Plays host as most mothers do care

                                                                                                Attribution: Stefan Xp
Image: Brood care of the Black Redstart (here)

The given words:
day cloud humility host measure spend 
state spread race ticking rescue patron

Great day outside with lots of cloud cover
The horizon seems unblemished but inviting
Sleepy heads rehearsing acts of hunger
But the brood is not really appreciating

Mother bird a Black Redstart in all humility
Plays host as most mothers do care
A measure of love in earnest and sincerity
To spend her time enacting a state of despair

For only one is aware of her presence
Very much a spread reflecting youngsters' reluctance
A race often preceded with show of objections
A ticking off to be out of bed in all innocence

When dislodged from their comfort zones
There is that lone voice of moderation
Have always been there when we needed them
Mothers to the rescue a patron of a great invention

For Brenda's Sunday Whirl Wordle #197 and
Claudia's hosting at d'Verse OpenLinkNight - January

Blissfully peaceful!

                                                                                                   Attribution: Midori
Image: Snow-capped Mount Fuji (here)

Note: In January servants and apprentices were allowed
to go home for a short visit. This would have meant that
the holiday started  with the full moon  -  Chev

Cherry blossom fare
Distant mountain tops capped white
Blissfully peaceful

Deserving off days
Servants looked up their kinfolks
Master off tangent

There were occasions
Extended holidays meant
house in disarray

For Chev's CARPE DIEM # 659 Servant's day

Bright colors peeking out!

                                                                                          Attribution: Unterillertaler
Image: Early Spring flowers (here)

Cinquain:

First and last lines have 2 syllables, 

intervening lines have 4, 6 and 8 

syllables 

Tony expanded it a syllable per line
in a new form

Spring's greens seen

It just cannot wait

With Bright colors peeking out

And small creatures making presence felt

Just Alive! 

Season moves

When cold receding

but just intermittently

It might just come back with vengeance though

It might just

Life's been good

Only keep one's head

So much more to accomplish

Hardships in between makes it more fun

Just stay cool!

Tony's hosting at d'Verse MTB -  the cinquain expanded

Time for a Zooni Soup

                                                                                                  Attribution: Jennifer
Image: Vegetable Udon soup (here)

Note: Zooni is a kind of Japanese mixed
vegetable soup for the new year and is eaten
on January first in the morning usually after
the first shrine visit - Chev
(it can be of a varied mixture
of vegetables)

Never believe it

Already another year

Time for a zooni

Sitting for zooni

New combination this year

And what a relief

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #657  -  zooni

look me in the eye!

                                                                                Attribution: Paul Friel
Image: A Bald Eagle (here)

The given words:

cold depraved powerful

look me in the eye

cool and collected

that’s what you think?

far from it!

cold as the bitter winter

even as I inspect my options

contending to be the most proficient

holding the trump card

and flashing as the siren blares

that’s what I am!

depraved?

far from it!

I swoop down silently

knocked the daylights of them critters

powerful talons do their job

curved beaks tear them apart

precision fare

failures?

far from it!

For Thomg's 3WW  week #412

Modern-day Explorer - OP Yusuf Hashim (YH#1)

                                                                                           Attribution: Yusuf Hashim

Image: Courtesy of OP Yusuf Hashim (here)

Modern Day Explorer #1
Hank takes great pride in introducing Yusuf Hashim, a modern-day explorer and
photographer who gallivants the globe in search of adventure.Yusuf has graciously
allowed his rare and priceless photos to be shared in blogosphere. Hank and Yusuf
were in school together and have known each other since 1962.

