Breezy - #TankaTuesday #acrosticpoem #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge, Willow invites us to pick a word associated with spring and write an acrostic poem for it. I chose the word BREEZY and decided to use a double haiku to write my poem.

(image created by Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

Beautiful spring day

Red kites somersault in air

Eager hands hold on

East winds create crests

Zestful waves dance on the shore

Young kids build castles

Would you like to write an acrostic poem today? Join us here.

Queen Cat - #FFFC #dVerse #quadrille #cats #poem #poetry #poetrychallenge @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am combining two prompts. The first is Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, where she asks us to write a poem inspired by the picture below. The second is dVerse's Quadrille #333: There's no alternative. Punam challenges us to write a poem using the word alter within our quadrille. A quadrille is a poem with exactly 44 words. I've bolded and italicized the words I chose.

(image from Viktorya Sergeeva on Pexels)

Queen Cat

feline exalter

spoiled beyond belief

queen of the comforter

shares her space with her human

purrs with pure contentment

sassy at times

playful when it suits her

demands very little but

expectations must be met

sometimes aloof yet

her loyalty never falters

worthy companion

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

Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

dVerse's Quadrille #333: There's no alternative

Nature's Beauty - #WDYS #tanka #haiku #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #nature @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's What Do You See? prompt, Sadje provided us with two images and invited us to let them inspire us to write a poem. I decided to write a tanka poem for the first image, which is a poem of five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern. The third line tends to be the pivot point and lends itself to both the first two lines and the last two lines. Then, I wrote a haiku for the second image. A haiku is three lines with a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern and usually focuses on nature.

(image credit; Alan Bajura @ Unsplash)

bright, crisp fall morning

white smoke lazily rises

water calmly drifts

until turbine pulls it in

soothing, trickling sense of peace

(image credit; Zach Heiberg @Unsplash)

focused perception

notice what is important

mother nature's gifts

Would you like to write a poem for one of these images? Join us here.

Feed Wisely - #XplorationChallenge #haibun #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Xploration Challenge #377, Reena shared a list of book titles to choose from and asked us to choose one title from the list below to use in our piece.

The Impossible Will Take a Little While (Paul Rogat Loeb)

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (Harlan Ellison)

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All (Laura Ruby)

No Filter and Other Lies (Crystal Maldonado)

Unpregnant (Jenni Hendricks and Ted Caplan) 

I decided to go with Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby. I chose to write a haibun, which is a paragraph of prose and a haiku. I also added a word within the title though, technically, the rules didn't say we couldn't. 😉

(image courtesy of Microsoft Image Creator)

Feed Wisely

There is a Native American folktale about two wolves that reside in each of us. One wolf is considered the good wolf and represents the positive attributes within us: joy, love, and kindness. The other wolf is considered the bad wolf and embodies the negative qualities like anger, resentment, and fear. Humans, though, are more complex than that. We are not two-dimensional creatures. We are much more multi-faceted and complex. Still, the lesson holds true: We have the power to choose where we spend our energy and what energy we share with the world. Choose wisely.

see thirteen doorways

wolves (linger) behind them all

choose which to nurture

Would you like to write a poem for one of the titles listed above? Join us here.

My Uncle's Legacy - #haibun #FFFC #poem #poetry #poetrychallenge @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Happy Easter, for those of you who celebrate! For this week's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge, Melissa provides us with the photo below and encourages us to let it inspire us to write a poem or flash fiction piece. I've decided to write a haibun, which is a paragraph of prose and a haiku.

