Captives #FFFC #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #haiku #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! I'm combining prompts again. In this week's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, Melissa provides us with the image below and encourages us to use it for inspiration. In this week's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi provides us with an image and a poem and asks us to use part of it in our own piece. I've bolded and italicized the words I chose to use. Here is her poem:

gentle eye perceives

melodies of ideal worlds

through a magic lens

I chose to write a senryu for today. It's a little morbid, but it's what came to me.

(image courtesy of Jessica Smith on Unsplash)

gentle eye perceives

fascination of captors

dreams of freedom die

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

Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

Moonwashed Weekly Prompt

Choose Happiness #W3 #TankaTuesday #ReverseEtheree #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two challenges. The first one comes from #TankaTuesday, where Selma invites us to write a syllabic poem focused on joy. Within the poem, we need to include a kigo (seasonal) word within the poem. I've bolded and italiziced my kigo words. I chose to write a Reverse Etheree, which is a poem with ten lines and a syllabication pattern of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

 Coincidentally, Wea've Written Weekly also lent itself to the theme of joy. Dennis Johnstone invited us to write a poem that invites the reader toward a single abstract noun, in my case - joy. The poem cannot mention the noun until the final line. Each line should describe the noun, leading the reader to the revelation at the end.

(image courtesy of @JillWellington on Pixabay)

Choose Happiness

because hearts feel lighter with ev'ry smile

the spring's warmth chases away the cold

a baby's laughter ricochets

because dancing lifts the soul

trips create memories

kisses make hearts skip

and just because

it matters

embrace

joy

Would you like to write a poem for one of these two challenges? Click the link(s) below:

#TankaTuesday

Wea've Written Weekly

Yesteryears - #quadrille #haibun #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two prompts. The first comes from Creative Perspective Challenge, where Denise provides us with the photo below and encourages us to allow it to inspire us. The second prompt is from dVerse's Quadrille #224 - Walk Quietly in my Dreams. In this challenge, we are encouraged to use quiet or a word associated with it in our quadrille. I've bolded and italicized the words I've used. A quadrille is a poem with exactly 44 words. I decided to write a haibun that also qualifies as a quadrille.

(image credit; moonlight by vernonwiley from Getty Images Signature)

Yesteryears

In the soft stillness of a peaceful lavender sky, I gaze across the serene lake and reminisce of a life of parties and adventures, each experience molding me into the person I've become.

life's great memories

summer's glory days wind down

quieter days come

Would you like to join one of these challenges? Click the link(s) below:

 Creative Perspective Challenge

dVerse's Quadrille #224 - Walk Quietly in my Dreams

Weathered Wanderer - #tanka #WDYS #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's What Do You See? prompt, Sadje provided us with two photos to inspire our writing. I chose the photo below and wrote a tanka to go along with it.

(image credit; Maksym Mazur @ Unsplash)

weathered wanderer

contemplations pass like clouds

days turn to seasons

cute companion at his feet

lonely but never alone

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

Off-Kilter #concretepoetry #dVerse #XplorationChallenge #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

 

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two prompts. The first one comes from Reena's Xploration Challenge #381 where Reena shares two images and invites us to use it as inspiration for our writing. I used the image below.

The second prompt is from dVerse's Meet the bar with concrete and shape poetry prompt where Bjorn invites us to have fun with the shape of the words in our poem by using concrete poetry, which focuses on the way words and letters look as much as the meaning. Because I used WordArt, I took a picture of my poem so it would appear correctly here.

 

(image courtesy of Pocket-Lint)

Off-Kilter

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

Reena's Xploration Challenge #381

dVerse's Meet the bar with concrete and shape poetry prompt

Searching For Love - #W3 #PararhymeParadox #dodoitsu #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Wea've Written Weekly, David invites us to create a Pararhyme Paradox. This is a new form for me. It is created by using words where the consonant sounds in the end words match but the vowels within the word change. He encourages us to use a theme of incompleteness, near-misses, or strained connections. I decided to write a dodoitsu, which is a poetry form with four lines and a syllabication pattern of 7-7-7-5. Here is my try at this form. 

