WrittenRiver: flirt with me

like glossy poster print

like pictures on the internet

like the crinkle of a lottery ticket

in lazy Sunday morning mumbled musings 

you flirt with me painting a future lurid and loud

as though we were not destined for the mushroom cloud

WrittenRiver: photo prompt

crown of thorny light
electric brambles envelope
veiled not w/ sleep
still eyes cannot see
blinded by the net
she's caught in

Written River: we gaze

into empty air
into the abyss
into each crease and wrinkle
of our fingerprints
before we glance
at each other askance
we gaze
anywhere anywhere anywhere
but this
the space between
rejection and a kiss

WrittenRiver prompt: delicate temptation

i nestle into the deliciousness

marvel at toothsome eyes 

of robin's egg blue

above a beard sugar-spun 

into bird nest confection

and glutton that I am I

I anticipate the feast of

a mouth watering future sweet 

as the delicate temptation

of a marshmallow fledgling peep

leaping over a chocolate precipice into 

my confitured candyland dreams of you

MadVerse Prompt:along the way, endless search, redemption's price, uplifted only to fall

we are told you can do anything you can be anything

just work hard, dream big, and reach for the stars

uplifted only to fall when slammed against the wall

one arm against our throat

and we whimper as he whispers

it's your fault

and... we believe...

because we got lost along the way

redemption's price too high to pay

the aftermath an endless search

for who we thought we were

and who we are

the next day

I am distraught
I sought sense and saw the lights flicker in the sky
and I knew a piece of peace
but now I cease to understand
as the sun rises to shine on a land
that seems no more benign and I am
tired and afraid at the hate and rage
that permeates this age
I cannot comprehend why some cannot be a friend
to those of different gender, race, creed, religion
how can you hate someone
just for loving
just for living
I try and try but hard to find my empathy
for those who bemoan the intellect
who deliberately choose not to see
that this country is best
not you against me
but striving together
as we
(we, the people
not a mob)
well done despair
you've won, good job

MadVerse MadCarnival prompts

closing time is closing in
but before dawns breaks our dreams
into nothing but smoke on the wind
before we dissipate and disappear
we will make some magic here
of everything wicked, every spite
transform into delight each fright
a mystery among the missing pieces
we fit and find our joy increases
and wounded but alive
still we thrive

the vase

dropped from shaky hands
I shattered
on a side street
bits hurriedly gathered
and carried home
in bleeding hands
glued back together
those that see me
may not see the seams
but I still feel the cracks
and all the little shards
too small to retrieve
left for the street sweeper

MadVerse Dark Carnival Prompts: of masks & mischief, blood red dreams, to tame the darkness

we dance a demon waltz
to tame the darkness
my dress made of midnight,
moonlight, and blood red dreams
smooth as silk and frayed at seams
as is your tattered tux and tails
your battered stovepipe hat and smile
we twirl through the funhouse ballroom
full of masks & mischief
as a million mirror images of us
waltz a terrifying two-step
just out of time
a moment too fast or slow
bewildering us until we don't know
are we the real or reflected?

SenseWrds Prompt: portrait, absolution, timbre

searched old voicemails
for the pitch and tone
of that half-chuckle,
full-smile voice, now gone

you'd say you love me
before you'd hang up

please forgive me
I could not find
that moment
frozen in time
memory
will have to suffice
since you left
for paradise

treefall

MadVerse Dark Circus Prompts

seeing is believing but still unexpected
they find the heaving of their breathing
as they continue creaking higher & higher
hear the click click click of rickety wood & metal
held together by hope & a magician's trick
with each white-knuckle grip they flip
into the upside down darkness
twisting through sky when the rails skip
easy marks who answered the barks
of the barker's call to step right up
to rise and fall 
on the Scream-O-Rama
return....different
or not at all

SenseWrds: bashful, melliflous, storm

shy song begins
soft patter on window
swelling susurrus
each drop adding
until we drown
in the deluge of sound
and i find my voice
in cover of the sky's cry

the grudge

i cannot forgive

i cannot forget

and still i wish

we had never met

part of me gone

replaced with regret

happiness now

in spite of

not because of

Madverse: October

black and white
a flash of red
lose my heart
lose my head
stories in bottles
hanging from trees
climbing the clouds
words in the breeze
intense in tents
and these
these moments
are mine
to treasure
in the torchlight
the clock ticks
above the gate
and we all dream
together
if only for a night

