Grief’s Garden
Tangled vines, shriveled tendrils that pull me down,
wrap themselves around my heart, crushing any joy held there.
Lacking any life of their own, they drain the same
from me, choking my will to fight their grasp.
There is only darkness in grief’s garden.
This is my response to How Does Your Garden Grow – dVerse Quadrille —
the prompt from Victoria at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to use the word garden
in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.
Tangled with the Bramble
A parting gift
those final two years
Mother to son, time
together at the end
Devoted care,
a humble gift in return
Tangled with the bramble
of divorce slowly playing out
No sweeter gift to be found
in such a time of the bittersweet
This is my response to Quadrille #108: Among the Brambles —
the prompt from Linda at dVersePoets Pub, which is to use the word bramble
in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.
So Blue
On her first visit,
I took her to the lake
and the river, of course,
and she marveled.
How could they be so blue?
That river, those lakes,
both great and small,
were my home, and so simply
how they were meant to be.
This is my response to Quadrille #107 – Blue Monday —
the prompt from Kim at dVersePoets Pub, which is to use the word blue
in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.
Images
Lake Erie at Buffalo, New York
The Whirlpool in the Niagara River Gorge
(click each to see larger image in new tab)
The More They Stay the Same
Centuries of segregation
Legalized discrimination
Human rights violations
Racial inequality
Standard public policy
Finally recognized
Civil rights realized
As the decades slip away
Generations feel betrayed
Living still with bigotry
And police brutality
Dressed up in the guise of justice
Citizens deprived of justice
This is my response to Quadrille #105: Cry Havoc and Let SLIP the Dogs of War —
the prompt from Linda at dVersePoets Pub, which is to use the word slip
in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.
This started as a simple, spare poem that I decided could be a quadrille:
A year slips away
A decade
A generation
Two
Bigotry and hatred
Remain
In the guise of justice
Belying justice
Image: screenshot of George Floyd dying as he’s choked by Derek Chauvin (25 May 2020)
Another Fine Fix
What can fix this fouled up fix
we sadly find ourselves in?
Could it be a time to be
thankful that we’re trapped within?
Considering that everything
that’s out there is a danger,
the safest place, in any case,
is far away from strangers.
This is my response to Quadrille #104: Oh, We’re in a Fix! —
the prompt from De Jackson at dVersePoets Pub, which is to use the word fix
in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Harold Lloyd in Safety Last!)
Don’t Forget To…
Flush this memory from your mind,
this bomb shelter moment
when anyone at your door could be
a threat, the very air you breathe
the one thing you may not want
to breathe but must, when toilet paper
is the measure of your wealth.
This is my response to Quadrille #102: Don’t Forget To… —
the prompt from Mish at dVerse, which is to use the word flush
in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.
Image source: netclipart.com
Lasting Impressions
Footsteps on the shore, your hand in mine.
Water welcomed by sand, welcoming us,
the warmth of waves washing over heart and soul.
The impression of each step taken
where then meets now, but always now.
Once stirred, these emotions will not abandon me.
This is my response to Quadrille #99 – Poems Stirred, Not Shaken
– the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse, which is to use the word stir
in a 44-word poem that does not require meter or rhyme.
Known, All Along
Would I peel back the layers,
only to find what I’ve known
all along? Never, the need for that,
when knowing your many sides
is what makes you so dear to me.
To have my heart held within
those layers is more than enough
This is my response to Quadrille #98: Peelings… Nothing More —
the prompt from Mish at dVerse, which is to use the word peel
in a 44-word poem that does not require meter or rhyme.
Image source: teepublic.com
Shaming
Within the lies that tell of wonders wild
there lies the truth that wonder stolen
at the cost of freedom is nothing more
than a false face placed on the truly noble
as we don a face of false bravado
and our true shame.
This quadrille is inspired by, and a response to, Taming, from erbiage.
The prompt for Quadrille #96: Wild Monday is to use the word wild
in a 44-word poem that does not require meter or rhyme.
Image source: DailyMail.com (© Nina Zotina – east2west news)
Placid Waters
Wild only in its freedom,
there is no white water here,
just a paddle caressing
its surface, a stillness
marred only by ripples
of trees dancing as they reach
from the bow of a kayak
to the shore that holds
steadfast their stately canopy.
This is my response to Quadrille #96: Wild Monday — the prompt from Kim at dVerse, which is to use the word wild in a 44-word poem that does not require meter or rhyme.
Image: Ellicott Creek, Amherst New York
(click image for larger view in new tab)
