Dementia - ##XplorationChallenge #tanka #dementia #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Xploration Challenge #375, Reena shared a video with us as well as the words dementia and amnesia. You can watch the video here. She encouraged us to write a poem inspired by the video or the words.

I chose to write a tanka poem, which has five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern.

memories dissolve

octopus ink obscures view

no recognition

brief moments of clarity

lily pads among the muck

Would you like to write a poem on this topic? Join us here.

Celebrate Spring - #freeverse #poem #Aphrodite #dVerse #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse's Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury invites us to write a free verse poem on any topic, though she encourages a nod to April, the open month of love as April was dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite.

(courtesy of @tomekwalecki on Pixabay)

Celebrate Spring

winter has thawed

bowing out gracefully

so spring can enter

and thaw our guarded hearts

take heed of how the rose

trusts the earth

to provide its nourishment

allowing it to bloom

and bless us with its beauty

Aphrodite now watches over us

open your hearts

allow love to enter

allow it nourish and fill you

let love flow freely

as the waves ebb and flow

whimsically

frolic frivolously

simply for the pure joy of

celebrating life's renewal

embrace this wondrous time

with open arms

now is our time to

live

laugh

love

Would you like to write a free verse poem with us this week? Join us here.

Spring - #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #tanka #spring #Aprilshowers #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi shares the image above and the following poem and invites us to use the image/words as inspiration. Here is her poem:

transcend limitations

let life peak

when, where you desire

own your expectations

I chose to use her image as well as some of her words. I've bolded and italicized them in my poem. I decided to write a tanka, which is five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern.

(image by Engin Akyurt on Pixabay)

spring is in the air

open vibrant umbrellas

April showers come

when, where is a mystery

let life be lived on a whim

Are you inspired to write a poem based on her image and/or words? Join us here.

Consequences - #W3 #monologue #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #Diasodz #grief #regret #mourning @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's W3: Wea've Written Weekly, Lesley Scoble invites us to write a monologue. She encourages us to take a character, whether historical, fictional, or original, and step into his/her voice. The character must be seated on a bench while giving the monologue.

I decided to write the monologue from the point of view of one of my characters from my Chronicles of the Diasodz series. It's a young adult fantasy series that follows Sofia's journey as her world gets turned upside down when the Diasodz, beings with special abilities, come to take her to their world with hopes that she can save it from dying. It is filled with twists and turns, and not all is as it seems. Sofia isn't the only one whose life is uprooted. Rafe's world comes crashing down as well, and it's from his point of view that I write the monologue.

(created with Microsoft Copilot)

Consequences

This is Sofia's favorite place.

I can't recall how many times

She sat on this very stone bench

Under her favorite willow tree

Praying to Goddess.

Why did I have to choose between

You and her?

And now...

Both you and Sofia are gone, and

I don't know if she is alive or dead

Or somewhere in between.

And you...

I had just found you,

Was just getting to know you,

Love you,

Why did you go and do that?

Why did you wait so long to do

The right thing?

If only you would have acted sooner,

Maybe you would both still be here

With me.

And I wouldn't have to live with the guilt that

My decision led us on this path,

Led to this desolation,

This blackhole of mourning,

This unfathomable grief.

If only I had the power to 

Rewind the hands of time,

And if I could,

Would you choose to protect us earlier?

Would you have found your courage sooner?

Or would fate still take us down

A similar path

And once again leave me utterly

Alone?

Would you like to write a monologue for this prompt? Join us here.

If I've piqued your interest, and you'd like to read about Sofia and Rafe's journey, I've put the link for the first book in the series below. It's free! Happy reading!

The One Discovered (Chronicles of the Diasodz, Book 1)

How do you choose when both options have dire consequences? Sofia is a 17 year old who is quite content with her life. She has a caring boyfriend who also just happens to be her best friend since birth. She has a loving mother. She is successfully completing her last year of high school and enjoys her part-time job. She can’t imagine wanting more from her life…until Ar’ch (pronounced Ar-rick) enters her dreams, sparking a burning flame inside of her that she can’t seem to extinguish nor does she want to. 

Ar’ch is a Diasodz (Die-ah-sodz), a species created by the Goddess back when God created humans. Diasodz were made to heal and protect humans, but when the Diasodz turned their backs on helping humans and left Earth to live in their own world, the Goddess abandoned them. Since then, their powers and their very lives have been fading. A prophecy foretold that a young girl born on Earth would be the Diasodz’s savior. Ar’ch and his brother, Angel, travel to Earth to retrieve her and bring her back to their world before her death day in order to save their kind. 

