Frost

finest lace
papers windowpane
winter rime


**

chilly sunlight
sneaks through the glass
brightens frost

Digital Photo by Sue
Prompt by One Deep Breath: Frost
poems and digital photos

Resolution Re-Run

New years by the score
have left me in doubt
as what more to leave out.
I gave up hard spirits,
tobacco and speeding,
soaped out my mouth
and even stopped fibbing.
I once gave up slouching
and dating bad men,
ran from intolerance
to pose on the fence.
I’m not pure lily white
but surely modest and mild.
I’ve come full circle
which is rather odd
so this year I resolve
to resume smokes and gin,
to step up my pace,
and regain ten pounds
while practicing road rage
and lewd finger waves.

I wish you a Great 2008!

This is a re-run. When I get these resolutions exactly right, I'll write a new list...

Same Age, Another Space

‘Aging gracefully’
predicts the glossy mag’s theme
and through plastic faces
indulgent seniors beam
and brag of lusty trysts
in distant places.

Clad in a tie-dyed floor-length T,
doubling as dress or nightie,
sans sucks, tucks or peels
I wonder who
let the air out of my arms,
brought my thighs to my knees,
and moved my fanny fat to tummy.

An all-day smile is not my way,
sometimes hateful thoughts
spill blithely from my lips.

Aging gracefully?
I’m just darned grateful
to still have my birth day hips.

Fractal created in Fractal Explorer

Sunday Scribblings Prompt: Now and Then

fractals

Poefusion 5

An American Sentence using Poefusion's Friday 5 prompt words: gilt, trace, scrivener, parapet, distal.



Near the parapet's distal frame, a monkish scrivener traced old gilt.

Wraparound

on hallowed ground
novices perform
a masquerade of plenty

...pave over local ashes
erect phallic rooflines
fingering the faded sky

...chastise the jaded
flail the weary watchers
with their hackneyed play




Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
Totally Optional Prompts offered 'Moon Island'...
fractals

3WW

An American Sentence...

Curious feline watched gloom eventually yield a drowning shower.






Digital Photo by Sue - Raindrops by IrfanView

Prompt words: curious, eventually and shower...from 3WW

poems and digital photos

Bits of Earth

dancing pine
frees the wren's nest
...empty

***

sun turns gray
fading sky bleaches
into night

***

tiny bird
bastes in shallow bath
...high summer

***

individual
snowflakes piled in the driveway
...look identical





Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
Prompt: Earth. Writers' Island
fractals

Giving

gift giving
cowrie pink colored glasses
...offer illusion

***


heavy rains
final act of spring
ends long drought

Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
Prompt: Giving. Offered by One Deep Breath Haiku

Holiday Memories

Yesterday, the four-year-old came to spend the afternoon and we built a slew of new holiday memories.

He arrived in plastic knight wear so we searched the Internet for stories of knights and armor, then stopped by Astronomy to visit a few nebula as he's impressed with the stars.

The Office Max Elfyourself was a project I'd undertaken earlier in the week so he laughed til he had tears running down his cheeks at the sight of his dog dancing in 'wizard' clothes.

He took a couple of pictures with my camera and we put them on Christmas cards for his family members.

Half a dozen snowflakes were scissored from colored paper to hang in his room.

A quesadilla with several bites missing reminded him of Bat Mobile so he needed to see if it would fly. Well. Surprised me!

Curious about the collage of his family members that decorated the 2007 calendar, he thinks he'd like to make one of them next time.

The last stop, as we stood ankle deep in projects, was a trip to PBSKids where he colored online, read stories, guessed how many peanuts it took to equal the height of the elephant and so much more.

The sad part was that he had so many other things he wanted to do and our time was up for now...on the way to the car, he stopped to check the pool and see if the ice on it was slick and how much longer it would be before he could get back to swimming.

He may not remember all of it, but I'll never forget.



Sunday Scribblings

Road Re-Traveled

Into the mirror of hindsight
I squinted toward the past
rapidly edited my errata
squeaky cleaned my life
to reflect memoir bright
...returned to the present
laughed out loud
even with the handy mirror
I didn’t get it precisely right.





Fractal created in Apophysis
Totally Optional Prompt
fractals

Oooops!

Clumsy chimney chap
his crimson suit sports black holes
...overlooked the fire

Here's a fun music site - pick a mood, pick a decade and see what it picks for you!
3WW Prompt: clumsy, fire, overlooked...where else could I go in seventeen syllables?
Digital photo by Sue
This silly haiku is Tumblewords' post #250
poems and digital photos

Remaking Tradition

cedar boughs inside
lights on strings and jingles warm
~ holiday highlights

***

Each year, my small family notes that things are different. And, indeed they are. My always there parents have passed and other family members have gone on as well.

And each year, a tradition fades away in the scent of cedar boughs and cinnamon. Each year there are new people to fill empty chairs and each year a favorite dish is added by a new cook.

Each year, other traditions are established. And when the following season appears, it is again noted that things just aren't the same.

Each season is, in its own way, different but gratitude remains a constant.

I wish each of you all possible good!

Winter Beauty - One Deep Breath

lacy cedar boughs
cradle winter's unwrapped gift
~~coat of snowy white

**

pocket of snow
hugs last stem of lavendar
~~summer forgot

**

icicles hang
capturing rainbows
~~solar power




Digital Photo by Sue
Prompt by One Deep Breath
poetry and photos

Cusp of Sunday ~ Sunday Scribblings

Sweet scent of sunlight
dances tango on my hip,
dapples spun by curdled clouds
tattoo my croning feet.

Behind a flimsy veil
Cassandra sings eternity.
I turn my back
glide deeper into dance.