For today Hank had chosen the above photo which is most unusual and most fascinating
and matched it with the prompt of 10 words provided by MLMM. This is the first in a series
of photos of the Modern-day Explorer Yusuf Hashim

Yusuf Hashim says,

Last year, I took a small group of photographers into a cattle camp of the Nuer people, deep in the under belly of Ethiopia – specifically the Baro Valley in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia. No sensible tourists ever comes here, simply because there are no tourist facilities

For today, I am posting a photo of how Nuer people stimulate their cows to yield more milk. Be amazed by this photo of a young Nuer lady, actually planting her entire face into the vagina of a cow, and blowing inside it, while caressing the udder area of the lucky cow. It seems, cows with calves will usually constrict the flow of milk, to conserve some for their offspring. Doing what this girl is doing seems to fool the cows into releasing more milk

The given words:
prevaricate (to give the wrong impression) fixture
reckless force pride  stupor blinding jaw chord body 

This was not in any way to prevaricate the obvious

A fixture that conveyed a thousand words

A responsibility may one construe appearing reckless

But still a responsibility taken with ardent efforts

It would bring sniggers, yes, but not to bother

This had been the way as long as she could remember

Light force imposed but it was no laughing matter

It had to be done and it had worked before

She had to do it she gleamed with pride

Not unlike in a drunken stupor in a blinding flash

She thrust her whole face, jaws and stretched them wide

Strong vocal chords blew into the inner body so blessed

To hoodwink the cow into releasing more milk

Simultaneously caressing the udder with relish      

Perhaps some cheap thrills for the cow but it worked

But that’s the way it had been and mission accomplished

For Georgia's Mindlovemisery's Menagerie
Monday Wordle # 45 and
Kerry's  Tuesday Platform at Real Toads

Succulent to the inner self

                                                                                          Attribution: Ishai Parasol
Image: Camel Convoy in Jordan Valley (here)

The given words:

aim chime miles trite scorch maybe

spirit mind spell sign words land

To aim a chime on a tired soul

In a slush trudging in a sea of sand

Following one behind the other

In a long line for miles to nowhere

Perhaps to hit an oasis a trite too soon

Melting under the scorch of the burning sun

An option of not many choices

Maybe in spirit the mind spells fun

A sign of not accepting defeat

Where words of wisdom

Succulent to the inner self

Can bear trying times

In a land of opportunity

That a desert can offer

It can well be fun

For Brenda's hosting at
Sunday Whirl Wordle # 196 and
Mary's at PU's Poetry Pantry #236

life for the asking!

                                                                                              Attribution: Ian Day
Image: The Greenery of Spring (here)

Lunes  -  A Lune or American Haiku comprises two forms.

Robert Kelly’s syllable-based is a tercet (3 lines) of 5-3-5 syllables and

Jack Collom’s word-based a tercet of 3-5-3 words

1. syllable-based

euphoria over

welcoming

greenery of Spring

skies opening up

clouds peek out

chirping gets louder

sentiments provoked

go forward

life for the asking

2. word-based

not happy though

market rumored in for correction

bad times ahead

better get prepared

fingers burnt in subprime fiasco

economic woes looming

For Adele's Poetry Blog #214  -  language of lunes

Moving layers of carpets

Image: Field of Daisies (here)

Not be mistaken

White on white across the field

White daisies hold court

Other colors hold sway too

Varied variety are seen

Swaying in the winds

Leading little white cartwheels

Racing over greens

Moving layers of carpets

Fluid apparently alive

Keeping intact secrets shared

Honesty begets the same

Keeping pace with clouds

Moving slowly up above

Contending as friends

Safe haven at mountain-sides

Across serene green valleys

Bidding time with strength

Symbolic of many things

White daisies revered

For Chev's CARPE DIEM Little Creatures #16  -  daisies

No, just shiny greens!

                                                                                        Attribution: Dalgial
 Image: Yuzuriha evergreens (here)

Yuzuriha with long broad evergreen leaves 

was common in ancient Japan. Used as an
ornament plant for the New Year to celebrate 

the good relationship of the old and new 

generations.There is no English-name for it  -  Chev

None that have flowers

What do you have just plain leaves?

No, just shiny greens!

