Inner storms. Cinquain and Haibun

Image credit; Johannes Plenio @ Unsplash

Calm seas
ńeath brewing storms
where morals turn agile
and perspicacious drifters long
for Self

Pity
enshrouds the spy
the unwitty witness
Innocence pays the maiden price
World’s Way

Of hope
on same wavelengths
fickle, is life’s grapevine
upon the volatile current
Of truth

Our fear
Precient ally
reveals and then withholds
bitter endings, brave beginnings
The Call

The You
you always tame
dewy-eyed explorer
wandering through life’s hypnosis
The spark

Tall Tales Corner

Le Jardin de l’artiste à Giverny by Claude Monet

It is said that ‘art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.’
Or so their picture-perfect family hoped, as they mounted a piece of spring in their livingroom. It was odd that on sunny days, those trees seemed to bleed and a face lurked in the background windows.
The patch of sunlight surrounded by shades induced a claustrophobic feeling, like conflict was closing in.

New petals may sing
to mask whispers of winter
lavender secrets

The teenage daughter, in the first trimester of a problem-pregnancy, saw a little girl waving from those distant windows, longing to play, to climb trees and eat the juicy-red fruit. To her, the painting held hope.
The mother, a neighbourhood leader, dreaded what people would say about her daughter, and worse, about her. But the painting made her think of swings in the backyard, and lullabies long abandoned, of a baby’s gay laughter and the way she’d say to people, ‘this is my grandchild.’ She too, smiled at the painting.

big trees, wider shades
when night and day seem furthest
their likeness deepens

The father, a model gentleman, was a chin-high kind of man. Indeed, he knew himself to be without flaw. And that’s why he’d fought so hard for that painting at auction. The art plunged chaos into order. It was wild, free, and yet the flowers remained flowers, and the trees were still trees.
Now that his pride-and-joy son had discarded their christian beliefs for the rainbow movement, and his sweetheart daughter was pregnant in High school, maybe he could find the beauty in his own chaos. His eyes were always drawn to that patch of sunlight. Perhaps it was the light eating away at the shadows.

face in the window
judging from winter’s recluse
I know you are me

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Hey Everyone, hope you are well.
I really enjoyed writing this.
The first is a crown cinquain for Reena’s xploration challenge and Sadje’s whatdoyousee.
The Tall Tales Corner is a haibun for Colleen’s tankatuesday.
Looking forward to your thoughts,

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie.

Poetry of appreciation. #Womensday

Hey Everyone,
Happy Women’s day.
I don’t really need this day to appreciate women, but I do understand its significance to past achievements and the ongoing struggle for equality and mutual respect.
I wrote these poems in the last ten days on my twitter (@JItakali), with no awareness that Women’s day was around the corner.

The lines of prose in bold are just wild ponderings and curiosities.

Beautiful faith
That wholesomeness of purpose
Soiled by disciples bereft of acceptance
Can the universe be contained in one thought and one way
If you open your mind
You may see that your choice need not be mine

New believer
Boots with an evangelist sheen
Your way, or the highway.

Each person is unique and they deserve a choice. A choice that should be respected.

She holds him to his word
If he tells, she leaves!
It’s different for a man
He’ll be exalted by peers
While she, will be labelled pariah
Their secret must bloom in shadow
For with hearts already claimed
they cherish an affair
knowing their love can never be

Isn’t it odd that the harshest critics to polygamous/gypsy women are fellow women? Maybe the men just like an abundance of available women but I’m not sure.

When a loveless existence was the dread of virgin dreamers, death played along a ribcage stairwell, as if poised to reap souls and scythe the hearts of any who chose the lone way.
Would we become sheep,
Enduring much to adhere to custom?
Killing dreams for this love perception

I have nothing against marriage but I hate seeing parents peddle this as a MUST accomplishment in life, often keeping their children, especially girls, in abusive marriages. People, the planet is already full. It’s about time having a family became optional. (this coming from a guy who wants to raise five daughters)

When love teaches by breaking
The damsel sharpens her widow-maker
and abandons the exuvia of dreams
She savours love’s darker proclivities
If you Obey
She’ll grant your deepest fetish
But just like love
She blesses for a moment
To curse for eternity

Just a bit of horror to highlight the darker powers of the fairer sex – purely entertainment.

Patient as night
Soft as a breeze
A pacific embrace
And Neptunian depths of acceptance
All she wants is you
The way you are- furrow and crease
But deep down you know-
She deserves more

her tropical love
an evergreen rainforest
I’m inadequate

And a bit of the woman’s powers of light – though I think this is changing. Queens want ‘what they desrve.’

On the flipside of pain
her hands stroked his dirty pages
Arousing the other side
She reached into his darkness
Tormenting passion’s dead lagoon-
with a storm’s caress
Her tears fell
like freckled rain glimmering with light
Their stories mingled
Bursting into new beginnings

Book Candy Corner

A collection of short stories where dreams and nightmares co-exist.

Nestled inside these pages, you’ll meet a couple in their golden years who take a trip with an unexpected detour, a boy desperate to give his brother the Christmas gift he asked for, a girl with a small glass dragon who is at the mercy of her cruel uncles, or a young mother who has the same dream about murder. You’ll be introduced to worlds where people get second chances and monsters might be allowed their desires while angels and dragons try to help. Happy endings occur, but perspective can blur the line between good and evil in these twenty-seven tales. Since the stories vary between 99 to 12k words, whether you have only five minutes or an entire evening to settle into reading, there is something that will suit your time and taste.

