A colorful episode to encounter

                                                                                           Image: Courtesy of MLMM
Image: Shadowing his Person (here)

He saw himself trudging along
Alone in the hazy wilderness
To place himself in proper perspective
As in the eyes of the artist
Brush in hand creating an image
A colorful episode to encounter
He was bent on going at his fancy

But at the back of his mind
There appeared to be a larger force
Contending to accord him protection
Larger than life imposing its will
Pulling back his braces
To stall an expected journey
Smack against going with confidence

Such is the push and pull peril
Desirous of testing the unknown
But unknowingly being pulled back by forces
Bent on solace and protection
But viewed as a hindrance to progress

MLMM's Tale Weaver #59  -  journey

But would he survive?

                                                                                              Attribution: Thargol
Image: The crowd applauding (here)

Sunday Whirligig given words:
penguin wings beak loosen, stone survive 
preening (like a bird grooming itself with the
bill by rearranging its feathers)
reclaiming, thanks scratch bites

3WW given words:
elated flicker halting

Musing on his good fortune

Elated for one previously so privileged

Now like a penguin placed at the summit

Reaching out preening its wings

Its beak searching to loosen a stone

Tugging and threatening

He showed some early success

Boisterous and noisy     

Taking pot-shots at minorities

That was how happy he was

But would he survive

Those gullible were beginning to question

Reclaiming back their sanity

Thanks, no thanks

“we abhor your scratch and bites

the deprived deserved better"

There was still that flicker of hope

He was not about halting his fine run

He was doing everyone a favor

So he said with a smirk on his face

For MMT's Sunday Whirligig #53
Thomg's 3WW week #473
Lynn’s at d’Verse’s Poetics: summit
in sight  -  theme on mountains
Kerry's at Real Toad's the tuesday's platform

It was so exhilaratingly exquisite

                                                                                                    Attribution: Cjbvii

Image: Pink Cherry Blossoms (here)

Issa's Haiku

Under the cherry

blossoms, there are

no strangers

Note: This haibun is inspired by Issa's haiku above

The Haibun

They readied their desire to be seen the night before. Under a sudden surge

they opened up in the morning to dazzle nature and man alike. Such was the

urge for the cherry blossoms to announce their presence and their entry into

the lives of those eagerly waiting.

The beauty of their kind was to be appearing right at the dot. Theirs was not to

stifle their yearnings but to be keeping to the schedule and to be seen of their

soft colors of pink and white.

It was so exhilaratingly exquisite more so when it was so anticipated and when

they peeked out at the right moment. The enthusiasm experienced was unreservedly 

exotic to be bathed under the cherry blossoms reverberating in innocence.

Everyone mingling around incessantly extending their hands of friendship to each

other. For some gracious moments of merry-making there were no strangers

As sudden as they appeared they took leave at precisely the right time, a presence 

fleetingly but for a few days until at the same day and time next year.

The Haiku 

a phenomena

devoid of promptings but to

appear as scheduled

For Toni's at d'Verse Haibun Monday
#10 - hanami (cherry blossoms)

Why must it be him?

                                                                                              Attribution: LaurMG
Image: It's just frustrating! (here)

MLMM's 11 given words:
scald await passionless carcass gateway
isolophilia (a strong preference for being alone)
hallucinate mosaic shadow vinyl
opia (the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye

Scalded in his thoughts

A bonfire of letdown realized

To await for a passionless character

Who was somewhat a living carcass

That was what he thought of her when it happened

But not anymore

Now he was searching for a gateway

On how to make amends

Such was the urge not to be an isolophilia

He could not muster his courage to do it

By himself  he could only hallucinate

Through a mosaic of shadow play

That was all he could do

Like a wall of vinyl sheet obstructing his way

He found difficulty to stand opia in manner

To put a closure to the relationship

A finality to a friendship gone sour

So he thought but he could not

Frustrated by a lingering love for her

Why must it be him?