Some have flowers but

Exotic Yazuriha

treasured for their leaves

Ornamental  leaves

If one should know and that is

a lot of difference

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #653  -  yuzuriha

Made to bloom on New Year’s Day

                                                                                               Attribution: I Sacek Sr

Image: Pheasant's Eye (Fukujusoo) (here)

Given pride of place

Pheasant’s Eye programmed and to

bloom on New Year’s Day

Bright breezy colors

Dotting the landscape at length

Presence apparent

Pheasant’s Eye missing

a point of wonder wherefore

yearning to be seen

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #652 fukujusoo

Experimenting with ideas unnerving!

                                                                    Attribution: Totomai Martinez
Image: Getting the Perfect Capture (here)

3WW, the given words:
amicable frivolous unrefined

Proposing to be amicable with his quest

Trivia of locations perceived to be friendly

A photographer wanting to be the best

To capture nature’s environmental beauty

Experimenting with ideas unnerving

Scenes stay unmoving as nature provides

But the camera is thrown up clicking

Or the photographer jumps up astride

Moving pictures sans any video set-up

Unrefined but not outwardly frivolous

Perhaps images are blurred a little in part

Modern tech can overcome that’s obvious

To invoke such out of the box techniques

May not be something new to the talented

Would be fun to see what one makes of it

Lest innovative wants are not left stunted

For Mary's hosting at d'Verse's Poetics:
Photography of Totomai Matinez and
Thomg's 3WW week #411

Shreds of her heart strewn all over

                                                                                       Photo Credit: Kirsty Mitchell
Image: Damsel Deep in Thoughts (here)

Fair maiden begrudging absence of her beau

What contributed to dissident thoughts brewing

She could well take it sanely when he said adieu

Still she was now dreary dreaming and lamenting

Beyond the ocean high riding the torrid big waves

Prone to adventure overcoming tortuous terrain

Extending bravery tormenting his soul so he craved

She failed to understand workings of a miniscule brain

Day-dreaming with shreds of her heart strewn over

Held on to objects reminding her of safe sea journey

Miniature boat held tightly of her undaunted ardor

Providence’s protection sought to return home safely

For Yves' hosting of Photo Challenge #44
- sleeping ship at  Mindlovemisery's Menagerie and
Marian's Tuesday Platform at Real Toads

Signals a new day

                                                                                                        Attribution: BazzaDa Ramlar
Image: The Big Red (here)
                                                             

Rooster cocks its head

Musical interlude starts

Signals a new day

Breaks the dawn’s silence

Others are quick to follow

Melodious mornings

Regal in bearing

Chicken or egg not to ask

Nothing to dispute

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #650
First Rooster Crowing  -  hatsutori

The City of Luxuriant Smiles!

                                                                                                    Attribution: Mplaja
Image: Fun of a Welcoming Crowd (here)

never had it so good!

standing at the crossroads

been told one needed to be led in

much like being seated at a restaurant

the respect accorded professed at a height

none were rebuffed nor needed to recoil

led in with pomp and pageantry

profusion of love

where once a beggar scrubbed clean

led in with respect pristine with fine clothes

garbed as others before him

sparkles of smiles from everyone

greeted with passion

who did we have here

wherefore the crowd

a school ma’am alongside the cheeky girl

holding hands intently

so did the peasant and ferocious landowner

docile as a circus lion now standing together

the shrewd money-lender

slave-driver and office head-banger

the politicians and contractors

the classic duo of exploiters

the torturer and even the cruel step-mother

all in a chorus welcoming new entrants

into the City of Luxuriant Smiles

forgetting the woes of the wicked world

of wars and destruction

of traumatic faces of the deprived

of those raising tension and violence

to push sales of their wares

the treasonous crowd out there 

if only they were in the City

never had it so good!

For Kerry's hosting at Real Toad's
Sunday's Mini Challenge - in other words and
Mary's at Poets United's Poetry Pantry #235

Engaged for love

                                                                                        Attribution: Sceptre
Image: Layers of Love (here)

The Clarity Pyramid has eight lines.

The first line has one syllable, the second 

line has two syllables, the third line has 

three syllables … etc., on to the eighth 

line which has eight syllables.

