Labour Of Love

For this week's Mag #113 prompt Tess gave us a picture by  Marc Chagall, called 'Red Roofs'.
I have taken a detail and adapted it to fit my tale, told in four shadormas - syllabic verses which follow a pattern of 3/5/3/3/7/5, in six lines.

Weary man
wipes perspiration
on his sleeve.
Fixing tiles
is not an occupation
which he can enjoy.

Heat reflects
upwards from the roof.
Summer sun
on his back
burns through the material
of a cotton shirt.

Only fear
of coming winter's
wind and rain
motivates
him to continue labour
with no thought of rest.

But when storms
rage round his homestead,
he'll rejoice
and recall
this day's work with gratitude,
all pain forgotten.

A Collective 2012

For an explanation of the following lines, and why they have been written, you will need to visit Imaginary Garden With Real Toads 

Some claim April rain
brings the blossoms of May,                           Grace O'Malley
but trees here are hasty           

like youth, ardor unrestrained       
eager for spring's first sweet kiss                    Art Happens 365

Sakura blossoms                          
In the arms of old man tree                             Skylover
Drops of moonlit milk

showgirls will perform a dance           
inspired by Moon light’s embrace                  Ella

her graceful waves in                         
a risqué spring ballet, legs                             Laurie Kolp
kick the darkened sky,

stars wink at rainbow feathers            
that tease with each fluttering.                       Susie Clevenger

My full heart flutters,                         
I become dancer and dance                           Other Mary
under April’s moon

and a blossoming cherry
in the sweet, full warmth of May.                 Kay, Alberta, Canada        

And we, resting far                                  
north where snow still flies and melts          Sunflower Shan
await midnight sun.

Polar day will not circle         
on cosmic calliope.                                          Jinksy

Pegasus gallops
to the music of the spheres,                             Caddoc Trellis
while star clusters spin.

The earth spins on its axis,                            
hums its music in B flat.                                  Margo Roby 

Spring pirouettes ice
spun sugar and crystal shards                        Misky
across the cosmos

silver vessel half moon
empties dawn into morning                          Jules

The night bids farewell.
Leaving a trail of stardust                              The Happy Amateur
it flies on its way.

Restored to herself, the earth                        (ditto)
Resumes her orderly spin
  

( Saturday, 8 a.m.. I've been updating to include later entries so far, but it's become too confusing to keep up! The best place to see them will be HERE)

And now, in May , the finished renga may be enjoyed in full, HERE, thanks to the organisational skills of Grace , over at IGWRT.

A New Day

The hatchling
danced in the dawn light.
Prying eyes
of the world
could not see her boundless joy
in new found freedom.



Inspired by Tess at Mag #112 and  her original image by djajakarta

Strictly For The Birds

First came the nest.
Then all the rest,
in season.
No further reason
needed for a pair
of birds, except where...
and how many eggs to lay.
One day,
a Mummy duck laid one.
"Way-hey! here I come!"
her duckling peeped
as the water seeped
around him.
"It's grim. I must swim!"
I'm not like that man.
He can
take off his shoes
and choose
to stay nest-bound,
on the ground.
I shall head for the high seas
if it please
me. My brain's not addled."
And off he paddled...

This is the Mag #111 picture by ParkeHarrison, which sent me dashing for my computer wizardry. This happened to give me the gift of duck 'shape', eventually. It set me versifying. April Fool's Day seemed an opportune date for such an offering....

Celebrity Dreams

Tess chose for this week's Mag #110 an image by Duane Michals, and here is my interpretation of a detail from it, together with a shadorma - a poetry form which has six lines of  3/5/3/3/7/5 syllables.

A rock star
shines until burnout
overtakes
the glitter
of footlights; skies cloud over
with disappointment.

 I thought I'd let you see the intermediate stage of the image from which I chose the detail I finally used...

See The Connection?

The one between life and laughter, I mean - though cooking and recipes connect well, too! Poetry Jam is responsible for this mixture.

Cooking is a gentle art –
until one day it falls apart
and best laid plans of recipes
come unstuck, for all to see!
A cake that’s soggy in the middle
will maybe give the cook a giggle,
when he sees the state it’s in,
before he lobs it in the bin!

But one ingredient never mentioned,
even by the well intentioned,
is a special sense of humour.
It’s a fact, not just a rumour,
that laughing at the trials of life
will add a very special spice
to every dish,  both sweet and savoury
and it won’t add a single calorie!

A Happy 55

The saying goes
‘Laugh and grow fat’. 
This jolly fellow
has done just that.
But his belly won’t wobble,
his laugh won’t be heard
He’s a sound proofed  Buddha!
How absurd!
He’ll never utter a single word
for he's made of wood –
though he does look good
with his big grin –
wish I were him!

Go see the G-Man for more 55's.

Save The Muffin Man

Four and twenty blackbirds
got baked inside a pie...
but I'm inside this muffin.
Can you hear me cry?
The steam is rising from the top
and I am nothing if not hot
and wondering just how I got
into the mix.
I'm in a fix.
Help!

Posted for The Mag 108

Surprise

For today's Mag 107, Tess used an image created by Sarolta Bán.  However,  I couldn't resist adding a Jinksy twist to better suit the two limericks I wrote...Apologies all round!

Here's the first:-

There was a young film buff from Towcester**
who fell for the girl on the poster.
"I'm her number one fan.
If I were leading man,
I'd choose her at once for my co-star!"

And here's the second:-

A photographer chap from Kildare
filmed a model who tended to stare,
and her face on his wall
made him feel oh, so small
as her silent eyes shouted "Beware!"

**For my American Blogpals, here's a guide link to pronunciation of this place name!

Where Lies Inspiration?

Start with an image. Choose a portion to zoom and crop, then stop. Contemplate and rotate.

Was this a mistake, or does the image now seem fake? Shelves become partitions in this position. Lines of rolling tins become rolling stock on a conveyor belt of rail or road designed to withstand a heavy load...
It leads the mind in a new direction until it arrives at an interconnection of ideas.
After years of visual surprises, eyes have learned unusual ways of interpreting every day sights. Never mind what the subject might have been at the outset. Once imagination is let loose,  there's no use curbing thought. It does what it aught, and gives us the gift of a poem...

 And this is my gift of a shadorma, for the Mag this week. With thanks to Tess - and Andy Warhol!

Change colour,
create graphic bulge.
A blurred, traffic filled highway
emerges,
its flowing
river-rush of vehicles
morphed from those red tins.

News Time Flash 55

See MAILonline news item

A man in Essex found a gold Rolex watch in the mud as he cleaned out a roadside drain. He took it to the police, who said it would legally be his in 30 days, if it wasn’t claimed…It has been.  The owner rewarded him, but I wonder by what percentage of its monetary value?

For more inventive stories, visit G-man's entourage.