Out! Damned Stain

Sunday's Whirligig

Use the words above and create poem or prose.

Clip this diaphanous garment from me

The lace is mottled with shades of red

Out, damned stain!

Dissonant purse, be gone! 

I demand iridescent cloth

To cover me in crying weather 

Alone wrapped in velour
I write with ink no more.

Tears cause words to run

And that's what I'm posting

for

Sunday's Whirligig 

The Cross

For Magpie Tales

It's a circle

it's a square

i hide

i care not

what you see is not me but only what you wish to be

square

a circle

the girl is gone

mind is mine

try to take

body is mine

you cannot

hear her cries

a circle

Leave now

i have no name

she hides

no shame

she hides

in a square

a circle

toss your book

your cross

your sainted look

no reaching 

what is not here

your water brings no fear

a circle

Whirligig Nightmare

For Sunday's Whirligig

Moments inside the guesthouse returned in nightmare form.

Askew crimson flowers pulled me back to the unhappy cage.  A furry frightened creature, sanguinary, wide-eyed, waited each night destined to relive death again and again in my dreams.

Ancestors' Walk

I walked their path

Through clay

and wild grass

Stolen sleep burns my eyes

These are the beginnings

and the end

I dream I am

Powers awaken

breathing ancestors' air

For The Sunday Whirl's Wordle

Lobster

Fresh cold water Atlantic
Sounded good
Until
I viewed the tank
Full of them
Backing away
With weapons banded
Helpless
I could not choose
And wasn't
Hungry
Anymore

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

source

Clowns and Dolls

Sunday Whirl~Weekly Wordle

clowns and dolls 

fill the stairwell

another burst 

of  frantic work

unplugged

vacuum emits no sound

wrapped in fleece

i seal glass

inside my wound

attempting to instill

values and ethics

i corral the cherubs

with resignation

we dress for the day

to tumble through

clowns and dolls

filling the stairwell 

Action Figures by Edith Vonnegut

for

Tess Kincaid at Magpie Tales

Combined prompts

Double Barrel Challenge

Bond of Union, 1956, by M. C. Escher 

The Bond of Union 

plays in young minds

toying with  

what they see 

what it could be

never clearly seeing 

what it is

was

nor can be

Trying to meet the challenge from Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads combined with Tess's prompt at Magpie Tales

Me and the Shadows...

For Tale Weaver's Prompt #33

Hypothetic Realist@Deviant Art 

i keep the lamps low

so the shadows

are not so clear

people say I'm addled

and keep me here

i keep the lamps low

to chase the shadows away

The Watchers never see

all the shadows

that keep me company

i keep the lamps low

My Circus

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

In my circus
I’m the one
With the shovel
Who, unnoticed, cleans
But late at night
When the circus sleeps
I am the bareback rider
Of beautiful horses
I hold freedom
In my hand
And pretend
All is not limited
To the ring

A Grain of Sand

A grain of sand

is such a bother

scratching 

between my shells 

like a wayward child

you are coated with love

and 

mother-of-pearl

You leave

crafted with layers

of beauty

knowing 

underneath 

it all

is just

a grain of sand

For Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

How Oysters Make Pearls

Mother for Magpie Tales

For Magpie Tales

with Tess Kincaid

Mother knew 

she would never see

the twenty-first century  

she stated the fact 

and made it so

Take care of things

she said

her last wish 

tethered me

to her dreams

not mine

Magpie Tales' Royalty

Tess Kincaid's prompt at Magpie Tales

We'll never know

Your life

Collecting bits and pieces

We guess

Fill in the gaps

My question is

Did you birth Anubis?

My painting

Snapped...

For Magpie Tales

Those stairs taunted me

With each step

With each call

It was more difficult

To lift my feet and go

With a smile

Illness is an ugly thing

And comes in many forms

As I cared for the ailing

Sickness entered me

One more ring of the bell

One more weak cry 

I tried for patience

Love and understanding

I was tried and tested

The final test I failed

Empathy no longer inside me

I ended it

They found her

At

The 

Bottom

Of the stairs

I was smiling

Two Shoes Tuesday...Late

Two Shoes in Texas have a few writing prompts weekly.  Today, a day late, I choose Two Shoes Tuesday.
With this prompt she provides two words to hopefully head us in a creative direction.

Memories

Rise and shine!  Daylight's awastin'  Biscuits on the stove and chores to do.

The smell of bacon and coffee drift in the air pulling me out of bed to begin a farmer's day.

Now only memories remain.

My childhood and my parents are gone...but the memories return with the smell of bacon.

Lisa Graham's Art With Words

 Creative challenge by Grace from Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Art by Lisa Graham

Give me not the cities
With buildings in the air
Some have scary faces
More people than I can bare

Send me to the country
Where only trees grow tall
To sweet air and cool water
And sounds...I love them all.

I love the painting Lisa.  Thanks for the challenge, Grace.

Six Sentences For Two Shoes

The new year brought cold temps and high winds. Oh, the winter we will have.  When the power goes we will last a while but if the snow is deep we may become lost in drifts of the storm and of life.

If we are stranded I do not have a cooking pot large enough for human parts and will not survive like the Donner Party and others who had no choice.

If the worst should happen I hope when the spring is new they will only find our bodies and know we burned books and cooked shoe leather to survive.  We could be found holding each other frozen while trying to warm ourselves never thinking anyone would taste like chicken.

For Josie Two Shoes Creative Challenge Six Sentences.

Self Portrait For The Mag...

self-portrait, Francis Bacon

self-portrait, Gail

Do we reflect our goodness

To the people we meet?

Or does our badness show

As plainly as our feet

I can reflect on actions past

I can reflect the sun

But all reflections

Are things that are done

We must take this moment

Like a tiger by the tail

Reflect on consequences

Mark our decisions well

For only in a moment

Can we decide for sure

How we will reflect our light

Let it be good and pure

The Mag

Thanks, Tess.

Two Shoes In Texas Tuesday #37 Broken words

Dancing wildly to drums
Flower haired girls
Feigned promise

Pit fires glowed
The circle tightened
Spear shafts joined the rhythm

Feasting on broken words
Long Pig's hope
Drifted away with the smoke

Visit Two Shoes in Texas for some creative fun.

Mag 177 Yukon Gold

Writing prompt by Tess Kincaid

photo by Agustin Berrocal  

The winter was long
And mean
Root cellar was empty
The miners were lean

Searching for gold
Kept them warm
But you can't eat rocks
And come to no harm

Zeke remembered
What Sam had said
Bury me where I lived
When I die you'll be fed

So Zeke buried Sam
Just where he asked
And uncovered potatoes
Zeke had stashed

A yellow potato
Named Yukon Gold
Buried by Zeke
Let the miners grow old.

Saturday Centus 169/Six Word Saturday

 It's a writing prompt using 110 words only and this photo...
more photos if you like.

Join Jenny for Saturday Centus.

How do you like to go up
In a swing?
I like to swing to the sky
Into the trees
Like flying
Through the tree limbs
If you just try
A little harder
Move your legs
Just a little more
You can soar
With the birds
Nothing can touch you
When you swing to the sky
Other days
I swing softly
And ponder
The color of grass
The ant crawling by
Or I like to twist the chain
Until I’m dizzy and
Nothing looks the same
Then stand up
To see
If I’m strong enough
To steady my world again
How do you like

To go up in a swing?

Shadow portrait of present and past

for Show My Face: Six Word Saturday