Stay Cool!

                                                                                           Attribution: User Churnett

Image: Cool and Collected Fox (here)

3WW words are:  

cunning degenerate emaciated

Can one be faulted

For being cunning like a fox

So much fun

in a home run

Not likely

To make it a reality

Can one be faulted

For oneself to easily berate

and degenerate

Not likely

Unwise obviously

Can one be faulted
To risk being emaciated

Self gets withered

Do not bother

That’s an order

Stay cool

Be less a fool!

Written for Thomg's 3WW

Colorfully Garbed in All Gaiety

                                                                                                                                Hank's snapshot
Blue skies above clear and brightly
Fluffs of white clouds moving leisurely

In a taxi we were heading southerly
Dashboard knobs dangling precariously
by its wires red and blue precisely
against the brown panels plain to see
A taxi that had seen better days obviously
Passing through a quiet road slowly

Secondary jungles on both sides gaily
waving with all the greenery so breezy
To  those passing through briefly
With gestures so friendly
With such feelings of serenity
                                                                 
Then in front spied suddenly
A  vehicle moving at a speed so safely
Full of ladies dressed in all gaiety
Very unlike one expected in a lorry

Blue and turquoise on the left fittingly
Orange, loud red on the right splashily
In between mild yellow snug outwardly
Huddled together garbed beautifully

When from the taxi driver upon enquiry
The reason for the dressing so uncanny
Normally of workers at the back of a lorry
Dressed unkempt so unpleasantly

He replied in a manner nonchalantly
In a country of deprivation they happily
Thumbed a lift at the backs of lorries
To partake in celebrations at a wedding party

Note: Hank was in Banda Aceh Indonesia
sometime ago when the above picture was taken

For Abhra's hosting at d"Verse with  -  a Color Festival

in sorrows of whispers...

                                                                                        Attribution: RayNata
Image: Tears (here)

The 43 words chosen out of 45:
arms failed bones clouds leaping fog teacup
broken history calm devotion drowned air
whispers you stumbles splintered roots
sleep frozen gutters stare rushes  harvest
unusable planet dust wicker swan
Cities petals breaths quiet store time alive
Tunes used bells gentle bosom alone slate

He was up in arms make no bones about it
Up in the clouds and they failed to appease

Groping in the fog leaping up a teacup
Broken history of calm devotion drowned
in sorrows of whispers

Putting on airs was a way out but 'you stumbled
on splintered roots all because of lack of sleep!'

Frozen gutters stared him in the face as blood
rushed to his head harvesting his mind blank
and unusable

Was there any in the planet where dust in quiet
breaths got stored in wicker baskets?

They should  remain gracefully alive gliding like
a swan in motion! Were there any?

Time would tell in the gentle bosom  of petals where
City Lights with ringing bells were used to nostalgic
tunes all alone on a given slate

For Miskey's hosting at We Write Poems Wordle #11 and
Kerry's Open Link Mondays at Real Toads

Way of the Underworld

                                                                Attribution: Ta2man Kieth Killingsworth
Image:Gangster Tattoo

The words are:

addition blunt broken course grind job natural

plenty quartet response rival sting warning

Some new measures were introduced

Blunt addition to the usual activities

Broken only by some dissenting voices

But bulldozed through amid hostilities

Brought the usual jobs to grind to a halt

The course of action was a natural tendency

Plenty of response from rival hoodlums the result

A sting was planned to stamp authority

But a quartet of trouble-makers still persist

Should heed the warning of such occurrence

Being lesser beings in the hierarchy was a risk

Way of the underworld was an abhorrence

Choice of getting bumped off if they insist

Their ‘absence’ would hardly be noticed

For Brenda’s Sunday Whirl Wordle #153 shared with
Mary's hosting at Poets United's Poetry Pantry #194

Shadowing the Sheep

                                                                                               Attribution:  Xlibber
Image: Sheep Shadows (here)

Say, what’s eating  them
An early morning protest
It certainly looks like one
Menacingly they detest

Shadowing their inner feel
The sun also in connivance
Casting long shadows at will
Observing it all in silence