SenseWrds Prompt: bones, frayed, serenity

peace coalesces
sets and ossifies
starting in her marrow
until her core defies
the torn and tattered shell
of one who's marched through hell

irony

i would be
happy
to wallow
in misery
for that
would mean
my feet
still could
find purchase
on solid ground
instead i drown

MadVerse Prompt: mist & shadows, rainlight, slow slide of blues

shrinking horizon of fire ahead
while behind a slow slide of blues
night and storm approach
where twilight meets the rainlight
you melt into the mists & shadows
a melody played over
the patter of rain, tread of feet
the memory of sunset kisses
bulwark against the rising dark

SenseWrds Prompt: jars, brightly, slumber

in sleep I find her again
barefoot and carefree
in a crumpled mud stained dress
catching the cosmos
firefly sky in her hands
releasing them again
to fly free and I weep
for the girl that was me

Written River prompt: among the leaves

innocence lost
among the leaves
you were my Adam
and I, your Eve
I thought you perfect
but, you snake, you thieved
you took from me something
I cannot retrieve
I blame myself
by Deceiver deceived

WrittenRiver Prompt: sudden affection

swift it came more swift departed
left with nothing, brokenhearted
sudden affection overwhelmed more
than any emotion had before
bemused when it came
bewildered when gone
self so confused, hard to go on
cavalier and disdainful
everything since a little more painful
but it's saved me some hurt, i suppose
who notices the knife when the cannon blows

instapoem: storm

WrittenRiver prompt: ocean's soul

to sea, to see
my heart to heal
sorrows drown in salty swells
hope hidden in broken shells
rapture found on gull's wing
ecstasy when whales sing
so again am I made whole
sunk into the ocean's soul

WrittenRiver Prompt 767: generous glow

when the world
grows dark around us
and it's far too dark to see
the generous glow of you
brightens every bit of me

flogged horse (deceased)

the one who never really supported
you is always the first to
accuse that you don't
seem enthused by their attempts
to amuse and no amount of protestations
count, you can't refute
those determined to dispute
you'll always be in the wrong
better just to move along

heavier days

i do not need
can stand alone
can take the weight
carry Atlas' stone
but I would like
another to share
and burdens halved
to easier bear
this yoke
this universe's joke
when most you wish
to be a pair
most likely they
to disappear

WyldeVerse Prompt: lustful souls crying

as i close my eyes i hear them
the lustful souls crying
unseen by the world
unseated for flaws imagined
unsatisfied and unfinished
their wails a melancholy chorus
calling for my voice
but i can sing a different tune
that is my choice

#MadVerse Prompt --

it wouldn't matter where or when
if double heart did beat
in company of the Tenth
my Rose would smell as sweet

 

after goodbye

it seems so strange,
so simple,
but it all comes down to this:
after the kiss
and the parting of ways -
do you stop
and turn
for one last glimpse
as you walk away
and when you do
is it just you
or have they stopped
to look back too?

SenseWrds Prompt: images words are - feathered rain

as Mercury's wings
on an aqua blue Huffy
a younger me
through puddle flew
and as I do
water splashes
corduroy clad legs
take flight
pump fiercely
pink tassels stream
into the night

#WyldeVerse Prompt: joy ride

you stole me
stamped my pedals
pushed my buttons
to see how
I could go
sent me careening
down wild
winding roads
screaming
for joy
screeching
in fear
slamming
the brakes
you abandoned me here
joy ride over
goodbye lover

MadVerse Prompt: Do you believe in parallel worlds/dimensions to ours?

On the other side,
across a divide
no thicker than
the blink of an eye,
is a world where
you stayed & did not go.
Are we happier there?
I don't know.
I hope so.

