Gray Funk

Alone, I sit cross-legged on the shore of this small lake watching the swans that paddle a slight distance away. On any other day they might cast a brilliant white reflection on a pool of blue, but in the gloomy atmosphere of an overcast day they seem little more than gray shadows on a darkened field. Two of them seem to patrol, as if on guard, as they move in a wide circle around the others. Those gathered in the center feed on the grass that grows from the bottom as they upend themselves, as if to show just what they think about what is going on in this wretched world.

Don’t be concerned for the state I’m in. I know that the clouds will pass. So, too, will this funk that has taken hold of me. In the tender gray, I swim undisturbed.

 This is my response to dVerse Prosery – On this Day: Happy December 5 Birthday Poets, the prompt from Lisa at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, where the challenge is to write a prosery, flash fiction or creative nonfiction, with a 144-word limit (here, exactly 144 words). Included in the bit of prose is to be a complete line from a poem. For this prompt, the line is from Sullivan County, by Celia Dropkin: “in the tender gray, I swim undisturbed”

A Scattering of Poems

In the street of the sky, night walks, scattering poems. In the streets below, poets follow, gathering inspiration in hopes of doing justice to that which cannot be equaled. They speak of a distant darkness filled with a light that seems just out of reach, one that appears as a mist yet offers sparkling clarity. Each might write about the vast expanse that seems to wrap around her, or about the countless points of surrounding light, of which he is one.

Those who read, who listen, will understand and recognize the beauty that can bring such inspiration. They will join the poets, become poets, themselves. The streets will be filled with those who walk the night. Their numbers will be such that they stretch halfway around the globe, and night will see the reward that the people have reaped from its scattering of poems.

 This is my response to Prosery: Tulips & Chimneys, the prompt from Linda Lee Lyberg at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, where the challenge is to write a prosery, flash fiction or creative nonfiction, with a 144-word limit (here, exactly 144 words). Included in the bit of prose is to be a complete line from a poem. For this prompt, the line is from Tulips & Chimneys, by E. E. Cummings – the last line of IX Impressions: “in the street of the sky night walks scattering poems”

The image is a crop of a larger image from Astronomy Picture of the Day
“Two Comets in Southern Skies” – Copyright: Jose J. Chambo (Cometografia)