In Tandem

by jinksy

Maybe this is one for the storytellers this week? Lets see...Using the graphic as inspiration:-

• Write your piece - poem, prose, whatever (just not TOO long, though, eh?)
• Post it on your own blog (and help yourself to my 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...

A Spoonful Of Jam?

Wide Awake

It’s night - the urge to sleep is gone.
Inexorably time ticks on.

Fussy, mechanical, busy tick-tock
of wind up alarm or mantel clock,
or spasmodic click of a battery quartz,
soft and even.
They’re companions of sorts,
for nothing is worse
in the stillness of night
than silence –
dark, complete and utter, 
when hovering thoughts intrude
to scutter around inside my brain.
Soon, there I go,
tossing and turning again.

Here I am, late, scraping out the pot of Poetry Jam  belonging to Jessica Maybury this week. 
Now it's Thursday Think Tank who have come up with a nighttime theme, so I couldn't resist linking this!

Another Man In An Iron Mask?

There once was a wrestler from Hay
whose face was so ugly, they say,
that people would ask
that he wear a black mask
to hide his poor physog away.

Thanks to Tess for her Magpie Marvel this week..

In Tandem

graphic by jinksy

Last week Elizabeth sent me another poetic offering for our recent Two In Tandem adventure, but said it would be her last, as pressure of work means her time for playing along will be curtailed.
What I read gave me the urge to produce a picture to fit, instead of the usual practice of her writing to fit my graphic!
I'm going to post it alone, with only a Mr Linky List, so anybody who decides to use it as a prompt, will not be influenced by her interpretation. But later in the week, I shall come back and edit the post to include Elizabeth's words.***

  ***And here they are

Golden wheat sways
beneath summer skies,
feeding hungry eyes
with promise of good
things remembered,
others still to come.

By Elizabeth Crawford    11/6/2011

Meantime:-

• Write your piece - poem, prose, whatever (just not TOO long, though, eh?)
• Post it on your own blog (and help yourself to my 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...

Housey Housey?

 Narrow street,
teeming lives hidden;
close packed doors
and windows
challenge people's privacy
with tight juxtaposition.

This is my shadorma, written for Neil Alexanders's photo as featured on One Stop Poetry's Challenge today.  
For those who are unfamiliar with this form, it consists of six syllabic lines, 3/5/3/3/7/7, and I particularly like it as an accompaniment to photographs.

Oops! Just realised that should have been 3/5/3/3/7/5 - sorry, people!

Two In Tandem # 9

By Jinksy

Hawk swoops through
autumn forest, playing
hide and seek with ever
changing shadows.

Piercing eyes spot
small movement.
She dives, releasing
cry of victory.

By Elizabeth  6/7/2011

Elizabeth Crawford caught the swift beat of wings in her words for this last minute change of my graphic for today's Tandem. 
But I've now decided to include the very different image I'd originally planned, to give people a choice of mood, if soaring wings should pass by them too quickly!

• Write your piece - poem, prose, whatever (just not TOO long, though, eh?)
• Post it
• 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...

Wheatfield With Rising Sun

By VincentVan Gogh

In a mind
not far from madness
speed of thought
left its marks
on canvas which we enjoy
in the cold light of reason.

The sun's light
shines from the painting
and we feel
the painter's
exuberant excitement
at capturing its power.

Who can say
where dividing lines lay?
Genius...
Lunacy...
Does beauty need a label
before it achieves value?

Thanks to Tess at Magpie Tales #72 for this artistic prompt.

Hop To It!

Rabbits lollop round about
and nibble at the treats
I carry in my bucket.
The grass tickles my feet,
and I have to keep them very still
while I watch the bunnies eat,
so they won't get frightened
and dash away from me...
I like to have them visit
and and say '"Hello!" you see.

For Monday's Child #50 - illustration by Clara Burd, with thanks to bkm.

Two In Tandem # 8

Dragon flies
through the night
leaving trail
of emerald light.

Do not mistake him
for Northern Lights-
he tells a story
of different sights.

Should he cause a breeze
with  his shadowed flight,
you need have no fear…
he’ll not alight …

He prefers jewels
that match his tail,
and we human beings
are far too pale!

Elizabeth Crawford has provided suitably draconian words for this week's Two in Tandem, and the Mister Linky List will give you a chance to copy the picture and post your own, if you feel inspired! 

• Write your piece
• Post it
• 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...

Polywogs?

Cool water's
hidden universe,
full of life,
holds many
marvels man can only see
by altering his viewpoint.

Another Magpie Tales challenge. Thanks Tess!

Up Where The Air Is Clear

Blue skies have depths where eyes travel light year distances with the blink of an eyelid's lash. They sweep away thought - and the mind free falls into space.

This is my Sunday 160 for Monkey Man, who is anything but blue!

Two In Tandem # 7

graphic by jinksy

Like

brush strokes,

memory

unfolds moving

deeper into past

where dark red of former

passion captures eye, holding

attention for way too many 

moments, giving rise to old feelings

gone to sepia stain of forgetting.

Elizabeth Crawford 6/18/11

Today, here is a thoughtful poem in Etheree form , written by Elizabeth, to accompany my seventh Tandem graphic, while she has graphics on her Unraveling blog for which I've written the words.


