A to Z Challenge- The Letter N – April 17, 2016

On the Ninth hour
Just south of Northern Nubia
Nine nymph-like waifs
(All nieces of the Negus)
Naively danced nude
With a nebulous-like gauzy cloth
Tied to the nape of their necks.

Ninety nasty nags nestled
Behind a neglected Mashrabiya
Nattering as they negotiated
(And smoked their narghilè)
Bets as to which the Norman knight
Would nuzzle that night in bed …
(Novelly he chose none!)

The Negus nodded approval
(And noticed the nags tittering).
The Noble Norman knight
Of course was nervous
At the sight of eighteen nude nipples,
He was celibate but none the less alive!
(The nags enjoyed his nervousness.)

Negotiations began
The Negus and the Norman neglected nothing.
A necromancer revealed
numerous future nebulosities
(none detrimental to peace).
The Noble Negus pledged neutrality,
Negating alliances with the neighbouring Nubians.

© G.s.k. ‘16

No, I didn’t give up – just changed my day of rest from Sunday to Saturday as I had to do some gardening yesterday – rain is predicted for today!

#atozchallenge — NO sleep til … Z!

A to Z Challenge – The letter L – April 15, 2016

Down lilac lanes,
Aligning sweetly the limpid lake
Leading to her Liege
Lady Laura  walked innocent, so leisurely,
Laughing at the jester’s light lechery
Down lilac lanes.

Whispering disloyal lobcock,
Whose poisonous lips did insinuate
Lies unto Laura’s Lord:
“Look, Lady Laura loves her jester,
Liege Lord, see her languid laughter!”
(Whispering disloyal lobcock.)

Luciferin green-eyed monster,
Lived inside the Lord’s heart
Leading him into insanity.
He hired loutish loiterers as lynchers,
To stone the two next day.
Luciferin green-eyed monster.

Down lilac lanes
Whispering disloyal lobcock
Luciferin green-eyed monster
[A tragic ending]

© G.s.k. ‘16

(Unfortunately, yesterday I didn’t write nor indeed even visit my blog … so today I’ll be doing the writing I had planned to do yesterday.)

(the form is called “L’Eco” –

Here’s the structure of the form:

• A four stanza poem
• Word count 3-5-4-6-6-3 (except for the last stanza)
• The first and last lines repeat in each stanza.
• The fifth line is the same in each stanza throughout the poem
• The last stanza is a four line “conclusion” where each of the first lines of the poem  echo – the fourth line [closed in brackets]  ties the whole poem up.

the word count is: 3 – 5 – 4 – 6 – 6 – 3 – last stanza 3-3-3-3 last line [in brackets]

Written for Gradmama 2011 – L is for Library (A-Z Challenge) who reminded me of this form.

A to Z challenge – Alliteration Poem (The Letter I) – April 11, 2016

 

Photo by Morgan Dragonwillow

 

Isabella and Isidoro
Imperial twins
From the Indigo Inner sea,
Indulged and strong-willed,
Wished to invoke an Indian Idol
In search of Inspiration.
Unfortunately,
The idolatrous priests
Irritated the innocent youth,
Since they indulgently ironized
(Irritating and insistently)
Upon the incongruous ideology
Of imperial illumination,
Scientific imperatives
And inspiring idolatry.
Ergo,
In the dead of night,
The twins invoked the idol
Without priestly interference,
(Since they were intoxicated
Inside  their inner sanctum,
A state most ingeniously induced
by an ithania felfea infusion
mixed inside the evening coffee).
The invitation to the idol issued,
The Imperial infants waited
Indolently
Playing intricate cat’s cradles.
Inconveniently,
No inspiration was invoked,
But golden ichor flowed
Endowing Isabella and Isidoro
With immortality
“Impossible and inconceivable!”
They intoned.