The cat is now out of the bag
And they are just indignant
How they hate it, it’s a drag
They just dislike shearing time

For Gemma's hosting at Shadow Shot Sunday 2 all about -  shadows

Lonely Lighthouse Keeper

                                                                               Hank's Acrylic Painting
Image: The Twilight Zone

The impending dark
Preceding a gap of relative calm
Twilight soothes the heart
When mother birds come
home to roost
The cool breeze succumbs
To  a lonely being in a lighthouse

One of a dedication
Taking a responsibility
Not very often
Accepted by others willingly

None had been said
Of a keeper with a wife?

(55 words)

Written for PPF and G-man's Flash 55

Team of Progressive Employees

                                                                                       Attribution: Michael Surran
Image: Young Employees (here)

Newly-recruited management trainees

Of raw-experienced sedentary-existence

Where familiarity of social-media liberal-tendencies

Made them sluggish-driven rabble-rousers given to

Ravenous-notions of raucous-attitudes

Were now put through a pace-setting

Program of group dynamics verdict-directed

Tussle-free of exemplary-administrative ability

With hopes of creating a star-studded team of

Target-setting and stellar performance-potentials

No more shambles-strewn slick-characters

Vertigo-afflicted lacking verdant-viewpoints

Of squint-eyed obnoxious-blended individuals

That required porous micro-managing

Prowess led pivotal in nature a repercussions-free

Team of progressive-employees the ultimate aim

For Bjorn's hosting at d'Verse with kenning: Metaphor of Skalds

We have been blessed!

                                                                                                Attribution: Lucipara
Image: Admittedly We Are Intimidating

3WW : authentic enlist phobia
Poetry Jam:  owls

Sure, we are seldom seen
That’s understandable
As we are nocturnal
We hunt in the dark
But we don’t depend on luck

We have been blessed
We may not have the looks
But we are authentic
For we have adapted ourselves
Coloration of our feathers are dull
That make us almost invisible
Serrated edges of our wings can muffle
its sound that our flight is silent

Invariably our strategy
is stealth and surprise
We don’t enlist support from others
We are supposed to be wise, remember?
We can accomplish it all with flying colors
(pardon the pun)

Besides we are made
to be a lethal killing machine
Don’t get us wrong
It is no phobia
We need to survive like everyone else

Our talons are powerful
Our beaks sharp
We can crush the skulls of rabbits
And swallow whole
For we have been blessed

Written for Thomg's hosting  at 3WW and alan's at Poetry Jam

Orchid’s Tantalizing Aroma

                                                                             Attribution: Derek Ramsay

Image: Mesmerizing Orchids (here)

Willow leaves that swayed

in tandem with the slight breeze

Soothing to the eye

Wintry nights broken

by sounds of barking dogs too

many to bother

Orchid’s aroma

Subdued enough to welcome

tired visitors

Anger discarded

Tiff forgotten friends made-up

To start a new day

For Chev's CARPE DIEM #424  -  Unpen-ji

Give Peace a Chance!

                                                                                     Artist:  Sunita Khedekar

Image: Acrylics by Artist Sunita (here)

Sauntering aimlessly

Three white doves

Hovering in the sky

It was pathetic

Did we allow it

Yes we did

Unwittingly

Unashamedly

They were left without directions

How could it be

They were to bring peace!

So there was no olive branch

In their beaks

But then they were still

Doves of peace

The sky was peaceful

All blue and bright

Vibrant with colors

Dwellings below all quiet

No conflagration

Nor bombs or drones

But the same could not

Be said of areas of conflicts

Around the globe

Why?

There was no political will

Nor a concerted effort

Or a conscience

Nor a desire

To give peace a chance!