Now here for the first time is a Linky List, so you can help yourself to my 'painting' to use on your own blog, if the muse strikes and you'd like to join in. 

• Write your piece
• Post it
• Copy and paste the URL of your post, not blog, into the Linky Widget 
• Then go and see what some other Blogpals have come up with!

Have fun, people... 

Wednesday's Child Is Full Of Woe

What better place to flaunt this old saying, than on One Shot Poetry Wednesday?
Instead of being a lie-abed, I opted for starting the day by letting my sleep deprived mind do a little daydreaming, instead. Which may explain  this peculiar result...

No News Blues

Before a sign of sun signals
sensible souls to stir,
a four-in-the-morning moment 
dies a dull doldrums, slack tide death.

Will Wednesday
be a walk on the wild side
or a flash-in-the-pan panjandrum
of mid-week melancholy?

Too early to tell; toll the knell
and let who will be merry...
 
I hope to be back to normal in time for Two In Tandem tomorrow, when I shall endeavour to include a Linky List to tempt people to join in our Thursday frolics, the first of which you may find by clicking on the Tandem link above.

Take Notice

Jumping bean letters imprint images,
but no ink-stained fingers for them
only a tapping key tarantella
danced on a keyboard.

"Free board and lodging
for hard working words.
Must earn their keep."

So reads a notice in the window
of a mind in search of free verse.


See One Stop Poetry and Fireblossom for an explanation of this departure from my usual course!

And while it's still Monday, Magpie Tales nudged me to play with this other kind of framed image, and I decided to put them together, although a shadorma is not exactly free verse...

Set in stone,
this gem of beauty
has facets
carved in light.
Across untold centuries
its gaze will haunt us.

Maffick Monday # 1

I've met some terrible dancers
in the far off days of my youth.
Some were handsome and sprightly,
but others were brash and uncouth.

My toes got the bruises to prove it,
and patience would wear a bit thin,
but I never gave up on researching
the best bloke to lead me in a spin.

Too tall, and my nose hit the buttons
on their blazer or jacket, you see...
too short and their nose was the problem
because of where it reached on me...

I'd feel their hot breath down my cleavage,
and if their feet then lost the beat,
my toes would recoil in mock horror,
and I'd beat a hasty retreat!

Alicia's new Maffick Monday blog chose 'a terrible dancer' theme for her first prompt. Although the picture came via Google Images, I do actually have three ancient medals of my own - two for Ballroom and one for Latin American - all from the same ISTD examiners, so personally, I can be excused from the 'terrible' label, I think !

School's Out!

On a sunny, blustery afternoon last Monday, I'd finished my shopping, and decided to sit and watch the world go by before I came back to cook my meal.
The 'baby school' had just finished for the day, and I saw a tiny tot in her blue and white checked dress, pony tail swinging, trot past holding Dad's hand, looking very earnest.
A few moments later, she passed by again in the other direction, but this time holding a huge, chocolate topped ring doughnut from which she'd already taken a few bites. They had left her with brown striped cheeks, which made her look like The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.... I smiled...and I hope you do too! :)

This is a just a little snippet for I Saw Sunday , where you can find more things seen, heard or created this week...

Two In Tandem # 6

graphic by jinksy

Crystal Cave
of childhood
imagination
sparks memory
of long ago sense
of wonder,
safety
never to be found
again.


Elizabeth Crawford
12/6/2011

 Here is the latest collaboration - Elizabeth's words and my 'painting', which you are welcome to use on your blog if you you'd like to join in...but do leave us a link, so we can visit. Otherwise, if your  muse strikes, you can always give her free rein in a comment here!
At Unraveling each Tuesday,  the roles are reversed, for Elizabeth posts my poems inspired by her artwork. Do feel free to play along. Susannah, at Panopticulated has already decided to do so, and
I couldn't resist linking to Poets United Thursday Think Tank, as they have  a seaside theme today. Although I had no subject in my conscious mind when I  began painting, the end result did feel as though it encompassed land and water - i.e. some Neverland beach... 

Disillusion

graphic by jinksy

His dimples dented my heartstrings. Eighteen
to his twenty, we had plenty in common;
shared an uncommon view of the world...

and pig sties...

"Look, Pigloos!" he christened them,
eyes laughing. To his achitectural mind,
a toadstool ring turned into a town centre
from plans drawn up by a pixie council...

Like fools, we built fantasies.

But fate's hard hat could not prevent
demolition of our dreams. Too late
to alter direction, the next roundabout
forced us to take different lanes...

Half a life later, we met at a junction,
rode a dual carriageway, cruising...

until we crashed in a final pile up
when a danger sign said 'Road Closed'.


I've linked to One Shot Wednesday, even though I wrote this on Monday!

Meditation For Monday

Are these whorls
a shell's fingerprints?
Or only 
signs of time
spiralling beyond knowing
of either man or mollusc?

Which life force
teaches them to grow
according
to numbers
whose elegant mastery

creates their fragile beauty?

With thanks to Tess at Magpie Tales.

Street Art

Graffiti
takes on a new life
as colours
are altered,
backgrounds eliminated.
A work of art is revealed.

One Stop Poetry has a selection of pictures of this genre, but this one cries out for recognition...I apologise to the original artist for tinkering with his creation!