(image courtesy of Jay Brand on Pixels)

My Uncle's Legacy

My uncle used to take my cousins camping when they were little. Once his children became adults, he bought a camper and trekked across the country, mostly on his own. When he passed away, my cousins began camping in his memory and invited all the cousins to join them. My sister and I joined in on the fun, taking our kids with us. Every time we went, a cardinal would visit our campsite. My cousins told us the cardinal was his favorite bird and believe it was his spirit coming to visit us. My sister and I still go camping twice a year, even though our kids are grown. Now, it's more like glamping or "cabining" instead of tent camping, but my uncle's passion still lives on within us.

crisp, sunny morning

cardinal songs lift spirit

welcomed visitor

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

The Magic of Candles - #tanka #WDYS #dVerse #magicalrealism #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I'm combining prompts. The first is the What Do You See? prompt where Sadje provides us with two images to use as inspiration. The second prompt is dVerse's Poet's Pub. Grace invites us to create a poem focused on magical realism in her MTB: Magical Realism challenge.

I chose the image below as it called out to me. I wrote a tanka poem, which is five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabication pattern. The third line works as a pivot and should apply to the first two lines as well as the last two lines.

(image credit; Marko Blazevic @Unsplash)

leaves fall silently

stillness suffocates the space

night's darkness descends

flickering, waxen candle

magic arrives, fairies play

Would you like to write a poem on these prompts? Click the links below:

What Do You See? prompt 

MTB: Magical Realism

The Mirror - #W3 #butterflycinquain #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #insecurity #lowselfesteem @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For today's Wea've Written Weekly prompt, Ooko Tonny invites us to write a poem that gives voice to what is usually left unsaid. She encouraged us to speak for what the world tends to overlook. We could write from a personal experience, an imagined lens, or the voice of an inanimate object.

I chose to write from a mirror's perspective. Many people suffer from low self-esteem. I have struggled with this for decades. I am much better now because of therapy, but I still slip into those old thoughts every now and then. I decided to write a double butterfly cinquain. A butterfly cinquain consists of nine lines with a 2-4-6-8-2-8-6-4-2 syllabic pattern.

(image courtesy of @StockSnap on Pixabay)

The Mirror

you stare

into your eyes

empty, sad reflection

unable to see your beauty

hidden

underneath vitriolic words

residing in your head

discard those words

shine bright

believe

in the beauty

emanating from you

embrace your uniqueness, your strength

stand tall

see your loveliness as I do

share your true self freely

love all of you

transform

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

How the Mighty Fall - #dVerse #shadorma #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Over at dVerse-Poets Pub, Lisa brings us dVerse's Poetics Tuesday - Busted! She challenged us to create a sculpture of ourselves or to write an ekphrastic poem based one of the busts she included in her post. As I am not artistically creative, I chose to write a poem about one of the busts in her post.

I decided to write a Shadorma, which is a six-line stanza with a syllabic pattern of 3-5-3-3-7-5. 

("Last Man (Guardian of Forbidden Books)" by Leonid Lerman)

How the Mighty Fall

his hubris

needed attention

a bust made

to praise him

until people saw the truth

now, a paperweight

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

Diamond Dewdrops - #haiku #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi shares with us the beautiful image above as well as the poem below and asks us to allow them to inspire us to write a poem. Here is her poem:

fanciful schemes

never one and done

orchestrated by nature

I chose to write a haiku, which consists of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllabication pattern. I also used her image and some of her words, which I have bolded and italicized.

(image courtesy of Joe on Pixabay)

diamond dewdrops hang

orchestrated by nature

morning's little gift

Are you inspired by the image or words to write a poem? Join us here.

Wildflower - #prosery #dVerse #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse's Poets Pub, Sanaarizvi invites to participate in Prosery: In the words of Lisa Bellamy. A prosery is a short piece of prose that tells a story in less than 144 words. For this prosery, we must include the following quote by Lisa Bellamy's "Wild Pansy" poem: "As a seed, I was shot out the back end of a blue jay when, heedless, she flew over the meadow." So, here is the fictional prosery I created.

(image courtesy of @suloka on Pixabay)

Wildflower

Life hadn’t always been easy. My birth mom was a Blue Jays fan. When I was old enough to understand her abandonment of me, I’d tell people that as a seed, I was shot out the back end of a blue jay when, heedless, she flew over the meadow. She popped me out in an alley, behind a garbage bin, and went on her merry way…without me.