Grace is hosting Poetics at d'Verse and introducing Artist Sunita

Flora and Fauna of Rainforests

                                                                                              Attribution: Tbachner
Image: An Orang Utan  (here)

Chosen 26 words:
sanctuary, soul, spiral, carapace honeysuckle
rain, year, eggshells, drums, demons chrysalis
wings, witches angels, blue nightmares, truth
 curvature, cocoon, stoic, nurture kimono
geisha, tangles, bloom, stripes

Sanctuary for orang utans lost soul of
Borneo jungles an endangered specie
in spiral throes of extinction

Carapace of turtles and eggshells scattered
around honeysuckle-like scrubs that sees
rain all year round. Nocturnal creatures unseen
but sounding off nightmares of war drums like
demons and witches in curvatures of truth

This is unlike the quiet slumber of some blue
angels of chrysalis in cocoon stoic in anticipation
to later spread beautiful  butterfly wings

Subdued jungle sounds transformed with
daylight, more ordered moving in dainty little
steps just like kimono clad geisha girls nurtured
in tangles of bloom and stripes

For We Write Poems Wordle #10

The Big Apple

                                                                                        Attribution: Meutia Chaerani
Image: Liberty during Sunset with
Manhattan in the background  (here)

The Sunday Whirl Wordle words:
apple bottle city dust fuss green plop slack

small strips squeeze  tower wicker

The Big Apple, New York City

One feels bottled up if one chooses

But if one kicks up the dust

and makes a fuss

There are lots to see

Take the Subway to the Grand Central

From there branch off at leisure

The green of Central Park

Plop right in the center

Or go to Times Square, 42^nd St

Where all the action is

There’s Broadway, for the polished

Or squeeze into some small strips joints
for those inclined to base tendencies

While around  are skyscrapers that tower above

In the distance the Brooklyn Bridge

Take the Staten Island Ferry which is free

And get a closer look at Liberty

A bus city tour covers Harlem, Empire State

the Museums, Chinatown and Little Italy

Or in the evenings dinner at chic eateries
and sporting activities
at Madison Square Gardens

and Yankee Stadium

And these are just Manhattan

Do not slack go out of the wicker trap

There are still the other 4 Boroughs

For which Hank did not get to see fully
Except for Rockaway Beach at Queens

Peering only from a distance are the rest of

Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx

and Staten Island

Yes, certainly lots more to see!

Note: Hank was in New York for some while 

but could only cover some parts of Manhattan

For Brenda's Sunday Whirl Wordle #152 and
shared with Kerry's Open Link Monday at Real Toads

...was purely accidental..! MF

Image: Courtesy of Grandma's Goulash

I loath being in this predicament
I'm a racer not a henchman
I don't go knock anyone around
That was purely accidental you
should have known

(140 characters)

For Linda's Micro Fiction at GG's Succinctly Yours
week #156 with word of the week  - loath

The Parisian Landscape

      

                                                                         Attribution: Tristan Nitot

Image:1  Eiffel Tower at Sunrise (here)

Image: 2  Hank with eldest Daughter, Adura

Note: The Constanza comprises 5 stanzas of 3 lines.
Each line has 8 syllables. As an option the first lines
of each stanza makes up the 6th stanza

The Rhymic scheme is as follows:
a - b - b / a -c -c / a - d - d / a - e - e / a - f - f

a Splendor of Parisian landscape
b To start with perfect sunrise
b Sustains throughout the day so nice

a   Ideal ambience for escapades
c Effiel Tower awe inspiring
c Sets the mood for gallivanting

a Choices of visits to be made
d Historical ones aplenty
d Great tourist sights are there to see

a Absolute musts, notable greats
e Venus, Caesar, Mona Lisa
e At the Louvre that is where they are

a Given  time Versailles is safe bet
f Musee d’ Orsay, Notre Dame
f Seine River ride and the Sorbonne

a Splendor of Parisian landscape
a Ideal ambience for escapades
a Choices of visits to be made
a Absolute musts, notable greats
a Given  time Versailles is safe bet

For Kerry's hosting of a Constanza at Real Toads shared
with Poets United's Poetry Pantry #193

Shadows in the Hot Sun

                                                                             Attribution: Florida Memory
 Image: Some Shadows in the Sun - Gladiolus in Her Arms  (here)

Spring’s here unencumbered freely
As a consequence of all the greenery
Swathes of colors of known variety
Scented and fragile in all its beauty
Of flowers crying bidding for sanity

