I turn on the radio and a sappy song comes out, reminding us of the old sayings about the time of year being the time of love. I hum along, but I’m not convinced. I think of you and the emotion gushes out. No, it isn’t the new green leaves that do it, it is that special smile.
The voice purrs the song
The season of renewal
Our thoughts turn to love
My heart leaps, croons not for May
The well overflows for you
I sit, pen in hand, and stare into the distance. The spring has gone dry and the words have failed to flow. But then an image comes to me. Your image. There was a time when poems sprang to the page motivated by your eyes and your smile. Can I once more dip in that well, go back to the root and create something new? I lift my pen to the paper and note down a few dragging words.
I pen you a verse
Like one at the beginning
When it was still fresh
Inspired by a thought of you
Source of many silly scrawls
**
Written for Colleen’s Poetry challenge. Each week she gives us two keywords, only we must use synonyms only, not the words themselves. This week the key words were “Origin” and “Write” This week I decided to do a haibun using a tanka as the poem part.
I have missed the last two challenges. For some reason I just wasn’t inspired and nothing came to mind.
The alarm is shouting at me. I roll over, fumble for a moment, putting in far too much effort for the simple chore, but finally hit the switching, shutting up little bully. I wrench a leg over the side of the bed and then force the other over. Ugh. I am sluggish, more than a bit dull and feeling lazy. Coffee. I yawn. I need coffee. I struggle my way up the steps to start the day, but before I am able to get into the refreshing, reviving shower, before I can have any life-giving coffee, something in my brain does move at a glacier pace and causes me to ponder:
I want to stop here
Leisurely enjoy my life
Living for right now
The world makes me labor on
Are we defined by our jobs?
*
Honestly, after too much enforced time off, I am happy to be at work! But when my alarm goes off…. well, that’s life ;)
I am walking alone down a dark path. The pale December sun fails to illuminate, casting a cold, golden sheen over the land. I pause and look out over the world. Stark shadows, crisp lines prove that summer is a distant memory. As are you. They say the new year brings new light and new hope. I smile, knowing that although colder days are ahead, the light will increase and warmth will return.
Shadows in pale light
Darkness of the dying year
You, my sun, are gone
A new year brings much more light
Perhaps it brings you as well
**
Written for Colleen’s Poetry challenge. Each week she gives us two keywords, only we must use synonyms only, not the words themselves. This week was a “free week” where we could choose our own words. My two words were “illumination” and “return”. This week I went with a tanka and a haibun.
Happy New Year! (The photo was taken on Saturday in Harwich, MA.)
Billions of galaxies filled with billions of stars. Although they say there are limits, for all practical purposes, it is infinite. And then, from an unremarkable, insignificant dust speck in this seemingly infinite Universe we look up at it all in wonder. We want to reach out and sample the vastness, wrap our imagination around it, but then on the other side, it is scary, it tests our ego, afflicts the very nature of our being.
A bit of animated matter
Making the effort to survive
What is the meaning of it?