Luckily, it was summer, and some kind passerby heard my wails and found me. Social services took me in and found me one home after another. Not too many couples could handle a drug addicted baby who never stopped wailing. Eventually, my seed got planted in a garden full of nutrients and sunlight, and I began to blossom.

Today, I’ve created my own seeds, and I’m growing them in my garden while showering them with endless love.

Would you like to write a prosery? Join us here.

My Sanctuary - #TankaTuesday #AmericanCinquain #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #beach #saltlife #mysanctuary @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For today's #TankaTuesday, Selma Martin invites us to choose any syllabic form and include movement in our poem. She created an American cinquain trio, so I decided to do the same. This poetry form consists of three stanzas. Each stanza has five lines with a 2-4-6-8-2 syllabic pattern. Cinquains are always titled. They also tend to create drama that builds into the fourth line and then pivots on the last line, but I don't really include that drama.

(image courtesy of @Stevebidmead on Pixabay)

My Sanctuary

beach sand

toes sift through grains

soft exfoliation

connection to earth creates peace

deep sigh

seagulls

canvas the crowd

soar high above, searching

pleas for food don't go unnoticed

greedy

ocean

calmly ebb, flow

tide retreats from the shore

sand bar revealed in the distance

serene

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

Test Anxiety - #tanka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #testanxiety @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! My usual poetry challenges are silent today, so I've decided to write a poem about test anxiety. For those who don't know, I am a middle school intensive reading teacher. Right now, our students are prepping for their state tests in reading, math, and science. My students are all struggling readers/test takers, so their anxiety levels are quite high right now. I spend a lot of time working with them on managing their anxiety and boosting their self-confidence. 

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

(image created by Microsoft Copilot)

heart runs marathon

all knowledge evaporates

mind is a blank slate

perspiration runs down face

bad test scores destroy self-worth

Does your state/country have high stakes testing? I'd love to hear from you.

HYPE - #Abhanga #poem #bookpromo #poetry #poetrycommunity #readingcommunity #YAbook #newadult #rapesurvivor @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! April is National Poetry Month, and I'm trying to write a poem a day. I participate in a lot of poetry challenges that are provided through the amazing online poetry community I've found, but I didn't have a prompt for today. Instead, I decided I would share one of my novels with you and write a poem about it.

The book I'm sharing with you today is actually the second book I ever wrote, but it sat on a shelf for over ten years because I wasn't ready to release it. I had decided I wanted to begin my journey as an author with my paranormal stories and focused on writing and releasing those. But at some point, HYPE began calling to me again, and I dusted it off and began the process of revising it. It was quite a process because technology had changed a lot in those ten years. Finally, in 2021, HYPE was release.

HYPE is a story about sexual assault. The main character, Cici, is a senior in high school and is enjoying her best year. Then, the unimaginable happens and she is raped by someone she had grown to trust. When he threatens to kill those she loves if she says anything, she finds herself trapped with no one to turn to. HYPE is about strength, courage, resilience, survival, and hope. 

I chose to write an Abhanga poem. This form consists of four lines with a 6-6-6-4 syllabic pattern, where lines two and three rhyme.

Drowning in Despair

her innocence destroyed

fear debilitates her

all days begin to blur

hope dissipates

For those of you interested, here is the information for HYPE:

Cici’s junior year in high school is going to be the best year ever. Popular co-captain of the varsity cheerleading team, she’s dating the starting quarterback. Even her jealous co-captain’s attempts to steal her boyfriend can’t curb her enthusiasm.

When her mom moves in with her fiancé, a handsome, wealthy man, only one small detail threatens Cici’s perfect life. The school’s social pariah is about to become her stepsister, and Cici wants nothing to do with her.

Everything changes when someone Cici cares about throws her life into a tailspin, and the one person Cici couldn’t stand becomes her only ally.

Warning: This story contains scenes of sexual assault.

