Snakeskin Sheds - #dVerse #MoonwashedPrompt #tanka #abhanga #poetics #poem #poetrycommunity #poetry #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! I've chosen to combine two prompts today. The first is from Moonwashed Weekly Prompt where Eugi encourages us to use one or more of the words below to inspire us. I've bolded and italicized the words I chose to use.

observant and swift

simplicity summoned

unpretending

The other comes from dVerse: Poets Pub. Melissa Lemay provides us with several pictures and asked us to write an ekphrastic poem incorporating color and any feelings the art evokes. We are to give the artwork a story. 

I chose the picture below and decided to write a tanka, which is a five-lined poem that has a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern. The third line is considered the pivot, though it can happen at any time in the poem.

(image credit; Emil Nolde painting)

tumultuous seas

cragged rocks promise swift death

sailors plead mercy

observant fiery red sky

prayers heard, ship veers away

Melissa then encouraged us to read an article about the artist and his alignment with Nazis and his attempt to later lie about his support for that regime. It speaks of his personality and how his ill-tempered and loud ego was abhorred and how he chose to blame others for his failures. She then asked us to write an 'after' poem about the artwork. I chose to write an abhanga for my second poem. Abhanga poems have four lines with a 6-6-6-4 stanza, where the two middle lines rhyme.

She also asked a series of questions, so here are my answers. 1) This information made me want to not promote this artwork. Instead, I share it to acknowledge that we find ourselves in perilous times once again with people choosing to lie and hurt others to be in power. 2) The image still is turbulent to me, but now it has a deeper meaning. My focus still ends with the light. 3) I believe what we create is a part of us, but I also believe art can stand alone, separate from its maker. 

Snakeskin Sheds

political turmoil

lies ride the waves with wind

fiery light will exscind

truth will bring calm

Would you like to write a poem for one of these prompt? Click the links below:

Moonwashed Weekly Prompt

dVerse: Poets Pub

Left Behind - #dVerse #prosery #XplorationChallenge #FFFC #prosery #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I'll be combining three prompts. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was a bit busy this weekend, so I'm catching up with some of my favorite sites for prompts. 

Over at dVerse's Prosery: Making a Parka, Ms. JadeLi invites us to write a prosery, which is a prose story, that uses the phrase "make of it a parka for your soul" by Alice Walker, from Before you knew you owned it. We also had a word limit of 144. My original version had 347 words, so I whittled it down to fit the word limit.

Reena's Xploration Challenge #368 challenges us to use metonymy and pleonasm in our piece. I had never heard of either word before this challenge. Metonymy is "a literary device in which a word or object stands for a closely related word or object." For example, one could use the word suit for a business executive. Pleonasm is when you use more words that needed to convey a meaning.

Melissa's Flash Fiction Challenge provides us with the interesting and cute photo below and encourages us to use it as inspiration.

(image courtesy of Matt McCarthy)

Left Behind

Sofia shut the door to her apartment, drained from the funeral. She felt an empty void. Despite the dishes left by family, she couldn’t eat.

Meow

Their newest edition poked his head out of the tunnel of her toddler's train set. After finding out the chemo wasn't working, her husband had come home with him. Seeing the kitten, she said, "He's beautiful, my love. What made you get him?"

"I won't be here much longer. I hope he’ll fill your lives with love. Make of it a parka for your soul.  Every time you see him, know my love's still here."

Sofia kissed Mittens on the head as she felt a loving warmth embrace her. "Come on, Mittens. It's time to wake Jake Junior from his nap. We've got some living to do."

never-ending change

learn to adapt to seasons

accept small blessings

 

Would you like to write to one of these prompts? Click the links below:

dVerse's Prosery: Making a Parka

Reena's Xploration Challenge #368

Melissa's Flash Fiction Challenge

Haiku - #72JapaneseMicroSeasons #haiku #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! This week, Colleen Chesebro introduces us the Japanese micro-season of Uo kōri o izuru, which represents the seasons of "fish emerge from the ice." 