MadVerse Prompt: What bewilders you the most about the world?

viscous floor slips beneath falls up
an MC Escher Möbius mix of maybes
shoulds become shouldn'ts
coulds become couldn'ts
always slip sideways 
into yesterdays
into neverweres
neverwheres everywhere
as memories writ in ink
melt in rivers of tears
and dry again in the bleaching sun
years lost and trust gone
 

WrittenRiver Prompt - art prompt

the butterflies stopped their flittering
no more quivering within me

i could not let them die
so set them free
floating memory
that they may
flock and flutter
for another young lover

beautiful painted wings
without me still sing



Art by Joel Robison

WyldeVerse: bound heart

now I tie but loosely in a bow
no more palomar, square, bowline, hitch
not even a simple double knot to bind me
nothing that may tangle and so find me
cutting at the line that once again has
misaligned me and as before bound heart
trussed sans trust to stony woe

SenseWrds Prompt: twisting, undeniable, ink

not writ but etched indelible
as on a marble marker
set on the hillside
of a heart forever true
to tell the tale of one
who swung for what
she did not do

meeting

warmth begins in my toes
and grows and grows and grows
suffuses through my body
until it emanates as light
transforms my nervous visage
to a smile beaming at high wattage
the joy of being measured
and not found wanting
in a situation daunting
grin sans chagrin
for once
in some small measure
I win

MadVerse: When you're feeling down/alone what's your go-to comfort thing?

it does not end, but ease
not cure but balm
the texture of the page
against my palm
climb inside a book
forget my woes
disappointments of the day
fade away in prose

WyldeVerse Prompt: natural experience

in a world of prepackaged
individually wrapped
manufactured mirth
our jumble-sale joy
was a glorious hodgepodge
handmade bargain basement mess
mixed w/ just a soupçon of sadness  
a natural experience
that made it worth more, not less
we were never designer
nor designed to be
for which I liked us all the better
we were simply
you and me

SenseWrds Prompt: cupped, brutal, daybreak

shelter in a crevasse
wide and deep
like hands
enveloping us
hiding from
the winds
of angry night
as we huddle
in the dark
and wait
for dawn

more math for real life

facial hair ≠ personality
be a man with a beard
not a beard with a man

WrittenRiver Prompt: wasn't even there

wrapped in a cloak
made of words
words whispered
words sung
words so warm
words so tangible
words words words
so many words
i granted them
with substance
that wasn't even there
so now i freeze
huddled in rags
of echos ephemeral

WyldeVerse Prompt: jagged breath

heart pounds like cannon fire
muscles scream for release
lungs tear w/ each jagged breath
in the pause between
never            or             forever

MadVerse Prompt: What do you crave, physical or emotional intimacy?

once i could easily separate
find the joy in the disparate
have one for this
and one for that
or bored with both
I'd get a cat

but now I crave
the two combined
both stirring touch
and racing mind
give me both or I'll have none
with compromise, at last, I'm done

instapoem: point of view

In Between Girl

Newest addition to the songwriting collection. Song 6.

In Between Girl.

instapoem: silent watchers

MadVerse prompt: the taste of rain, night falling down, temptation's grace

the taste of rain and tears fills my mouth
temptation's grace has snared me
I stumble tangled in its traces
and collapse with the night falling down

SenseWrds Prompt: radiance, crackling, luscious

on a sandy campfire beach
the flames snap in the briny breeze
i languish in the combination
commingled scent of smoke and sea
and you glowing firelit against starlit sky
who could resist it? not i

WyldeVerse Prompt: into the sunset

synchronized swim with the sinking sun
fall
into the sunset of you
drenched
in achingly beautiful hues
of reds and oranges
purples and blues
dive
deeper into your dusk until I
drown
swallowing your darkness
swallowed by your stars

MadVerse:What frightens you the most? What comforts you?

imagination:   transforms a tiny ache into an interminable throb

apprehension:   stretching loneliness and longing to infinity

conviction:  of the degeneration of my attraction to the point of desolation

diversion:   my salvation

distraction:   fending off false fantasy of feigned fiascos fashioned of fear

recreation:   reminding me of reality where

affection:   by amazing friends and family brings
 
recognition:   generally, I am liked for being me

SenseWrds Prompt: filtered, tender, symphony

the most stale
and stock responses
filtered through
the ears of one
made sentimental
by tender
sympathetic sentiment
sound a symphony
of sweetness

MadVerse Prompt: What do you think makes or breaks a poet?

that which breaks me
also makes me

emotion
explodes me
again

exposed and raw
smashed into pulp
a slurry of words

harden and set
into poetic cement

the will to rebuild
remorseless & relentless

despite the blitz 
unceasing

WyldeVerse Prompt: ashes and bones

simple glance
ignites
accidental touch
accelerant
immolate in desire
reduced
until all that
remains
ashes and bones

Song: Nice and Kind

Furthering my writing - been taking a stab at writing more lyrics as well as converting old poems into songs

Anyhow, here's the latest stab. Hope you enjoy.  I'm pretty happy with how this whole songwriting experiment is working out.