Remember flower children of the 60s’
Being nature’s innocence of purity
Free love music festivals of duplicity
Appearance of Tim Leary and LSD
The drug scene then still in its infancy

Flowers that sustain great creations
Many festive occasions as a tradition
At the lapels a rose or a carnation
And corsage at the wrist at the Proms
Flower behind the right ear beckons
Ideally a right suitor for the maiden

Flowers are not therefore the domain
Of the busy honey bee bathed in pollen
But universally in breathtaking creations
Accentuating hair style’s sophistications
Never a dull moment in their presence
With Ladies of leisure basking in opulence

For Chubskulit Rose's hosting at Shadow Shot Sunday 2
with - Children and Flowers

Toying With Acrylics

                                                      Hank's Painting 'The Cocoon' in Acrylics
Image: While looking for an appropriate title my
grandson Norman remarked 'this looks like a cocoon'
It is so titled. This was drawn late last year

To day PPF having its blogoversary
It also invites for sketches and paintings
New blog Hank discovered recently
Different from others very challenging

To qualify as a member and stay attuned
One needs to make at least 3 submissions
In goes the first one entitled 'The Cocoon'
to total for three Fridays to gain acceptance

(55 words)

Note: One has to include 'PPF' on the image
using photoshop or other means

Submitted for PPF (Paint Party Friday)
and G-Man's Friday Flash 55

Ready to Pounce..!

                                                                 Attribution: H Pelikka (GFDL & CC-BY-SA)
Image: Kaleidoscope (here)

Moving in the dark groping and searching

All of a sudden the scene brightened up

There were heavy noises in the distance

Sounds of people helter skelter running

It grew louder and louder advancing nearer

It was coming straight and direct to me

I was overwhelmed and was stepped on

I could not feel  it but I tried to flee

Then it was apparent a gorilla like creature

It was chasing them all with a lot of noise

But I could not hear a thing, nothing!

No , not a gorilla it now changed itself

A ghostly creature with red eyes

No, it changed itself again into a big lion

Ready to pounce and it then jumped

Straight to me and straight at me

I tried to move my legs but they were heavy

I closed my eyes and I pushed my legs hard

I floated easily suddenly and away I went

I tried to open my eyes I pushed and struggled

I did it! I opened my eyes suddenly

I was aware now of my surroundings

I was sweating , I had just wokened  

It was a nightmare, a real nightmare

Process note: I used to get such weird dreams when I was in

my pre-teens. It normally would happen following some little

banter or disagreements in the day with playmates or a

telling-off from someone elder to me. I was told later these

were signs of insecurity. It grew itself out by the time

I reached my teens

In my teens however it was the reverse. I was then chasing

and trying very hard to create relationships with lovely maidens

To them I must have looked like the gorilla, the ghost or lion!

I failed miserably every time!

Brian is hosting at d’Verse Meeting the Bar with -  blind poetry
(to use all of our senses except sight)

Who Would Have Thought!

                                                                                       Attribution: Marie Lan Nguyen
Image:   Julius Caesar at the Louvre (here)
                                                               

Who would have thought!

Caesar had reached the English

Channel and crossed the Rhine

The first Roman General to do so

Who would have thought!

He fell out with Pompey who was

Earlier aligned to him against the Senate

Who would have thought!

Upon the end of the Gallic wars

Caesar would return triumphant

And entered Roman territory

Under arms against the Senate’s

Wishes and it led to civil war

And he emerged victorious

Who would have thought!

He noticed the likes of Cassius

With his lean and hungry looks

And  had voiced his suspicions

But had not taken seriously the

soothsayer's premonition
who forewarned him of the
dangers of the Ides of March

Who would have thought!

The vicious daggers that plunged

Upon his body and upon turning 

Around with guarded shock 

To exclaim ‘Et tu Brute? ‘

Who would have thought!
In 2 day's time the anniversary
of his assassination in 44 BC

Written for Susan's hosting at Poets United's :
Mid-week Motif  : Prescience/Foresight

Patterns of Good Living!