I decided to write a haiku, which is three lines with a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern. It also must include a kigo word (representing the season).

(image created by Microsoft Copilot)

spring's warming sun rays

winter's grip begins to thaw

fish emerge from ice

Would you like to write a poem for this season? Join us here.

Resilience - #senryu #WDYS #SpinTheBottleprompt #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! It has been a busy weekend for me. My son and I went up to his university to sign a lease for the upcoming school year. It was a 10+ hour road trip in one day, so I felt drained emotionally and physically, but I also felt relief to have that task completed. Yesterday, I worked my part-time online job, went to the gym, and spent some time with a friend. Today is a holiday for me, so I'm finally finding my way back to poetry.

For this week's What Do You See? prompt, Sadje provides us with the picture below and encourages us to write an original story, poem, or caption. 

Robbie's Spin the Bottle prompt encourages us to write a senryu, which is a poem with 3 or more lines with a short-long-short syllabication pattern. Senryu poems focus on emotions such as "anything that touches on the pain we experience through sorrow, prejudice, oppression, anger, and frustration." Humor and sarcasm as also popular elements in senryu poems.

(Image credit; Leandra Rieger @Unsplash)

new babe brought to life

uncertain world creates fear

practice resilience

Would you like to write to either of these prompts? Click the links below:

What Do You See? prompt

Robbie's Spin the Bottle prompt 

Love Potion - #ReverseEtheree #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #dVerse #Poetics #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and dVerse's Poetics invites us to write a piece related to the holiday in their "From Your Valentine" prompt. Sanaarizvi invites us to choose one of three prompts: 1) Love Potions and Concoctions, 2) Love Letters Through Time, or 3) Love in a Digital Age. Over at Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi encourages us to write a poem using the word luster, so I decided to combine the two prompts.

I decided to write a poem for option 1. I chose an Reverse Etheree form, which is a poem of ten lines with each line losing a syllable (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).

(courtesy of @madenme on Pixabay)

Love Potion

clear your mind of all past admirations

envision perfect imperfections

pour a base of solid friendship

stir in sexual desire

mix 'till full of luster

sprinkle with laughter

add honesty

and patience

create

love

Would you like to write a poem about one of these prompts? Click the links below:

dVerse's Poetics: From Your Valentine

Moonwashed Weekly Prompt

The Struggle Within - #CreativePerspectiveChallenge #W3 #tankaprose #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Creative Perspective Challenge, D.L. Finn provided us with the eerie picture below and encouraged us to write a poem or flash fiction inspired by it. Also, Svenja at W3: Wea've Written Weekly encouraged us to write a poem of eleven lines focused on not giving up, urging the reader "to persevere, try again, or push forward for just one more time or day." Originally, I wrote this for D.L. Finn's prompt, but it fits perfectly for W3 and has exactly eleven "lines," so I've included that challenge here as well.

I decided to write a tanka prose. This poetry form consists of one paragraph of prose and one tanka, which is a five-line poem with a syllabic pattern of 5-7-5-7-7. 

(courtesy of Canva)

The Struggle Within

I take a hesitant step onto the narrow bridge meant for one traveler: me. Though it is reinforced with fortitude and resilience, patches have crumbled into the depths below. The path on the other side is even more treacherous. Steep climbs and risky ledges litter the ominous mountain's edge. Vultures fly overhead, eagerly encouraging me to give up. Darkness attempts to swallow me, but I keep my gaze on the shimmer of light from the other side of the mountain. Failure is not an option.

negative voice screams

resolve threatens to shatter

anxieties rise

don't give up, says inner strength

embrace greatness within you

Would you like to write about this picture or about persevering? Click the links below:

Creative Perspective Challenge

W3: Wea've Written Weekly

Love Because... - #FFFC #WDYS #dVerse #poem #poetry #poetrychallenge #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Valentine's Day is right around the corner and both Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge and Sadje's What Do You See? prompt shared images related to love, so I've decided to combine the prompts. I also combined dVerse's Quadrille #217: Poems with Zing! which asks us to write a quadrille poem incorporating the word zing, and it seemed to just fit right in! (A quadrille should only have 44 words. Originally, I had more, so I revised it.)

