I Crave Not A Meal But You

From Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Out of Standard prompt...

Pigeon Superstition

I crave not a meal but you

i kiss a bird's feather

and brush the dog

again and again and again

until you're here with me.

the same things i do

to convince you to stay

are done over and over

and you stay

the night we watched 

Haley's Comet

i thought you would go

but you stayed

i knew that night

it was your love

that brought you and my love 

caused you to stay

the rest was 

only pigeon superstition

i couldn't risk you leaving

to wait for Haley's Comet

i crave not a meal but you

Leaving A Rock

Honoring Judith Wright through an environmental poem for the challenge at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads Sunday's Mini-Challenge  hopefully using the Trimeric  form used by Mary for Poets United-Poetry Pantry.

Taking A Rock

I gather rocks selfishly
As if it makes no difference
Every rock I take leaves a hole
Changing the nature of things

As if it makes no difference
The world will miss the grains of sand
That I hold in my hand.

Every rock I take leaves a hole
Deltas, new mountains, ocean shores
All began as a rock and more

Changing the nature of things
Rocks were mountains once
And will rise again

Monochromatic

"I'm restless.  Things are calling me away.  My hair is being pulled by the stars again."--Anais Nin

This is the picture prompt from Mindlovemisery's Menagerie 

MONOCHROMATIC

When your world

 is but one color

flowers are empty

I remember child hood

and believing

in dandelion wishes

Swinging high

to touch the clouds

bicycles were freedom

Colors fade to one

memories in a dusty box

are bones of the past

Also for the Tuesday Platform
at
Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.

Beware!

The taxman cometh
Beware his premise of help
Fearful of prison system
Inevitable mail opened and kept

The heat could be worn
The tension sliced
The story ended
With sovereign advice

This was written for a prompt at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.  The challenge was to use three of the twelve words given.  I used twelve.

Accept the challenge and read the creations of others.

Dear God, (Sometimes A Post Needs To Be Shared Again)

We have some dry places out there that really need rain.  I'm not complaining so please don't stop my rain completely.  Just share with those who have less.

This is not as personal as a handwritten letter but I didn't have your correct address.  I know You have my email address.  After all, You are God.

I would like You to help us choose the right politicians next time around.  I imagine when you look over what's happening down here You just shake your head.

I sincerely hope You can create more jobs and less hoodlums. More food and fewer illegal drugs.  I would appreciate prayer back in school and have the people our children look up to more humble, more helpful and kinder when they deal with our children.

I would like more attention given to our soldiers who seem to be forgotten.

Lord, please help us find people with more gumption than the ones we have leading this country.

I also want to thank You for the wonderful job you have done creating this Earth we live on.

Sincerely, your humble servant

PS:  Thanks for the flowers.

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.

Fog

Slipping into the valley
on "little cat feet"*
the fog curved
sensuously
around over
every shape

Within the invisibility
it left behind
you could
almost
hear a feline purr
of satisfaction

* words from a Carl Sandburg poem
for Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads

How They Met Themselves

Ink and wash on paper by Rossetti

Meeting the challenge for Flash 55 Plus at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

55 words exactly with the inspiration of another of Rossetti's art pieces

How They Met Themselves

On a fine day a couple strayed

To walk among the trees

Imagine their delight

What a sight

When they met their mirrored mes

Manners held their course

Doppelgangers indeed

Someone watching

Could not tell which was real

Or which was thee

Sitting upon the ground

Had a lively luncheon

While all were in town

Dragons Nine

Jiulong

in2travel

Beneath the falls the dragons sleep
Above butterflies sing
Below turtles and fishes weep

Magic rests in the dragons' nests
Called they will arise
Wings of heroes will pass the test

Once again the dragons nine
Will rise on wings to protect
All 'til the ends of times

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads with Hannah

Picture This...

Beneath the tranquil waters
Within the reflections
Life
Sometimes hides
A snake or two

Fireblossom Friday

Love, Toads and Whirligig

For Sunday's Whirligig

and Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Flash 55 Plus

BrainyQuote inspiration:

To live is like to love - all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.  Samuel Butler

In this valley of springs 
Touching
You kiss the salt
From my brow
Things will be okay
The aches and pains
Sap our strength
But doesn't shake our trust
In the length of the land
In the breadth of our love
We heal the stain
On the lands
Calling no fault
But that of time

Attempting Tetractys

i

can not

write on cue

it never comes

forced art is an unremarkable art

art is born with wings flying from the soul

born of itself

giving voice

with faith

write

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

while trying to learn new forms.

