March Madness - #dVerse #CreativePerspectiveChallenge #quadrille #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! I'm combining two challenges today. In the Creative Perspective Challenge, D.L. Finn encourages us to use the photo below as inspiration. In dVerse - Poets Pub, De Jackson challenges us to write a quadrille with the word hoot in it. A quadrille is a poem with 44 words in it.

(image by Eduardo Gonzales from Pexels)

March Madness

what fun March brings!

green percolating in everything

tiny sprouts create flowers

blooms bring bees to happy hour

lucky leprechauns sprinkle charm

trick or treat, be wary of harm

drink, dance around, don't trample my foot

ah, go ahead! I don't give a hoot!

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

Creative Perspective Challenge

dVerse - Poets Pub

Coexist - #haiku #FFFC #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, Melissa provides us with the photo below and encourages us to use it for inspiration. I've decided to write a haiku, mostly because I'm pressed for time and the last line of the haiku is what came to me when I saw this photo.

(image from Getty Images on Unsplash)

dumb human species

nature, animals get it

we can coexist

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

Legacy - #haiku #WDYS #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! I had a wonderful weekend celebrating my birthday. Friday was spent with family, which is always a blessing. Sunday was spent at my favorite beach. My friends and I were there for eight hours, just soaking up the sun and enjoying each other's company. It was a bit windy, but we didn't care. A friend and I walked for about an hour on the beach, getting in some exercise. It was the perfect day!

For this week's What Do You See? prompt, Sadje provided the picture below to inspire us. I decided to write a haiku. 

(image credit; Mohammed Awwam @Unsplash)

new generation

small sprout carries father's hopes

future legacy

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

Women United - #XplorationChallenge #tanka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #women @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Xploration Challenge #371, Reena shared the picture below to inspire us. I decided to write a tanka poem. As we begin Women's History Month, let us remember the women who fought for our equality, and may we continue to open new doors and shatter glass ceilings for the women who come after us.

Women United

turn away from dark

release antiquated roles

embrace strength from light

shatter chains of restrictions

assemble, support, prosper

Would you like to join this challenge? Click here.

What's In a Name? #dVerse #MTB #WaltMarie #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! And happy birthday to me! It's been a busy week, but I enjoy writing poetry so much that I wanted to create a poem (or two) today. For this week's MTB: The Poetry of Names, Laura Bloomsbury encourages us to write a WaltMarie poem on one of the following themes: the history/meaning of your name, the one you wish you had, or an imaginary one. Did you know today is "Learn what your name means" day? Me, either! 😂 

A WaltMarie poem consists of the following parameters:

• 10 lines
• even lines are just 2 syllables
• odd lines are longer but without syllable restriction
• the even lines make their own mini-poem if read separately
• meter and rhyme are unspecified

(courtesy of Microsoft Copilot)

My Many Names

Oh, the many names we are given throughout our lives!

Yvette

The one that parents create as a term of endearment

Tica

Or the one that is forced through angry, grinding teeth

Niña!

And the one my closest friends sing with affection

Yvi

Every name collects memories warmly stored in my heart

They're me!

And then, I decided to look up what Yvette means, so I wrote another one:

(image created on Microsoft Copilot)

Yvette

embracing nature's longevity and durability

green tree

infused with resilience and mystical abilities

true strength

a mind where imagination runs wild

author

grounded in the sands of time, connecting humanity with nature

earth's friend

a seeker of beauty, an inquirer of knowledge, a wanderer

teacher

Would you like to write a poem about your name? Join us here.

Words to Live By - #W3 #PersonalCreed #poem #tanka #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's W3: Wea've Written Weekly, Val asks us to write a poem about our personal creed or spirituality. The poem must be at least three stanzas but not more than six. It also must include a refrain, which is a phrase or line that is repeated at intervals within the poem.

A personal creed consists of your core beliefs and values. It focuses on your beliefs about religion, humanity, and the world. Personal creeds can define who you are, what motivates you, or what you prioritize in your life. 

I've decided to write three tanka poem. A tanka poem consists of five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern.

(courtesy of @geralt on Pixabay)

Words to Live By

life's meant to be lived

choose to make ev'ry day count

practice gratitude

create vibrant memories

live well, laugh often, share love

find humor in life

see life through child's perspective

release day's stresses

find time to play, dance, travel

live well, laugh often, share love

choose to love yourself

accept beauty in others

show kindness to all

sprinkle joy everywhere

live well, laugh often, share love

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

Circle of Life - #TankaTuesday #dVerse #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #cycleoftransformation #circleoflife #haibun #poem #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! As I won't have much time to play with poetry this week, I've combined the following three poetry prompts. This first one is #TankaTuesday. Colleen Chesebro invites us to write a syllabic poem using synonyms for the words create and bright. I have bolded and italicized my synonyms in my poem.