Sunday - Watercolor by Sue from Gallery
Dance ~ Prompt by Sunday Scribblings
Cusp of Sunday was previously published in North of Summer available in bookstore and T-Zero Magazine
On the Cusp of Sunday is an older poem but felt appropriate for both the day and prompt.

Charybdis or Scylla

in those deadly days
the gatekeeper of vaults
squeaked out bytes
from his rusty hinge

..sad tales that echoed
once and again in
upward swells
whispered from shells

..of each missing conch
adrift in Poseidon's salt















The Poefusion Prompt: hinge, bite, conch, gatekeeper, Charybdis with the and/or theme of Only Once.
Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
fractals

Night at M16

somewhere west
of Perseus
starlight reshapes
cosmic crests

and Eagle nests
in a cloud of gas
against the crystal
double-dark of night

pillars of dust
far hotter than fire
guard a new measure
of infinite stars ...

the cool moon hums
an arabesque lullaby
against tides
of the incoming dawn





Fractal Created in Apophysis ~ I Heart the Hubble

'Birds and Bonds' Prompt from Totally Optional Prompts
fractals

Haiku and Fractal

clear day is closing
virtual necklace of night
...headlights on glitter


**


And, an American Sentence:

Snow closes the day ~ virtual drivers string headlights from right to left.

Fractal created in Fractal Explorer.

3Word Wednesday Prompt: closing, virtual, headlights

fractals

That Moment

Various moments surface when prompted but the process of weeding yields several lighter ones while the heavy ones return to the deep.

Many dreams have come and gone because I'm far too flexible and interested in so many things that the average life isn't long enough to encompass them all.

That being said...the moment arrived a decade ago when I formed a new dream because I discovered that most of my dreams had already come to pass (remember, I'm an adjustable dreamer).

I saw a 'green' house designed by Michelle Kaufmann and fell in love. The thought of living in a cozy, light, clean and environmentally friendly abode lit my fire. Now, I dream of living off the grid in a similar house and producing enough electricity to pay my long-time utility company by sending them a monthly bill.

When that moment arrives, I'll begin seeking new dreams.

Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
Prompt: The Moment from Writers Island

Yummy ~ Haiku Two

suet on bare limbs
kernels and seeds in saucers
finches perched on guard

**

one drop of vermouth
one jigger of tanqueray
one good night from me





The Prompt from One Deep Breath is Yummy. This topic is difficult for a non-cook.

Competitive ~ Sunday Scribblings

Unfortunately, or fortunately, my age rules out that I shall ever be the best of, or at, anything.

And, my bad, once I determined that fact, it became easier for me to try things I wouldn't have in those earlier years. I found freedom to attempt any activity without a need to gain proficiency beyond my localized interest.

To the best of my ability or to the best of my desire is enough for me to take on now and while I can be a hard taskmaster, sometimes I shrug and move on.

Competitive? No. I hope I haven't missed something...

Winning? Now that's another story. Each week I purchase a PowerBall ticket.






Manipulated digital photo by Sue

Prompt from Sunday Scribblings
poems and digital photos

Moshing

much above the full moat
max at piano grand
marked moshers held at bay

munched notorious meal~
mellow Chicago Dog ~

moved elastic fingers
mustard fell on flat keys

A Pleaides form from prompt words at Poefusion: moat, piano, notorious, mustard, elastic

AND another try --

far above the palace moat
he sat on the piano bench
waved down to
groupies held at bay

pushing up the elastic
on his sleeves, he nimbled
fingers of his left hand
gnawed the notorious

Chicago Dog in his right
warmed up his scales
oblivious to the mustard
dripping on the flats

fractals

Coyote Wash

I came upon a highway sign,
deep within the desert
in terrain of sand and dry.
Proclaimed it: 'Coyote Wash'.


Who puts the quarters in,
sprays on soap and turtle wax?
Who checks to see, behind the ears,
if all is clean and rightly dried?




Watercolor by Sue

Prompt by Totally Optional Prompts: Signs
poetry watercolor

Haiku

cannot persuade words
notebook went from black to blank
muse turned up absent

Have you checked out the Visual Webster Dictionary Online? Words with images are there. Ah, yes. And tomorrow is another day!

Fractal created in Apophysis.

Prompt by 3WW: persuade, notebook, absent


fractals

Promise

Promise? Cross your heart and hope to die? Stick a needle in your eye?

As a child, I accepted those vows seriously. As a young adult, I learned that promises were offered easily but oftentimes without backbone.

'I never promised you a rose garden' was a song phrase that provided an out for those who deemed it necessary to 'unvow' their promise.

Retrospecting, a hobby that comes easily to me, finds that sometimes I accepted promises that were never uttered - only assumed.

The promise of a spring that follows surely on the heels of a hard, cold winter has so far always manifested but just because it always has is no sign that it always will. The seesaw between cynicism and trust is my inner perpetual motion. And, having said that...

Promise? Cross your heart?...

Promise. The prompt given by Writers Island

Containers

sheaves of inked papers
pieces of life, parts of mind
kinfolk's time capsule

**

empty Ziplock bowl
someone sent good food with me
I'm eager for more

Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
Containers, prompt by One Deep Breath
fractals

Widower

From a packet full
of ashen bones,
a genie's jar of juju
he sows tomorrow
in dark shallow mounds
soft as his dead wife's bosom.

Herons dance down the rain
lucky bamboo soars,
he crouches by the river
pens the past in lemon juice
feeds it to the roiling water
buries himself deep in shadow.

Cloudwebs string a silent code
across the humpback moon,
silhouettes withdraw at dawn
he collects unrooted dreams
moils his way upstream.






Sunday Scribblings prompt: Walk
poetry watercolor