(image courtesy of @Hansuan_Fabregas on Pixabay)

the heart seeks forever love

someone who will never leave

searches for "more than a friend"

it is never found

Would you like to write a Pararhyme Paradox? Join us here.

Not Fish Food Today - #FFFC #senryu #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, Melissa shares the image below and encourages us to write a poem or fictional piece about it. My poetry this week seems to have a recurring theme because of the renovations taking place in my home. I've chosen to write a senryu (I think) for this image.

(image courtesy of George Dagerotip on Unsplash)

chaos surrounds me

I breath slowly, find stillness

the danger retreats

Would you like to write a piece for this image? Join us here.

Coming into my Own - #dVerse #poetics #haibun #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful people! Over at dVerse's Poetics: "I Have No Word in English For," Dora invites us to use a few of the 25 Spanish phrases from Sandra Cisnero's poem, "I Have No Word In English For," in a poem. When I taught tenth grade, I used to teach Cisnero's book, The House on Mango Street. I loved her way of weaving the two languages together with imagery and simplicity. These are the phrases I chose to use:

susto - fear that spooks the soul away

a estas alturas - superb vista with age

divina providencia - destiny with choices and spiritual interventions

I chose to write a haibun for this poem. Haibuns consist of a paragraph of prose and a haiku. I've also highlighted and italicized the above phrases.

(image created by Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

Coming into my Own

There was a time when my mind would create one scenario after another that filled me with susto. When one would end, another would begin. Rinse, repeat. I kept hoping divina providencia would step in and fix everything for me, but a estas alturas, I have learned that I am in control of my thoughts. I no longer ruminate about worries. Instead, I focus on staying present and enjoying each moment as it comes.

gentle lake in spring

small ripples barely noticed

water ebbs and flows

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

Nature's Beauty - #WDYS #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #TankaTuesday #hainka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! The renovations being done to my house have made my muse hide under the covers, but I keep dragging her out. I'm replacing the tiles in my house after a mold situation, so half my furniture is in a storage container, and my son and I are trying to live in the other half while the tile crew remove and replace my tiles. It's been loud and dusty, and my OCD does not like that everything is out of its given place. I just keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end. So, I'm combining a few prompts because I truly enjoy participating in as many challenges as I can, but I'm not sure I will get to them all this week with all the chaos in my life right now.

For the What Do You See? prompt, Sadje provides us with two pictures and encourages us to write a poem inspired by one (or both of them). I chose the picture below from her prompt. In the #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge, Melissa introduced us to the hainka, which is a combination of a haiku and tanka. The rules are a little more specific. You can read about them here. And then, for the Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi provided us with the image above and the poem below. She encourage us to draw inspiration from the image or her words. Here is her poem:

appeal intertwined

nature's grasp of beauty

balancing bliss

The hainka is a new form for me, so I hope I followed the format well. I've bolded and italicized the words I used from Eugi's poem.

(image credit; Brooke Balentine @ Unsplash)

nature's beauty warms

cold concrete on wintry morn

with splash of color

emotions teeter

I seek out balancing bliss

nature's beauty warms

sunflowers rise and face sun

chaos quietly calms down

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

What Do You See? prompt

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge

Moonwashed Weekly Prompt

Choosing to Float - #dVerse #prosery #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse's Prosery: Ada Limon, Merril D Smith invites us to use the quote below in our prosery. The quote comes from US Poet Laureate Ada Limon's poem, "The Magnificent Frigatebird." Here is the quote:

"I have no skills for flight or wings

to skim the waves effortlessly, like the wind itself."

We must use the words in the quote in that order. We can add punctuation, but we cannot insert words. It must be in the form of prose, not poetry.

Right now, I am in the middle of renovating parts of my home, and having all my things in places they don't belong is challenging my inner peace. So, when I read that quote, my mind went in the following direction.

