NaPoWriMo 2016

Water Nymphs

lillian1 Comment

They carried purple sateen ribbons
furling and unfurling them into rays of sun,
dancing their way to the shimmering river.

Rivulets gurgled and tamed themselves
lily pads with pale green tendrils appeared,
pillows afloat in soothing cool waters.

Twirling through an iridescent aura,
stars dipped from darkening sky
entwined and crowned their flowing hair.

Bodies sprouted translucent wings
where once streams of violet furled
and their spirits soared.

waterhouse-nymphs-hylas-560979-o

Written for the final day of NaPoWriMo 2016. April is national poetry month.
Photo is in public domain.

Wannabe

lillian32 Comments

I am not Sarah Elizabeth!
Call me Izzie, please.
I hate these tedious tatting lessons.
My dresses always have dark dots in the lace
and my finger tips feel like pin cushions.
Thimbles are the silliest things
impossible to maneuver.
I’d rather be a Samuel.
Sammy in knickers and suspenders
rolling a hoop and playing catch.
And my chest.
I’m soon to be found out.
And mother shall issue those dreaded words,
“It’s corset time.”
I’d rather hang from the rafters,
ride bareback and swig spirits
than be straight laced
wearing one of those things.
I hate being a girl!

mary-shipman1

Word Count: 100   Written for Rochelle Wisoff- Fields’  Friday Fictioneers — prompt photo appears on Wednesday and posts can be early. Apologies to the purists as I “arranged” my lines in more poetic form today. It is after all, NaPoWriMo (national poetry writing month). Photo Credit: Mary Shipman

Fini

lillian5 Comments

extinction has become
a way of life
push ‘em back, push ‘em back
way back

thieves in the night
spread into the world
Serengetti, oceans blue
chrysalis and hives

letter writing, long white gloves
walking unplugged and fountain pens
family dinners, darning socks
rotary dial and porch talk

push ’em back, push ’em back
way back

civility disappears in spews
listening usurped abducted
mouths agape without ears
warnings ignored

das Ende, el fin
fine, mwisho

push ’em back, push ’em back
way back, yeah team

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

NaPoWriMo Day 27 — using day 26’s prompt to write a poem with a refrain. Confession: I was a high school cheerleader.  “Push ’em back, push ’em back, way back” was used when the other football team was getting too close to the goal line. That “refrain” popped into my head and then I started thinking about all the things that have disappeared in my lifetime — far too many to mention here. And I realized, extinction has become a way of life — how strange to put those two words together!  “the end” is offered in different languages. It is after all, a worldwide problem. Thought the Japanese word for “the end” was quite interesting, containing the English word “wish.”

In Response to Mary Oliver [2]

lillian51 Comments

most of the world is time
when we’re not here,
not born yet, or died –

I am infinitesimally small.

Those who knew me at birth
cared for me, walked with me,
left this earth too soon by my count,
melded into the universe.

The sun however,
still shines upon me
although days are shorter
and final miles fewer.

At my back,
the sun projects my future,
step by step in front of me
a syncopated seer.

Shadowed possibilities
become realities,
one foot forward
into the new.

In front of me
she warms my face
till glances backward
see my past,

following me,
stepping where I was
but a moment before,
a speck of time

a dab of humanistic paint
upon a pointillist canvas,
soon to intersect
with those before my time.

shadows-415331_1920

Written for dVerse Tuesday Poetics. We are to respond to a poet in dVerse, or a poet of our choice. We may or may not use an actual line from their poem. The first line here is from Hummingbird Pauses at the Trumpet Vine by Mary Oliver. In Response to Mary Oliver [2]  is two because when I started writing poetry in February 2015, my first attempt was a response to another poem by Mary Oliver — rewritten in January 2016. I enjoy her writing — and she is a kindred spirit in terms of being a Massachusetts resident from Provincetown, where we spend two glorious weeks each fall. Today is also used for NaPowWriMo Day 26.

…and the bloom shall fade

lillian40 Comments

Her garden suffers from end-of-season neglect. Nutrients wane as days shorten. Young trees, now mature, cast their presence in shadows.  Flower petals and fronds wither to veined brittle frames of their former beauty. They bend closer day by day, to the earth from which they came. Winter’s cold reality approaches, as sure as the moon changes face. Life hovers on a thread.

She sits patiently
window blurred with veins of frost
waits for children gone.

image2

Susan Judd is hosting dVerse for Haibun Monday and provides us with her beautiful photography and the descriptive phrase “beauty in decay” as a prompt for writing today. If you’re not familiar with dVerse, stop in for a visit. It’s a great gathering place for those who enjoy poetry!  Also using for NaPoWriMo day 25.  30 poems in 30 days, that’s April – National Poetry Writing Month.

For Tohi

lillian15 Comments

Born into a mystical place of she-wolves, Tohi was granted one wish from her sungod.

And so it was that she arrived in a New World. She watched humanoids thrash in cold waters, struggling to reach land. Found walls with no doors. Saw fences and miles of barbed wire, shredding dreams to shards of despair.

Tohi wept, tears that grew from soft rains to rivers of grief. Graveyard plots grew in numbers and the ground was sodden until it could hold no more. And she became the final witness, as this New World became the Last.

Weep for your children
for they see the hatred sown
and will reap its fruit.

barbed2bwire2bprompt1

The first three paragraphs are written for Friday Fictioneers, hosted each week by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. She provides a photo prompt and asks that folks create a story, flash fiction, in 100 words or less (word count: 96).  The haiku that concludes the post is written for NaPoWriMo day 23.  Taken together, prose + haiku, they become a haibun.  Tohi is the Cherokee word for peace. Photo Credit: Madison Woods.

Jack and the Beanstalk revisited

lillian56 Comments

Jack Spriggins,
I’m here to settle up.
I took yer cow some days past,
gave you beans to plant in exchange.
You said it’d be a good swap fer me
since I had young’uns to feed.

Well sir, the cow, she turned up dry
and the missus is still howlin’.
Neighbors down the road apiece
talkin’ about an oversized grave.
You buried a giant back here?
Shoveled it deep and high as can be.

I reckon this here’s the hill I’m lookin’ at,
and I can see, it’s paved with gold.
Best make good yer swap, Mr. Spriggins,
and share the wealth you got.
Else I predict yer goose is cooked
and you’ll take a fall from way up there.

And that new wife of yours named Jill?
I reckon she’ll come tumblin’ after.
I learned a long time ago,
stolen goods are not the way
to livin’ happily ever after.

magic_beans

Originally written for NaPoWriMo’s day 21 prompt: a poem in the voice of a “lesser” character within a fairy tale. Rewritten for dVerse Open Link Night, where Victoria is tending bar. dVerse is a virtual pub for poets. Stop by to exchange ideas, post and read wonderful poetry!

EXPLANATION OF POEM: Jack and the Beanstalk is a famous English fairy tale originally written in 1734 as The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean. Plot: Jack’s cow goes dry. On the way to sell her at market, he meets an old man who trades Jack some “magic beans” for his cow. Jack climbs the resultant beanstalk, finds a castle, a giant, a goose that lays golden eggs and a magic harp. He steals the wealth, is chased by the giant, axes the beanstalk and the giant falls dead to the earth. Jack and his mother live happily ever after.
There is also a reference here to the traditional 18th century English nursery rhyme:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
and Jill came tumbling after.