SenseWrds Prompt: false, redolent, fingers (challenge: do not use those words)

Plato's shadow turkey
hangs upon the fridge
a blobby paint imprint
with crayola legs and beak
reminds her of when
they were a family

WyldeVerse Prompt: digging holes

my only hope to burrow through

come out in the antipodes

i've been digging holes

so deep and steep 

i cannot climb

back up

and

no

r

o

p

e

to be found underground

MadVerse Prompt: fave/least fave season & why

summer's hot and sticky days
so filled with promise
a caramel apple
too long sat in the sun
tempting sweet but
rendering jaws immobile
and pulling teeth

WyldeVerse prompt: endless ages

each night she lit the lamp
and stared across the sea
throughout the endless ages
her ghost still waits for he
who went to find their fortune
but was never to return
dead they've been a hundred years
yet the lamp she lit still burns

WrittenRiver Prompt: touch me cruel

touch me soft to swell my heart
touch me gentle, i fall apart
touch me cruel & leave me crying
still life w/out your touch is dying

DimpleVerse Prompts: Achilles heel, divine madness, unknown boundaries, lawless

dipped in the river of divine madness
my Achilles heel all that blessedly
binds me to reality
else lawless I'd fly blindly
bouncing against unknown boundaries
concussed and broken wholly
a butterfly in a hurricane

MadVerse Prompt: When are you most vulnerable/fragile?

the beat before judgement
standing here stripped
no more pretense
heart laid bare
I wait

WyldeVerse Prompt: fire's magical burn

a lightsaber lit with fire's magical burn
were the words you whispered
cauterizing the wound you created

Square One (song version)

So this is a combo of poems Lament and Square One (both can be found in the archive under December 2015) set to me playing the uke.

Also, the thumbnail is terrible. :)

rainy day haiku

melancholy still
grey day conjures up the past
ghost of days gone by

MadVerse: What do mirrors/reflections reveal or hide?

attempted divination in
a skid row mirror

puddle on cracked asphalt
reflects in dirty gray all my sins
floating flecks of broken leaves
my redemption shimmering
chatoyant oil rainbows

no future foretold
except as past is prophecy

instapoem: spring, again

MadVerse Prompt: What do you do when words aren't enough?

I used all my words
the grand the absurd
poured out my heart
in vocabulary
made up my own
when I'd finished off
the dictionary
and yet nothing could convey
what I needed it to say
so I end, as do we all, with this...


silence

Prince and Bowie

beautiful weirdos
gone too soon
who now shall lead us through the purple rain and past Major Tom's moon

the Prince and the Duke
gave us a chance
to be leper messiahs
in spandex & heels
to drive red corvettes yet stop spinning our wheels

we honor them when
we answer their cry
"let's go crazy" "let's dance"
go on
give it a try

MadVerse: old stories / new ink / time's dusty memories Micropoem

I am a washerwoman
rinsing time's dusty memories
in a river of new ink that laps
against the banks of old stories

1 line wednesdays

Decided to start collecting my 1 line Wednesday twitter posts in one spot and see if they end up being something bigger. So this is them and I'll add to them each week, I guess.




April 20
In a nigh imperceptible nod and the guilty slant of his averted gaze, she got the answer she needed but not the one she wanted.

April 13
She tripped and fell, of course; that's what happens when you try to move forward but can't stop looking back.
Mar 30
His eyebrows were two caterpillars kissing on the rough hewn tree bark of his face
She'd never thought of eyebrows as nefarious until she met him. 

pajama time

mirror images perfectly content
at opposite ends of a couch
rectangle bisected into triangles
by my tapered thighs to calves to toes
aligned along the back
to match yours along the front
and we face each other silently
as we read in symmetry
in our own worlds together

MadVerse Prompt:old stories / new ink / time's dusty memories

old stories rewritten in new ink
the wheel of time's dusty memories
resurrects with every spin
replaying the same tales
again and again and again

instapoem: the walk 2

lament

Haiku

his apologies
were the same as his love songs
all just empty words

MadVerse: abandoned dreams, whisper of night, softly tread, searching for

the frail, ancient woman walks
through the whisper of night
her velvet shoes softly tread
on the dewy grass between
the infinite rows of gravestones
all abandoned dreams
that starved to death
she is searching for her own
finds them grouped
under a willow tree
weeping

