Says It All, Really...

A tongue in cheek offering for Magpie Tales this week - sorry, Tess!

Fact Or Fantasy?

When Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole, the last thing she expected to encounter was David Attenborough in the midst of his latest quest for the Easter Bunny.

This flight of fancy is in answer to Poetry Jam's request for something nobody knew about before, whether in myth or fiction. By a strange coincidence, I have captured the astonishing story in 160 characters, which will no doubt please Monkey Man, too. Nobody can accuse me of not being economical - either with the truth, or the words...
And Haiku Heights have the word 'lost' for today, so I couldn't resist adding an offering for that, inspired by the same graphic..

Alice lost balance
and found an unexpected
world awaitng her.

TWIST

Imaginary Garden chose the word 'twist'. and this is what my twisted mind made of the prompt!

Ice Cave

by jinksy

Temperatures rise.
Melting drips of ice water
sing Spring's melody.


A last minute entry for Haiku Heights challenge this week. They gave us the prompt word 'Water', and I took a chilly view!

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!

Imaginary Garden sent us in search of Big Bad Wolf, or other scary creatures. I've found one I'd not like to meet on a dark night...                             

Fear

In the night
colours fight;
they instil fear,
exploding here.
A shapeless form
far from norm
makes us quake
until we wake...

In The Pink

Margaret Bednar's  picture of a pink house, featured on In Tandem #11, inspired me to paint this. Rather than write a poem, I chose to paint the 'feel' of her work...

 

And for the second picture I wrote a trio of shadormas - six lines of 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllables.

Night Boat

Ferryman

steers his patient craft
through the dusk,
a beacon
brighter than My Lady Moon
who has yet to rise.

Rhythmic wash
of waves on pebbles
weaves around
chugging sound
of ferryboat melody,
a symphonic poem.

Islanders
listen to its voice,
familiar
assurance
saying all's well in their world
where sea is master.

Including the title, would you believe that this trilogy comes to exactly 55 words? G-man must have been looking over my shoulder as I wrote! LOL

Nearly Missed It!

Detail: Ainsley Allmark

Night Songs

When  moonlight lulls the land in dreamless sleep
and blanket shadows nestle on the hills,
the world sings lullabies. Each note rings true
as carillions of bells chime echoes
across the mountains. Faery music drifts
on breezes which disturb the still night air
to waft away all traces of the day.

Their melodies invade our sleep-locked minds
though eyelids flutter, and the sleepers sigh
with contentment, wrapped in night's soft mantle
till morning plays its waking symphony.

I can't believe that Poetry Jam had an Ainsley Allmark moon picture prompt this week. Without seeing their blog, I wrote this poem on Thursday, and had almost forgotten about it.  But here it is now.
And as it wasn't written specifically for any prompt, I'm now linking it to Imaginary Garden....

A Friday 55 Flash In The Pan!

The Circle of Life and the Wheel of Fortune roll in unison, sometimes synchronized, but occasionally out of kilter. We sense life speeding by, but remain static. Locked in combat with the passing days, attempting to slow the roundabout race  in which time remains the passive victor, we are little more than cog or wheel.

With thanks to the creator of the image and to G-Man for the concept of 55 flashes.

Tides

Tides rise and fall, and in their wake
we're left to bridge the gaps they make
in sea wall barriers of stone.
We fight the sea, which on its own
can cause the very shores to shake.

Its salty waters cannot slake
our thirst for knowledge. It would take
a greater man than I to own
tide's rise and fall.

Such power we cannot mistake.
Beneath the foaming waves that break,
land masses, used to lying prone,
will take on shapes as yet unknown,
until wild water gods forsake
tides' rise and fall.

An In Tandem rondeau for Imaginary Garden... and shared with The Poetry Pantry.

A Toad Of A Rondeau

For love grows cold when passion dies
and damps the fire in those eyes
which once had managed to beguile
in such an overwhelming style,
albeit overlaid with lies.

Perhaps it would have been more wise,
to forego wistful lover's sighs?
They last for such a little while,
for love grows cold.

And lovers who think otherwise,
as foolish thoughts start to arise,
may carry on full many a mile
to hide their doubts behind a smile.
But you and I learned how love flies,
for love grows cold.

