The Saturday Symphony #39 May Musings

Hey everyone,
The 39th Edition of The Saturday Symphony welcomes you to May Musings.
Exams are done and I have so much fun-work to do and catch up on this summer break.

Dreaming of this.

I’ve completed the first draft of my next poetry publication on mental health. I’m so excited about this one, guys. About what it is, and what it will grow into when the editing and nuances are ironed out.

I haven’t been able to do wordpress posts because of papers but I’m now back to my favourite platform. Expect a bit more engagement from me. The poetry in this month’s symphony are short pieces I’ve written recently on my twitter. Hope you enjoy them.

We blur into the crowd
Drunk on passion
A kiss, a swivel, an unbreakable entanglement
It is a beautiful thing to belong
Even to the night life
We are seen
They wink at us
They approve
We do not need it
but how good it feels
To be accepted
And may the morning
never come

Blog reading time has been hard to come by recently but I managed to get some great pieces to feature this month:

Anamnesis by Kerfe on memedtwo is a short cathartic read that I greatly enjoyed.

Fish and Boat on Cannery Row by The Bubbly Tipsy Mermaid was such a refeshing read.

Yes, You should follow genre rules (Unless You’re Famous) by Jacqui Murray was very enriching and informative. I enjoyed diving into her linked catalogues.

The allure of dangerous obsessions
Grace plummets into an alamort existence
and enigma tones traits in forbidden hues
Blacks turn grey
and greys gloss to silver
Hope paints silenced lips with secret desires
and eyes glimpse a dream's mirage
Always out of reach

Ponderous Thought Prompt

This June, share a favourite verse from a favourite song. Feel free to incorporate it in any piece you’ll be writing. I’ll read it all.

You can use art, images and any form of writing. Pingback here by pasting this post’s link in your own post, and I’ll visit and feature your works in next month’s Symphony.

Last month’s Ponderous submissions (Apathy)

Eugi wrote in a really cool form called Hay(na)ku:

revel
in madness
inhale life’s folly
crowing
at dawn
shapes last stanzas
high
on oneself

Soul searching by Moonwashed musings

Soothing words by Where Stories can spark magic:

It takes courage to find yourself
The courage to unlocking that door and
keeping it open only happens when you
discover what had already been right in front

There’s something by WhereStoriesCanSparkMagic

A captivating and comforting story by Inkwell:

I couldn’t help but wonder if my perception of the world was unique or if this existential malaise was widespread. Was it the drudgery of daily routines that were sapping our spirits, or was there something more profound at play here, a sense of disenchantment with the world around us?

Apathy in the city by The Inkwell

Intense haiku and american sentences by Jules:

little monsters roam
don’t know or care for the rules
whisper and point; hag!

Three aspects apathy by julesinflashyfiction

Soulful Inspiration by Sadje:

We seek attention and love from others
Yet we cannot see beyond our own issues
When we put our own pain, hurt, and issues first
We don’t realize that others are suffering too

Dealing with apathy by lifeafter50forwomen

Click the citation links to read full posts.

Moulded by despair
Your skin thickens to a hide
The pits have pressed you smooth
And depression has polished you with empathy
You rise from darkness
Resilient
Lissome in the raking moonlight

Since I didn’t do any Book candy corner last month as I was promoting my new release, Broken Ties, now available on Amazon, you can expect reviews this June and July, as I begin going through my first to-read list. Most are wordpress authors I follow and interact with.

He wades a world of billions
And yet his journey is lonely
Born of sunrise, now made of dusk
Tartarus is weary of his presence
He holds vigil in its darkest abyss
Pertinacious
Tethered in the grim and gruesome
Where death laughs in the face of love

Hope you enjoyed this Symphony. Be sure to check out the links of the featured posts, and of course, have a peep at the Realms of the Mist series page.

I'm not who I once was
I cannot love as I once did
The morning breeze is not as fresh
City smells have annexed it
Pastries from the corner store
Sewage from down below
And memory from deep inside
I live a redolent existence
Yet life itself changes
It is the way
To adapt

I’m back to the working out schedule. Gotta tick the physical-health checkbox as well.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie.

The Saturday Symphony #38 April Apathy

Jambo everyone,
The 38th edition of The Saturday Symphony welcomes you to an April of Appreciation.