For MLMM's Wordle #103

The feeling when walking alone at night

                                                                      Artist: Ladislaus Mednyánszky
Image: Walking at Night (here)

Sunday Whirl's 12 given words:

crooked three moon light smoke phantoms 

pebbles words names water God lead

Crooked and winding street

At three in the morning accentuating the creeps

The moon shy in emitting light

Lingering smokescreen of long misty nights

Phantoms real or imagined

Following not far behind it seemed

The feeling when walking alone

Still far from home

Pebbles on the ground

Kicked the only sound

Setting eerily in motion

Wild imaginations

Words and names could not describe

Like water gurgling out a broken pipe

God forbid, it could lead

To walking with heavy feet

For Mary's at PU's Poetry Pantry #295 and

Brenda's Sunday Whirl's Wordle #244

Luxuriant vogue of richness

                                                                           Attribution: Damian Depowski
Image: Crocuses that bloom in early spring (here)

Violets symbolize magic,mystery and royalty.
Believed to be the ideal color loved by children
and most favored by artists as it enhanced
imagination and inspiration  -  Chev

Prim violets  in Spring
Luxuriant vogue of richness
Bathed the countryside

Right color of choice
Mysterious and magical
Rapport unflinching

Spontaneous vigor
Touted for regal bearing
Sought for its favor

For Chev's CARPE DIEM Theme Week #2
Color Your Life: violet

Face it with intent

                                                               Attribution: Maulucioni, Gabriela Ruellan

Image: Shades of the Color Indigo (here)

Note:1  Indigo is the color of the deep midnight sky.
It can have a negative effect when used during a
depressed state, because it will deepen the mood  -   Chev

Crept out on the sly

Felt bothered with no reasons

Feeling down, depressed 

Foul weather had an impact  

Some minor irritations 

Firmly unwound self

Distractions had some effects

Face it with intent

Just resolve to overcome

Strength of purpose won the day

Note: 2  The tanka is made outwardly strong
and dark to counter the depressed elements
inherent in the color indigo

For Chev's CARPE DIEM Theme week #2
color your life indigo 

He took some hard battering on his ego

                                                                                                Attribution: Pingz Man
Image:  Sad looking (here)

Sunday Whirligig's 11 of 12 given words:
battering shine forbid miracle hold 
brass meditation stone, earth, sea, honey

He took some hard battering on his ego
Wrought the shine rudely off his pride
He sought the courage to make it flow
God forbid, a miracle ought  to take flight

Holding back tears from streaming down
Ashen face brass-like stoic and transformed
No amount of meditation could hide the frown
The bittersweet feelings of the uninformed

Not etched in stone could still be salvaged
Earth below not shaking, the sea restrained
Sinister in his resolve gently riding the wave
Honey sweet image successfully retained

For MMT's Sunday's Whirligig #52 and
Marian's at Real Toad's - with bittersweet (the
unbridled heart-soaring to the point of tears)

Parched, dry, oddly brutal to the senses

                                                                                              Attribution: Robin Taylor

Image: Dried-up River Bed (here)

3WW given words:

brutal  dense

clammy (unpleasantly damp and sticky of air or atmosphere)

Parched, dry, oddly brutal to the senses

Weather change was quick and abrupt

The Equinox phenomena just gone hence

But the aftermath was a cause to disrupt

Cutting a vicious path the el Nino heat-wave

Of hot days and dry warm nights as a fare

A double whammy of torment likely to face

No more clammy but just as odious to bear

Shackled indoors dense wet days a yearning

One month to endure of water conservation

A stunted fruiting process paltry in maturing

Wrath of climate change a telling trepidation

For Thomg's 3WW week # 472 and
Susan's at PU's Midweek Motif  -  climate 

An ostentation of beauty!

