This week’s #TankaTuesday prompt from WordCraft Poetry is to write an ekphrastic poem, a poem inspired by visual art. Reena provided a piece of her artwork for the challenge. My response is a tanka with a syllable count of 5/7/5/7/7.
*
Butterflies Bloom
*
riot of color
wild whimsy overlapping
patterned with daydreams
a mosaic of summer
where neon butterflies bloom
women dance their prayers
crowned in wreaths of wild color
in whirling skirts of flowers
arms entwined with arms
else breaking hearts bleed red streams
and children forget
love exists and joy endures
the dark whims of violence
nightmare days of warring men
**
The #TankaTuesday challenge this week explores Ekphrastic poetry inspired by visual art. The artwork was chosen by Colleen from WordCraft Poetry and poet and blogger Selma Martin. Their selection relies heavily on current events, however they wanted to be clear that their choice “is not a celebration of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and they both “support Ukraine in its efforts to maintain its sovereignty.”
This poem is a syllabic form called a chōka with syllable counts of 5-7-7-5-7-5-7-7-7.
I chose to write about women as the bearers of hope, the guardians of children, and the protectors of joy and love during the dark days of war. (I know countless men share these qualities too).
(A short break in the TBR Challenge reblogs for a little poetry)
She is fortunate to read at all. Her slender fingers stray from the pages, unblemished but for a random papercut. Beyond her window, other women toil until their skin toughens into leather, and raw knuckles wear down to bones. Their spines crack beneath the weight of necessity, poor lots destined from the day they were born. She is privileged. This she knows. Granted by happenstance her wish to learn the arts of anatomy and history and politics. To peruse through pages of poetry and philosophy, to dip her quill and tally accounts. She will excel in the learned world of power. But she is still a girl.
studies surrender
lost in red velvet daydreams
murmurs of passion
love’s silk breath blushes her cheeks
wishes in a crystal ball
*
Thank you to Colleen over at Wordcraft Poetry for the lovely image to use as an prompt for this week’s Ekphrastic poetry. Ekphrastic poems respond to a piece of art. I went with a tanka prose poem. It has one paragraph and one tanka with 5/7/5/7/7 syllables.
Something short today! Yay!
This poem is in response to Colleen Chesebro’s #Tanka Tuesday challenge. It needed to include synonyms for Eager & Hope provided by Sally Cronin. It’s a syllabic poem called a Double Ennead consisting of 3 stanzas with syllables 6/5/11/6/5.
My goal was to capture the theme of my current WIP: The Ferryman and the Sea Witch.
Beware a dark bargain
A craft of desire
Conspired with the merrow’s silver-tailed witch
Her golden-tongued harpoon
Bristles with veiled barbs
She feasts on treasure-dreams
Conjured from sea beds
Her oaths, leviathans steeped in deception
Plunged in mountainous waves
She drowns the reckless
Or forsake her plunder
Mortal in the brine
A quiet heart surrenders to airlessness
Clasping pearls of courage
Deep in love redeemed
This is my last post for a few weeks as I sign off for the holidays. I wish you all a happy holiday season filled with peace, love, and good health. May we have a new year full of kindness and hope. ❤
This poem is in response to the image Colleen Chesebro provided for her #Tanka Tuesday Challenge. The poem is a garland cinquain.
Bow down
to winter’s wheel
when sacred smoke ascends
blends in the hushed whiteness of breath
spirit
sleepless
gather our dreams
life’s unspoken secrets
tales of longing words of solace
unseen
our eyes
cannot behold
the warp and weft of love
nor peace and bliss, a swallow’s song
a chant
our hands
cannot unwrap
whispers of forgiveness
a prayer in a child’s heart
a hope
in grace
we surrender
to winter’s darkest night
the gifts of the invisible
renewed
bow down
gather our dreams
the weft and weave of love
a prayer in a child’s heart
renewed.
I had the great honor of choosing the image for Colleen’s syllabic poetry challenge this week. So, of course, I had to play.
This is a crown cinquain. Each of the five stanzas has five lines of 2/4/6/8/2 syllables.
