a single dandelion
stood in that empty spot
next to an ancient
wooden spool
swaying Continue reading
A Single Dandelion – Free Verse (Wordeling) – June 30, 2015
6
Category Archives: Wordleing
Biography in 12 Poems – May 2, 2016
Biography in Twelve Verses
helplessness
menacing challenge
birth
a drifting figure
like a storm or summer breeze
– father
penetrating
all-pervasive night
black
whimsy and horror
kaleidoscope of events
childhood
anger
blocking the exit
growing up
pin-point and bright
wavering uncertainly
saving light
speak
the inner voice commands
the silence
throwing off fear
trusting once again
or no
this closed window
keeping out the weather
and the sunshine
plain truth –
equilibrium isn’t
balancing stones
satori
momentary dazzling light
in monotony
at sixty-four
a rocky stability
after the tears flowed
© G.s.k. ‘16
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
Whirligig 57: THIS WEEK’S WORDS come from “Weather” by Linda Pastan: menace, father, black, childhood, blocking, light, speak, throwing, window, plain, dazzling, after
Poets on the Page – MONDAY, MAY 2, 2016 Poetry Prompts
Poetry Prompts:
Write for ten minutes asking what balance means to you, how balanced or unbalanced your life is, and/or what feels balanced to you.
Or…
Write about balance in nature, where you see it and/or feel it.
Word Prompts:
Balancing
Stability
Equilibrium
The War Was Over – Free Verse Wordleing – April 18, 2016
How could I have forgotten
The miles of old whining telegraph wires
That stretched across the land
Sending good news and bad –
Of course that’s all gone now,
Down the worm-hole of time –
We forget what the world was like back then…
I walked down a lane plastered
With red, white and blue flags –
People like ants applauded and threw confetti
I wore my green jeans and matching shoes
(My first fashion collection was
Based upon this memory
— Remember …
The green feathers in Martha’s hair?)
Now we could rest – after the sight
Of the shell-shocked soldiers with their
Loose minds and knife creased pants.
The war was over ...
While we were dining, father spoke of the war.
(That night
I dreamt of Japanese soldiers rattling
Bolted doors and bayonetting wounded soldiers,
The sight roiled my stomach but I couldn’t wake-up
And I ran afraid as the fronds hit my face –
It was something I wanted to forget)
Something I’ll never forget –
He told us that he was in the jungle
Running lost and scared –
And heard the whining of mosquitoes
Like telegraph lines
Back home,
They used to cross the land.
© G.s.k. ‘16
Note: This is a poem about memories … most of the memories aren’t my own actually, but things I remember hearing other people say … except for the dream … I had that dream and it was very vivid, when I was 5 years old, after my father told us about his war experience in the Philippines, where we’d just come to live. What has always intrigued me was the clarity of the dream … I’d never seen Japanese soldiers nor how they were dressed … but I remember seeing them in my dream and remembering their uniforms – which I only saw a few years later in a film.
NaPoWriMo: Day 17 Smorgasbord Sunday
Sunday’s Whirligig – Whirligig #55
Sunday’s Whirligig: Wordle #55
The Sunday Whirligig
green, blue, red, shoes, loose, pants,
dining, ants, good, news, miles, whining
Wordle 247
The Sunday Whirl: Wordle #247
The Sunday Whirl
forget, stretch, rest, left, hole, lost,
sight, first, shell, feathers, rattle, old
Six for Wednesday 1 – Wordle – April 7, 2016
Ah it’s so clear now,
I thought this morning
As I pushed through my dream
Back into this world.
I awoke with wonder deep
My soul rejoicing
I was still able to look upon
The radiance of the sun.
Never had I been happier to realize
That my perception of reality was wrong.
© G.s.k. ’16
Six for Wednesday – 1 – and 1sojournal
Sunday Whirl – The Root of Heaven – April 7, 2016
Slipping through silk threads of grace
Witness this rare and endless root.
It came from inside the deepest earth
With a claim – that for but one brief moment
Erotic pleasure and illumination will blossom.
Feed not then upon crass empty illusions,
Here is the heaven of which men speak.
April 6, 2016
Peril of a Blatherskite – Nonet Poem – March 24, 2016
We struggle with that blatherskite, Mike,
For hard-earned ephemera peace,
(Yes, an addictive nostrum
He carelessly disturbs)
“Just rigor mortis,
Will bring relief!”