HYPE is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

Sunrise - #MoonwashedWeeklyPrompt #haiku #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's Moonwashed Weekly Prompt, Eugi invites us to use the gorgeous image above or any of the words in the poem below to inspire us to write our own poem. Here is her poem:

softly the sun beckons

where it may go

springtime mellow serenades

I chose to write a haiku, which consists of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern. Haikus are written about nature or the seasons. They are not titled and do not rhyme. I've bolded and italicized the words I chose to use.

softly he beckons

morning lark serenades me

sun kisses my cheek

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

#CreativePerspectiveChallenge #haiga #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I am participating in D.L. Finn's Creative Perspective Challenge!  Denise provides us the picture below and encourages us to let it inspire us.

I decided to write a haiga, which is a combination of visual art with a haiku or senryu.  

(image credit; Horse and Woman Silhouette at Sunset by @cocoparisienne on Pixabay)

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

Comeuppance - #dVerse #W3 #freeverse #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! I am combining two prompts today as they both have to do with conversations. D'Verse's Poets Pub invites us to include dialogue in our poem or to write about the act of conversing. Wea've Written Weekly challenges us to write a poem with two different voices that have two perspectives that cause tension. 

I decided to write a free verse poem since it fits better with having conversations. It took me a while to decide what type of conversation I wanted to create in poetry form. I am not a confrontational person. My anxiety makes me shy away from tense discussions, and I think that played a part in figuring out what to write about. There are plenty of issues to choose from in our current times, but I decided to go with our environment.

(courtesy of @TheDigitalArtist on Pixabay)

Comeuppance

Dearest human,

Why do you abuse of the land

I so generously provide?

It is ours for the taking,

Ours to use as we see fit

To further our endeavors.

It is not yours alone.

I created it for all my precious beings.

It is meant to be shared.

We are the smartest

And know how to cultivate the land

To use its resources to prosper

You strip away its beauty,

Deplete my land of its nutrients,

Pollute my waters with your waste.

We make everything better!

Look at our skyscrapers and technology!

Our advancements are amazing!

People are starving.

Animals are dying.

My forests are suffering.

Survival of the fittest, lady!

My family and I are thriving.

It’s not my fault others aren’t.

Silly fools,

You are all connected.

Your hubris will be your demise.

 

the circle of life

chain reaction affects all

dark days are coming

   

 

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

 D'Verse's Poets Pub

Wea've Written Weekly

Oh, Rainbow! #TankaTuesday #FFFC #poem #DoubleEnnead #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I'm combining two poetry challenges together, both of them from Melissa Lemay. The first is from #TankaTuesday. This week's challenge is to write a Double Ennead, which is a form of three stanzas with each having a 6-5-11-6-5 syllabic pattern. The second challenge is Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Melissa shares with us a picture below and asks us to let it inspire us.

I chose to write my Double Ennead about the various meanings of rainbows. There are many meanings through time and cultures, but I went with the three I am most familiar with.

(image credit; Sakina Faisal at Unsplash)

Oh, Rainbow!

a colorful rainbow

dazzling, majestic

a gift from the heavens after a quick storm

sunlight plays with droplets

take in its beauty

a proud, vibrant rainbow

all encompassing

an embracing concept - all are accepted

equality for all

love who the heart loves

a subtle, sheer rainbow

a bridge to heaven

transporting the souls of pets and humans

symbol of renewal

hold on to such hope

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

#TankaTuesday

Melissa's Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

Enchanted - #dVerse #choka #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's dVerse's Poets Pub, De Jackson encourages us to use some form of the word enchant in our poem. Enchant means to fill someone with great delight or charm or to put someone under a spell. Our poem also needs to be a quadrille, which is a poem with exactly 44 words. 

(courtesy of @Berzin on Pixabay)

Enchanted

Enchant me, my love

Nibble sweetly on my ear

Caress me softly

Harken my pleas for your touch

Appeal to my needs

Nestle me within your arms

Take all I have now

Enrapture me with passion

Devour and satiate me like only you can

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