Free Verse: Magic Beside The Window – First Posted – May 12, 2013

Free Verse

Magic Beside The Window

Childhood passed beside a window

Coloring, drawing, daydreaming

Watching as the cars drove past

Watching birds and butterflies

Imagining places that never existed

Of people who never were.

I’d imagine flying horses

Princes, castles and dragons flying –

I’d see the terrible witches

And lovely fairies too.

I’d have myself a tea party

I’d invite in all my friends!

Black and yellow stuffed dog

Pink cow and scruffy bear…

My mother’d bring the snacks out

We’d laugh and play for hours

Then I’d tell to them a tale.

(When finally I went  to school

After a month or two,

I found that those dear windows,

Saved me from boredom too.)

Years went by and I travelled far

I met many a dragon and visited castles

I’ve come across a prince or two

And some really terrible witches!

The fairies blessed me with my lovely sons

And I’ve nothing to regret.

I just wanted to say here,

Thinking of my childhood:

My friends then were my windows.

My loved ones were my books.

My world my imagination.

I hug them still and sing their praise,

For they made me who I am.

© G.s.k ‘13

OctPoWriMo Day 14 – The Door (Free Verse) October 14, 2015

this old door
is
sometimes squeaky
sometimes stiff
sometimes wet, with kitty wee
just won’t close if
you try to slam it
has stood silently
with the passage of the ages
fascists fell back
before the partisans
then hippies came
and yuppies went
and every year the church procession
weaves, through the alley right past this door
it’s seen the passing of many souls
generations of families
the young who became old
now through this door
I’ll pass yet for a while
and still it will stand
when I am gone

© G.s.k. ‘15

Inspired by: Prompt Stomp Week 2

October 14. 2015

OctPoWriMo Day 12 – Wordling – October 12, 2015

City Life

With all her courage
she faced the traffic
running the risk
that she might get hit –
buses and cars
thrumming and rumbling
passed ’round her –
but minute and fierce
she dodged them all
’cause she’d learnt her letters
about cars and traffic
from her mother’s pride.
Ah, how the urge was on her
to get back home
she knew he was waiting
and she was chilled to the bone …
scratching at the door
mewing piteously
she pulled at the link
she’d formed to his heart …
he opened the door
petted and hugged her
then lovingly poured her
a bowl of warm milk.

© G.s.k. ‘15

October 12. 2015

Inspired by Brynn and  The Sunday Whirl Wordle

A poem written with razors – Wordleing with Sunday’s Whirligig – June 11, 2015

let me speak to you of a secret
in a poem written with rusted razors
found in a summer storm
so many many years ago …
’tis true
the gossips’ whispers buzz and burn
like hornets in heated bronze urns
but bathe your heart in sweet honey
let not the bigots sour your soul –
think nothing of their stinging words
– that alarming tittle-tattle
let them think they are alive
they too are thirsty for love’s embrace
but they lack the courage to seek
the passion of a lover’s touch
so they gossip about what they do not know
quoting gospel as they do.

© G.s.k. ‘15

 

THIS WEEK’S WORDS come from “Let Me Tell You What a Poem Brings” by Juan Felipe Herrera, the new poet laureate of the United States: secret, poem, speak, razors, bronze, think, sour, thirsty, storm, alarming, bathe, gossip.

 

 

 

Whirling Wordleing … February 20, 2015

whirling in cyberspace
on cue – I wrestle with a memory
of an angel …
its saintly life
destroyed by science,
the crack in its faith, called relativity –
empty – it could no longer dance
on the head of a pin,
the pebble-like consistency of atoms
became great wayward mountains
blocking its act in its tracts
the angel held its head low in shame
what good is the faith of an angel
in a realm of perfection?

The Prophetess – Free Verse Wordle – January 5, 2015

Among the sweet flowers
under the sacred oak
the prophetess swirls
her potion of vision ..

A hostage of the past
with a snarl and a snap
old jackal watches on
curious, wondering his fate.

She takes a mariposa
and cuts it into stripes
adding some pink gravel
inside her brassy bowl.

Erecting a tent over the mix,
using gossamer and silken cable,
with her magic flair she creates
an arch of ephemeral mist.

After three days and three nights
the mixture shone of its own light …
old jackal skulks away, but grey owl
now looks on with curious glee …

The prophetess smiles
as she looks into the mist
thinking of happy portents
soon disowned with a sad tear .

Not even this year
she reads in the mist
will pass without war
and hunger and hate.

A blackbird flies near
a finch sings his song
the birds of the land
in unison sing comforting lays.

The owl in disgust flies away
seeing that the jackal in smiling sleep
dreaming his happy dreams
of hunting with ravens and crows.