MadVerse: bold canvas, emblazoned, tapestry of stars, a kind of magic

A kind of magic in your eyes;
a tapestry of stars emblazoned
upon the bold canvas
of your irises.
I,
inferior astrologer that I am,
search their stellar scope
for clues to my destiny
as I lean in
for a kiss.

instapoem: storm cloud city

MadVerse Prompt: contemplation, ebb and flow, a wild beauty, calling across

contemplation disrupted, calm corrupted
lost in the howling cackles of wind
in the heart beat boom of wave on shore
the ebb and flow of my solemnity
storm swelled exponentially
yet a wild beauty thunders 
calling across sea to the tempest
modeled miniature facsimile
inside of me

MadVerse: tempting grace, luminous darkness, no mercy no forgiveness, among the fallen

forgotten among the fallen
prostrate lie as they pile
the rank and file
away the rotting
no voice to protest
no mercy no forgiveness
in the luminous darkness
of eyes open but empty
tempting grace and graceless wait
for one who sees a heartbeat

MadVerse Prompt: book of love, tome of destiny, threads of fate, poetic prophecies

my fingers caress the leather bound bounty
library stacks stretching to infinity
search for my name and on a dusty shelf,
in a darkened nook dog eared and stained
full of poetic prophecies scribbled in the margins
I see my tome of destiny, bound by threads of fate
tattered at the spine and next to it, a "book" of love
thin pamphlet, warped by tears and left to dry

instapoem: the walk

MadVerse Prompt: self-absorbed, a decadent reflection, the softness of velvet, hidden thorns

spilled wine pooled on the floor
in the shine, a decadent reflection
of your hidden thorns
you cracked and smacked
the softness of her velvet skin
for being self-absorbed
no more
for now she looks at you
for sure
and what she sees
she's soon to flee

instapoem: in the shadows

MadVerse Prompt: delicate luminosity, shaded depth, perceived illusions,the ghosts we dream

the ghosts we dream
dream us too
in technicolor richly glowing
in delicate luminosity they hover above
look down on our shaded depth
of black & white & grey
as we do them
perceived illusions mirrored
in the shared territory
of sleep and madness

MadVerse Prompt: legendary, land divided, of magic & mystery, the ancient ways

across a land divided like ourselves
we trek the ancient ways
an arduous path
of magic & mystery
through a legendary legacy
of tribulation to triumph
we bury ourselves in the past
and hope to find a new way forward

MadVerse Prompt: last/lost book, favorite passages, paradise of words, hidden chapters

her last book
full of hidden chapters
written in ink invisible
underneath his favorite passages
she told him all her story
made a paradise of words
which he skimmed and set aside
now she waits, a lost book
needing a reader
with an eye for subtext

instapoem: how to fly

fieryverse prompt: flat black

matte darkness
flat black devoid of shine
descends and coats this night
like a wall fresh painted
making a blank chalkboard of time
upon which we scrawl childish graffiti
our words both urbane & profane

instapoem: soar

MadVerse Prompt:the rise and the fall, bemused aftermath, tangled possibilities, searching for meaning

the bemused aftermath spent
searching for meaning
at the bottom of a glass
unraveling the tangled possibilities
in a new lover's hair
teasing out the could-have-beens
brushing off the never-weres
tracking the rise and the fall of ego and id
to see what was wrong or right in all we did
so next time there won't be another next time

FieryVerse Prompt: disbelieving

not usually one for incredulity
(my tendency toward naivety)
but in you I find immunity
to my natural gullibility
disbelieving every word you say

FieryVerse Prompt:shadows loom

I crouch beneath the canopy of night
as the shadows loom over me
wrap myself in their velvety darkness
to hide me from unforgiving eyes

MadVerse prompt: stumbling over/erratic memories/scattered bones/elusive heart

blind in the darkness
I fumble through this graveyard
stumbling over the scattered bones
of erratic memories 
haunted by ghosts of maybes
of elusive hearts never caught
of half-remembered might-have-beens
and try to find a place
to lay me down and let them go

instapoem: the dot