With thanks to Paul Laurence Dunbar for 99% of the rhyme scheme, and to Grace at Imaginary Garden for getting my brain in gear this morning!

Early Bird Shadorma

For Poets United  prompt - 
Midnight Snack. (002)

Painting green
all over the skin
as a joke
is less fun
when it needs to be washed off
using cold water!

Spectres

 From an original painting by Andrew Wyeth
adapted by Jinksy

Out of dark-dream mists the spectres loom,
to swirl mis-shapen features through our minds
when shadow beings lurk inside each room.

Between the realms of fantasy and fact,
they populate all corridors of night,
and beckon us with talons gnarled and cracked.

Shades which come from Hades feed these ghouls
with blackest terrors. In sleep, they're unleashed
to pray upon unwary human's souls.

Thanks to Tess at Magpie Tales for her ghostly prompt this week, and to Poets United who provide another venue.

Loss

by jinksy

I could not easily express the thoughts
which wrapped my soul in saddest cloth of blue,
coloured every day with emptiness
in those spaces in between each breath.
Through chinks in time I glimpsed companionship
the like of which I never thought to know.
What a paradox. The closer that I came
to you, the further you withdrew, and I,
I was left more alone than ever...

Last weekend, D'verse  - Poets Pub** highlighted the subject of sorrow and loss of all kinds. I think this poem might have been a contender, but I missed the Linky List by 25 minutes.  In the meantime, I  am linking to Poets United who have a better time scale, and Theme Thursday who have communication as a subject which I need to practise...
And as Blogland Time seems to be in a different dimension, here's a link to Monday's Imaginary Garden on Tuesday...
** So I've linked to Open Link Night, instead!

Poor Sam!

Cad, at A Trellis Fencing  used the character of Sam for his latest In Tandem offering, and I've taken this same Sam as role model in my post for Poetry Jam this week. Their chosen subject ?  A drug-driven society!

Sam went to the doctor's with backache
he'd been gardening out in the rain,
and he'd ended up with the lumbago.
The Doc said "Oh, Sam, not again!

I'll give you some pills to correct it
would you like 'em red, yellow or blue?
Of course they might be a placebo,
but just swallow 'em. There, that'll do!"

So Sam swallowed the pills like a good 'un.
The backache was gone in a week,
and Sam carried on his garden -
he's a bit of a gardening freak.

But then a calamity struck him -
or really the end of the rake -
for Sam managed to stand on the wrong end,
and clout his own chin by mistake.

Sam went to the doctor's with face-ache,
though he wasn't the sort to complain,
not even when he felt his heart ache,
but Doc said "Oh Sam, Not again!"

I'll give you some pills to correct it
would you like 'em red, yellow or blue?
Of course they might be a placebo,
but just swallow 'em. There, that'll do!"

The Source

For In Tandem #9

Bright waters of oblivion, in deepest streams of consciousness,
ripple and refresh all hidden corners of our lives.

Their currents move us forward at a pace the river chooses,
and as human flotsam-jetsam, we all float, but who knows why?

Still across the crystal surface of this source which bubbles upwards,
the shadow leaves goes whirling, each a life with its own path.

But these rivers do not falter, are fulfilled by every journey
without a thought of where they flow or what is meant to be...

This was what the second In Tandem image called forth this afternoon -  I only wrote down the words - I leave the interpretation to the reader!
And today. 8/10/2012, I've linked to IGWRT, fo a second airing...

Means To An End

For In Tandem #9

In Autumn,
dessicated leaves
remember
a Summer
when drought was their enemy.
They whisper " Farewell!"

By next year
their scattered remains
will enrich
a seed bed
planted with their progeny
who'll whisper "Hello!"

This is for In Tandem #9, first image..

Bad Poetry? Here I Come!

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads have surpassed themselves, by introducing a Bad Poetry Competition. They dare us to write a cringe making example on the spot, so how could I resist? It's not even 7am, but a ghostly shade of McGonagall crept close and whispered these words straight into my ear...