Ar’ch knows the drill: find the target, capture her, and safely bring her home. But what happens when the target captures his dormant heart? Choices create action. Actions have consequences. When faced with the truth, what choice will Sofia make? Will she be able to accept the consequences that follow?

Resting Days - #kimo #haiku #WDYS #FFFC #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Both Sadje's What Do You See? prompt and Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge used pictures that were very similar in theme, so although I wrote a different poem for each, I decided to combine the prompts into one post. 

For the What Do You See? prompt, Sadje provides us with a picture of a man resting in a gorgeous tree. I chose to write a kimo for this poem. A kimo has three lines with a syllabic pattern of 10-7-6 and is focused on a frozen image.

In the Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, Melissa provides a picture of a bear napping in nature. For this picture, I wrote a haiku with a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern.

(photo credit; Rob Mullaly @ Unsplash)

an escape from daily obligations

hidden where no one will look

embraced by nature's arms

(photo from Four Paws)

spring arrived too soon

cherry blossom's lullaby

lulls bear back to sleep

Would you like to write a poem for either (or both) of these prompts? Click the links below:

Sadje's What Do You See? prompt 

Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

Identity - #dVerse #PoetsPub #twotruthsandalie #Americancinquain #reversecinquain #cinquains #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For dVerse's Poets Pub, Melissa Lemay has us focusing on April Fools. She encouraged us to create a poem where 60% of the poem is made of truths while 40% of the poem is made of lies. It reminds me of the game Two Truths and a Lie.

I decided to write a set of three cinquains. The first and last are American cinquains while the second stanza is a reverse cinquain. An American cinquain consists of five lines with a syllabic pattern of 2-4-6-8-2. A reverse cinquain's pattern is 2-8-6-4-2. I'll let you decide which two stanzas are truths and which is a lie. 😉

(courtesy of @johnhain on Pixabay)

Identity

childhood

set foundation

for insecurities

approval always out of reach

striving

taught to

tell myself pretty little lies

wrapped with delicate bows

superficial

ego

now grown

embraced self-worth

proud of the path taken

fortified with great inner strength

grounded

Would you like to write a poem of truth and lies? Join us here.

Fool Card - #TankaTuesday #tanka #poem #Tarotcards #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's #TankaTuesday, Colleen Chesebro invites us to write a poem using the Fool Tarot card as our theme. In Tarot decks, the Fool card is the first card in the deck and symbolizes new beginnings, the expansion of one's horizons, and the willingness to take risks guided by intuition. He is also depicted as the symbol of innocence, one who takes a journey filled with optimism and freedom from the usual constraints in life. He inspires courage and does not worry about the future. I decided to write a tanka poem for this theme. 

steady and patient

Universe plays the long game

have faith in future

look past current obstacles

see new possibilities

Would you like to write a poem about the Fool card? Join us here.

The Messenger - #dVerse #HaibunMonday #GardenofNeuroInstitute #dream #grandfather #infertility #timetravel #windphone #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! I am back from my family cruise. My muse and I are well-rested and rejuvenated (although I still have a lingering cough). We had a wonderful time. We explored Key West through a scavenger hunt. I've been to Key West many times, but my niece had never been, so we figured this would be a fun way of seeing the area. We visited Chichen Itza and Cenote Ik Kil while in Progresso, Mexico. I briefly studied the Mayan culture when I was younger and enjoyed sharing their culture with my son, sister, and niece. Cenote Ik Kil was stunning, and we enjoyed a peaceful, refreshing swim. We also went snorkeling in Cozumel, Mexico, and enjoyed being on the catamaran in between our snorkel time. I also finished reading two books while on the cruise, so I definitely enjoyed my break.

For today's poetry challenge, I am combining two prompts. The first one is actually an open invitation for submissions to the Garden of Neuro Institute's Carried by the Wind: Conversations Between Here and After Ekphrastic Poetry Call. Melissa Lemay shared the invitation here. Seven different photos of wind phones were given. The challenge is to write a poem inspired by one of the photos and connected to the theme. A wind phone is a disconnected phone people use to 'call' deceased loved ones.

For dVerse's Haibun Monday, Merril D. Smith encourages us to travel through time. She challenges us to write about our past, imagine our future, or create a time-travel tale. A haibun is a paragraph of prose and a haiku. She also gave us some paint chip colors to inspire us. I've bolded and italicized the colors I chose to use, which were caviar, freshwater, and golden plumeria. The plumeria flower symbolizes love, beauty, and new beginnings. In Buddhism, it represents immortality. The Mayans connected the flowers with life and birth, and since I just visited the Mayan ruins, it felt perfect for my haibun.