© G.s.k. ‘16

I’m Falling Behind! #atozchallenge

I is for Inspiration with Morgan Dragonwillow

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

 

 

Wordle 236

She’ll Call Someday – Free Verse – December 8, 2015

 

JAM – Olhares Sobre a Cidade by Teatro Escola de Pelotas CC BY 2.0

A ragamuffin – an orphan Annie
[or could she be a Raggedy Ann]
her innocence lies in her smile
illusive and sombre as a child’s
yet her hair flares out and flies
[a witch’s mane in moonlit skies]
enchantress – she’ll call to you
you’ll reply that you always knew
there’d come a day when she’d call
[that would be the day of your fall]
but for now … she’s just a fantasy
tickling behind your fragile sanity.

© G.s.k. ‘15

Photo Challenge #90 December 8, 2015

Wordleing – Near the Banyan Tree – November 25, 2014

Wikipedia Commons Banyan tree with Hindu_temples-Thomas Daniell _ 1796

 

do you hear the spirits – those most effable of creatures,
no it’s not the fall wind blowing – rustling the trees –
that susurrus you hear, dear friend, is their gay laughter –
it comes from there, deep inside the park – near the banyan.

hidden in an orchid, you’ll see them if you look closely –
just over there, dear, near the tall banyan tree
look! there’s a strange device, of spiraling helical design –
rooted in a tiny chasm … among the orchid’s blooms.

there are the delicate bijou like inhabitants – nude as stars –
copper-colored and haloed bright, pretty little sprites –
though I should not be telling you, but then, it doesn’t matter,
for you cannot do them harm,  they only come out for me.

(c) G.s.k. ’14

Linked to Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie – Monday Wordle

1. Halo 2. Susurrus (a soft murmuring) 3. Deep 4. Bijou (something small, delicate, and exquisitely wrought, a jewel) 5. Helical (spiral, having the form of a helix) 6. Chasm 7. Orchid 8. Fall 9. Etch 10. Copper 11. Root 12. Effable (expressible)

 

Wordeling with Mindlovesmisery! July 22, 2014

 

1. Gaslight 2. Niveous (resembling snow) 3. Disfigure 4. Lace 5. Velleity (noun: volition in its weakest form, a wish unaccompanied by effort) 6. Mausoleum 7. Echo 8. Tilt 9. Sandstone 10. Cadaver 11. Sibyl (a female prophet) 12. Ebony

 

Walking through Delphi’s ruins,
I came upon Sibyl’s mausoleum
Though it was disfigured by time,
The sandstone steps uneven and tilted
And its marble columns reclined …
I thought lightly to make a query,
To know what my future held.

The dark ebonyt sky was filled,
With a niveous cloud of gnats
Illuminated by soft gaslight,
Around which they danced.
The swarm brought to my mind,
A ghostly ephemeral vision …
Of the prophetess, now long gone.

I wrote upon some parchment,
What I wished to know from her,
Then with a piece of lace I tied it,
Then laughingly, placed it on her tomb.
(The velleity of a true response,
Was plain for all to see,
I believed not in destiny,
Nor that it applied to me.)

When I went to sleep that night,
I dreamt a wondrous dream …
Of ancient kings and mighty gods
Who once walked proudly the Earth …
I saw a veiled cadaver,
Laying cold on a marble  slab
‘Twas that of some noble lady …
Revered and surely dead.

She rose upon her cold marble bed,
Then she looked at me and spoke
That which you’ve written I’ve read …
Now listen to what your future holds
For all I say will be as I’ve said.
Then for a time she sang a song …
‘Twas my life from birth to death …
I know it’s so, now,  that I am very old.

Written for Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie – Wordle # 18

Wordle # 5 – The Albatross – Fairy Tale

The musk scented smell of blood reeked from the willows near my favorite swimming pond, down near the eastern woods.  The smell was so in discordance with the beauty of the place, full of shade, and flowers.   I often imagined that a coven of water nymphs lived there. Now, the sweet cloying smell of a wounded animal  knotted my stomach and closed my throat.

