Fractals Photos Poetry Prose Watercolor
twirling life like a rubik's cube
she searched and begged
directions to that special path
a signal to ordained fame
turning molehills into mountains
she upturned pebbles with her foot
sprinted with wild abandon until
her candle flickered in the hunt
shedding light on a faded trail
she broke off symbol watching
clung to the course she'd chosen
and, in time, that became enough
Totally Optional Prompt
Watercolor by Sue
**
Prompt words by 3WordWednesday: bottle, smooth, approach
Digital Photo by Sue
Birkenstocks
brief sport socks
Old Navy flip flops
and Costco flannels
a few tie-dyed T's
serve just fine
'til dreams nudge
that old-time life
where shiny red
spike heels and
flippy skirts dance
in the midnight dark.
Writers Island prompt: Desire
Fractal creation ~ Sue
North of Summer, A Decade of Selected Poetry (print or download) and A Near Year of Tumblewords Blog (pdf download) are available from my store on Lulu Publishing
The Sunday Scribblings prompt: Miscellaneous. Here are four American Sentences that I wrote in the last few days, prompted by life and snow. Mini-scribblings plus a fractal.
American Sentences:
Wise turkey draped in peacock drag to escape the butcher's chopping block.
Snow falls all night, morning's pseudo drivers scatter cars from left to right.
The one thing that stands between me and death is a smattering of life.
The ocean reminds me that much is infinite and much more is not.
North of Summer is available at my storefront on Lulu Publishing
non-stop snow
deeper and whiter
winter warp
**
surrender
snow rises higher
white limbs plunge
**
leaden sky unloads
white foot and another foot
remakes the landscape
**
poems and digital photos
the first spring gift,
freshly dying dandelions
cohere in his grimy palm
standing on one foot
then the other, he
immerses stems
in a tall tea glass
creates a quick apology ~
he left the worms outside
Poefusion Friday 5 prompt words: cohere, immerse, create, dandelions, glass
Midday sun pulls sweat from his aching back
He expells a hum, unfolds to the sky
Hat brim hides laugh lines that enclose his eyes
Left foot corrals the olive drab knapsack.
Two swallows of water, he shakes his hands
Three feet away from the edge of the knoll
Turns to hoist a slab of lavender stone
Winking at noon from a wide quartz band.
Boulder hustled into a perfect place
My brother resumes creating the square
A surround for rustic table and chair
Centered in that freshly green sodded space.
With a strum of strings and one whiskey neat
He'll sing to his world from a hard rock seat.
Prompt came from Totally Optional Prompts
Digital Photo by Sue
brushed gummy cobwebs
from her face with a shiver,
held her eyes tight squeezed
against the blinding black
hearing stairs she knew by heart
a creak, a groan and the silent one
nadir of a place called home
at last pulled the light string
squinting, picked up the shuttle
and filled her bucket with coal
**
And that's one for Last Piaster #2 Challenge.
tomorrow's remains
scattered among the ashes
by a liar's breath
**
tomorrow's breath
enters the mid-dark night
on scattered dreams
**
3WordWednesday Prompt: tomorrow, scattered, breath
Charon tapped out the coin
capping my closed left eye
carried me on a night-dark tour
into a silent octave of days,
come the ninth
he ferried me home
refunded the golden fare.
Today.
I don’t rock the boat.
Quiet
and
slow,
pebbles in my pockets
and payment in my palm.
Writers Island Prompt: Fork in the Road
flecks of gold
pan sparkles promise
fool's dream
**
dreams of peace
and random kindness
beg for deeds
poetry watercolor
Today, the temperature hovers well below freezing and weak sunlight glitters on icy limbs. Swift punches of wind create a temporary veil. I believe the forecasters who call for a week of extreme cold and ice. This short video clip shows a few snow scenes with haiku that strive to find a beauty I can't see. :) Remember me? I'm the summer only, please, person.