Universal Amazon Preorder LINK

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Hope you enjoy, Happy Women’s day. I’m always writing these short poems on my twitter. Feel free to follow me and engage @JItakali. Looking forward to your thoughts on any or all poems, and how about that Book Candy Corner…

Shallom
Namaste
Namarie

What comes Next #RXC #writephoto

Hey everyone,
This is a somewhat unique and personal post for Reena’s xploration challenge and Caley’s writephoto.

It’s no secret that writing is my dream and I mean to do it for the rest of my life. As I write my debut fantasy trilogy(book 2 coming this May), my subconscious has been thinking about what next.

#Writephoto

For Sue in the ether
In the heavens
In the spirit.
We remember you.

As I lined up Caley and Reena’s prompts, I thought about my own art- Writing. So I looked through my old journals dating back to 2013 and behold: I found my next projects.

Acknowledge the great creator’s role in your creativity. And use those gifts.

I was so excited to find that even then I’d made somewhat meticulous notes on how to write these books; the characters, themes, settings, plotlines, even handwritten 1st chapters for all three books.

The Universe is always conspiring to help us. We just need to ask. And the best way to ask is by beginning.

I didn’t have a blog ten years ago, didn’t even know that what I was writing in my journals was poetry and prose. I couldn’t have pulled off those projects then. But now and in the future as I learn and manifest, I think, I hope, I believe I can do them justice. The ideas are amazing(for me at least). I see them from much closer, like my nineteen year old self has passed me the baton, except I’m now much fitter and I know how to get to the finish line.

#RXC

There is no patent on creating
At its heart, it’s freedom.
Soothing
Empowering

If we have the nerve to look, we can see in any face, our own vulnerability.

I hope sharing these encourages anybody else who is waiting to start. Do it for your inner child. Also, I hope to get subscribers for my publications, lol.

Writing projects for the near future

1. May 2023 – Realms of the Mist Book 2
2. November/December 2023 – Poetry book linked to mentalhealth
3. Autumn 2024 – Final Book 3 Realms of the Mist.

Middle/Long term projects

Most details here are tightly under wraps for now. Tentative titles. My 19year-old-self had a real talent for blurbs and synopsis(es), a talent I seem to have lost.

1. Surrensville – A paranormal mystery (novel or series with a touch of the occult)
2. Imagine Endless Things – Literary fiction (‘The play of the century.’ I used to love theatre. Definitely a stand alone novel)
3. Bestowed – Detective horror (stand alone novel)

Poetry will always be in between the novels, where I’ll hope to share personal reflections and any wisdom and experiences I pick/have picked up.

May the universe accept these dreams, because I already have.

What moves people to genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.

EUGTNE DELACROIX

Today’s Tiny Treasure

Physically weak
Mentally strong
Women the epitome
Of inherent strength
Shoulders the burden
Carries the entire weight
Of the family she helps raise
There are so many faces of her
Each in its own way perfect...

When she bleeds, she bleeds in Technicolour by Sadje.

I’m sharing a lot of personal things of late. Maybe that’s the universe pushing me to finally ask that girl out, lol.

I hope to post some poetry and prose for Women’s day tomorrow.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

Halloween Romance. A Garland Cinquain.

With You
What I wish for
Sweet words from painted lips
Bewitch, beguile, ensnare our love
In Dream

We walk
Beaneath these stars
Hands round waists, hearts abuzz
For shadowed kiss and whispered bliss
We Long

As one
With one purpose
We love and love blindly
Letting pleasure engulf our pain
Zombies

Undead
Dare not wake us
For those up to no good
We forsake and solemnly swear
Vengeance

This love
of ignorance
Is perfect for my soul
Beyond spirit, within feeling
Betrothed

With You
Beneath these stars
We love and love blindly
We forsake and solemnly swear
Betrothed

#whatdoyousee

Copyright

For Sadje’s #whatdoyousee and Colleen’s #tankatuesday (what I wish for)

Been a while since I wrote a garland cinquain. Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to your thoughts.

I’m balancing between very dark and friendly-dark in the build up to halloween.

Previously in the very-dark(ish) category; Call of Darkness. #Horror #Villanelle

Stay safe everyone. Happy haunting.

Hunting predators #halloween #flashpoetry

Hunting Predators

Hush now me lovey
let the goosebumps flare
feel the creeping chills
master night’s crawlies
Embrace the awakening!

Hush now be savvy
stalk the night prawler
watch the dead-eyed watcher
mimic the hunger that drives
Embrace the secrets of darkness!

Hush now yé glassy lass
ignore the tempting taffy
the suckle of candy-lovin laddies
and the bray for trick or treat
For yé must Avast the wicked hallow!

Hush now be shrewd and ashy
attack them bilgerats snazzy
put bay pon wicked ways
save joy on hallows day!

Hush now
true monsters live amongst us
choose thy costume wise
wear thy thicker skin
and poach the poacher’s rise.

copyright

Hope you enjoy this. Eugi’s moonwashed challenge prompted us with the word Stupendous, so I thought I’d have a go with this poem.

may yé be mindful of the real predators on halloween night.

Stay safe, stay loving.

Dark lover #troiku #poetry

Too soon you were taken.
Too late did angels come
Too futile were my prayers
For only one could give you back
Only death!

Is there anything in this world more faithful than death?

Oh death come near me
ease thy relentless maraud
on autumn’s hallows

oh death come near me
come bestow thy eyeless gaze
faithful to a fault

ease thy relentless maraud
return my joy already taken
or love me forever

on autumn’s hallows
death returns you back to me
true love’s mimicry

Copyright.

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The question of whether death is evil or benign may not really have an answer. By what laws it works, only it knows. Looking forward to your thoughts.

The troiku in bold is a form created by Chèvrefeuille.

This is for Colleen’s #tankatuesday this week.

For a little extra, my new twitter now live @JItakali

Stay safe everyone, Stay loving.