Islands Of Childhood

The Island of Dr Moreau

The Island of Blue Dolphins

The Island of Okinawa*

Islands of my childhood

Showed me immorality

loyalty, cruelty and peace

As an adult the Islands stayed

Leaving me to prefer

The company of animals

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads'

Sunday Mini-Challenge:  Islands

*My dad was a World War II veteran and this was one of his many "tours".

Winter Is A Big Cat

walking softly
on tip toes
stalking slowly

in February

it pounces
sinks its teeth in
and holds tight
'til spring

For a creative prompt at

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads
and Open Link Night
at dVerse...Poets Pub

Break Dancing Haiku

Dancing Celestial

India (Uttar Pradesh) early 12th century

Sandstone

break dancing unknown

during creation of form

literally born

The challenge today was a Play It Again, Toads at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.  This Haiku popped when I saw the picture from the prompt page so I'm trying to fit it into challenge three.  That's a stretch but here's my mind's path, broken dancer, break dancing, fits with music...so Challenge Three.  My twisted humor may be showing.  Thanks for the fun.

Legacy

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die" HP Lovecraft is the quote included in Mindlovemisery's Menagerie's Collage Prompt today.  I am also sharing this with Imaginary Garden With Real Toads' The Tuesday Platform.


As we taste the sins of living
with no thoughts of mortality
we collect
things that live on after us
to tell our tale of waste

Stand not in a jar
to preserve death nor life
live a tale of love
that will sing far longer
far stronger than things we gather

Addiction

Mindlovemisery's Menagerie, Collage 12 writing prompt and 

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads Tuesday Platform

i found out
i couldn't juggle
the ups
the downs

someone said
take this you feel good
I flew
into the dark stars

fell flat on my face
thought that
was worth the trip
looked for more

live only for more
don't make no difference
just a high any high
so's i could believe

i was somebody
i could juggle
i was a super hero
high

with ups there's downs
dark stars closed in
dark spaces between
kept the secret

it fried my soul
used up
nothing to trade
i fell into the fire

alone not high
with no real heart
i pick up pieces
to learn to juggle again

The Black-Billed Magpie

painting by Rubens Peale

 A prompt from Magpie Tales

To the bird there is only now

in the moment is how he flies

he watched from the sill

the sumptuous repast of man

the man was called away

a simple hop became

a feast for the magpie

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Play It Again, Toads.  I've chosen Brudberg's Time Travel.

We Must Remember

we are different, yes
we change, yes
we are what we do.
we must hold on to that
if we lose that last spark
of humanity
then we become THEM
and we have lost

To Honor Those Lost in Senseless Tragedies Around The World Every Day

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

I seldom have writer's block but most of the time I do feel unworthy.  Many pieces have gone into the trash for that very reason.  I feel I am good at some things but not great at anything. I think maybe it's a problem many have to a certain extent.

This is the most honest paragraph I have written in a very long time...Thank you.

Happy Halloween 55

for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Flash 55 Plus

Black cats and witches

grave yards and ghosts

vampire bats and goblins

all stand to make a toast

Give the beggars sweet cakes

so they will pray for your soul

many main traditions

began so very long ago

Don't be scared

but hold your breath

we have fun giving life

to a celebration of death

No matter how you celebrate,

or if you do at all,

Remember, to wrap your fun in safety

and hope you have  a ball.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Gorilla

 Highlands Gorilla at Zoo

The gorilla at Memphis zoo

And they call us animals

Those who peer and stare

Making noises to draw attention

To us? or to themselves?

Can you just look?
Leave us where we live
To build a nest every day
Confinement strips us of dignity

A stately beast we quietly adapt
But one day
Hu-mans will stand behind the bars
As we peer and stare and belittle

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Leopard Frog In Seven Lines

Trying Kelly's challenge of the seven line stanza

with syllable count

at Play It Again Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads

Please keep in mind I have to practice to improve.

Thanks.

Leopard frog is amphibious 

His spots and stripes help him hide

lives outside

In spring he likes to sing

calling for his bride

his natural coloring

postpones his dying

Of Life

I paint
and it's empty
colorless
from my view

I write
and it's empty
words mean nothing
they only
f
i
l
l
the page

I live
and it's empty
words mean nothing
all is colorless
from my view

Will Death fill the empty?
or will I realize
that
painting
writing
living
was, oh, so much more
than a dream could be?