Winter
frees her fair hair
hushed in her reflection
by the sparrow’s river she kneels
entranced
…
she wills
doves to gather
on the night’s bare branches
as autumn yields its golden crown
to cold
…
she weaves
her white tresses
into lace coverlets
unfurls across the towhee’s nest
her gift
…
magic
silvers the boughs
stirred by the horned owl’s wing
in flight between the evergreen
she waits
…
snow child
whispers a hymn
rapt by her own beauty
tranquil in the holy dawn of
winter
Colleen’s #Tanka Tuesday challenge this week was to write a syllabic poem based on a #PhotoPrompt provided by Trent McDonald, or a #SynonymsOnly prompt provided by David Ellis, using synonyms of the words “make” and “move.”
I decided to do both in a double nonet. My synonyms are “mirrors” and “turned.”
a beholder’s eye mirrors the mind
blind to the bafflement of lies
where seeing’s not believing
a world turned upside down
in clever madness
leading white swans
to slaughter
plucked of
heart
yet
wisdom
shall surface
for truth is love
unfurled on bright wings
beyond proud illusions
swans glide on tranquil waters
holding unguarded the others’
beloved reflections face to face
pixabay image
The soil is charmed, morning-cool, and damp from last night’s dew. Droplets of light embroider a rose’s scarlet petals, and the zucchini by the stone wall lifts its giant green hands to catch the midsummer sun. Warmth drips like a fountain. The trees clap their leaves in approval. I don’t wear gloves and my fingernails are caked with dirt. Today, I’ll plant another batch of wrinkled kale and buttery coreopsis. I’ll pick broccoli and make a bouquet of wild daisies to brighten my kitchen sill. The bees hum a symphony. As I brush my fingers on my jeans, the enchantment of the hallowed earth sustains me for another day.
Despair cannot bind
A spirit to hopelessness
A heart to darkness
When rooted in sacred ground
Consecrated by the Earth
***
A haibun/tanka for Colleen Chesebro’s #Tanka Tuesday.
We had to use synonyms of Hex and Blessed (enchantment and hallowed)
image copyright 2019 Willow Willers
mehndi
love painted hands
palms offering the world
the beauty of hearts awakened
sacred
umber
scented color
my bridal ritual
bless me with joyful abundance
wisdom
sweet love
enchant my skin
butterflies transform me
lotus stirs my soul to flower
freedom
water
ripples of change
sunbirds carry my prayers
on gossamer dragonfly wings
reborn
guide me
auspicious art
drawn in ancient symbols
even the gods and goddesses
adorned
**
My first crown cinquain ever.
Written in response to Colleen Chesebro’s #Tanka Tuesday challenge.
The prompt this week was this beautiful photo by Willow Willers.
Pixabay image by Michael Seibt
“Cross the bridge.” The crone points her staff to a log spanning a luminous pool.
I squint at the strange collection of creatures impeding my way. I’ve been lost for days in the swamp’s wet greenness, breathing the emerald dew. So many moons that knobby horns sprout from my skull. Vines weave through the fibers of my clothes, and my skin grows iridescent scales in myriad hues of moss. I am hungry despite a bellyful of beetles.
Upon the bridge, a naiad plays her flute, the sound hypnotic though the melody unfurls backward. “Wayward magic,” mutter I, one wary soul who’s encountered these tricksters before. Does this one revel in opposites, mirrored reflections? Which is real, the opposite of whom? Is there any way to know what’s true? My ears droop at the bothersome riddle.
The pipe’s dulcet sound charms a viper, its crescent fangs smiling. Safeguarding or warning? Did the sprite awaken the snake, or does she lull it to sleep? Beneficent or Mischievous? I wrinkle my snout in study. And which of the two covet the poppy? All three could be lethal to me. Beautiful peril, perilous beauty. Or simply a flower?
“How am I to cross?” ask I, my jade whiskers twitching.
The faceless hag shrugs.
choose your poison, child
life implies no guarantees
forsake illusive
dreams of immortality
perception decides the truth
**
I had the privilege in September of choosing October’s mid-month photo image for Colleen’s #Tanka Tuesday. What fun to finally write for this fairytale image. If you enjoy syllabic poetry, visit her site and check out her fun prompts. Thanks, Colleen.
Myths of the Mirror 