This holiday tends to focus on romantic love, but there are so many forms of love which tend to be forgotten. There is the love between friends, bringing joy and laughter for years. There is the love of family, providing comfort and security. There is the love and zest for life, adding excitement and adventure into our days. Most importantly, there is the love of self. Sadly, this is the one most people forget to nurture. It is for these other forms of love that I chose to write my poem.

(image credit; Bilal Karim @ Unsplash)

Love Because...

without love,

life’s an endless stream 

of monochromatic gray

an empty ravine

thirsting for water

without reprieve

with love,

each sunrise's radiant glory

infuses the spirit with zing

full of wonder

vibrant

 

love

freely

 

because

everyone deserves to feel loved

most of all

you

 

(image credit; Susn Matthiessen @ Unsplash)

Would you like to write a poem or flash fiction piece for either of these prompts? Click the links below:

Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

Sadje's What Do You See? prompt

dVerse's Quadrille #217: Poems with Zing!

Bush Warbler's Song - #72JapaneseMicroSeasons #haiku #syllabicpoetry #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this second week in the 72 Micro-Seasons of Japan, Colleen Chesebro introduces us to the micro-season of kenkan su, or bush warblers start singing in the mountains. She shared a fascinating link to learn more about the Japanese bush warbler. It even includes audio examples of the bird's beautiful songs. 

I decided to write a haiku, which is a poem of three lines with a syllabic pattern of 5-7-5.

(courtesy of @Erik_Karits on Pixabay)

a bush warbler smiles

winter retreats, spring begins

mountains echo songs

Would you like to write a poem for this Japanese micro-season? Join us here.

Star-Crossed Lovers - #abhanga #spinthebottlepoetry #starcrossedlovers #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Syllabic Poetry Spin the Bottle challenge, Robbie encourages us to write an abhanga, which is a poem of four lines with a 6-6-6-4 pattern, where lines two and three rhyme. Robbie also mentioned Esther Chilton's writing challenge prompt provided the word secret, so I decided to incorporate that as well.

I have always loved waterfalls. They are magnificent and majestic, and the energy surrounding them infuses my soul with harmony and wonder. When my family and I took road trips across the USA, we always searched for national parks and waterfalls we could explore. I could sit and listen to them for hours if I had the time to do so. 

(image created by Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

Star-Crossed Lovers

secret words of true love

lost in waterfall's roar

passion captured on shore

forbidden tryst

Would you like to participate in one of these challenges? Click the links below:

Syllabic Poetry Spin the Bottle Challenge

Esther Chilton's Writing Challenge

Banyan Trees - #haiku #XplorationChallenge #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! This week's Reena's Xploration Challenge #367 focused on banyan trees. We could choose any format we wanted.

Here in South Florida, we have plenty of banyan trees. I have always found them to be majestic. When I was little, between moving from one place to another (my dad was in the Army), we would stop in Miami and visit family. I have a great memory of my sister, half-brother, and half-sister hanging upside down from the banyan tree's roots that had yet to reach the ground. My son, niece, and nephew have also had fun swinging from them back when they were little. 

Reena shared with us some folklore as well as how a banyan tree grows. You can read about it here. Suddenly, my view of banyan trees shifted. I had no idea they begin their lives by hitching a ride on trees that already exist, eventually killing the host trees. I've been admiring a murderer all this time! LOL!

So, I've chosen to write two haiku - one for my adoration of the banyan trees and one for the horrific truth of them. 

glorious banyans

provide shelter for us all

from sweltering sun

monstrous banyan trees

survival of the fittest

magnificent beasts

Are you inspired to write about the banyan trees? Join us here.