                                                                                             Attribution: Alex Proimos
Image: A Crowd at Leisure (here)

3WW with words:

devout indulgent smug.

Mankind in all of their dealings

Relate to a myriad of ways

Goodness the way for most beings

But some unscrupulous ones hold sway

Those virtuous hold their heads high

Honesty supreme devout in resolve

Sincerity in high esteem and well nigh

Oiling well the wheels of progress

But indulgent in all abundance

On the contrary are those wayward

Smug in conceit, greed and connivance

Barriers to good living untoward

Balance of the reverent and insincere

Playground of both angels and devils

The way of the karma, yin and yang

Choice open to both good and evil

For Thomg's 3WW 

Dreams' Manifestations!

                                                                                          Attribution:  Nhobgood

Image : Dreamlike Colors and Movements (here)

"Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in

dreams than the imagination when awake? 

-          Leonardo da Vinci

Dreams in all fairness

Manifests itself devoid

of any constraints

Imaginations

When awake are subject to

contaminations

Lulled into peaceful

encounters dreams encompass

realities and hopes

Chev's CARPE DIEM Use That Quote #4 - haiku
inspired from da Vinci's quotation

Lost Trudging Alone!

     

                                                                                                Attribution: Peripitus
Image:  Arid Unfriendly Dry Land  (here)

42 of 51 chosen words are:
washing blinds swollen defective shell steering 
waste sandstone riddled silly suddenly fear logic 
muddled sodden flaked notch inside touts natural 
self mirage rings applause library, dreams casually 
transplant scams heart clarity dusk today age turtle 
palms woolen ripe tea flowing please sustains

Washing it down his throat
Bright sunlight blinds his vision
He takes another swig laid back
Throws the empty bottle away
His face swollen, voice crackling
defective sounds from a tongue
long dry trudging the arid region

Shell of a man steering himself
through the waste-lands where
sandstone by the hillside is riddled
with bullet holes and spent shells
scattered silly along his path

Suddenly fear beyond logic muddled
his sodden thoughts and flaked his thinking
A notch inside touts his natural self
Mirage in his mind rings an applause
while a library of dreams casually transplant
scams in his heart that create clarity

He must get out before dusk today!
At his age turtle-like he plods on
His palms sweating under the tattered
woolen and all the while ripe in his
imagination seeing cold iced lemon tea
flowing for a change...

‘Please… …!’  he muttered but it at least
sustains his strength

Written for Yousei Hime's hosting at We Write Poems Wordle #9
(A Blockbuster) and Kerry's Open Link Monday at Real Toads

Awareness of Inner Self

                                                                                     Attribution: Luis Sanchez
Image: Santiago De Compostela (here)

Lone leisurely pace

Clouds up in heavens above

Bidding company

Pilgrimage in search

Awareness of inner self

Return to one’s roots

Exhaustive efforts

Elusive by nature but

Plodding all along

Chev's CARPE DIEM Special #81: Pilgrimage 

to Santiago De Compostela (part 7) and shared with

Haiku Horizon:   Return and
Kerry's Open Link Monday at Real Toads

His Little Domain!

                                                  Lee Plaza Hotel, Detroit, photo by Bonnie Beechler

Image: Courtesy of Tess' Mag

A homeless

who felt hopeless

Had only cardboards

for shelter

Finally he found

a place abandoned

Not far from here

Better than most

A roof

over the head

Got back the cardboards

To fashion a bed

Portable TV

On the table

A lot easy

If he was able

To make the cooker

work would be sensible

Broken padded chairs

Were quite a scare

But himself a handyman

He would make it his domain

‘Just give me a little time

It’ll be spick and span!