                                                                               Attribution: Chaudhary 
                                                                                                         GROUP of NEPAL- CGN
Image: A Nepali Beauty (here)

A bevy of beauties
A bouquet of flowers
A brood of siblings

Of course we are talking of birds
Often referred to affectionately as ‘chicks’
Strutting their stuff
Attractive and elegantly garbed
An ostentation of beauty

The young women of today
Are there to be ogled at!
Appreciation of Providence’s
perfection in creation

For De's at d'Verse: Poetics -
poetry is for the birds 

A to Z Challenge - It is a struggle to decide

                                                                       Attribution: Yusuf Hashim
Image: The Promo for the Wildebeest Migration (here)

                                                                                  Attribution: Yusuf Hashim
Image: The Aurora Borealis at Scoresby Sound Greenland (here)
                                             
Note: 1 For the A to Z Challenge 2015 Hank had highlighted his buddy Yusuf
Hashim themed as 'The Modern Day Explorer'.(here) (here) (here) Yusuf is still
at it! Yusuf will be in the Serengeti  July 16 - 26 2016 to observe the wildebeest
migration and Greenland again from Aug 17-24 2016 to shoot the Aurora Borealis.

Note: 2 For the impending A to Z Challenge 2016, Hank's theme is 'ABC of Sports'
For the uncomplicated events Hank will try to spice it up with Hank's own sketches
or paintings instead of getting images only from Wikimedia Commons

MLMM's 12 given words:
struggle decide careless notify terminate 
blatherskite (a person given to voluble, empty talk. nonsense; blather.)
ephemera (anything short-lived or ephemeral)
addictive (causing a strong need to regularly have or do something)
concave (having a shape like the inside of a bowl : curving inward)
rigor mortis (a temporary stiffness of the body that happens soon after death)
episodic (telling about many separate events)
nostrum (exaggerated claims and with no demonstrable value)

It is a struggle to decide
For the A to Z theme for 2016
Hoping not to be careless but
necessary to notify
One is not to be a nonsensical blatherskite
It is serious business

Outrightly ephemeral as it is
One can enjoy it only for 26 days
It puts urgency into the cause
An addictive for April 2016
But does it matter?

One need not be concave in attitude
Or rigor mortis in one’s creative process
It is just a matter of being episodic
of varied interests and episodes
Not anywhere nostrum in intentions
Hopefully to participate fully
And avoid possibility to terminate midway
Though one can still do so

Mindful though
If the resolve to continue
throughout is absent
where is the fun?

For MLMM's Wordle #102
Alex's The A to Z Challenge  and
Marian's The Tuesday Platform
at Real Toads

Survival on the line

                                                                                            Author : מינוזיג
Image: Vulture in Flight (here)

Sunday Whirl's 11 of 12 given words:
born line return source still journey 
cycle sky stand  stones tell

Born to kill
Survival on the line
To return empty handed
a betrayal to the chicks

The source clearly there
on the ground but still a
journey to be performed
The cycle of living emanating
from  the sky a daily occurrence

Parents with a brood of their
own could not stand to see
hungry mouths upon returning

But men with hearts of stone 
known to abandon mother and
child to fend for themselves

Natural propensity of child-bearing
and child-upbringing should tell
of the heavy responsibility

For Brenda's Sunday Whirl Wordle #243 and
Mary's at PU's Poetry Pantry #294

Should one so popular a better take

                                                                                                   Attribution: Acabashi
Image: A Junction of Choices (here)

I am of two minds this morning
Confusing a little but enlightening
What am I to do that my mind lingers
With questions begging for answers

Choices there are aplenty to seek
Setting in motion to take a peek
Should one so popular a better take
Those already resolved of mistakes

I took the one less traveled by
More challenging that mystifies
That should make all the difference
To test the resolve of a person

On hindsight is it not lots of pain
A folly to reinvent the wheel again
Is it fun and games just to satisfy
A curiosity that unjustly might crucify

Inspired by Robert Frost's
-  the road not taken

For Karin's - weekend mini 
at Real Toads

You sure to like us!

                                                                                                  Author: Pieter Lanser

Image: Wide-eyed and Cute (here)

A Shadorma - a non-rhyming 

six-line poem in 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllables

We wonder

Good people out there

Take us home

Shelter is

not a good place to grow up

You sure to like us

For Kathe's Feline Friday 

at It's a Snap! 

