Posted in Horror and mystery, Life and Awareness, Nature, Syllabic poetry, weekly challenges

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


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
.

Posted in Fantasy and Adventure, Life and Awareness, Love and romance, weekly challenges

Soul-gazing and love’s doctrine #poetry

#Whatdoyousee

The death of love’s doctrine
Was a pain to behold
We watched it fade in our children
And wondered what signs we missed
What lessons were mistaught
For how could a Truth so strong it seemed eternal
Wither to dream and fairytale
Was it the dawn of self-love
Misunderstood by many, though not all
Awakening selfish trends
Ambitions that overlooked compassion
The Self at the expense of the bond
For who said one cannot love oneself
and still have love to spare for another

They tried to burn those words we hoped would guide them
But the flames blew out
For the winds of change
Would not accept this change
Love’s doctrine would survive.

Tall Tales Corner

#writephoto
An antic chandelier
From an age of mystics
Its crystals glisten
with light so soft it feels like starlight
and yet so loud
that when the wind gales
and the crystals chime
their voices wail
So flip that switch with caution
Lest you're trapped stargazing
Or rather, soul-gazing
For in perfection
we find the darkest secrets

Hope you enjoy these. For Sadje’s whatdoyousee and Caley’s writephoto.

Looking forward to your thoughts…

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

Posted in Cooking and Poetry, Life and Awareness, Syllabic poetry, weekly challenges

The Spice of Life. Poetry and updates

Hey everyone,
I’m bursting with good news. I finally dispatched the beta copies of Book2 in the Realms of the Mist trilogy. (Title and cover coming very soon).

My eyes welled up as I glossed those famous last words in an intricate font: “The End.”
Guys, I don’t know how to describe the happiness and accomplishment I felt. I whooped and jumped and gave my laptop a giant KISS.

Now I can wait for Beta feedback as I concentrate on the promo campaign. I can catch up with courework which I’m sure I’ll ace. Trust me, there’s no coursework that can compare to even writing one chapter of a book.

All that’s left after the Beta feedback is a final copy-edit for the little bits that escaped my own personal edit. I would have been practically alone in my author dream but for a number of remarkable people from the wordpress community, who have given me invaluable guidance and encouragement. THANK YOU. It only gets better from here.

Okay, enough about me. Here’s some poetry for you.

Rising or setting
The bliss is the same
Between then and next
It’s the now we cherish
So here in this moment
Nothing is truer
Than this love

The world may change us. Misplaced deeds or words may incubate hate. Thank God our love is bound in nostalgia. #TWT

Tall Tales Corner

Between forsaken lines
dwell cocktails of musings
He writes a heart that stings
The spice of life

Of cinammon romance
And currie betrayals
Black pepper portrayals
Balance in life

In the bachelor's kitchen
variety is scarce
but potency is terse
Just - what - matters

Hope you enjoy.

I feel I should apologise for always joining prompts but I post once or twice a week and I have so many favourites.

The first poem is for both Eugi’s moonwashed weekly prompt and Sadje’s #Whatdoyousee
In bold, is an accompanying twenty word story for Bookish bubble’s TWT
The Tall Tales Corner is for Colleen’s #tankatuesday where she asked us to use spices in our kitchens to write about recent events in our lives. Since I’ve been submerged in editing, it’s a cocktail of mental events, but I did use the spices in my kitchen to portray some of that in the three Abhanga poems.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie.

Posted in Fantasy and Adventure, Life and Awareness, Nature, Syllabic poetry, weekly challenges

Doors and blades of grass #poetry

#writephoto

Once, we painted the door to shared dreams of two
Unloved, it now reminds me of you
Fades of time corrode its sheen
Too long left unseen
Glum relic
Pinned
Pedantic
with hope grating thin
My soul barters for its queen
Must I swap new greens for an old blue
Or evolve, to sparkle in different hues

Great expectations
On the tip of a lone gaze
longing for the stars
I stretch for the heighest leaf
When grass below has all I need

#whatdoyousee

An Andaree poem for Colleen’s tankatuesday
Based on image prompt from Caley’s #writephoto
And theme from Reena’s xploration challenge.

The tanka continuation was inspired by Sadje’s whatdoyousee

Today’s Tiny Treasure

...
Shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer
Shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer
Lead us lest too far we wander
Love’s sweet voice is calling yonder

Shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer
Hey there don’t get dimmer dimmer
Light the path below above
Lead us on to love
...
Extract from this beautiful rhythmic poetry and song.
Glow worm by LadySighs

An Andaree has an 11/9/7/5/3/1/3/5/7/9/11 syllable structure with an AabbcbcbbaA rhyme scheme.
Hope you enjoy.
Looking forward to your thoughts

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

Posted in Life and Awareness, Nature, Syllabic poetry, weekly challenges

Evolving. A haibun #poetry and #prose

It is not an impotence to shine, that anchors me in the obscure. Neither is it loneliness or despair that keep me from the sun. Perhaps it is the clarity from rays beaming upon glamour and gore alike, or the beauty that can only be dreamt in the dark, which keep me here, away from where I must go. Am I incomplete, if I bloom where the world cannot see?

demeure of shadows
does light hide in the hidden
where the pollen floats

It is not wonder but a yearning to wander, that chains my gaze to the lady in red on a backdrop of sullen winter. The only cold I have known is the one from a shoulder, as my pleas wisped into nothing. She draws the eye, gay in the grey. And I think, maybe the light I seek, must come from within.

thralls of mystery
a rapscallion wonder looms
virgin decisions

The days of going-with-the-flow are behind me. These be monstrous tides. I cannot survive if I cannot swim. The old strokes won’t do, a minute’s breath falls short. I must find those pockets of air. Here in the depths, I must evolve.

dirigible ways
call the wide-eyed butterfly
to bloom in the dark

©judeitakali

Reena’s xploration challenge
Sadje’s whatdoyousee
Colleen’s tanka tuesday

Book Candy Corner

In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.

From Autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Book on Amazon


Hope you enjoy this. Looking forward to your thoughts. Just one more paper to go.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

Posted in Life and Awareness, Nature, Syllabic poetry, weekly challenges

Approaching the future. A #senryu series

Dire predictions
the dimple in a grim smile
Is my resistance

like changing seasons
heedless deeds spin fortune’s wheel
a chain reaction

I see with thine eye
Is this the lover’s edict
hybrid creations

In a lawless world
karma keeps a watchful gaze
the peasant toils on

Inhibited soul
you must bloom in their vision
to grow your wisdom

On a dreamer’s whim
pave new ways to withered ends
that you must rebuild

#writephoto

A Senryu series for Colleen’s TankaTuesday. See if you can pick a favourite.
Also for:
Sadje’s whatdoyousee
Caley’s writephoto
Reena’s xploration challenge
.

Tall Tales Corner

We named her Aangaz 
the village clutz
Clumsy to a tear

Tinkles trailed her tippytap step
pots and pans broke in her wake
coins and trinkets fell from her pockets
the children chortled with laughter
but always returned her lost treasures
and how she loved them so

One day the earth shook
trees fell, roofs collapsed, wildebeests stampeded
Many passed, more were injured
but none of them children
For Aangaz the village clutz
Tippytapped through the mayhem
Clumsy with everything-
except what she truly loved...

Looking forward to your thoughts. I’m still getting a hang on telling tall tales, I’m not writing them just right, but I’ll get better.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

Posted in Life and Awareness, Syllabic poetry, weekly challenges

Between Echoes #Whatdoyousee #etheree

In the midst of a hero and villain
She contemplates a colourless whim
In the gray she’s found no rewards
Only aches from toeing lines
She weighs ambivalence
On slabs of regret
Between echoes
All answers
Demand
Choice

The unscratchable itch!
Only another can relieve you
But who, depends on you
Your deeds lure them
Your intentions harness karma
Hope alone is futile
For this thing you want
requires faith
And faith is tested
Is strengthened
Is nurtured
So get up
Maybe you can’t do it on your own
But still, you must do

Book Candy Corner

Mama, me and Mother nature – By Eugenia Francie Hoffman.This book relates to my childhood and takes place in the late forties through the sixties. It could be about anyone’s childhood during that time. I was a curious child, always wanting to know more, always wanting to create something and always busy with anything and everything, just like my mom and just like mother nature.”

For much more from the author, check out her blog: Moonwashed Musings


Hey guys, hope you enjoy the poetry for Sadje’s whatdoyousee image prompt.

With the addition of corners to my blog posts in yet another busy study-work-write… year, I think I can maintain my blog presence better than I did in 2022. The corners allow me to create quicker posts but still offer more to the reader.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Shalom
Namaste
Namarie

Posted in Life and Awareness, Love and romance, Nature, weekly challenges

Lovers’ creed #poetry #whatdoyousee

#whatdoyousee image prompt

So I glimpsed a wayward soul
Hot and cold it summoned me
A promise that we’d be whole
We sought love’s rising tides
We hoped to weather its storms

But the Lovers’ creed was cruel
An adventure riddled with risk
Where tides rose to fill our gaping needs
Only to leave them wider

In the eye of storm
where soulmates dwell
and lone hearts roam
I am surrounded by bittersweet pain
For even love must have balance
Must have an anti-love

So I glimpse that wayward soul from a distance
For its beauty
For its promise
For its resilience
And I know that once more
I will hearken to love’s call
Resigned to what awaits me

Posted in Life and Awareness, Nature, weekly challenges

When light falls from heaven #whatdoyousee.

When light falls from heaven
The finest rays linger in the deep
And wonders bloom beneath the surface

If you weren’t so smitten by stars
If you only looked a little closer
A little longer
A little deeper
Then maybe you’d learn-
to go beyond consuming beauty
To nurturing it

So build a bridge below as well
Through the depths where secrets dwell
And souls truly meet
Make a channel of glass
That you may voyage in substance
That you may see with open perspective
That you may find the quintessence of beauty
For when light falls from heaven
It rests in wonders beneath the surface

#whatdoyousee prompt

Hope you enjoy this. Looking forward to your thoughts..

Caught in the gray. A haiku and senryu garland

Caught in the gray. A haiku and senryu garland

my table is yours
this dream grows bigger when shared
the meal is better

Oh winter’s sunrise
you once taught the secrets of warmth
when love held plenty

Cyclical seasons
why won’t life spin as you do
to bring my love back

In the cold between
I cling to your phantom warmth
within our gray scarf

Oh winter’s sunset
replay our intimate times
thaw my loneliness

Linger in the gray
where transcient souls are moulded
metamorphosis

I’m on a haiku spree. I hope you enjoy these next ones that I wrote on twitter yesterday.

Hope you enjoy. Don’t forget to follow me if you are on twitter. I have shorter writing I post there.

Blessed day and happy thanksgiving.