After reading both these prompts, a memory came to mind of how I first learned I was pregnant. I had great difficulty getting pregnant. An infertility specialist told me I had a one percent chance of getting pregnant on my own. I chose to try artificial insemination. The first time, I had five eggs and none took. I was devastated. The second time, I had four eggs, and I was blessed with my miracle baby. Except for the setting of my dream in the haibun (which was modified for the prompt), the poem below is how I learned that I carried my son within me.

(Wind Phone 5)

The Messenger

Weary, I lay on my side and hugged my stomach, praying my next doctor's appointment would bring a celebration instead of another disappointment. My heavy lids closed as the weight of my worries dragged me into a deep sleep. I found myself in a forest, facing the cutest antique, wooden phone. It reminded me of simpler times, when my grandfather was alive and healthy and when women easily became pregnant. I read the placard and hesitantly picked up the receiver. Winding up the phone, I closed my eyes and listened. And there is was! The same wooo-wooo-wooo my grandfather would make as he placed his hands behind his back to try to trick me in picking the wrong hand when he showed them to me. I smiled, recalling the various prizes he presented to me - coffee candy, dollar bills, and butterscotch candies. Oh, how I missed him!

"Wooo-wooo-wooo," I heard again, but it came not from the phone but from my other ear. Opening my eyes, I turned away from the phone and saw my abuelo, my grandfather, in the distance, walking along the trail toward me, carrying something in his long, lanky arms. Shaking, I placed the receiver in its holder and turned toward my grandfather. He wore the same blackened, caviar-colored shades he had always worn after his eyesight failed him. His smile radiated as he approached me. Before I could hug him, he presented me with the bundle in his arms, his newest gift to me. Tears slipped down my face as I cradled a beautiful baby boy, swaddled peacefully in a freshwater-blue blanket. I closed my eyes as my grandfather's calloused hand caressed my cheek and wiped away my tears, and when I opened them, he was gone, leaving me cradling my future son. Awaking from my dream, I wiped away my tears and caressed my stomach.

a work in progress

new golden plumeria

always worth the wait

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

Garden of Neuro Institute's Carried by the Wind: Conversations Between Here and After Ekphrastic Poetry Call

dVerse's Haibun Monday

March 2025 Book Reviews #bookreview #books #amreading #readingcommunity #fiction #thriller #crime #suspense @JoyceYarrow @Wanda48.bksy.social @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! It's only month three, but I've managed to read ten books so far. I will be returning from a cruise as this posts, so my book count may be different from what I post here. My sister and I try to separate some time to sit on our balcony or poolside and read a bit, especially on sea days. Here are the books I would recommend this month. Remember, I only post reviews for books I've given three stars or higher.

Sandstorm

by Joyce Yarrow

Genre: Women's Adventure Fiction, Crime Action Fiction

Pages: 276

Book Blurb:

GOLD MEDAL WINNER - Cipa Evvy Award for Women's Fiction
When you trade the straight and narrow for the crooked pathways of crime, it's likely to become a permanent arrangement. Unless, like Sandie Donovan, you're a born grifter, determined to use your knack for deception and crime to restart your life and achieve success as an actor.

A pitch-perfect, heartfelt, and enthralling story of survival, coming-of-age and redemption. Sandstorm is a suspenseful, pacy read about a compelling character whose adventures and misadventures are dramatic and exciting.

My Review:

This book takes you on a journey of a young girl who was cast aside because she didn't fit into her caretakers' lives. It is a story of tragedy and resilience. Sandie simply wanted to live with her father. She had already lost her mother and needed her father in her life. Unfortunately, her father did not want the burden, so he dropped her off at a boot camp of sorts, which led Sandie on a corrupt road for survival.

Each decision she made took her further into the crime world, but throughout it all, she tried desperately to hold on to her inner morals and kindness. Time and again, she trusted the wrong people, who made her life worse. Every time she started to feel as if she was getting her life together, another tragic event happened, thrusting her into even more trouble. She viewed crime as a survival tool, but she didn't want her future to be only a matter of survival. She wanted to live happily and securely.

And she almost got her wish! She started to get honest jobs and create an identity she loved, but her past came crashing back down to destroy everything she had built. Luckily, Sandie was not one to give up. 

This story is filled with heavy moments and touched upon many issues - neglect, physical and sexual abuse, drugs, theft, violence, and the underground world of crime. I wasn't in love with the ending, but it stayed true to the story and was probably more realistic for the character than what I had hoped for her. There were a few typos but nothing that pulled me out of the story. If you enjoy taking a journey through a troubled person's life, this book is right up your alley.