The Stray

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

and

Poets United: Poetry Pantry

The stray would not be caught
Though I softly called to him
A fearful look was all I got
As the light quickly grew dim
In this special place of shade
Further ahead the dog goes
Splashing through the glade
Where the crystal water flows
Where soft spring moss lies
Growing loosely on the stone
With Winter's coming green dies
And turns to a winter tone
Helpless returning to home's lawn
Sadly he did not follow but was gone

OUT

OUT

      of words

     of funds

           of solutions

OUT

        of dreams

    of hope

    of time

OUT

          strike three

                         shoulders to the mat

                  cupboard's bare

OUT

            washed out

             smashed up

            sliced open

OUT

dry

       broken

      empty

  OUT

A list for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Secret Knells

Cry!

Cry all!

Raise your voices

Cry! 

Show us your injuries

Your broken bones

Your bruised spirits

Cry!

Show us your falls

your broken hands

your hidden damage

Cry!

So the world might hear

Cry!

So we may listen

and help end this

tragedy with you

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

The prompt was not restrictive so I wrote what came.  

I think the repetition of Cry is a wake up bell.

I am not a victim of domestic violence but know many who are and have been.  

Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

Visiting Middle Earth

We walk in a magical world
We conquer the dark
To live in the light

When catapults throw defeat
And rams batter your door!
Don't run

Stand tall
When the dragons cry
Add your roar

"There's some good
in this world
and it's worth fighting for"*

When we battle with a Samwise heart
We've won again another night
Never forget YOU possess the light

*J.R.R. Tolkien

Open Mic at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

The Year The Mississippi Ran Backwards

the sandy clay dropped
folding the river bed
with such force
pieces rose and fell
leaving empty spots
water withdrawing reversed
gnawed boats, trees,
Reel Foot Fault bucked
New Madrid Fault thrust
land rose cutting like a knife
trees fell and sand spouts birthed
when the quiet returned
fragments of what was
lay in blood-less houses
people counted their blessings
and tried to believe in living again
                                             
                                                 The Imaginary Garden With Read Toads

Land of Our Own

Row after row, 

turning, plowing, and planting

growing, cutting and harvesting

opening the land

of milk and honey

We tire of battling

the elements dressed

in thin simple clothes

but we store our tears

until darkness falls

The dinner bell rings

calling us home

in level tones

grateful for freedom 

we speak Latin no more

Without intending this became a double prompt for Sunday's Whirligig and Flash 55 Plus at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.  I used the words with the picture for inspiration while finishing with 55 words exactly.  I forgot the touch of Zen but some reach that moment working with the land.

Once Upon A Time

Far, far away
There was a rock
And there he laid

Alone he thought
And talked aloud
"I wish to be
Important somehow."

His fairy godmother heard him
(We all have them you know)
They know our deepest wishes
They're always sure to show

The fairy godmother
Waved her wand
To add a little sparkle
To the rock she sat upon

The rock shared his wishes
To make a  difference in the world
Fairy godmother said,
"You do!" as she whirled

"Do you not know
What great things you've done?
You were liquid, then a giant mass
Here for millions of years in the past"

"The animals have visited
to lay on you and warm
Many have sheltered beneath
And came to no harm"

The rock listens
But he didn't understand
The importance of his existence
On this spot of land

"What is so important
about being?" he asked.
"I want to make a different
I want to take life fast."

"Oh my dear rock, my friend
You haven't got a clue
Of the things you've given Earth
Of all the things you do!"

"The rains made you smaller
Parts of you become the land
The ice has broken you apart
So you could fit in a hand"

"Your carry your history within you
You once lived on an ocean's floor
You are full of history
And so very much more."

Then a child happened by,
Every one grew quiet
Cause if the world knew they talk
There would certainly be a riot.

"Oh, Mom, look!  It's a pretty rock."
He picked it up, held it with a squint
Saw fossils, sparkles and smiled
Into his pocket it went.

Fairy godmother whispered
Happily to the rock
"Now you know being loved
That's the best job for a rock."

For the prompt at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Go Grimm

Live Hard

Live hard
Die free
Don't want doctors probing me
Empty promises they make
There's a reason their staff
Is wrapped with snakes.

When my time comes
And it will
Don't want to leave lots of bills
Or messes made by medical fuss
I just want to go
I'm an ornery cuss

With my departure
I hope my friends see
All the wonder
They've given me
If I leave but one thought
I haven't lived for naught

I like to think
I'll depart with grace
To another realm
Will God say, "Welcome, Gail?
I can't tell but I'd wager
The Devil's on my trail

Tuesday Platform with Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Haiku In Honor

“Sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to prove.”  Terry Pratchett, The Truth.

“Embracing the Light

Collected bits of truth

Shimmering sparks

Shards of light

Merge

Healing

Restoring

Bursting Bright

Rising

in divine ecstatic flame.”

― Leonard Nimoy

These quotes were chosen for the inspirational prompt at

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.

Haiku For Two

The tulip caught drops
Rearranging them quickly
Having more to prove.
~
Dance in wild flowers
Shimmering truth heals
Divine flames rising

I'm thinking I should give this up, folks!