Thus far my journey has been fast and frequently furious - a series of too-soon starts with sudden stops which can be likened to first attempts at driving a stick shift.
On this path, I encountered an extraordinary assortment of souls ~ seers, seekers, sheiks, shakers and movers, politicians, pilots, dancers, singers, healers, meditators, mediators, consummate travelers, artists, writers, thinkers, teachers, producers, idealists and cynics as well as plotters of good and evil.
My current fellow travelers are world citizens with virtual voices who share their life-trips by retrospection. A varied group of travelers who poem, photograph, fiction, rant and art the past and present while challenging the future.
These are interesting times with interesting fellows!
before the after
the bite of an auger
punched black holes
in the blinding gloom
mango blush flooded
the argent sky
blamed the yellowed map
mabe blue Morse code
kissing the catbrier
loosed the prick of reality
the final chart shines
under stella de ora and
bliss leaves no sign
Sunday Scribblings Prompt
in that interlude
between the start and finish
grotesque shades of change
become quite evident
in this chemistry called life
~when I bend, downward dog,
to tie a shoelace fallen
into a state of wild neglect
my eyes now choose to
close from the bottom up
Poefusion Friday 5 Prompt: grotesque, chemistry, shoelace, neglect and interlude
black knots of ravens
swarm the flimsy darkness
where mystery reigns
smoke and sorcery
cross the threshold of limbo
turn the truth away
friars' lanterns glow
illusion crowns the seekers,
Charon carries coins
Totally Optional Prompt: The Magician
Abstract Watercolor by Sue
one clan of dust bunnies
a small scatter of froth
drifts across a cobalt sky
passes by a crescent moon
like motes in sunlight
these tiny clots wile away
the first lazy day of midwinter
~ horizon calm with promise
North of Summer, a Decade of Poetry is available at Lulu Publishing
carried on a cloud of smoke
the odor of burning biscuits
curled out her kitchen window
obsessive new neighbors
gunned an awkward hose
replaced smoke with water
3WordWednesday prompt: kitchen, obsessive, awkward
phantom treasure, impending wealth
hoarded by limbo in that early pause
trapped in the space of unsteady gray
between dawn and the first ray of light
not be exhumed, not to be refound
phantom treasures that leave no mark
Writers Island Prompt: Treasure
North of Summer, A Decade of Poetry available at my store on Lulu Publishing
from the gravel pit
one flying saucer shot forth
hurtled to the south
coded flashing lights
flung into the summer dusk
beckoned for pursuit
we called for our dog
to save us from the unknown
raced through scratchy fields
breathless near the trench
pockets of eight-year-olds stood
wild eyed with wonder
didn't find a trace
grownups' laugh could not dissuade
...we know what we saw
Fractal by Sue
One Deep Breath prompt: Haibun from Childhood Experience
North of Summer, A Decade of Poetry is available at Lulu Publishing
mystic and masked
seraphs trace the tips of
voodoo needles
tease the smoke of soul
scatters of crystal beads
reward the jaded
who flee distant realms
for a taste of je ne sais quoi
Fat Tuesday
jives along the Quarter
sings out to drying bones
graved in roadside attics
Sunday Scribblings prompted 'A Date'
prayers crossed
in the hovels of the weary
as black of night dropped down
rounds of intense gunfire
marked the surprise collapse
of a two-day cease fire
soft floss of local news
scanned the bleeding prey
as tiny swallows took flight
Poefusion 5 prompted: intense, cease, floss, prey, swallows
This is a literal response - my shovel and I are spending far too much time together. I swear I hear the snow fall. The silence gets louder and louder. Now I'm off to bed for a little rest before the next inches require relocation.
computer fan hums
creates background
for my breath on hold
while I search for
the word that resonates
to a reader's ear
silent and sneaky
night snows fat flakes
...morning's first sound
'$#(@)(%)'
my voice calls out to me,
gotta go shovel again!'