Melodious in a sweet flow of retreat

                                                                                            Attribution: Charlesjsharp
Image: Leisurely Floats like a Butterfly (here)

Melodious in a sweet flow of retreat
A mystical aptitude serene to the ears
Pristine in make-up tumultuously sweet
What of music wresting away the fears

Suffocating a vigor ambling on slowly
Surreptitiously but aiming at the jugular
Judicious incantations of rap but a folly
To profess good music similar in nature

Incumbent on the musicians not to falter
To vindicate swashbuckling antics shown
Not to malign what was pleasing to the ear
Standing ovation to rightly call one’s own

For Sanaa's Prompt Night's  -  such 
passion music can raise and quell

Saintly in attitude ever pragmatic and reliant

                                                                      Attribution: Sa.balamurugan

Image: Mother Teresa statue (here)

Outwardly righteous an unblemished person

Tirelessly less bothered by angry seas so blue

Help extended to the poorest and downtrodden

Kind soul triggered into action without a cue

Made her presence through stormy weather fondly

Resolutely pleasant never a desire to offend

Rational in thinking not to shirk responsibility

Saintly in attitude ever pragmatic and reliant

Ordinarily too ideal a person within ever exist?
Even in a lifetime one hungered to discover

Perhaps if one pursued enough to rightly persist
Blessed Teresa of Culcutta a saint for all to adore

Susan's at PU's Midweek Motif  -  
saint/saintliness and
Grace's OpenLinkNight #168

Beauty of small birds that come to sing

                                                                        Author: Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Image: A Black and White Warbler (here)

Sunday Whirligig's 12 given words:

black beige  fly aiming branches oaks feeders

warblers (many different kinds of small singing birds)
surprise open arms drought

3WW given words:
abrupt uncovered vacant 

They come in all shades of the rainbow
Black beige blue of all hues with blessings
Melodious to the ears the paths they follow
Beauty of small birds that come to sing

They fly in numbers gregarious in swarms
Aiming for branches of great oaks as feeders
No surprise warblers  received with open arms
Heat of the drought forgotten as sad reminders

Abrupt in take-off but very graceful in flight
Not unlike fast carriers that swoop and dive
Presence uncovered when they choose to alight
From bushes thought vacant but very much alive

For Thomg's 3WW #471 and
MMT's Sunday's Whirligig #51

The hands that rock the cradle

                                                                                   Attribution: Biswarup Ganguly
Image: Slim and Slender (here)

The hands that rock the cradle
Slim and slender elegantly manicured
Demure and sweet chic in disposition
Steadfast and steady in all confidence
What becomes of the baby so innocent

Starved of love spooked into demons
Went through life hustling and bullying
Pillaging suffocating whole terrains
Made Genghiz Khan pale in comparison
What to make of the wretched and willful
Shoving and wily scandalous by nature

Hands that guide are just as many though
Steady and sprightly standing like an oak
Leading and surmounting dreaded difficulties
Upright in demeanor winsome ever so helpful
Prim and pristine proficient and palatable
Resplendent radiant and beyond reproach

Macabre to think that the hands so sincere
Can spawn scoundrels or saints equally
Can they be faulted?

For Grace's at d'Verse: Poetics: Can
you give me a hand

Out to make an impact

                                                                                               Attribution: JudeinBilder
Image: In the course of a debate (here)

11 of 12 given words:
glare adjust lurk terrorize siphon tattoo irregular 
novitiate (a novice of a religious order or congregation)
eristic (a person who engages in debate; conversationalist)
nyctophilia (a love or preference for night, darkness)
erogenous (producing sexual excitement or pleasure when touched)

Glare of the limelight
Been crowned the best speaker
Now an eristic clear winner novitiate
Won the title hands-down

Out to make an impact
Had to adjust his demeanor
Confidence issues lurk
Terrorized his conscience
That siphoned off his energy

Long afflicted with nyctophilia
Often erogenous in nature
Tattooed in his mind
Though irregular in occurrence
He was bent to overcome
Sought an outlet to counter

Found an easy way out
For those already in crying to get out
Those who were out like him
yearning to come in
That was the beauty of marriage
So he had been told

He decided to go ahead and
get married, anyway
If only he knew what he had
got himself into!

