“We mustn’t scream at each other, the walls in this house have ears…”
~ Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Photo by Jilly
© All Rights Reserved
Wordless Wednesday #15
Month: August 2017
Frogs of Bliss
I speak not politically, but socially. Bjorn hosts dVerse tonight where we write Quadrilles with the word Bliss. I was really in a Haiku mood, but that’s a tough challenge at 44 words!
Why speak of honor
when there is none?
The stone drops from the hand
that feeds
bounces once
is swallowed
willingly
Who among you would?
What Bradbury saw
burns us
we feel
nothing of the scorch
Frogs of bliss
mind the heat, ya’ hear?
© Jilly All Rights Reserved
Voiceless
SomePeopleAreAtHomeAmidTheMillionsOfChit-likeWiresChatting&Forgettable
some
have
the
guts
to
Surf the fading
nightmares
dwelling within the gift
of
silence
© Jilly’s All Rights Reserved
Legacy
Lynn Burton at Colorful Pen posted a half Sestina for the August Challenge of Casting Bricks and what a delightful challenge it is! One perfect Saturday morning over coffee at a favorite little spot and the words flowed easily from her perfect set-up. Her words are in bold and mine follow.
As I look at the calendar I realize that August draws to a close and so I begin to consider a new half poem of my own for Jilly’s September Challenge of Casting Bricks, which I will open on Friday, September 1st. Of course, there is no expiration on the August link, so feel free to keep writing! Care to join us in our collaborative fun? Just click HERE or on the perma-link on my side-bar. Everyone is welcome!
Sometimes those lemons that are squeezed from life
can leave a sour taste in the mouths of children
and adulthood thrusts upon them less time
than they had before to play and dream.
What they wouldn’t give for some special words
to carry with them, to hold and treasure.
Like the attic trunk overflowing with treasure
immeasurable memories before life
became chaos, before silence was words
before the steely grip of a child’s
nightmares tangled with hopeful dreams,
tripping along with the angry flow of time.
Resilient are they, and know in time
the importance of what’s to be treasured;
tap dance on the devil’s schemes, dreaming
on pale blue skies, contemplating life
as only the wonder of a child
can bring. Chalk-dust scribble all the words.
When mystery meets meaning, say the words,
the ones that had been trapped in time
hidden behind the windows of childhood’s
eyes; of secret languages and treasure
boxes holding pull-toys and fairy tale lives
lived in that realm of day dreams
in which they embrace that dreamy
place where lemons ripen like wordless
images of guavas on the Live
Oak, unnatural and timeless,
blossoming lines and phrases to treasure
when stumbling graceful into that second childhood
gathering into the caved breast those children
of your children to nestle and dream
there, hearing the rhythm of your treasured
heartbeats in iambic measures and words.
So looking out across the hazes of time
you see countless generations living
inhaling and dreaming of their own lives,
of those childish treasures of times
yet to be and glories gone by without the hindrance of words
© Burton / Lyman Collaborative Sestina
Wordless Wednesday #14
85% Coverage with really cool lens flares creates a Sun Flower.
Taken with my phone in Orlando, Florida on Monday, August 21, 2017
Day Off sans Descriptors
Charley at Life in Portofino threw down a Casting Bricks Challenge that was too good to pass up. The last line of his half-poem: “To describe without descriptors” begged to be met with emotion rather than adjectives. I wrote this fast with little editing, so it may need work, but I lack the raw energy for that. Oh well, his words are in bold and mine follow.
Our days of release
are uninspiring,
dusty cotton gray.
I recline half conscious,
murmur my desire:
describe without descriptors
the roll of the pond,
the nod of the trees.
a riot had been planned
the pines pulled up
scrub oaks
club oaks
catalpas tied back
their vines
with bandanas
weaving blossoms into chains
a puff of crows flew off
leaving only brooding vultures
in the branches
but the outflow boundary
disappointingly didn’t
quite make it that far
and the long-hoped-for
downburst simply didn’t show
so that nothing more than
bitching and leaf rustling
whistled through them
as they stood around
the water-cooler lake
picking the occasional
bass or adjective from their teeth.
© Jilly / Charley Collaborative Poetry
Care to join in with Casting Bricks? We would love to have you! Click here to check it out!
Aftermath
Linda Lee Lyberg at Charmed Chaos posted a wonderful August Challenge poem for this month’s Casting Bricks. Her Somonka is in bold, and my completion of it follows. Everyone is welcome to join in with Jilly’s August Challenge in which we write, post and link a half poem for another poet to complete. There is great stretching of our poetic muscles in the process of collaborative writing, and tremendous fun, too. Join us!
Sated, my soul rests
bathed in the essence of us
what now, I ask you
head in your hands
no words fill
the immense chasm between us
Your cool granite skin
can’t mine veins of marble, those
hardened arteries
(vinegar of my regret)
iron bile obsidian
© Lyberg / Lyman Collaborative Poetry
Paleo Blues
Uniquely crafted words from one of my favorite poets. This deserves a close read for the allusions and the musical quality. Qbit really kicked it with this poem!
She said I had
Paleo blue eyes,
Light the color of water
From before Fire –
Then dawn over Manhattan
Greeting us
Like the oldest sunrise
In history,
Where my ribs, ancient,
Are stuffed in the mud
Of Olduvai Gorge,
Aching for excavation,
The sun
Introducing
Day Ten Million
With ten million more to go –
I pull my bones out of bed,
To go walk the dog.
Lady, Green and Red
Completing Frank Hubeny’s second Challenge for Casting Bricks took his gentle words in a love-gone-wrong direction as I focused in on the symbolism of the colors. Frank’s words are in bold. Please join us in Jilly’s August Challenge; the more, the merrier!
Lady loved the plants’ light green
With flowers brightly red.
Her face angelically serene
Had leaves to shade her head.
Lacking luck when first she loved,
gone the green; hindsight.
Wronged by fate or the hand above
red petals rage; leaves an angry blight.
© Hubeny / Lyman Collaborative Poetry
Casting Bricks – Jilly’s August Challenge
A Completely Livable Parade
Keep time insane
sync your brain to
the cradle
a completely livable
parade marching toward
the grave
playing forbidden trust
against your severe youth
never forget the sun
is sinking like a stone
there is no reason
for your heart to beat
one more thump
than it is destined
for knowing sometimes
the unexplained can
define you
© Jilly’s All Rights Reserved
Musical Muse is our Poetics tonight at dVerse with our host, Mish. Join us!
Nickel Creek Hanging By a Thread
Jilly's 