Totally Optional Prompts asks for What do you Hear?
naive pundits
demean their station
...inane gossip
**
chav's
cheap
chatter
cheers naive
chips fact from gossip
cheeky rancor trashed the station
**
One analyst on every news program keeps truthiness at bay.
**
3Word Wednesday Prompt
Somewhere over the horizon. At least we know what's at the foot of a rainbow, even though that has never been proven to my satisfaction.
Every first month of a new year, I read prognosticators' reports for world events, local and weather events as well as predictions for each and every zodiac sign.
When that new year grows old and another takes up the mantle, I'm stunned by the things that actually happened. I've forgotten what the reports offered. I've forgotten what I once resolved to make of the now finished year.
Maybe that's how somebody left that crock at the foot of the rainbow...she/he forgot to retrieve it.
I'll know more about the horizon by seeing it afterward. I understand that even if I could see what was there, I wouldn't believe it.
There's no doubt, though, that I'm in favor of a horizon that holds peace, prosperity and compassion for this big ball of wonder.
Writers Island Prompt: Over the Horizon
winter dark
clouds hide the Wolf moon
fling white flakes
**
rising moon
shines in jigsaw shapes
...winter limbs
Cropped watercolor
One Deep Breath
Every now and again, I'm hit by absurd flu and revisit my 2000 Mythsteries and Other Pithy Shorts site. It's the only place I've learned to rant while laughing myself into a near coma. These posts have always been great fun for me and knowing that I may be the only one who enjoys them fails to lessen my laughter. So, take a look if you like. If not...
Yesterday I completed reading Wabi Sabi for Writers by Richard Powell even as my head filled with personal haiku thoughts. The book is a fine read with great insight into Basho, and others of his ilk, as well as breakable rules for haiku and related forms.
I love to write from a list of phrases/words pulled out of my stash and Windows Media Player, with visualizations, running on top of my pages. Right now I'm listening to Fragile Beauty. Words, color and music are my favorite prompts.
What is your method of stirring a reluctant muse? 
dawn
drops
drizzles
down collars
defeats chilled walkers
defines the downside of winter
Snow was assaulted today by warmer air and falling rain. As the snow disappears, any light reflection it might have produced turns to dark and gray.
As luck would have it on this gloomy day, my mailbox yielded the ordered CD, Quiet Paths, from fellow blogger Christine. I cannot describe her soothing and uplifting music but there are samples on her web site.
Inserted into the slot and scheduled for looping, it rang true and clear. Soon I was smiling broadly as if on a sunny vacation.
I highly recommend checking out her Earthpassage web site to purchase a CD if you're so inclined. Service is wonderfully friendly and prompt.
smudges of
then
recede
like taillights
fading
into mist
now
refuses welcome
rebels against
signs that
exhaust the
road weary
in this stop-and-go
disorder
resolutions mutter
boredom
recall endless
dead ends
hug carbon
neutral lines
now
forestalls collision
then
slinks into the fog
Digital Photo by Sue
Sunday Scribblings
transparent as vellum
they reminisce
from memory disjointed
moss-clad cells conceal
fragile connections to truth
history varies day by day
distorted as bad fiction
reality takes hindquarter
in words pocked by rubble
Inside Out digital photo by Sue
Prompt by Poefusion
the news is quite distasteful
a slap in the face to my psyche
creative writing covers the candor
swaps reality for the twist of twits
crafts burglars into car prowlers,
family terror into home invasion
headlines rail cutesy and trite
…just print the news as it is
I’ll lead my own commentariat
and choose how to perceive it
Fractal created by Sue
This prompt came from Totally Optional Prompt
I'm still fooling around with American Sentences! Comments welcome...
Prompt words: button, luck, pretend from 3WW
Button up, turn back and pretend you didn't draw luck from that black cat.
Pretend one button of luck merits more than a decade of tough work.
Fractal created in Fractal Explorer
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