This is the last post before I go on tour with my latest novel, Broken Ties (Book 2 Realms of the Mist).

BlogTour schedule HERE.
I’ll be sharing the links. You can expect reviews, excerpts, Q&As, exclusives and giveaways if you follow me through the comments on the seven-blog tour.

Alright, on to the Symphony.

A heartbeat in the dark
Astride my own

Subconscious attuned
To a lost rhythm

Nights we lay so close
Sating need
with dirty deeds

Yet I linger in the wreckage of our dreaming
Alone
No compass to point north
No map through loss
What will I create
In the colors of night

This April, we seek some insight into apathy. Webster defines apathy as the trait of lacking enthusiasm for, or interest in things generally.

Ishaisms’ tanka poem is a brilliant insight into how we can so easily misunderstand somebody’s outer demeanor for apathy.

I also highly recommend this gorgeously written symetrelle from David.

Those words scraped in my mind
What was it about 'You can't'
That made me want To do!
Cacoethes
The thrill of risk
To prove I'm not who I am
Who I hate and yet should not!

So I laced my marrow in new fibre
And my bones ached from the change
For little I knew
Of the dark side

Shared lessons

I picked this little piece of wisdom from Sadje’s Keep it alive: “Some questions make us question our own beliefs
While some questions just make us want to beat our heads on the wall
Yet asking questions is necessary to gain insights
Without asking questions, how will we know?“

Book Candy Collage

Featured on my blog this month.

In case you’re looking for more mystery, thriller and fantasy reads, I recommend Tessa’s great bulletpoint reviews.

For some people, the mask of apathy is used to cage their darker proclivities. There is no rule that everyone should be open and share what’s inside. But even those who seem apathetic, have ways they express themselves. Gentler subtle ways, or perhaps sinister and dark. I wrote these gothic haiku for the #Gothiku hashtag

Joy's evanescence
won't you stay but a little
Yesterday haunts me

when night clouds the eye
rotten things fester unseen
what daylight reveals

my decaying love
don't flowers bloom in the mulch
seeds of a soulmate

willowed drapes
lure the fragrant breeze
Sad summons

Ponderous thought prompt.

For the month of May, do some research, or draw from experience, a way in which you’ve got someone who is seemingly apathetic, to open up.

You can use art, images and any form of writing. Pingback here by pasting this post’s link in your own post, and I’ll visit and feature your works in next month’s Symphony.

Featured submissions from last month’s prompt

Again and again, the marvel of the flexibility of human nature makes me admire its tenacity more and more.
The ability inherent in all human beings
The capacity to adapt, to make do with
What we get instead of what we desire…

Continued on Keep It Alive

wedded to April
spring clings to your heart and soul
listen carefully
silent is the dew
yet distinct the…

Continued on Moonwashed musings

I see a pattern of the seas,
prancing and prancing,
cherubic as they can be,
and yet stoic when need be.

I see a pattern of the seas,
impatient and energetic…

Continued on Kitty’s verses.

These were exquisite. Thank you to all those who submitted.

Raised by virtuous innuendos
He's taunted by a star's promiscuous winks
and the dyslexic beam of a lustful moon
The aphrodisiac of possibility stirs his unfettered spirits
An awakening happens in his virgin mind
Minimal
Subliminal
A precursor to pleasures once denied

Sadly we come to the end of the April edition. I hope you enjoyed it. I shared some of the poetry from my Twitter in the month of April. Be sure to follow the wonderful featured links.

Mystique embraces midnight's velveteen forest
You trail whiffs of new desire
A fresh start
Your brittle roots yearn for moistened umber soils
For a triple-threat love
A paramour whose flames lick at your snowing heart
Thaw your icy mind
And ignite your dampened soul

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

See you on the blog tour starting 26th April.

A bath and a haiku.

Hey everyone,
I have some fun for us today.

Can you pair your favorite bath with its corresponding haiku?

Let me know in the comments, for example, Haiku 1 – bath 3. There is technically no wrong answer, as haiku can convey different meanings to each of us.

HAIKU

sly warmless glimmer
of Sunset goading dreamers
herald of the frost

paint is a mirror
what we see beneath what is
the nature of art

a camouflaged life 
blend with the ordinary 
until you flower

echoes of lost time
curved in lofty buttresses
their voices whisper

BATHS

All images from Pinterest

Book Candy Corner

Unlike Michelle’s previous books that talk so much about love in its glorious ways, this book is about the reality that living and loving are not at all roses. For the first time, she writes about grief and death and how we can heal from experiences that constantly weigh us down so we can move forward.

