Quadrille

True North ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 26 Comments

True North

I was fading to nothing,
all reason and purpose gone,
when my eyes found hers
and I was instantly drawn.

As the needle in my heart turned,
I knew I had found my true north,
her heart the magnet
that would lead me there.

This is my response to Quadrille #114 – Poetic Magnetism,
the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word magnet in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

Image
(background) Astronomy Picture of the Day
Cygnus: Bubble and Crescent © Wissam Ayoub
~~
(foreground) Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Qibla compass, from Iran

Just as Bright ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 43 Comments

Just as Bright

Who could know the blanket of stars
wrapt round us on our first night together,
so tight they shone in your eyes and mine
as we strolled through Millennium Park,
would bind us, still, these many years later?
Shine they do, just as bright.

This is my response to Quadrille #113: Blanket Us,
the prompt from Merril at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word blanket in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

Image: Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois
photo taken 02 September 2012

As the Stars Would Have It ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 54 Comments

As the Stars Would Have It

The sky has been ours
from the moment we met

Whispered words of light
in vision and dreams

Blue nebulae in the dark of night
Embrace of sun and moon

I in your orbit, you in mine,
just as the stars would have it

This is my response to Quadrille #112: The Sky’s the Limit,
the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word sky in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

Image: the banner from our wedding,
held on the lawn of the lighthouse at Presque Isle, Erie, Pennsylvania

Muddling Along ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 48 Comments

Muddling Along

This course I follow, this path
that would have one ultimate destination,
one kept from me till my final day,
has had no direct route. It has gone
in circles, from here to there and sometimes
back, as I bumble my way through life.

This is my response to Quadrille #110: Shall we bum around a bit?, the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse Poets Pub, which is to use a form of the word bum in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.

Image source: freepik.com

Grief’s Garden ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 46 Comments

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 ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 29 Comments

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 ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 39 Comments

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 ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 25 Comments

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 ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 29 Comments

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… ~ quadrille

/ rivrvlogr / 40 Comments

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