MLMM's Sunday Whirl's Wordle #101 and
Kerry's The Tuesday Platform at Real Toads

Treacherous blizzards

                                                                                 Attribution: Nikolay Sverchkov

Image: Caught by the Storm (here)

Treacherous blizzards

Respect for nature imposed

Stayed subdued indoors

Scientific knowledge

Made them appreciate nature

Guided by the stars

Standing room only

Holiday crowd in a rush

Lucky few laughing

For Chev's CARPE DIEM  #938 - iris leaves
Mary's at PU's Poetry Pantry #293

force of the storm showed blithe disregard

                                                                                                   Attribution: Peter Békési

Image: Lovingly a kiss (here)

She came

Strutting peacock-like elegantly attractive

Her delicate beauty belies its toughness

She walked past him not acknowledging

but aware of his presence

She was a tad late so she thought

But he was sweating under the collar

Waiting anxiously

The minutes ticked slowly by!

He followed her keeping a safe distance

into the elevator out and a click of the key

She went in and he followed her into the room

As the ocean’s waves struck the shores

As the force of the storm showed blithe disregard

The raucous encounter paled the likes of Kama Sutra

Time stood still and it rendered the strength of purpose

to another level and he succumbed

They sat around by the bedside

talking sweet nothings and him not really listening

After an agonizing plight of empty talk tolerated

he hugged her and had his left hand
with the watch lovingly around her neck
He could peek at the time
on his watch without her noticing

Gosh! He was late!

He sheepishly cooked up an excuse

Hurriedly dressed and dashed out

The next one was a high profiled personality

not to be stood up

Thus the tension filled hazards of a

modern day gigolo!

For Brendan's at Real Toad's 
Sunday Mini Challenge  -  paramour

Zeroed in on its target with a glint in the eye

                                                                                               Attribution: AngMoKio
Image: Eastern imperial eagle a large bird of prey

the given words:

stay sits play wits fits comedy flits
tragedy eye smart cry heart moan stone.
flits: (to move or fly quickly from
one place to another

The birds feel safe at their domains to stay
At a vantage position an eagle waits and sits
They have fun and games so happy at play
Its brain working hard to draw out its wits

Debating options questioning if it fits
In all seriousness shelving any comedy
A simple routine to swoop and flits
To the poor minnows a regular tragedy

Zeroed in on its target with a glint in the eye
Having been used to play it all that smart
With a silent 'swoosh' and a slight battle-cry
It grabbed the little ones with all its heart

Mothers could only watch with loud moans
Cursed baby snatchers with heart of stone

For Gayle's at d'Verse - Bouts-Rimés
Revisited  -  Meeting the Bar

For a true friend is such a gem

                                                                                    Attribution: Philip Gabrielsen
Image: Yummy Plate of Lobsters (here)

Get Listed given words:
gravity friend able serious hungry 
touch work aspect nourishment

The gravity of a situation
Where a friend is concerned
One is still able to be magnanimous
For in all seriousness

To touch on the nerves
To work off the verve
On aspects of nourishment
Should not go into arguments

That being hungry without a voice
Is not an option of choice

Extend the friend the best at hand
For a true friend is such a gem

For grapeling's Get Listed
at Real Toads

The two birds in shades of grey

                                                                   Attribution: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Image: Mirrors of each Other (here) 

Prompts:
1. Sunday Whirligig's 12 given words:
echoes softness blind body scent bent 
birds shade empty snare crown mirrors

2. 3WW given words:
tasteful selfish realistic 

3. d'Verse's with Naomi's two lines:
Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
That sizzle like moth wings

Shrill echoes permeated the cool air of morn
Empty of softness reflecting against closed windows
Blind to the body scent of predators lying in wait
Bent on the two birds in shades of grey

Empty of ideas to lay a snare
The predators nonchalantly smacked their lips
Though tasteful of their selfish endeavors
They were being realistic in their contention
They yearned for the jewels in the crown
Yet contrary to their belief, they faltered

Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
The two birds in shades of grey
Mirrors of each other
That sizzle like moth wings
Gone from their perch

The predators continued with smacking
their now still empty lips
Lying in wait just like before!

