Monday, February 10, 2025

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

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Sunday, February 9, 2025

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.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Spring's Arrival - #JapaneseMicroSeasons #BadgersHexastich #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! Colleen Chesebro invites us to join her in following the 72 Japanese Micro-Seasons for poetic inspiration. This week's micro-season is in the season of 東風解凍 Harukaze kōri o toku, which means east wind melts the ice. 

I've decided to write a Badger's Hexastich. This poetry form contains six lines with a syllabic pattern of 2-4-6-6-4-2. 

Spring's Arrival

east wind
melts the cold ice
keeping my heart hostage
waves on shore shatter chains
signs of spring bring
new hope

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

Friday, February 7, 2025

No Regrets - #MTB #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse MTB: The Sparrow as Starlet, Laura Bloomsbury encourages us to write "an invented stanzaic form created by Kathrine Sparrow that she calls a variation of the Swap Quatrain." This form contains a stanza of six lines. Each line must have eight syllables with an end rhyme scheme of BbabaA. Line 1 and line 6 it written in two hemistichs, which means the line splits in two with commas and are inverted versions of each other.

(image created by Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

No Regrets

have no regrets, just lessons learned
consequences were all well earned
idyllic dreams, changing mindsets
experience can't be returned
wisdom comes through many vignettes
just lessons learned, have no regrets

Would you like to write a poem for this week's MTB: The Sparrow at Starlet? If so, click here.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Never Truly Gone - #W3 #Wea'veWrittenWeekly #dVerse #Poetics #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #EchoPoem #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro




Hello, beautiful readers! I'm prompt-combining again, but this one was a doozy as two of the prompts are concepts I've never worked with, so it was a bit of a struggle. Still, with limited time, I wanted to see if I could manage to combine the prompts and create something worthwhile. I'm not sure if I did (lol), but I definitely tried. 

For dVerse's Poetics: Reimagining the Familiar, Dora encouraged us to take a common object or a habit and reimagine it in some way. So, I chose to take a sunset and imagine a lost loved one painting the sky.

For Eugi's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, she provided us with a beautiful image and the following lines and asked us to use any word or line (or the image) as inspiration. Her phrases were:
popsicle skypage
a scenic masterpiece
brushstrokes by nature

For W3 #145: Wea've Written Weekly, David introduced us to Echo Verse and asked us to write a poem using it. The only rule is that the sound of the end syllable of each line must repeat at the end of that line. I struggled with this form, but hopefully, I used it correctly below.


Never Truly Gone

Staring at the colorful sky, I
watch the clouds begin to dance, dance
the sunset's rays begin to paint ~ paint
brushstrokes by nature, heaven sent
sent
by you to remind me of your love ~ of
nature's scenic masterpiece ~
peace
fills my lonely heart ~ art
colors the sky in your favorite color ~ or
what's become mine, too ~ to
remind me of you, 
you
are there, painting magnificent hues ~ hues
that make a statement ~ meant
to let me know you are still here ~ here
with me in spirit forever
forever
my artist, forever my love
love

Would you like to try out one of these challenges? Click the links below:


Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Joke's on Him - #dVerse #HaibunMonday #haibun #GroundhogDay #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! This Monday's dVerse Haibun Monday challenge is hosted by Frank J. Tassone. He encouraged us to focus on Groundhog Day, which was celebrated this past weekend. For those of you outside of the USA, this is a tradition where a celebration is held to see if a groundhog sees his shadow. If he does, he predicts six more weeks of winter. If he does not, it predicts an early spring. 

For those unfamiliar with a haibun, it is a poem that consists of prose and a haiku. The prose is usually written in the present tense and focuses on an experience. Haiku are always nature-based and should use a kigo word (connected to nature or seasons). I decided to have a little fun with it.