The next challenge is dVerse's Poets Pub: Metamorphosis of Sorts. Melissa Lemay encourages us to write a poem about a cycle of transformation. The poem has to have a beginning, middle, and end. 

And the third challenge comes from Eugi's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt. She provided us with the picture below as well as the following poem and encouraged us to use any word or the image as our inspiration for our poem. Her poem was:

to sup sweet nectar

oh, the allure

for a busy bee like me

I have decided to write a haibun. A haibun connects prose with a haiku. And I've chosen to go with the theme of the cycle of life.

(image by @ELG21on Pixabay)

Circle of Life

I have often pondered why I was born. Was life breathed into me to complete a set of tasks? Am I expected to follow a certain path, or am I free to just exist and go with the flow? In my half-century on this earth, I have felt a gamut of emotions and have partaken in a myriad of experiences, both enriching and devastating. And I have given life to my son and have guided him as best as I could, hoping he would carry on my legacy of love and kindness. I realize this is why I exist - to make a positive difference in the lives of others. One day, hopefully many, many moons from now, I will release my life's last breath and know I made a difference in this world, no matter how small.

bold spring busy bees

generate healthy nectar

life's purpose fulfilled

Would you like to participate in any of these challenges? Click on the links below.

#TankaTuesday

dVerse's Poets Pub: Metamorphosis of Sorts

Eugi's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt

An Antidote for Madness - #dVerse #HaibunMonday #haibun #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse: Haibun Monday, the theme is all about March Madness. The idea is to embrace the madness of this month, whether related to the basketball mania, weather extremes, or ideas from literature. As a reminder, a haibun is a paragraph of prose combined with at least one haiku.

This is my birthday month, and I will be celebrating 51 years on this planet this Friday. I will be celebrating the blessings of life throughout the entire month with various friends and family. My life may be chaotic and stressful, but I love my life!

(courtesy of @Iffany from Pixabay)

An Antidote for Madness

Every day brings a new bombardment, a new revelation of how fickle some leaders are in their stances and beliefs. Every day, another report shows elected officials ignoring the harm being done to their own citizens. Every day, a little piece of democracy is whittled away until it will soon be unrecognizable. And yet, every day, I find a way to search for hope, to see the good in people, and to strengthen my reserves for the fight for my son's future.

a mad hatter craze

very merry (un)birthday

celebrate each day

Would you like to write a haibun with us? Join us here.

Hibernating Insomnia - #tanka #poem #FFFC #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, we were given a fun picture to play around with (see below). I decided to write a tanka. 

bear awoke too soon

winter wonderland still here

can't fall back asleep

insomnia wreaks havoc

strings a mournful tune on harp

Would you like to write a flash fiction piece or poem about the image? Join us here.

Food for Trees - #WDYS #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's What Do You See? prompt, Sadje has provided us with the picture below. I decided to write a free verse poem.

(image credit; Cmac Кадрулев @Unsplash)

Food for Trees

I am older than you

I have existed before your kind

I stand strong, resilient

A survivor of adversity

I can live without you

But you cannot survive without me

You try to destroy me

To cut me down

To use me for your will

You see me as an object

A profit

You fail to see the soul within me

So self-absorbed with your own greed

You don't value the blessings around you

I was here before you

And will be here long after you

And when you perish

And are put into the earth

I will feed upon your remains

And grow stronger

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

Nuances - #haiku #XplorationChallenge #tabebuiatrees #trumpettrees #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Xploration Challenge #370, Reena encourages us to write a piece using the word nuance. 

I finally made it to the beach this weekend. The weather was finally warm enough to enjoy it, though it did get a bit chilly toward the later part of the day. The water was still cold, but our bodies adjusted after a few minutes. I'm looking forward to my weekly visits now that the weather is warming up. On my way there, I noticed that one of my favorite trees has begun to bloom again, so I decide to write a haiku about them.

My absolute favorite tree is the willow tree, but the tabebuia tree, also known as a trumpet tree, is my second favorite. With yellow being one of my two favorite colors, this tree always lifts my spirits when it's in bloom. 

(courtesy of @MissaelVazquez on Pexels)

nature's yellow kiss

tabebuia trees bloom

Gaia's nuances

Would you like to join us in this challenge? Click here.