Luxury of time
Is in my hands'

Written for Tess’ Magpie Tales #210

'Ones That Got Away'

Image: Hank with a biggie grouper during one
of his fishing trips a long time ago. It was quite
a testing time trying to land the catch. We could
finally do it with the pole with a hook at its end

Sunday Whirl Wordle with words:

bake catch celebrate cotton jelly

leaves miss paradise platter row trip

None to celebrate

A half-baked catch

Nothing to elaborate

Seemed too far fetched

Were ‘slippery like jelly’

Just excuses be wary

‘Ones that got away’

Not to cause dismay

Had used wrong 'tools'

Worms were classic

Leaves or cotton wool

Were lures so meek

It was no paradise

Back from a fishing trip

With nothing to realize

Big catch gave the slip

Just row back to shore
To miss a dinner platter
Otherwise of one's own catch
Would have been the best!

Written for Brenda's hosting at Sunday Whirl #151
shared with Mary's Poetry Pantry #192 at Poets United

The Rat Race - MF

Image: Courtesy of Grandma's Goulash

Going through life's slush

to catch up with those ahead

is testing. Enduring the

proverbial question of a

non-self starter is unsettling!

(140 characters)

To write a Micro Fiction of not exceeding 140 characters
and  to include ‘proverb’ as the word of the week

For Linda’s Succinctly Yours week #155
at Grandma’s Goulash 

Darting Shadows Lurking

                                    Attribution: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 3.0
Image: Mong Bridge, Ho Chi Minh City   (here)

Massive structure but

with shadows lurking under

Over calm waters

Cold, ghostly quiet

Stillness in the dark waiting

 For a cue to move

Rumble overhead

Wheels of rolling vehicles

Darting shadows move

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 all about shadows

Unlucky Feline - a Tetractys

                                                                                                 Attribution: Kerelj

Image: Out of Luck (here)

Oy!

Nippy

up a tree

Perched patiently

Lodged in a feeder birdhouse hoping for

wayward hungry birds that might make a stop

What luck is this!

Been waiting

this long

Rats!

Note: A Tetractys, a poetic form invented by Ray Stebbing

consisting of 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10 syllables. A Tetractys 

can be written as a Double Tetractys with 2 verses, but must 

follow suit with an inverted syllable count. The above is such a
Double Tetractys of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1 syllables

Kathe had invited any feline posting for
Feline Friday at  It's a Snap!

Unshackled to roam!

                                                                               Attribution: Chester A Read

Image: In a Row Chirping  (here)

Unshackled to roam

Oblivious of drifting mist

Warm welcome assured

Birds chirping wary

of new found freedom happy

to be the lookout

Pilgrims down below

Advancing unhindered buoyed

by nature’s blessings

Chev's CARPE DIEM #416  -  freedom

Stumbled into but Loving it!

                                                                                Attribution: Jalayou
Image: Thank God it's Frday! (here)

Sacrilege not to write
Facilities available on the 'net
Community so pleasant
Boosts one's presence

Personal challenge
Righteous satisfaction
Opens up new horizons
which otherwise remain dormant

Never a writer but appreciated poetry
Now a discovery writing daily
Time well spent albeit sedentary

But can one be faulted
Remaining in the shadows
Lamenting life's woes?
(55 words)


Written for Gay's hosting at d'Verse on Poetic Movements and
Manifesto in writings and shared with G-Man's Friday 55

The Last Remaining Days

                                                              Attribution: Australian Melodrama
Image: Message Loud and Clear (here)

Written for the following with prompts:
3WW : Credible. Decrepit, Pensive

Poetry Jam : Bottled
Theme Thursday: Power

Decrepit not quite himself

A weak derelict

of one once so powerful

that others trembled on

hearing his name

Head of a fighting machine

Credible in his dealings

Only to benefit his own window

On occasions pensive

in nature but held in awe

Where is that fighter

The one held sway

over other lesser beings

Commanding respect

Only by the prowess

of his sword

No more himself

Struggling even to keep upright

Bottled up emotions

Eroding his once alert mind

But now spoon fed

For his daily meals

Pampered with pampers

To thwart his daily needs

Such a pain to the eyes

Bedridden for some years

Existing only in name

In a coma

To account for his misdeeds

Against the innocents

Will those with power

To press the button

of conflicts and conflagration

suffer the same fate?

Written for Thomg's hosting at 3WW and Peggy's at Poetry Jam and
Mrsupole's Theme Thursday