Gagging I searched through the thickets and found a mound of old mouldering tangerine skins.  These were kind of disgusting, but didn’t explain that particular odor.  Then a strange sight met my eyes!  An albatross lay wounded, dying with an arrow in its wing.  I couldn’t have been more surprised had I met up with a Polaris missile in my backyard, this pool was so far from where any albatross should be.

It’s eyes seemed to be two mendicants begging for surcease from pain.  But I, who loved Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner”, could not bring myself to kill the poor bird, so I picked it up carefully and ran as fast as I could to the old woman of the woods.

The old woman lived all alone and some said she was a witch, but I knew that she had a special knack for healing wounded animals.  Her cabin was hidden by a knot of thickets;  birds, bees and small animals made their home there, they knew they were safe near this strange human.

She opened her door before I even knocked and grabbed the bird.  She  laid it on her kitchen table and instructed me to get her fresh water from the well and certain herbs from her small garden, as she made strange sing-song noises from her ancient throat.  An hour later, the bird was free from the arrow, bandaged and placed on the old woman’s bed.

A shimmering light seemed to emanate from the bird.  Slowly, the light became so bright that I had to put my hands up to shade them from the glare.  Suddenly, a beautiful maiden lay on the bed where the old woman had put the albatross.  She opened her eyes, violet and smiling with gratitude.

“Meet the Lady of the South,” said the old woman “The queen of the southern winds.”

---

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Wordle # 5

 

Mollusk Maiden – Mindlovemisery Menagerie Photo Prompt

Mollusk Maiden – Multiple Tanka

© Tomoki Hayasaka

Yo,  Mollusk Maiden
sitting in that dark gutter
what’cha gotta say
’bout your mollusk lover man
now he’s played around again

no wonder you’re off …
go get yourself some sunshine
can’t be much that man
slithering all around, I know
he’s been such an evil man

been such a cheater
but still you stay close to him
he must be special
’cause you keep forgiving him
he … only a mollusk man …

and she said

he’s my man you know
no matter what people say
he’s not true that’s sure
but he love’s me anyhow
he’s sweet and kind, not cruel

that’s his real problem
can’t say no to no one
doesn’t want to hurt
so he spends his love around
to any that happens by

but I know he’s mine
he loves me and he needs me
I understand him
he always comes back to me
’cause I’m his Mollusk Maiden

(why’s he so special
tell you in a word my friend
he’s a hot lover
and you can’t find one better
I forgive then off to bed)

😉

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Prompt

Do You Remember – Speakeasy #148

Do You Remember

He says he sat upon his chair,
wondering what had become of her…
no one knew her name nor home you see
no on even seemed to remember her!
She was just a passing in the wind,
something like a somber breeze,
but her face was still so clear to him…
for he had really loved her true,
and though,
no one could ever know
what happened here,
(a miracle being a special thing)
she changed the way river time did flow,
making life so subtlety different, you know,
those who were evil just disappeared…
as though they’d never even been near.
And the moon and sun eclipsed,
stars came out during the warm spring day,
and birds flew back-wards in the sky,
or so he says.
Do you remember that fantastic day?
I can assure you nor do I!
To me it’s just his fantasy
a story that he often tells
as we’re sailing on the crimson sea,
near the land of Camolee…
land of the purple skies and sable rivers
where we walk through bright blue fields
resting each night upon our beds
walking through our peaceful dreams
ne’er thinking of a faceless woman
who changed all time in just a second
one morning back in ’21.

• Your post must be dated February 9, 2013, or later.
• Submissions must be 750 words or fewer.
• Submissions must be fiction or poetry.
• You must include the following sentence ANYWHERE within your submission: “No one could ever know what happened here.”
• The Speakeasy is for submissions written specifically for the grid. Please don’t submit an entry if you intend to showcase it to another blog link-up. Such posts are deleted without notice.
• Please don’t post long explanations before your post. We want your writing to be the star of the show. If you need to clarify anything, feel free to do so at the end

Go have a look at Speakeasy…a gin joint you might enjoy!