Ballad Verse From Bad To Worse

O mighty pen so full of ink,
of a bad poem make me think!
I long to see your old blue-black
pile up words like a pancake stack
of syrup covered waffle writing.
Mind you don't make it exciting.
Use no dictionary's rhyming,
only simple words let climb in

to your carefully built tower
of random ideas, wielding power.
Let them trickle down the page
and send real poets, in a rage,
to tear their hair and leave the scene
to stanzas who are all has beens..
"Has been whats?" I hear you cry
as a tear spills from your eye.


Then add a cliché, maybe two -
my heart will bleed for love of you.
And if you could concoct a sonnet,
I'd put a feather in my bonnet
in your honour, O quill pen.
When shall we two meet again?
Will it be before nightfall?
Or even, please God, not at all!

And I've linked this to d'Verse, hopefully to stop people becoming too serious over poetic niceties! LOL

Inspiration

Mind like a kaleidoscope stores
images and whirls them into space.
They loose identity,  but reclaim soul
with each reincarnation of form.
Shapes and colours reinvent themselves,
lead down different pathways to an end
entirely unknown to their creator,
but recognised as the destination,
once is has appeared upon the screen.

Thanks to Tess at Magpie Tales for giving us this chance of yet another flight of fancy..

James Dean

There is a tenuous link between this film personality and the following attempt at an Irish Sonnet I wrote today. I'd never heard of this particular sonnet form before, so I wrote down the rhyme scheme but not the name of the Blog on which I found it! If you recognise yourself as that blogger, please tell me where to find you again, and I'll add a link to your blog! Anyhow here's my offering.

Photographs give the lie to time,
capturing one moment in a frame.
Their magic is not easy to define,
for memory replays a different game
which doesn't guarantee to see the same
details locked within its secret room.
Its rose may answer to a different name,
with perfume tainted by an air of gloom
which leaves an aura of impending doom
to reminiscence of a bygone age,
enfolded as it is in every bloom.
Our players have already left the stage,
and though our sensibilities may rage,
our sadness at such loss we can't assuage.

Now I find d'Verse chose Silent Films for their prompt yesterday - And the coincidence of this film theme was too good to miss. I hope they forgive me...
I'm also linking this to Real Toads, if nobody minds...

Born Again

The Spirit of the Sea casts herself upon the rocks, a wave-death which ends only to be repeated with the next crest. Her victory over death is for all eternity.

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads gave us this picture for a Friday prompt. With Sunday already on the horizon, I have written 160 characters which will fit the bill for Monkey Man's weekly challenge, too. Thanks people!

Tall Tales Tanka

Image courtesy of Ella

Because Queen Sunfire
cannot come too close to Earth,
she sends Sunflowers.

Rays from their shining petals

spread happiness in our hearts.

  

Thanks to Thursday Think Tank for this beautiful image prompt.

Look!

Adapted from an original image by Tess Kincaid

Look to the sun
to lift your spirits, make you smile.
Look to the sun,
whose daily toil is never done
but stretches out full many a mile
in order that it may beguile.
Look to the sun!

Thanks to Imaginary Garden, I've been beguiled into writing a Rondelet, a poetic form which will be explained for you if you click on their name above. 
And while on the subject of sun, here are three Lanturnes, for good measure, with thanks to Margo Roby for introducing them to me - or me to them!

Sun
shining
overhead
creates inner
peace.

The
ripples
of shadows
help to soften
glare.

Their
blanket
will cover
until morning.
Sleep!

And now I've added the lot to Poetry Pantry, as waste not want not!

Bookends

Stillness spreads
over the landscape
as morning
or evening
stands poised on the horizon
of another day. 

This shadorma (a six line stanza of 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllables) is for In Tandem #8
and for Natasha's picture, here's a haiku (5/7/5 syllables).

Mood adds its colour
to all our actions.
Life is a palette.

 

And now I've added these to Poetry Pantry Linky List, too.

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!

In Tandem #3

This week the Tandem has two riders! Margaret Bednar has offered one of her original artworks to accompany mine.  I thought our two styles of portraits might make an interesting contrast...
They seemed to have a strange affinity, one with the other .

digital sketch by jinksy

Maybe this is another chance for the storytellers. Let's see...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...

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...