Diamond Lil

      
      She
      Was
     Fancy
    LoverOf
   AllThings
  ThatSparkle
  RubyRedLips
   &GemClips
    &Golden
     Nails
      &Tu
      Tus
     

WP Writing 201: Second version of a concrete poem using a diamond (which is otherwise known as cold ice; cold being the word for the day)and anaphora (repetition of a word in beginning lines of verse). First diamond shaped poem of the day for this assignment was Diamond in the Rough....previous post today. Take a look there too!

Elegy for Childhood

Do not grasp or fear the sifting sand
savor instead, sweet memories.

Tippee cups and imagined friends
popsicle sticky smiles.

Unabashed big bigger Balooka bubbles
popped on freckled nose.

High pitched yells with a Mary Jane stomp
knock knock jokes giggled silly.

Proscenium now disappeared, curtains askew
props and costumes gone.

Mourn not the little ones of yesteryear,
loose your hand and revel now.

Their roots are strong, let go the sieve
tis time to change the scene

beach

WP Writing 201 prompts: the word “flavor”, enumeratio (listing), and the elegy form. Elegy: usually in couplets, first line longer; can be a longing, loss, mourning, and/or a celebration of life.

Miracles at Shriners

There’s a place outside my window
I do not often see,
a million miles across the street
where death decries your plea.

‘Tis a purgatorial place
for the once young at heart,
innocent souls now burned by flame
who thirst for life’s restart.

Red yellow fire once licked their skin
left pain in fissures deep
now loved ones kneel in fervent prayer
their young ones here to keep.

Mine is a neighborhood of hope
for children wrapped in gauze,
doctors, nurses, medical care
united in one cause.

IMG_1306

View of Shriners Childrens Hospital in Boston, from my 7th floor deck / my living room window.  WP Writing 201 prompt:  write in the ballad form, using assonance, and relating to the word “neighborhood.”  Ballad:  dramatic, emotionally charged, 4 line stanza quatrain, alternating stress lines as in 8 syllables, 6 syllables, 8 syllables, 6 syllables; and using an ABCB rhyme scheme.  Assonance:  subtle repeat of vowel sounds.

Behind the Myth

The myth behind the woman loved by many,
richly layered flavors, cultivated to impress.

Miss Popularity, Miss Luther League
years later, a doctor’s wife
mother and choir member too.

Chameleon of many faces.
24 hours. 10 stories.
A runaway drama, no one really knew.

Instability lurked behind her masks
until the show of the week
forever changed her life.

Ripple effect
wider than a tidal pool.

Knife in hand, surge of passion
husband prostrate at her feet.
Murdereress.  A new role.

Impromptu, adlib,
shocked by the script.

Masks-01                            found

Prompts from WP Writing 201:  faces, found poetry, chiasmus. Found Poetry: scissors and newspaper in hand, cut out words and phrases and arrange them in a poem. Words from THE WEEK, September 18, 2015 edition.  Chiasmus: a reversal, an inversion (title to first line).

Mrs. Jester

She was a primary color kind of gal
young at heart, year after year.

Neon chalk streaks adorned her hair
blue moon ice cream colored her tongue.
She wore bright yellow boots to walk in the rain.
Smiley face balloons attached at the wrist,
always her shadow of choice.

Her happy place
was wearing a clown-face red nose
making you laugh, wherever you met
in a car or a train or a bus or a van
or rocking in chairs here at the home.

We missed her after she died.
But the old man now in her room
wakes every day with a smile,
seeing the large crooked rainbow
painted wheel-chair height,
directly across from his bed.

Rainbow02

 

One Sky

IMG_0329

The same white clouds,
the stuff of wispy filaments framed in blue
float o’er my head in quietude.

And soar above bright sunflower fields
flower heads tilted to the sky
in warm rays that beam on me.

And witness from above
far away killing fields
acres of blood with heads askew
eyes frozen grotesque in pain.

These same sentinel clouds,
all seeing
all knowing
how can that be?

…and the Blind Shall See

IMG_0614

Her face, my map, my guide
in this moment of charged silence.

I touch her eyes, feel cool wet lashes
sensation on my fingertips
questions in my heart.

Fingers move quickly to dampened cheeks
trace rivulets of silent tears.
Drops of fear or rejection or what?

Her lips purse together gently
in a bird-peck kiss upon my palm
press deeper, part slightly in a moan.

She leans in and I read her yes
hands grasp mine as we enter
this divine communion called love.

Thank you, God
for this gift of touch
for this woman who lies with me.

For joyful tears, now mine
from sightless orbs that see.
She loves me as I am.

photo-3

Motivated by WP Writing 201 prompts: map, ode, metaphor