Mary's at d'Verse: Poetics: Choose a Line from
Naomi Shihab Nye's  -  Burning the Old Year
MMT's  Sunday Whirligig #50
Thomg's 3WW week #470

Been through many dreams

                                                                                                 Attribution: Huhu Uet
Image: A green rose (here)

Often walked the path of wonders

Had been through many dreams

Plucked from the sky brought tears

What the heart desired could not bring

Sensed the frustrations of many years

Through the experiments that slipped

What became of the laboratory hours

To quench the thirst for a black tulip

Was there then a similar insistence

That a green rose be brought to light

Flower and leaves were no different

Still green flowers were cause for delight

For Sanaa's Prompt Nights -
when besotted with green
Marian's The Tuesday Platform
at Real Toads

Pulling the tail would make it snarl

                                                                               Attribution: latoday.deviantart.com
Image: Me and my best friend (here)
(courtesy of MLMM)

Been playing all day by the lake

at the forest's edge

Darkening skies a signal to take

the trip home but wait

Pulling the tail would make it snarl

not a grin

Careful with it, pal

Or both would end up in the drink

(44 words)

For MLMM's Photo Challenge #103 and
Bjorn's at d'Verse's Quadrille-4 of not
exceeding 44 words and to include the
word -  grin

Fresh spring onions added on

                                                                                              Attribution: Jeremy Keith

Image: Spring onions (here)

Weather permitting

Greenery responded well

Onions harvested

Longed for good salads

Fresh spring onions added on

Servings now ready

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #934  -  onions

Coming on strong!

                                                                                Attribution: Clément Bucco-Lechat

Image: With Grit and Determination,
Make a run for it! (here)

Coming on strong
Extremes can be wrong
Circumstances profess
a way to suggest

Take a middle road
may end with just a shout
but  be happy
to provide a sanctuary

Take a determined stand
and watch the trend
It cannot be all rubbish
Not what you would wish
Never you mind
it'll be all fine
(55 words)

For Kerry's 55 Flash Plus at Real Toad's

Contemplating good fortune in the wilderness

                                                                                 Attribution: Photo by Laitche
Image: In the Wilderness (here)

Sunday Whirligig's 11 of 12 given words:
wilderness, praise counsel north, city darkness 
enemy thanks hungry, thirsty works

3WW given words:
naked obey piercing

Contemplating good fortune in the wilderness
Quiet undisturbed, life stood still for long moments
No noise pollution dusty air swirling, traffic madness
Praise be for good counsel collectively sound

North city lights piercing the darkness unrelenting
Enemy within unperturbed to obey base tendencies
Naked in their desire to unsettle those citizens law-abiding
The essence of existence of robbers and thieves

Country surroundings however could not be all heavenly
Some pushed down through poverty striving to survive
Thanks to adverse occasions they could go hungry and thirsty
To each his own for the way it worked, realities in life

For MMT's Sunday Whirligig #49
Thomg's 3WW week 469 and
ABHRA's at d'Verse's OpenLink Night

In all of its idyllic innocence

                                                                               Attribution: Donovan Driver
Image: A Rose on Offer (here)

A flower was offered to me
In all of its quietness and idyllic setting
Searched the heavens what it meant to be
Nothing untoward nothing wanting

Puffed up emotions filled his belly
To register a rationale and tone down the impact
Caught on the wrong foot a rebuff to his ability
So unsettling to his ego for a fact

In all goodness a flower to accept?
Its beauty of colors blew away the anger
Restrained of the pent-up feelings he felt
Honorable sidestep to avert pressure

For  Sumana's at PU's Midweek Motif
-  a flower was offered to me

moonlight imposed its will

                                                                           Attribution: Chris Combe
Image: Rising Moon (here)

Darkness came, stubborn
moonlight imposed its will to
loud shouts of relief

Moonlighting on the
sly but exhausted in the
morning as usual

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #71  -  moonlight

Sudden gust of wind

                                                                                            Attribution: Ivan Bandura
Image: Dark Windy Day (here)

Sudden gust of wind
Snatched the hat from the man’s head
A baldie revealed

Caught a nasty cold
From the vicious northern winds
Stayed indoors for now

For Chev's CARPE DIEM  -  wind bag and
Kerry's at The Tuesday Platform at Real Toads