Said Johnson:
“Kill him –
Now!”
“Oh!”
Said I,
“How absurd!
Termination
Is far, far too much!”
I’ve found the solution,
For Mike’s irritating style,
Tonight I must decide to act,
Before Johnson takes the poor guy out!
© G.s.k. ‘16
Nonet ~ a poem of nine lines and a syllable pattern of 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, with rhyme optional
1.Struggle 2. Blatherskite (a person given to voluble, empty talk. nonsense; blather.) 3. Ephemera (anything short-lived or ephemeral. ephemera, items designed to be usefulor important for only a short time, especially pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.) 4. Careless 5. Addictive 6. Nostrum (a medicine sold with false or exaggerated claims and with no demonstrablevalue; quack medicine. a scheme, theory, device, etc., especially one to remedy socialor political ills; panacea. a medicine made by the person who recommends it. a patentmedicine.) 7. Terminate 8. Rigor Mortis 9. Notify 10. Decide 11. Concave 12. Episodic
Just 11 of the words used – I couldn’t work Concave in.
The Sunday Whirl – Quatrain – January 31, 2016
Walk alone with no following
Along the thin red line of life
Seek ancient rites of hallowing
Relieve this universal strife.
Cross the tight rope before it falls,
With a flair (look you to the right) –
Seek the signs hear the mighty calls
On the bridge which rose in the night.
And when the moment is mature,
Recite the spells and drink the brew
(Though the rites seem to you obscure)
Don’t hesitate – and now adieu!
© G.s.k. ‘16
Goody good blah blah blahs – Kyoka/Senryu/Shadorma – January 8, 2016
calendar poets
penning New Year platitudes
gotta eat – I know
but, is that a good reason
to waste all of those trees?
calendar pulchritude
with tepid affirmations
each season painted
in arrhythmic platitudes
[sad punitive devices]
but first …
swallow your pill
then write aquamarine lies
in cursive caps
oh my lands …
do they never tire
of cute dogs
and kittens
don’t forget yoga – om y’all!
fuzzy warm deceits
© G.s.k. ‘16
1.Punitive 2. Tepid 3. Calendar 4. Season 5. Sad 6. Arrhythmic (any disturbance in the rhythm of the heartbeat.) 7. Cursive 8. Tomorrow 9. Swallow 10. Aquamarine 11. Affirmation 12. Pulchritude (physical beauty; comeliness.)
In This Silent Moment – Sestet – December 28, 2015
In this silent moment look,
Cloy night seems to draw up close
And dark fills this sun-filled room,
A fell chill wind falls on me
And is joined with a stream of tears,
In this safe place I call home.
How to deal with this sadness
With neither name nor object?
Try as I might to connect
With my inner light and peace
They escape me in my need,
Years of discipline are just mist.
I’m my own a prisoner,
What sentence could be more cruel?
No, no yon fair ghost be gone…
There is a lark somewhere singing
So wiping my eyes, I’ll write
Not of dark but of love and life.
In this silent moment, look,
Cloy night recedes for a while
And as the sun sets there’s light,
Warmth fills my heart for I know
That tears are like a spring rain
In this safe place I call home.
Sadness and joy are close kin,
Like dark night and bright day,
They have no name nor object
They are one of the same truth
The reality of living.
The yin and yang of being.
I am not a prisoner,
No sentence has been passed,
For now yon ghost is my friend
And yes, a lark sings somewhere
When I wiped my eyes and wrote
Not of dark but of love and life.
© G.s.k. 15
Wordle 231
Whirligig Wordle – The Fly – December 10, 2015
Dew on a spider’s web in the morning. Luc Viatour
Once upon a sunny morn
Spider caught a clumsy fly
(Fleeing from a wasp and crow)
In alarm it hit that web
Shouts and pulling did no good
(Yet it begrudged fate her due)
With molecules of hidden strength
Called unto its tiny wings
(Fly broke spider’s silky web)
With a whirl it flew away
Across the red poppy fields
(Humming happy songs of life)
© G.s.k. ‘15
And here’s another spider and fly nature story:
THIS WEEK’S WORDS come from “Philosophy in Warm Weather” by Jane Kenyon: sunny, clumsy, wasp, molecules, whirl, begrudge, spider, poppy, shouts, crow, alarm, pulling
Bastet and Sekhmet's Library 