(image courtesy of @Pexels on Pixabay)

Choosing to Float

There are moments in life where the world just feels heavy, where small snippets of scenarios accumulate into tidal waves of trepidation. It is moments like these that I just want to fly away and escape my life, but I have no skills for flight or wings. To skim the waves effortlessly, like the wind itself, is the next best option. I must avoid diving deep into darkness and prevent the weight of the world from pressing against me. I will choose to hover above the chaos, acknowledging its existence but not allowing it to seep into my pores. I will rise above the mayhem for I am the navigator of my journey.

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

My Diary's Demise - #XplorationChallenge #haibun #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For Reena's Xploration Challenge #380, she invites us to write a poem based on her prompt: Who will read my diary? She encourages us to focus on these five words: introspection, reflection, fear, inspiration, and legacy. I decided to write a haibun, which is a paragraph of prose and a haiku.

(image courtesy of @Bru-nO on Pixabay)

My Diary's Demise 

I used to keep a diary when I was young. I wrote in it all the time, constantly reflecting on my thoughts, actions, and reactions. In fact, I had several diaries throughout the years. Each one had a lock on it, and I naively believed the lock could keep nosy intruders from reading my thoughts. During my adolescence, I learned how wrong I was. My most vulnerable feelings were exposed and violated, disintegrating the ability to trust the intruder for years to come. Drowning in despair, I tore apart all my diaries and never wrote in one again.

secretive refuge

camouflaged from nosy eyes

my true confidant

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

Persephone's Arrival - #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #tanka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi provides us with the picture above and the poem below and invites us to create a poem inspired by the words/images. Here is her poem:

dressed in pretty pink

blossoms blush shyly

nature's cosmetics

In my neck of the woods, it feels like we are already in summer, but I know many people are still enjoying the coming of spring. So, I chose to use the image and a few of the words/phrases in a tanka. I have bolded and italicized the words I've used.

(image courtesy of Peter Schmidt from Pixabay)

weary winter leaves

as Persephone enters

dressed in pretty pink

she wields nature's cosmetics

gaily redecorating

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

Mantra - #W3 #WaltzWave #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Wea've Written Weekly, Suzanne Brace invites us to write a Waltz Wave. This poetry form is a single, unrhymed stanza of 19 lines with a syllabication pattern of 1-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-1. Our focused theme was strength and vulnerability.

(image courtesy of @StockSnap on Pixabay)

Mantra

soft

subtle

words

uplift

weary heart

remind

me

I can

do all things

just must believe

anything

can be

done

if I

refuse to

feel weak

for

I am

strong

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

Depression - #dVerse #Ekphrastic #Ekphrasticpoem #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I'm tackling dVerse's In Other Words challenge. Melissa provided us with several paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe and asked us to choose one and create an Ekphrastic poem for it. An Ekphrasic poem is simply a descriptive poem that is written about or inspired by an artwork. She also encouraged us to choose a handful of words from a list she provided. I've bolded and italicized my words.

I decided to write a Reverse Etheree, which is a poem made up of ten lines with a syllable count of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

(Georgia O'Keeffe, A Piece of Wood I (1942), oil on canvas, 

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, gift of the Burnett Foundation)

Depression

I drown in a montage of dark nightmares

no illumination reaches me

choices weigh heavy on my heart

regret and embarrassment

overlap, no relief

just more distortions

there's no way out

help won't come

I am

lost

Would you like to write a poem using of the paintings Melissa shared? Join us here.

Food Fight - #FFFC #dVerse #Quadrille #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two challenges. The first one is Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, where she invites us to write a poem about the image below. The second challenge is dVerse's Quadrille #223 - Untangle It. In this challenge, we are to write a quadrille using some form of the word tangle. A quadrille is a poem of 44 words.