Still Doing Time

by Wanda Adams Fischer

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense Literary Fiction

Pages: 379

Book Blurb:

Former minor-league baseball player Jimmy Bailey spent four years in incarcerated after taking a plea deal for a crime he didn't commit. He believed freedom awaited him on the day his sister, Debbie, picked him up from Walpole State Prison, a maximum-security facility in Massachusetts and brought him home to live with his mother in North Weymouth, Massachusetts.. Little did he know that both he and Debbie, as well as others they knew and loved, would face stalking, kidnapping, and more from people associated with the prison, and, even though Jimmy was no longer behind bars, he still didn't feel free. Begun as a sequel to the 2017 novel Empty Seats by this author, Still Doing Time Iis a journey into intrigue, crime, conspiracy, kidnapping, baseball, and even a little romance, set in eastern Massachusetts in 1976. A touch of feminism, introspection, soul-searching, and racism cap off this novel, which also interacts with several celebrities of the time.

My Review:

I absolutely loved this book! I had read its prequel, Empty Seats, when it first came out and enjoyed it, but this book took things to a whole other level. The main character, Jimmy, is being released from prison after serving four years for a crime he didn't commit. Unfortunately, some of the guards on the inside weren't too fond of his good-mannered ways, and when his sister offended one of them as Jimmy was leaving, the guards decided to get even in their own way.

Their retribution led to an all-scale investigation into an inner crime ring, which put Jimmy and everyone he loved in even more danger. Every chapter kept me needing to know what would happen next. The author did a phenomenal job in keeping so many moving parts going until they finally merged together with a climactic ending. Each character had it's own believable personality, and I truly enjoyed all of them. Besides Jimmy, my favorite character was definitely Keeshaw. And I loved the two fierce moms! They were awesome!

If you are looking for a page turner with some good wholesomeness sprinkled in between, you will love this book!

Have you read any great books this month? I'd love to hear from you.

Hiatus - #poetrycommunity #springbreak #vacaytime @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Two weeks ago, right after my birthday, I developed a horrible cough. Many of my students have been sick, coughing and sneezing all over the place, and they aren't the best at keeping their germs to themselves. I normally have a very strong immune system, but this one got me, and it got me hard. 

It doesn't help that I have also found mold in my home from a water leak that went undetected for a bit. So, I've had a hard time healing. My muse has gone into hiding, and it's been hard for me to write poetry. I tried to create a few poems for the challenges, but since the mold is in my office, I'm avoiding it as much as possible, which means no access to my computer. (I'm typing this from my son's computer while he's at work. Shh....)

Tomorrow, my sister and I are taking our kids on a cruise to get away for a bit. I'm hoping my cough will finally clear up with the salt air and the open seas. So, I'll be offline for the next week or so. I will miss interacting with my poetry community, but I'm really looking forward to this escape.

I'll join back in on the challenges when I return. XOXO :-)

Spring Cleansing - #TankaTuesday #BadgersHexastich #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's #TankaTuesday, Selma invites us to write a series of Badger's Hexastich poems (no more than three stanzas) about one of the activities we enjoy doing in the spring. This poetry form consists of six lines with a 2-4-6-6-4-2 syllabic pattern.

(courtesy of @arozwadawska711 on Pixabay)

Spring Cleansing

spring clean

out with the old

declutter all spaces

create good energy

sage around rooms

new start

clear mind

release what was

embrace the positive

focus on gratitude

mindful moments

peaceful

Would you like to write a Badger's Haxastich? Join us here.

Living with Grief - #dVerse #prosery #haibun #WDYS #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two poetry challenges. The first is dVerse's Poets Pub: Prosery, Leonard Cohen. Bjorn Rudberg invites us to use the following quote from Leonard Cohen in a prose: There's a lullaby for suffering. The second challenge is the What Do You See? prompt, where Sadje invites us to the use picture below to inspire us.

Lullabies are soothing songs that comfort us and allow us to fall to sleep peacefully. The picture shows the beauty of spring, so an idea came to me and I went with it. I chose to write use an experimental haibun to connect the prose with a haiku.

(image credit; Redd Franscisco @Unsplash)

Living with Grief

There's a lullaby for suffering in every season. Cherry blossoms reflecting on still ponds mimic the beautiful harmony of heaven. Waves rhythmically lapping upon the shore cleanse our souls and remind us that healing occurs when we release our need to hold on. Autumn's brilliant display of glorious transformation allows us to embrace nature's circle of life, her acceptance that all things come to an end after its season has been enjoyed. The warmth of a crackling fire on a cold, wintry day wraps us in a warm embrace and prevents the chill from invading our hearts. Allow Mother Nature to comfort you in your loss for Her experience will teach you not all that is lost is gone forever.

petals fall from tree

a graceful transformation

embrace season's change

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

dVerse's Poets Pub: Prosery, Leonard Cohen

What Do You See? 

