be less,
If I expropriate a nibble.”
Happy Exponential Day Everyone! (The Exponential Constant is 2.7)
Ephah - An ancient Hebrew measurement that's probably too big to put into an eclair recipe, but at least it starts with E!
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Daniel K Cheung on Unsplash |
Here comes the mighty, strapping, hardy Thesaurus!
Listen to it bellowing, clamoring, roaring in dissonant chorus,
Along with fellow friends: Dictionarasurus and Rhymesaurus
Lifting up, raising up, their ringing, pealing, thundering voices in sonorous,
Blabbering, jabbering chants that thrill, amaze, and restore us,
Renewing, reinstating, replacing words with tones both dense and porous.
Written for dVerse.
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| Floating Seaweed by Fay Collins at Fay Collins Art |
All the thoughts of blue
Dance in the light of the waves
Sapphires rolling and splashing
Into periwinkles and blueberries
Bursting open with ocean sprays
Of alabaster foam
And falling into aquamarine pools
Rising and falling with the tide
Stretching out azure fingers
To catch the cornflower dripping sky
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash |
Snow queen sits upon her throne
Holding winter in her hands
Dreaming of frost and hailstones
She pours diamonds on the land
Seeds of crystal fluttering down
Like regal swan feathers
Adorning the earth in a wedding gown
She smiles at such fair weather
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| Photo by Ruben Ortega on Unsplash |
The holiest of all holidays is this:
When the dawn of the Resurrection starts,
And the lost ones return to our hearts
When the full river of feeling is bliss
Happy day! To greet my babe with a kiss;
Exquisite joy that never will depart!
Finally, your smiles, your giggles impart
A remedy; and secret grief dismiss.
White as the gleam of an advancing sail,
White as the cloud above the rafter,
White as the whitest lily on a stream,
This forthcoming memory will hail,
The beginning of happily ever after
Lovely and real, no longer a dream.
A reply to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Holidays"
The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;
The secret anniversaries of the heart,
When the full river of feeling overflows;—
The happy days unclouded to their close;
The sudden joys that out of darkness start
As flames from ashes; swift desires that dart
Like swallows singing down each wind that blows!
White as the gleam of a receding sail,
White as a cloud that floats and fades in air,
White as the whitest lily on a stream,
These tender memories are;— a Fairy Tale
Of some enchanted land we know not where,
But lovely as a landscape in a dream.
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by McGill Library on Unsplash |
1.
Cold hearth
Filled with soot
And tears
2.
Sisters in velvet upstairs
Stepsister below
In ashes and despair
3.
Orchestral violins
Send forth dreams
Drifting over embers
4.
In the flames
Glowing fairy glass
Melts into slippers
5.
Princess at the ball
In scintillating silk
Becomes a fairytale
Written for dVerse.
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| Photo by Hossein Farahani on Unsplash |
1.
Smooth eggs in the nest
Shiver and chip and flake
Over the flightless chick
Passing its first test
2.
Salt crested waves slide
Disturbing tiny grains
Rearranging patterns in the sand
Washing them away with the tide
3.
Granules of yeast lift
As the loaf bathes in heat
Transcending flour and water
Into a heavenly gift
4.
Crumbs of frozen lace
Drift down from bloated clouds
Shrouding the dying fields
With an icy embrace
5.
So the world spins
Day swims down to night
The waxing moon appears
And the next phase begins
A Cadralor written for dVerse.
