Four Tiptoe Senryu

Alan Bean's "Tiptoeing on the Ocean of Storms" (acrylic on masonite)

who dared to tiptoe
on the rugged lunar plains
as we gaped in awe

when you have migranes
count twenty tiptoing sheep
pounding ceases

all is so quiet
tiptoe when the sun begins
sleeping roommates

singing the blues
tiptoing though their stories
i live their passion

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Written for:

Prompt #103 “tiptoe”

Picture credit: Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist on Another World

Four Brilliance Senryu

Sunlight

lunar brilliance
what is intemperate darkness
if not the flip side

dancing in color
fabrics shimmer and reflect
chromatic brilliance

brilliance of the grass
blades blaze in radiation
yellow as the sun

a sign from above
brilliance from the heavens
to light up our days

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Written for:

This week’s theme is: Brilliance

Also Posted on:

A ray of hope flickers in the sky –  Prompt # 137

Also posted on:

A Word with Laurie: Ethereal

Astronaut Up High Limerick

Space Picture by Ilya Benkin

An astronaut was terribly high
She was floating around in the sky
She saw a light appear
In the shape of a spear
It’s an object they can’t identify!

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Written for: Limerick-Off Monday  “high”

Photo credit:

Digital Art – Gallery Online

Orion’s Armament

Orionurania

bistoury hidden in
baldric of tanned cow leather.
malchus sharpend deftly by
acutiator. always
armisonant; on his heels.
roundhead most efficacious.
sword positioned at his hip.

*****************

Written for:

imaginary garden with real toads

 Mini-Challenge for Sunday – It’s written in the stars…

Also Posted on: PurpleTreehouse Poetic Forms Week 6: Back to Basics

Where we were asked to write “Stellar Verse” specifically about the constellation ORION. The simplest for of Orion consists of seven stars (without the Hunter’s shield and club.) The poem had to be 7 lines which had to begin with the initial letter of the names of the 7 stars working in sequence from the celestial zenith, ie, B, B, M, A, A, R, S and each line in the “pure” form of the Orion, must have seven syllables, but flexibility is allowed. There is no set rhyme scheme.

The actual names of the stars from which the letter sequence above has been generated are: Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Mintaka, Alnilam, Alnitak, Rigel, Saiph.

Since Orion is a hunter/warrior, I chose weapon words, some of which you might not understand (I didn’t know over half of these) so I am giving you the definitions:
acutiator – person in the Middle Ages who attended armies and knights to sharpen their instruments of war

armisonant – rustling in arms; resounding with arms

baldric – belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a sword

bistoury – surgical instrument for making incisions

malchus – short sword with a broad tapering blade

roundhead – weapon used as a club

Study Red on Green

Red Sunset Over Green Sea

drinking wine
basket full of cheese
perfect spring lunch
on the beach

soft iridescence
against a carmine sky
wings reflecting cherry
soaring in the wind

red hot questions
on cool olive sand
volatile lust
in a gust of brine

green ocean spray
choreographed
always in her memory
lines of emptiness

she wants to crush
but in her wicked hands
she holds a green dragonfly
to be caged for life

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This was written and posted for:

dversepoets Play with Color – Posted by Victoria at liv2write2day

I chose Victoria’s direction : choose two complementary colors (colors that are opposite of one another on the color wheel) and weave them into a single poem and also to choose colors to paint an emotion.

I have studied a lot of color, both pigment and light, so this was fun. Obviously, green and red are complimentary colors. Sometimes the sun looks red, and the sea looks green, thought a picnic under these unique circumstances would be really cool.

I played around with this picture myself.

Shipwreck

Shipwreck

Upon the crests,
Through wild swells,
A plunge onto reef.

Drenched in biting waves:
sails shred to rags,
deck reduced to splinters.

Wind tossed sideways.
An intoxicated stagger.
A drop into a flume.

A blackened sky
blinked like aflare
of plasmic streams.

Moaning angels wais
as haven’s structure
fragment into tribulation.

Elaborate ferocity.
A drowning grave.
Unplanned evacuation.

Countless souls
will never recapitulate:
no more to hearth or lodge.

But for one, vicissitude,
unknown loneliness,
perhaps an ounce of heroism.

Beneath a sopping sky,
upon a ship that spins,
life slips out at sea.

*************

I wrote this for:

challenge – “shipwreck.”

Also posted on:

Poetry Picnic Week 17:Photos, Nostalgia, Memories, and Families

The picture is from:

http://www.ewallpapers.eu/view_wallpaper/shipwreck-1280-800-1680.html

I wish I knew more about it. It’s very cool.

Rachel’s Ladder

Rosie Hardy - Self Portrait

     I. When There Is

No darkness without light.
No rest without sleep.
No dreams without love.
No madness without obsession.
No miracles without imagination.

    II. The Builders

Angles and machines build
a nimbus on my breath.
A cherub sends a raincloud.
Archangels bleed excess

   III. The Rest Place

To return
without denial
to a warm body.
My head on a cushion
soul and joy are one.

    IV. The Twin Flame

In dreamland
our silver threads meet:
A love affair in corporeality.

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I think this is the last One Stop Poetry Challenge for Sunday:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/07/sunday-photography-interview-rosie-hardy-poetry-challenge.html

This is the:  Sunday Photography Interview: Rosie Hardy & Poetry Challenge

I got the picture from her website, specifically, the Self-Portrait Section:

http://www.rosiehardy.com/1145-self-portraits

Henderson Hill

On Henderson Hill any time of the year
  the branches arabesque in the breeze.
Birds boldly appear, on the tips of twigs
  that smear into clouds from the trees.
As a doe grazes calmly with her twins,
  the heavens and sky, seem to  freeze.
Prepare your mind to paint serenity;
  equanimity pacifies enduring unease.

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On of my Twitter friends TERRILL WELCH painted the above painting, and it is for sale. I liked it so much that I wrote this little poem for it.

Terrill thinks the best link for this poem might be the one directly to the painting process at http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/story-of-the-henderson-hill-original-oil-painting

However, a she says a general link to Creative Potager is at

http://creativepotager.wordpress.com

and/or redbubble at

http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Posted On:

imaginary garden with real toads

Open Link Monday
Calling all toads to the garden…

Monday, November 21, 2011

Also posted on:

H

The Load ― Remembered

The Load ― Remembered

The metal hanging
from a chain around
his drooping neck ― kept.
His courage ― endures.
His heart ― remembered.
His load ― in pictures.
His cold ghost ― in the beyond.

But no record of back pain.
No recollection of his warmth.
No discussion of limbs,
shorn like Samson’s hair.

Alone, he shivered in the darkness.
He thought of home.
He thought of better days.

Yet nothing could fill the absence
of his soul defeated
by the echoing blast of his first kill.

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This is my memorial day contribution.

I got the picture from http://www.ontherightinva.com/2010/05/30/memorial-day-2/

Between Buildings

From the city alley
appraise a sliver of sky.
Streams of clouds
progress in currents.

Through windows,
saxophones
and treble voices
compete for bandwidth.

In the city alley
the superhero waits
to explode/to save
the world from itself.

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 Posted on:

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #75

Also posted on:

poets-rally-week-63

His organization is Fragile Oasis  and he’s also on facebook.

Again, I won’t usually be writing free form poetry on this blog, unless it’s there for a reason. It looks like I might actually have a periodic reason: these “One Stop Poetry Challenges.” This time I’m writing in response to the Photography of Scott Wyden.”  The website is:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/05/sunday-photography-interview-scott-wyden-poetry-challenge.html