Flow

Life's river 
melded this old pair.
Its eddies
and currents
bore them aloft, many years.
Now they dream beside its bank.

Thanks to Margaret Bednar for inspiring me to write this shadorma for In Tandem #18 - in between my coughing this afternoon!

Cosmic Balance And The Number Seven

Three, balanced on each side
of one central pivot;
seven days in a week,
seven stars, seven souls,
or seven deadly sins
in a rainbow's colours,
on seven continents.

'The Pleiades', is an unusual poetic form. It's aptly named: the seven lines can be said to represent the seven sisters, and the six syllables represent the nearly invisible nature of one sister.It is the subject of the post on Imaginary Garden today.
But seven measures many things, which set me thinking... and made me totally miss the fact that each line should have started with the same letter - sorry, peoples!


We can't get away from numbers. On this sixth day of November here are 160 characters for Monkey Man  which focus on the number five!

"Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder and treason should ever be forgot" thanks to Guy Fawkes!

Solitude

Over on d'Verse - PoetsPub, Form For All highlighted Japanese poetry. Do go and read what Lady Nyo has to say on the subject, in particular this:-
"There are basically two forms of poetry in the Man’yoshu: choka (long poem, 5-7-5-7-5-7, etc. ending in 7-7) and tanka.  (5-7-5-7-7)."
I have copied these characters which translate as 'Solitude', so here's my tanka inspired by that word..

Using memory
to trace my lover's outline,        
I am not alone
in forsaken arms of night
when my heart seeks his loving.

Eye Of The Beholder?

This Shadorma maybe shows how In Tandem pictures do strange things to my mind!
 

By Jinksy

Morning mist,

wet road hiss of tyres.

Polished car -

going far?

Motorway miles flashing by,

mesmerizing mind.

And here's another Shadorma for Thursday Think Tank, just to keep the form going...

At our feet,

By Ella

red-gold treasures fall
from tall trees
which shower
Autumn's bounty upon us;
an unsought splendour.