(created with Microsoft Copilot)

Joke's on Him

As I lounge here, watching this overweight fur ball get pulled out of a fake tree trunk, I can't help but wonder what all the hoopla is about. Those men in cosplay top hats and tuxedoes pull him out of that hole full of hay to raise him up in the freezing air. And all those people cheering for him! What a joke! That fatso lay on a carpet without getting up off his belly. Then those men tried to say he predicted more winter by seeing his shadow. Puh-leeze! I see my shadow every day, and we almost never have cold weather! That fur ball needs to find a way to escape and come down here, so I can get him in shape.

traditions abound
winter will give way to spring
Gaia will decide


Want to write a haibun about Groundhog Day? Join us here.

Monday, February 3, 2025

Consequential Choices - #FFFC #haibun #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! This week, Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge provides us with the photo below and encourages us to write flash fiction or poetry based on it. I chose to write a haibun, which is a combination of a paragraph of prose and a haiku. The prose tends to be non-fictional or autobiographical, but mine is definitely fictional.


(image credit; Toa Heftiba on Unsplash)

Consequential Choices

He stands frozen in place, staring at a woman's purse, with its scattered belongings. The paramedics hoist the dead woman's body into the back of the ambulance. His brain says to collect the purse and give it to them so her family can have it. But he can't move, can't stop staring at the purse, a purse that belongs to a young woman. A woman that will never hold it again because he was too busy sending a text instead of watching the road.

tragic distractions
tornadic consequences
treasured life destroyed

Are you inspired to create a piece for this photo? Join us here.

Green - #WDYS #whatdoyousee #haiku #weeklypromptscolourchallenge #green #poetry #poem #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two prompts that mesh well together. The first is from Sadje's What Do You See? prompt, where she provides an image to inspire us to write. The second is from Sue W and Gerry C's Weekly Prompts Colour Challenge. This week's color is green.

I decided to write a haiku. A haiku is a three-lined poem with a syllabication pattern of short-long-short. In my case, I used 5-7-5. Haiku are written about nature in some manner.

(image credit; Aditya Chinchure @Unsplash)

such sparse greenery
nature struggles to survive
among concrete blocks


Would you like to write a poem for these challenges? Click the links below:

Sunday, February 2, 2025

A Mother's Joy - #reverseetheree #etheree #son #motherslove #corruptleaders #spinthebottlepoetry #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! Today, Robbie invites us to write a reverse Etheree for her Spin the Bottle syllabic poetry challenge. A reverse Etheree has ten lines with a syllabic pattern of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. We could choose any topic we wanted.

My first thoughts were of my son. He is taking online classes at his university for this first year as a way to save money by living at home. In August, he will move to campus to get the full college experience. I am beyond proud of the young man he has become, and I am excited for his journey, but I am also going to miss having him around.

(image created by Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

A Mother's Joy

sound of first cry filled my heart with love
his monkey crawl showed innovation
his laughter made sound waves of joy
discipline brought excellence
life's lessons made him strong
now, ready to go
on own journey
leaves nest but
always
son


My other thought went dark. There are many benefits to stronger technology and AI, but when put in the wrong hands, it is destructive. We are living in a time where the powerful and greedy want full control, and their vision of the world only enriches themselves. 

(created by Microsoft Copilot)

Corrupt Leaders

manipulation controls narrative
deceit, half-truths litter the airwaves
lack of fact-checking hurts nation
greed and need for power reign
civil servants serve selves
chaos, lies resume
trust distinguished
uncertain
future
now


Would you like to write a reverse Etheree? Join us here.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Be the Wind - #tanka ##Xploration #poetryprompt #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro


Hello, beautiful readers! For Reena's Xploration Challenge #366, we are invited to pull a word or line from two short excerpts from the Booker Prize-winning book "Orbital" by Samantha Harvey. Here are the two excerpts:


I decided to write a tanka inspired by the lines: "We're windblown leaves. We think we are the wind. We are just the leaf." A tanka is a five-lined poem with a syllabication pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 and tends to have a pivot point. My pivot is in the fourth line.

(image created using Microsoft Copilot)

windblown leaves scatter
unable to change their course
mindless compliance
choose to be the wind, not leaves
take charge of your destiny

Would you like to write a poem inspired by the excerpts? Join us here.