Only the syllable count
is adhered to here:

Home

where the

heart was lodged

Engaged for love

Could not be better

Couples were grinning wide

Giving life to their feelings

Could one be faulted for failing?

For Jen's hosting at Mindlovemisery's

Menagerie with -  clarity pyramid

Ensnare through his tummy

                                                                                        Attribution: Moonsun 1981
Image: Learning young (here)

Resolutions set now
the best part. How to
implement options

Mummy's pet eyeing
fair maiden. To ensure
acceptance is killing

Peeling off the conscience
will help one appreciate
life's offerings

Kneading flour taking
cooking lessons seriously
Ensnare through his tummy

For Victoria's hosting of Brian's creation
of ten words at d'Verse MTB - to write in ten words

Uncanny blue skies enhanced

                                                                                      Attribution: Balaram Mahaldar

Image: Dew drops on Swaying Leaves (here)

Bright sun’s rays pierced through

Dew-drops sparkling like diamonds

Light winter evenings

Bright sun’s rays pierced through

Uncanny blue skies enhanced

Balanced by cool winds

Dew drops sparkling like diamonds

Shaken by light breeze

Float leisurely down

Light winter evenings

Stunned by prospects of light rain

Bathed  by swathe of mists

For Chev's CARPE DIEM Special #127 A Troiku - dewy evening

One often gets distracted!

                                                                                      Attribution: Ienarc
Image: Happy birthday, Gramps! (here)

3WW

distracted genuine modest

Poets United  - unbirthday

One often gets distracted

After all nothing much has changed

Days have not been different

Not for those in the golden years

And not at this age to be jolted

But it does happen

Genuine outpourings

By the siblings and grandees

Surprise! Gramps, happy birthday!

Caught by surprise

Might even trigger off a heart attack!

No fooling, there were known cases!

A general request, young fellas

Just a modest one will do.

Hold your horses!

Gramps had been known to have said

He has been applying the brakes

The years piled up fast lately

Gramps was 50 only some while ago

Now he is over 60

He is fast approaching 70!

He is being asked to slow down

Some physical activities are causing concern

He on his part is also asking

It is too fast for comfort

The years should slow down too!

Whew!

For Thomg's hosting at 3WW #410 and
Susan's Poets United's Mid-week Motif =  unbirthdays

Subjected to lots of rigorous pressure!

                                                  Lavinialeyna Deviant Art (Renee Boynton artwork)
Image: Courtesy of MLMM (here)

Bjorn's given words:

ellipsis - is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots.

eg pride is one thing, but what happens if she…?

ablate -  loss caused by a process such as melting evaporating or erosion

billhook - a cutting or pruning tool with a hooked blade

gaffer - a lighting electrician on a motion-picture or television set

ebony - a hard, heavy, durable wood, most highly prized when black

satire - humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of others

Subjected  to lots of rigorous pressure

Crumpled and cornered hardly breathing

Ablated and hydrated weirdly out of shape

Not anywhere near to its original being

Working on a satirical venture so what will follow if he...?

Billhook employed in vicious stab motions

The gaffer projecting it lavishly onto the screen

Enjoying to say the least come every second

Ebony matt finish smooth and shining profusely

Turned out to be reserved artistically inclined

Very well created with lots of talents

Great picture so refined

For Georgia's hosting at Mindlovemisery's 

Menagerie  - serene in blue # 43 
Bjorn's at lqw # 19 wordle and
Kerry's at Tuesday's Platform at Real Toads

Spare no quarters for a colleague

Image: Courtesy of Grandma's Goulash

In an environment wrought with hardships
one needs to share unexpected difficulties
Spare no quarters for a colleague who is
in need

(139 characters)

For Grandma's Goulash, at Succinctly Yours
week # 199 a Micro Fiction of not exceeding
140 characters and to include the word -  quarters

One gets over the caution!