(image courtesy of David Griffiths on Unsplash)

Food Fight

morsels no longer wanted left behind

ear-splitting squawks pierce the peaceful scene

a flutter of gray and white creates shadows on target

entire family comes to feast

ravenous entanglement

newcomers encroach on taken territory

seagulls fight for each morsel

only the fittest will survive

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

Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

dVerse's Quadrille #223 - Untangle It

A Pink Spring - #TankaTuesday #tanka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge, Colleen invites us to write a poem about the color associated with our zodiac sign based on the chart she provided. As I am a Pisces, my color is pink. I chose to write a tanka poem that celebrates spring and pink in nature.

(image created with Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

bright cherry blossoms

pink strawberries grown on vines

spring is in full bloom

roseate spoonbills eat shrimp

sky blushes at sun's rising

Would you like to write a poem about the color associate with your zodiac sign? Join us here.

Criticism Kills - #WDYS #tanka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's What Do You See? prompt, Sadje invites us to use one of two images to write a poem. I chose to go with her second image even though both resonated with me. As someone who has lived with low self-esteem most of my life, I am always trying to uplift my students (and others) and help them see the beauty within them. I decided to write a tanka poem with a pivot on the fourth line.

(image credit; Fadly Hj Halim @Unsplash)

criticism kills

strips one of self-confidence

destroys inner strength

silence the negative voice

infuse your psyche with love

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

Muse - #XplorationChallenge #senryu #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Xploration Challenge, Reena invites us to think outside the box, to find something that speaks to us and write from its perspective. I decided to write a senryu from the perspective of a poet's pencil.

(image created using Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

hold me tenderly

pour your heart's desires through me

let me be your muse

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

Brokenhearted - #Alliterisen #poem #alliteration #poetry #brokenhearted #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am focusing on dVerse's MTB: Adding up with alliteration. Laura Bloomsbury invites us to write an Alliterisen. Here is how she explains this form:

This form is new to me, so it took me a bit to get the hang of it. She encouraged us to write about May, the first time of something, or something related to mathematics. Recently, I had a student share with me her emotional heartache over breaking up with her first boyfriend, so I decided to write about a first breakup.

(image courtesy of @HoAnneLo on Pixabay)

Brokenhearted

barely breathing, heart so heavy

feeling battered, broken - so much sadness

tears flow freely, can't contain

ev'ry pore purging the pulsing pain

darkness descends, sleep sought

drowns in despair, no known exit

feels like failure, wants what once was

Would you like to try to create an Alliterisen? Join us here.

Mother Earth - #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #AmericanCinquain #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi provides us with the image above and the poem below. We are to create a poem by drawing inspiration from the picture and/or words. Here is her poem:

grand is nature's beauty

gentle dew refreshing

neath a bejeweled sky

I decided to write an American cinquain. This form consists of five lines with a syllabic pattern of 2-4-6-8-2. My borrowed words are bolded and italicized.

(image courtesy of @geralt on Pixabay)

Mother Earth

precious

bejeweled sky

bountiful lands, rivers

grand is nature's untouched beauty

leave pure

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

Never-ending Transformation - #W3 #dVerse #seasons #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two prompts. The first comes from dVerse's Poetics: Getting hooked on opening lines. Kim invites us to start a poem with an interesting hook. 

The second prompt comes from Wea've Written Weekly where Di invites us to write a 16-line free verse poem that explores the changing of seasons. The poem should be rich with imagery, and the first word of the first line must be the last word of the last line.

(image courtesy of Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

Never-ending Transformation

death comes for all, even a season

vibrant leaves wither and weaken

falling gracefully to the hardened ground

disintegrating back to their beginnings

powdery, glistening snow carpets the earth

serenading its surroundings into slumber

animals burrow deep, hoping to avoid the frigid frost's bite

a crisp quiet creates a still scene with a backdrop of blue and white

slowly the sun melts away the snow, warming the earth

birds return, chirping new renditions of song

seedlings crack through crevices in the dirt, seeking the light

blossoms bloom in beautiful shades, painting the promenade

fruits ripen, awakening the senses

sunny days welcome outdoor explorations

birds, bees, and butterflies spread their bounties

before it all begins again with a temporary death

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

Poetics: Getting hooked on opening lines

Wea've Written Weekly