Turkey Buzzard

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Fall

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Fall

I was smart enough not to, I thought

but you chipped at my wall

'til I had no choice

but to fall for you

And I fall

every 

day

all

 over

in 

love 

with 

you

again

Survival

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

The blue birds forecast the weather

by hatching their third setting of eggs

what do they know?

it's always about survival of the species

for all animals

even humans

who think they are on top

above Nature

beyond destruction

We need to rethink that

"Every One Weep With Me"...

a line from the O Fortuna is our Saturday prompt at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.  I had good intentions of following the prompt to the T.  The title reflects that intention but I fell far from the mark.  As I wrote this...with no changes...it was an exact Fifty-Five.  I read signs in every thing.

And in this wood

I saw a dragon

with magic wings

and strength unfurled

a medieval moment

frozen

but not lost

forever of wood

for it could not be

in a world of wars

and lost humanity

As it rose today

from the forgotten realm

I unlocked the wood

and gave it back it's song

Stealing Lines

I've always enjoyed shooting things
Preferably things that didn't die
If I shot something I didn't eat
I would be skinned alive

First I used a sling shot
Then I tried a bow
Wasn't nothing I couldn't hit
Draw back and let it go

Then I discovered guns
Man, was that a rush
Point and shoot
Kicking up some dust

I had this great idea
one of those that never is
Instead of shooting chickens
I could shoot some eggs

Mamma boiled out of the house
like a lioness with belladonna in her eyes
One thing I learned very quickly
Before I began to run

Never
ever ever
try
shooting eggs with guns

I thought I was free and clear
I hadn't killed a thing
But filling me with fear
Mamma shamed me

A egg is a baby chick
even if you ate it
the heart makes the simplest things
so damn complicated

The italicized lines are stolen, with permission, for Tuesday's prompt

at dVerse~Poets Pub

and for The Tuesday Platform 

at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

The Fair Kiss

Popcorn
Cotton Candy
Roasted peanuts
Hot dogs, scents mix
And I'm there again

Livestock
Fresh hay
Sweet feed
Horse sweat
And my first stolen kiss

Cedar shavings in the barn
Petting all the horses
Inhaling their scent
I never owned one
And you walked in

Aftershave
Spearmint gum
Viewing the stock
With a casualness
And you stroked the horse

Carnival music
Horses' whinny
Cows low to calves
Roosters crow
And you kissed me

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

A Wise Crow

Mindlovemisery's Menagerie 

Writing Prompt

The crow warned him

"Do not give your heart"

"She's mad but she's magic"

the poor lost soul replied

His slate wiped clean

by opiates shared

He was buried beneath the tree

as she escaped by air

also submitted to
Imaginary Garden With Real Toads
The Tuesday Platform

Making A Pinwheel

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Picture take from Dismaland

for prompt at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads Flash 55
and sharing with Poets United

When making a pinwheel

you color and cut

choose and pick

pin it to a stick

and

blow hard and soft

thinking

you know the color of life

but colors change

and fade

pinwheels break

and

you are left

with only a stick

dreaming

of

when

there were many colors

and

all the pinwheels turned

Defective Rubber Snake

It did not scare the rooster at all!

This rooster has changed his roosting spot to my front porch.

At least he's fertilizing the flowers.

Ode to Rooster

Oh, Rooster, dear

I see you there

Ruffling your feathers 

Fluffing your tail

Sitting high on my rail

Take my advice

You'd better think twice

So early Do Not Crow

Or by the saints

You'll have to go

Three AM again at four

Wide awake I'm out the door

I insist you stop

Or you'll be crowing

From within my pot

Linking to Tuesday Platform at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Time

Weekend Mini-challenge 

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

With picture prompt from Mindlovemisery's Menagerie 

sharing with Poets United Poetry Pantry

After midnight we turn
into what we were
party's over
masks are dropped

Locking ourselves
in rooms of regret
we question the realities
of time after time

Like Alice the sign says eat
we do
the hands drop from time
as Poe's Raven screams Nevermore