 

                                                                               Attribution: Edwinの航空写真
Image: On the Racing Circuit (here)

One gets over the caution
To tread icy waters of winter
Gets to the bones of cold sweat
Still a surge of wetness fear

One gets over the caution
Of handling a new-born baby
As pink as a Barbie doll so real
Heart-beat gets faster for nanny

One gets over the caution
And split the fairway into two
Never thought a perfect drive
Can favor the old golfer in you

One gets over the caution
Revving the throttle for a fast run
When young hearts bid a nasty return
Dicing with dangers of race-track fun

For Grace's hosting at Real Toads with Sunday's
Mini Challenge  -  responding to David Huerta and
Mary's at Poets United's Poetry Pantry #234

Pair stood still in the mist

                                                                              Atrribution: Georgia's 'The Lawn'

Image: Courtesy of MNMM (here)

Cool day quiet early morning

Pair stood still in the mist

As happy lovers holding hands

Just waiting for the kiss

A lawn well maintained bathed in green

Textured well manicured

Snug hidden beneath the mountains

And feeling well secured

Could life be all in abundance

Felt so good together

That accorded to young lovers

In such ideal weather

Note: One is to look into alternating iambic 
tetrameter – trimester (that is 8 syllable beats 
(unstressed/stressed which is an iamb) with 6 
syllable beats unstressed/stressed) often called
'common measure’  Not certain if common 
measure is achieved here

For Georgia's hosting at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie
BJ's Shadorma and Beyond  -  common measure

What pleasure they missed

                                                                           Attribution: Jan Delsing

Image: Very much like the
edible local species (here)

Mountain of mud-snails

Sandwiched among fish offered

for gourmet’s palate

Edible ones sought

Not filling but fulfilling

Not for the squeamish

Rare commodity

But discarded by many

What pleasure they missed

For Chev's CARPE DIEM Little Creature #15
Buson's  mud-snails

It was a rave that took the world by storm

                                                                                       Attribution: DeFacto
Image: The Mini 1967 (here)

A cutie a beauty when it made its debut

A phenomena not expected

It was a rave that took the world by storm

Hank was extremely thrilled to acquire one 

in the late 60’s and it was even just a used model 

Financed through the limited stipend of a first job

It was a luxury of untold satisfaction then

Billed as a classic British engineering feat

Direct result to counter the then fuel guzzlers

Prompted by  the fuel shortage caused 

by the "1956 Suez Crisis"

A compact small car came into being

Made possible by having the engine block

“Transversed with a front-wheel-drive configuration

This space-saving layout allowed 80% of the

floor space for passengers and luggage”

This ingenuity made the Mini to be voted

in 1999 as the “second most influential car

 of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T”

The Mini brought back lots of nostalgia of Hank’s

courting days with Shadah now Hank's loving wife

Note: One is 'to summon up memories 

of that first mode of transport, the one
that gave you the freedom to get from
A to B with no one else butting in'

For Herotomost's hosting at
Real Toads  -  road trips

Butterfly flutters

                                                                                             Attribution: Nilfanion
Image: Blue One  (here)

Quiet eerie house

Empty devoid of people

Butterfly flutters

Safe sanctuary no

human elements to cause

them to fly away

Patterns of wing span

of beautiful butterfly

A joy to behold

For Chev's CARPE DIEM Sogi's
Special #126  -  butterfly home

Pitching to favor a consideration

Image: Courtesy of Nick Gentry through d'Verse (here)

3WW given words:

electric passionate savage

Poetry Jam: Listen

Squared off listen up and listen well

All over the smoothness of features

Electric magic written all over the face

Pitching to favor a consideration

Listen and listening a virtue extended

But long discarded of no consequence

A favorable stance  not readily pursued

They prefer to expound their views

To savage others into submission

Wherefore the elements of free speech

Allowing opinions freely to flow

Why not listen and then talk

Both then grapple at ideas

Sustaining a long conversation

Passionate in its resolve!