Full Circle - #haibun #FFFC #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Melissa provides us with the image below for our Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. I felt a story unfold, so I decided to go with an experimental haibun for this photo.

Full Circle

"Right there, Marge! That's where the Coast Guard picked us up on our makeshift raft." Manuel pointed to the cerulean sea. 

His wife had never seen the ocean, and from the moment he met her, he promised her he would take her to see it one day. He was smitten with her from the moment he saw her. After being processed, he and a friend found a job on a farm in Iowa. It was there he had first set his eyes on Marge as she was strawberry picking at the farm. She became a frequent customer, and he finally built up enough courage to ask her on a date. They wed just a few months later. Children came soon after, so his dreams of showing her the beach fell to the dreamscape until now. Marge's memory was slipping, but after sixty years together, she still remembered his promise. So, here they were, staring at the serene ocean that brought him the opportunity to find the love of his life.

"It's as beautiful as you described it, hun." Marge leaned her head on Manuel's shoulder.

"It pales in comparison to you, my love." He caressed her cheek and held her close, grateful for all his blessings.

waves lap upon shore

continuous push and pull

a beautiful dance

Would you like to write about this picture? Join us here.

Stronger Together - #XplorationChallenge #tanka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Xploration Challenge #372, Reena provides us with an image and haiku and encourages us to write a piece using any of the nouns or the. Here is Reena's image and haiku.

I ended up using a noun, verb, and adjective in my tanka. 

(image by @Aristal on Pixabay)

Stronger Together

held in your arms

my heart hears a symphony

of comfort, healing

our in-sync souls unified

against all adversity

Would you like to write about Reena's prompt? Click here.

Hamster Wheel - #dVerse #complaintpoem #poem #wagedisparity #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse: Poets Pub, Grace introduces us to Complaint, A Poem of Lament. A complaint poem "is a poem that laments or protests unrequited love or tells of personal misfortune, misery, or injustice." Grace encourages us to write a complaint poem using William Dunbar's form which has the following properties:

- stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains

- metered, often iambic or trochaic tetrameter

- rhymed, rhyme scheme: aabB ccbB ddbB etc. (B being a refrain)

I struggled a bit with this one. There are so many injustices that it took me a while to settle on which one to choose. 

(image created by Microsoft Copilot)

Hamster Wheel

be studious, they always say

they can't take your degrees away

what good is it if the pay's crap

hard work just doesn't bridge the gap

put in extra hours, show you care

prove your work ethic's very rare

do all you're asked until you snap

hard work just doesn't bridge the gap

misogynists control the game

revolt about making pay same

good luck making glass ceiling snap

hard work just doesn't bridge the gap

Would you like to write a complaint poem? Join us here.

Vicarious Life - #stackedEtheree #dVerse #W3 #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! The next two weeks are going to be a bit stressful for me. The marking period is coming to an end, so I have a ton of assignments I need to grade. I'm also working on a course I'm taking for renewing my teaching certificate. I'm also still celebrating my birthday with friend outings. And in between, I'm trying to fit in the gym, edit my novel, and write poetry. So, I'm prompt combining again.

For W3: Wea've Written Weekly, Sally encourages us to write a story in the form of a poem with fewer than 500 words. 

For dVerse: Poets Pub, it's all about The Romance of the Open Window. Dora encourages us to give our take of the romance of an open window. One of my favorite paintings is Young Woman at a Window by Salvador Dalí. I fell in love with the painting during an art exhibit at a museum in Spain, so much so that I bought a copy of it and have it hanging in my house.

Over at Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi provides us with a picture and the poem below and encourages us to allow it to inspire us. I chose to use the word oblivious from the poem.

I decided to write a stacked/double Etheree. It felt like a great form to use to tell a story. A stacked/double Etheree combines two Etheree poems. The lines follow the syllable pattern of 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1.

(Young Woman at a Window by Salvador Dalí)

Vicarious Life

she

leans there

quietly

window watching

creating stories

of strangers on sidewalks

passerby oblivious

as she weaves tales of romance

little boy plucking flowers for girl

young couple planning their future marriage

pregnant wife dreaming of husband's massage

old man hobbling home to wife

baker gives free croissant to crush

girl bats her eyes and blushes

lovers tenderly kiss

while she watches all

through her window

all alone

her love

gone

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

W3: Wea've Written Weekly

dVerse: Poets Pub

Moonwashed Weekly Prompt