© G.s.k. 15

Monday Wordle: 1. Stripe 2. Gravel 3. Unison 4. Flair 5. Mariposa (a type of lily) 6. Jackal 7. Cable 8. Swirl 9. Hostage 10. Erection 11. Arch 12. Pseudo

Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie – Tale Weaver Prompt and Monday Wordle

 

Mångata* – Free Verse with Wordle – January 4, 2015

 

find shelter under the loving moon
bright as she shines down tonight
upon the water is her bright path
walk bravely into this new year

resolve to turn your sin to peace
create a revolution of love
review each day with a smile
and win yourself a brand new life

walk with me on Mångata
be a miracle in this dark age
forget the anger and the pain
under the moon’s gentle light

find shelter in the loving moon
upon the water is her bright path

© G.s.k. ‘15

Shelter, belief, dedicated, new, sin, turn, revolution, resolve, design, review, win, shine (Sunday Whirl)

*Swedish for Moon Road – the glimmering, road-like reflection that the moon creates on water (Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie)

Wordle – Dr. Surf – a rant poem -December 30, 2014

Oh this conceited android!
This stupid illeistic dude
full of peppy mischief …
(my mind begins to fizzle …
I spew … I strangle yes I gurgle -)
it tells me that my modem (IT)
has gone off-line,
crashing me into a cyber cess-pit
at the intersection
between W.P.* and Blogger.

Up pops that draftsack ‘giggling’:
“your phone line is disconnected”
(though the lights are all aglow)
with that fixed quirky smile
its ridicule is plain …
I stammer, almost scream,
envisioning roughened bricks
or heavy chains of zinc
to beat in its electronic brain …

So, here I write enraged …
before this glowing screen
linked to this closed off ghetto
made of (uni)code
in heated human exasperation …

Then up it pops up once more …
Dr. Surf ** always smiling tells me
now (maybe) I can publish
since the modem’s back on-line
again.

© G.s.k. ‘14

 

* WordPress
** The diagnostic tool on my Asus modem

I think it’s rather clear that since I got up this morning I’ve been having connection problems … this happens rather often lately and I can’t figure out what the problem is, since the phone company refuses to come out and look at their lines …  >:-(

The wordle contains 12 words those words are:

1. Conceit
2. Android
3. Illeist (A person who refers to themselves in the 3^rdperson)
4. Fizzle
5. Zinc
6. Mischief
7. Brick
8. Strangle
9. Intersection
10. Ghetto
11. Ridicule
12. Draftsack (a bag of garbage, figuratively a big belly)

Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie

The Unwelcome Guest – December 28, 2014

The Unwelcome Guest

on this holy occasion …
an off-key chime
left a scar on the feast
… with a sigh
the stray guest,
anger,
announced his arrival
alone and silent
pale …
laughing no more,
we ingest our last pie
it’s plain to see
the party is over.

© G.s.k. ‘14

Sunday Whirl

Wordle – December , 2014

She reflected on the world of parasites
As the dying day faded away …
The politicians legerdemain continues
Convincing us all that we need them –
The grit of their deception tarnish their shields
Yet we never seem to notice,
Pulsing vibrant words blare from the TV
Reagan and then the burning Bush
Convince us to renounce our freedom
And our humanity … in exchange for raw greed …
Did no one notice the bubbles bursting …
The Bodhisattva of Peace sighs,
His spirit outlined in the dying verses
Of an old song …
The void cannot be put off forever …
Every song ends
For everything there is a dusk
And the night fell.

G.s.k. ’14

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This was inspired  by The Red Wolf – We Wordle number 31 … which I’d missed.  I just discovered that for some reason I no longer followed the blog and so was not getting the notifications by e-mail that I usually got …   The Red Wolf Wordles are a real challenge.  Not only do you get a lot of interesting words to work with … but there’s always an extra twist … read on to see what I mean and click the link to read other poems and the full post – Bastet

dying, spirit,  parasites, void, legerdemain, Bodhisattva, reflected, pulsing, dusk, grit, raw

That was the simple part. Now for the (slightly) harder part. First I’ll give you a phrase. Meditate on it, incorporate it somehow in your poem. It doesn’t have to be straight-on and literal: feel free to weave it or its idea into your poem in some way. Now, the phrase:

“Every song must end.”*

Secondly, here’s an added trick. I’m going to ask you to play with time in your poem. I’m inspired by this concept as we’re currently studying Ghost in a Red Hat by Rosanna Warren in my ENG 631 class.

Warren has a wonderful sense of time. In some poems, she roots the reader firmly within a present moment. In others, she plays around with time, not only through (sometimes unexpected) use of verb tenses but by sliding around to different time periods within the same poem. In particular, one of my favorite effects she uses is writing about past moments in present tense — which make the past moment seem more tangible, immediate, and real.

Red Wolf Poems Wordle 31