For Thomg's hosting at 3WW #409
Grace's at d'Verse: Poetics: Nick Gentry and
alan's at Poetry Jam: One Word

ripples of life’s journey in reality

                                                                              Attribution:Arno Rafael Minkkinen

Image: Courtesy of MLMM  (here)

Two of a kind together hemmed in

Shouldering life’s indulgence profusely

Extending a support of five on five

Reflecting on how unwieldy impacting

Clear view of expectations brewing

Visual picture accentuating its burden

Can ten on ten wrought with heaviness

Sustain a glare of test of times?

Perhaps the image intruding in duplicates

Will seduce a mind to readiness in form

To explore eventualities of acceptance

To favor difficulties in sharpness of contrast

Yet swaying in ripples of life’s journey in reality

Devoid of smoothness yearned desperately

By those who strive to better themselves

Kinks bends and pebbles along the way

Scattered about are obstacles to overcome

Unobtrusive but there placed as crazy-paving

To rightly resolve with natural flair and some

For Bastet's hosting at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie
Wave Machine*” Photo Challenge #42 – 6 and
Marian's hosting of Tuesday's Platform at Real Toads

But why it should come to this!

                                                                                    Attribution: Hermitage Torrent
Image: Breakfast interrupted (here)

Bjorn's given words:
misalliance - An unsuitable alliance, especially in marriage.
brouhaha - turmoil or clamor; uproar; hullabaloo.
rook - a swindler or cheat, esp one who cheats at cards
percolate - to drain or seep through a porous material or filter.
gimbal - . A rigid frame or ring in which an object is supported by pivots.
partake - to take or have a part or share; participate:
repast -  a meal or the food provided at a meal:

A misalliance but only recently
No brouhaha to talk of, nothing
It had been bliss no holds barred
It had been loving, heavenly
To say the least
Love sustained right from high school
But why?
Not why it happened
But why it should all come to this!

He was not rookish in his dealings
She provided repast at appointed times
Complete with percolated coffee
Mandatory at meal-times
They did partake in joint activities
Even shared hobbies
Stamp collecting of all things
Could only be described as ideal
A couple meant for each other

The gimbal toppled
The goodness of hot coffee
Splashed all over him
When it happened
He was more shocked than angry

Things changed from then on
The equilibrium shifted
How long would it linger?

For Bjorn's lqw Wordle #18

The mind works in strange ways

                                                                                                      Attribution: Kirk
Image: Tiggy the Talking Cat (here)

The Joseph’s Star is a non-rhyming 8-line poem with
a syllable count of 1/3/5/7/7/5/3/1.  Each stanza is
center-aligned so that the finished poem is diamond-shaped.

Touch

you will be 

sorry. Talk you will

be damned. It is a Hobson's 

choice that stifles the muddled

The mind works in strange

ways so just

blink

For Jen's hosting at Mindlovemisery's
Menagerie with Joseph's Star and Mary's
hosting at Poets United's Poetry Pantry #233

Others always something else

                                                                                                      Author : myself

Image: Fruit so named (here)

Note: A Tanka

Red Sea purple heart

Yellow River Blue Danube

Black sea pink panther

Orange is color and fruit

Others always something else

For Chev's CARPE DIEM  Time Machine #1 - orange

perhaps they were not aware

                                                                                            Attribution: Oxana Maher
Image: House vacant (here)

The given words:
orange flame poltergeist butt icebergs

stabs of orange flames
shooting out from behind curtains
strangely not causing hurt
nor damage to the fabric

rattling noises from behind the door
strangely enough the bed-room
turned out to be empty
such were the antics

it went for cheap it could cost double
rentals spiraling reaching for the sky
no small wonder it was a cut-rate
they got a bargain they thought
perhaps they were not aware

common knowledge among the locals
it ran empty for quite some while
tenants aplenty but there were no takers

now they had to put up with it
there was a poltergeist having fun
butt of jokes before but they
now turned the tables
they made the tenants run
in circles feeling lost

the tenants genuinely were bewildered
one minute the room was cold
like an iceberg floating by
next minute they were unusually sweating
a heat-wave sneaking in from the kitchen
so they felt!

They had to live with it
Not for the faint-hearted!

For b-young's hosting at Red Wolf Poems # 34
the final call