A strange anomaly
Denies entropy
Grows more complex
Beyond that
It thinks
Me
I
I am
I must be
Make the attempt
To understand all
Actively seeks out
Weathers the many trials
More than unchanging matter
A will and a spirit to thrive
To find a place in the Universe
***
Written for Colleen’s Poetry challenge. Each week she gives us two keywords, only we must use synonyms only, not the words themselves. The words this week are “Try” and “Life“. This week I chose a Haibun composed of a Nonet, well technically a Double Nonet. Note – Colleen is taking a much deserved break for the rest of the year :)
Photos beyond count
Raw statistics in folders
No time to revel
I have snapped many pictures
But have left them unopened
I open the ‘Explore’ on my computer and go to photographs. There are folders ordered by dates staring at me. Each folder contains a lot of photos, dozens, hundreds. I leaf through some and find them both familiar and unfamiliar. I have seen very few of them since the moment I clicked the shutter. There are birds and people. There are rabbits and buildings. There are trees and lakes and seascapes. Pictures of merrymakers reveling at a wedding reception, dancing to loud music. Birds sitting on quiet shores or soaring majestically through the air. Where has the time gone? Why can’t I just sit down and go through these pieces of memory? Perhaps even post some on my blog Ooops, where has the time gone!?! I have to get back to work!!! Bye… Continue reading
The night is quiet, still. Nothing is stirring. We creep forward. I let out a nervous giggle, and you shush me, all serious. I pull myself up, trying to look dignified, though the butterflies fight in my stomach. You give me strength, but is it enough? We have been moving slow, carefully, but are approaching the hidden crypt. What will we find there? Although apprehensive, I take the lead and open the door. It is my place, after all. But I’m sure you can tell that I am spooked. Much more brave than I, you smile, brush past me. Taking my hand you pull me through the threshold, closer to the uncharted tomb darkness. I was hesitant at first, but your mood is contagious and I continue on, trying to echo your confidence.
A chill down my spine
A serious look from you
I approach the vault
Both anxious and excited
I head into the unknown
****
Sneaking into a cemetery late on Halloween night? Perhaps into a mausoleum? The catacombs under the ruins of an old church? Or did you put an R-Rated meaning to the words? An X-Rated meaning? Get your mind out of the gutter! ;) Anyway, I guess if they are sneaking into a hidden tomb somewhere, it is their first time…
Written for Colleen’s Poetry challenge. Each week she gives us two keywords, only we must use synonyms only, not the words themselves. The words this week are “Afraid” and “Grave“. This week I did a Haibun with a Tanka as the poem. I tried to use the “key” words multiple times, with different meanings.
Swift’s Hollow (Gore Orphanage)
It is a cold October night and I am walking through the woods at the bottom of this valley, Swift’s Hollow. There is a strange noise, just beyond perception. A muted sound, as if heard from a million miles away. Is that the snap and crackle of a fire burning? Do I smell smoke? Are there screams of pain mixed in? The children locked into this cruel prison for no other reason than their parents have died are trying to get out. And now they are trapped, trying urgently to get out, to escape their grisly fate. Do you hear them?
Flames
Children
Dull rumble
Behind locked door
The valley glows red
An orphanage on fire
Apparition of the past
Visit the empty foundation
Souls lost in a conflagration
They speak to us as midnight approaches
Why visit this bloody spot of gore?
Why listen to the loud screams of pain?
Can you stand to hear babies cry?
A local right of passage
Communing with the dead
The poor children burnt
Meaningless death
Lost spirits
Empty
Gone
I feel the eyes upon me and smile. I know that I will soon see your sign, that you were really there, thinking of me. Perhaps in a day or two we will pass a few words, just to make concrete what we instinctively knew, that our thoughts had once again crossed, that somehow our spirits had touched in a spark, though we are far apart. But that is still in the future and will resolve itself in time. For now I am content to feel the weight of your mind’s eye on my shoulders and smile, hoping you can feel my sunshine in return.
I can feel your fire
And sense your vitality
Burning from afar
Why do I see you, my dear
From the far side of the world?
— —
Written for Colleen’s Poetry challenge. Each week she gives us two keywords, only we must use synonyms only, not the words themselves. This week the words were Vitality and Energy. To me this is an added challenge since the meaning of these two words overlap so much. Can you tell which words I used for each of these key words?
So blue and cranky
Some cold in the summer heat
Miss your joyous face
A gloomy forecast
Skies a melancholy grey
Hope for upbeat news
There is a change in the weather of my soul. A high pressure is replaced by a low. The outlook is a bit pessimistic, but with your sun away, what can I say, I’m feeling down. Can I hope for a new front that’s a bit more upbeat? Will your merry eyes and joyous smile once more show up on my RADAR? I hope to dance in the rain in delight, when that rainbow that’s you is back in sight. Continue reading
Trent's World (the Blog) 