Shadows

By Penny Smith

And days fall like leaves from our tree of life...
Each changes colour between dawn and dusk,
makes a flutter of shadow across the moon's face
before a drift of stardust claims its soul.

But morning sunbeams clothe the tree anew
with furled and pleated leaf-buds made of gold.
A day unfolds according to a plan
held deep within its very substance, hidden.

No prying eyes of those who seek to learn
its final outcome from the start, will make
it give up secrets till the appointed time
for all to be revealed, and so we wait.

And days fall like leaves from our tree of life,
before a drift of stardust claims our souls.

Linked to Poets United Poetry Pantry #64 and d'Verse Open Link Night #7

Sniff, Sniff!

A baby's skin fresh from its bath:
new mown grass: fresh coffee:
dusty pavements after the rain:
the smell of home-made toffee.

Sulphur fumes and rotten eggs:
burning rubber tyres:
dry seaweed on a muddy shore:
the remnants of a fire.

All of these may flood your nose
and keep your nostrils twitching,
but it is still a case of choice,
as to which you find bewitching!

The Thursday Think Tank is making our noses work today...

Reminder For In Tandem #7 ?

I am a Mock Croc about to cry tears.
Nobody's seen me! It was one of my fears
that I'd be forgotten and stuck in a rut
because I moved house. I am sorry, but
I thought, with a Tandem, I'd not be alone.
That's why I set up a blog on its own...
No one's remembered where I hang out,
so from Alias Jinksy I'm giving a shout!
I won't snap my teeth, but give a croc smile
to any who come back in a little while
with poem or prose written in their own voice -
lets face it, people, I give you wide choice!

In case this leaves you thinking I have a case of the Galloping Nadgers, and have finally Flipped - well - perhaps I have.  But this is one of the pictures I offered as a writing prompt this week, complete with a Mr Linky List, not included as part of an Alias Jinksy post, but as a purpose built, specially created home for my graphic fantasies on In Tandem. I see several Blogpals have already left comments on my sonnet written for the first picture, but only the lovely Natasha has be kind enough to add a comment, with a promise to return - which she has right royally done! Click on her name for a taste of Butter Cream... Thanks Natasha for trying to spread the word on my behalf, even if you are a lone voice crying in the wilderness! Hehehe!

Bring It On

How do I paint a mood, capture the sun
on a day when grey has washed away its gold,
when life has scoured the shine off everyone
and left them shadowed, jaded, feeling old?

I feel the thoughts of others in my mind,
and listen to their sadness. With written words
I try to soothe their pain. I search to find
an answer to those unasked pleas I've heard

for their spirits to be lightened, lifted...
Happiness, not easy to define,
waits to surface once all mists have shifted
from perception of the path. Time

revolves, so changes how we view each day,
and by such means must banish all dismay.




This is a late entry for Poetry Jam, and an early one for In tandem! I've also sneaked it into d'Verse Poetry Pub by the skin of my teeth...

For Sale

It's window shopping,

not the usual method.

Smiles three-a-penny.

 
With thanks to Tess for her prompt at Magpie Tales.

Sunday 160

Monkey Man started me thinking about hands with his post today. He asks that we contain our thoughts in 160 characters.

Young hands with a world of exploration at their fingertips, hold a new piece of gadgetry. There is much they will have to learn about life, let alone a phone.

I think this will double up for Susannah's I Saw Sunday as well! Two birds with one stone, and all that!

Thursday Think Tank #62

See Poets United for more alphabet soup...

Third in line,
in Penelope
or Jinksy.
Two names joined from head to toe
complete my picture.

Be Cool!

by Penny Smith

Water-world
imagination
paints colours
in cool shades
to fill fevered hearts and minds
with serenity.

This is a shadorma I've written for In Tandem #6, a syllabic verse of 3/5/3/3/7/5 over six lines. I've also linked it to The Poetry Pantry.

In Tandem # 5

My widget has no shelf life! It will remain for a good week, so using one or both images as inspiration:-

•             Write your piece - poem, prose, whatever (just not too long, though, eh?)
•             Post it on your own blog (and help yourself to a picture)
•             Copy and paste the URL of your post, not blog, into the Linky Widget
•             Leave a comment, then go and see what some other Blogpals have come up with!
•             Have fun, people-  but please note,  this Mr Linky List is not there simply as a free lead in to your totally unrelated blog! All such entries from people not playing the game will be deleted.

1. Caddoc Trellis 2. A New Day 3. Jinksy 4. jabblog uk

5. Ricardo 6. Rinkly Rimes 7. vivienne blake 8. Sweta -1st pic

9. CC Champagne 10. Ann Grenier

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

In Tandem #4

My widget has no shelf life! It will remain for a good week, so using one or both images as inspiration:-

•         Write your piece - poem, prose, whatever (just not too long, though, eh?)
•         Post it on your own blog (and help yourself to a picture)
•         Copy and paste the URL of your post, not blog, into the Linky Widget
•         Leave a comment, then go and see what some other Blogpals have come up with!
•         Have fun, people...

Spin Off

A blistering sun
whirls to spin heat waves to Earth.
Dragon breathes fire.

Thanks to Tess for a Magpie Prompt which set my mind spinning in other directions!

And because hot weather makes everybody think watery thoughts, here's a picture from BKM at Monday's Child, which will cool us all nicely!

Frogs went a-leaping, one two three.
Duck went a-quacking "Come with me!
Let's go for a paddle till it's time for tea!"
Little boy listened, hands on his knees.
"Look, I've got my shoes off! I'm ready as can be!"

I Saw Sunday

Life force from these buds bursts from the screen. A triangle of knapped flint arrowhead leaves pinpoints  us, the  observer, to bear witness to their beauty...

Green spirals seek anchorage for a scarlet bug...  and a plane hums by overhead, drawing a straight line in the summer sky.

Thanks to Susannah for this prompt, which makes us think more about what we see, and to Monkey Man, who challenges us to say something in 160 characters. By judicious editing, the first paragraph fits this criteria!

Jammy Dodgers?

From her Poetry Jam grandstand view in seat number 47, The Bug has asked us to cogitate upon what life will look like from seat 67. To make this more difficult, she asks rhymers not to rhyme. 
So here's a little prose, instead... in 67 words!

Sixty seven? Twist that to seventy six. In six years that may be me...But I live in the now of not knowing, while showing scant interest in tomorrow. For  today is sufficient to do some of the things I should, plus many things which I simply choose to do. Did I imagine this simplicity would be possible when the path from forty seven stretched before me?

A Friday 55

The sky cries; its tears fall faster, as the drumming rhythm increases. Outlines blur, and foliage cowers under the deluge.

But clouds creep away, and only intermittent teardrops drip and plop about house and garden. The outdoor face, full of wet day sadness, peers through my windows, to see if I sympathise with its sorrow. 

55 words and  1 picture hot off the press for G-Man today!