Amazon link

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A reminder that the April edition of the Saturday symphony is this Saturday 22nd. Send in your submissions for last month’s prompt, nd get featured this April. Simply add this link in your post and I will find you.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

The Saturday Symphony #37 March Marvels

Ola everyone,
The 36th edition of The Saturday Symphony welcomes you to a March of marvels. This is a monthly feature that may one day become an online magazine which showcases its bit of the wordpress community magic (fingers crossed).

It's 5.am
The sweet-spot for insomniacs
A hill-top mosque moons a summons to sacred vespers
And an eager rooster ignites a cackle of crows vying for dominance
The insomniac does not hear them
This is their ONE hour
And yet they must rise.
The bedside clock shames the exuberant cockery
and jolts you from the peace that nothingness brings
To make joy from your something

Luiza Zambrotta’s tautogram prompt (P) is so fun and I recommend joining in. Here’s my bit:

Perplexing pleasantries portray ponderous parodies.

March is a month of changing seasons. The first quarter of the new year is ending.
Whether it’s Spring or the wet season, wherever you are, if you allow it, you may feel a shift in the air, the spirit, and your psyche. An opportunity to start anew or boost what’s already started.

How about this keepsake from Garima of Be Inspired blog: How To Improve Your Luck .

Can you foresee positive, lovely things occurring?

You’ll be mad not to check out Sally Cronin’s, Smorgasbord Funnies 2023. (Feel free to thank me later)

I hope Sally forgives me for sharing just one of her jokes to send you to her post:
Patient: “Doctor, I get heartburn everytime I eat birthday cake.”
Doctor: “Next time…. Find out the punchline in Sally’s link. (Sorry I didn’t want to steal the joke)

.

Shared lessons.

This section will be for one fellow blogger’s shared lesson every month. I’ll reach out to different people just for a little paragraph, not more than they are willing to share. Since this is new, I’ll say something this month.

Before I diversified from poetry and short stories to fiction novels, I learnt a vital piece of advice which makes writing really cool. ‘Let your characters guide you.’ As you try to follow this advice, you develop a new appreciation for Karma and its mysterious ways. Everyone has their own story. Nothing is black and white, I mean, even black and white are spectrums of colour. In real/tangible life, I wait and listen more often, and I’m genuinely very interested in what people are saying. This has really improved all my relationships. I find more people calling, and opening up about really personal things. I mostly just listen and once in a while, I tell them a story.

Outside life's challenges, 
waits a flamboyant beauty 
Verdancy that is a tonic for our souls
It dwells in everything
In the fine desert-sand where no two grains are alike
In the morning dew or pouring rain
The floral blooms and butterfly hues.
Or perhaps on the otherside of day
Where one may enjoy a moonlight caress
or savour a star-twinkled kiss, 
A place to cry where none can see
To let darkness reclaim your darkness.
 
So step outside

Into the wild

Trace the alignment

Of beauty to joy.

Book Candy Collage.

This year, I created corners for my wordpress posts. Visitors to my blog may have noticed the Book Candy Corner, Tall Tales Corner, and Tiny Treasure Corner. These three, cycle in turns from post to post. I’ll collage the monthly book-candy in that month’s Symphony, just in case you missed out.

Ponderous Thought Prompt

From today and through the month of April, find any three aspects in nature, relate yourself to each of them, and publish something on that. It can be dark or bright, just have at it.

You can use art, images and any form of writing. Pingback here by pasting this post’s link in your own post, and I’ll visit and feature your works in next month’s Symphony. These features, in time, will get a more creative showcasing (watch this space).

earth divinations
must one be Witch or Guru
to wake their soul

Sadly, or thankfully, we’ve come to the end of this month’s symphony.
Here’s a last recent poem from my twitter:

Echoes of a bedevilled kiss
Have you known the taste of sin
Or the hidden truths in dream-drenched deceits
Have you imagined grace in a silent expanse
Like dances in the eye of dysthymia
Fleeing gawking stares
Yet hoping-
Someone will see you…

Hope you enjoyed this. I look forward to your ponderous-prompt submissions, which should be posted before the 28th of April.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie