An Objective Perspective
Bosses who choose to use invective
might not be half so effective
as those who ask for the perspective
of other folks in their collective,
making decisions more elective.
Here are five word prompts Forgottenman gave me. That Turkey!!! Anyone want to play along?
The words are: invective, effective, elective, perspective and collective. Image by Julien on Unsplash.
Sadje also chose to accept the challenge HERE is her poem.
As usual, click on photos to enlarge.
It is nearly 1 a.m. and the celebration down the mountain in the village of San Juan Cosala has just begun. The saint day of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the biggest celebration of the year in this town. The church is filled with flowers, bottle rockets have been going off all evening, and a band is loudly playing in the town square. This will go on all night and all of tomorrow. The pieces above were all made by me over the years, other than the one on the bottom left side.
The Rising
The clouds flow up the hills like the mist of falls
rising back up to the level they fell from.
I’m making my way down to the hammock in the gazebo.
It’s night, and I toe my way through the grass barefoot,
hoping for no surprises.
Far below, some hombre on a microphone pontificates lakeside.
He could be a circus barker or a kitchen pot salesman
speaking from a booth at a fiesta a mile below.
He seems to be selling something,
but perhaps instead extols the virtues of a bride and groom
or a fifteen-year-old butterfly
emerging from the cocoon of her quiencieñera.
I am deep in the groin of Mexico, swinging under the stars.
Up the hill in my house, the phone chrrrrs insistently
as I retreat from all public noises above and below.
My opening heart floats up as I sink deeper under blankets
to watch the clouds rise through moonlight.
I imagine my mother, my husband,
my father, my sister, my friend
and other loves both long and recently departed,
floating in mist above the busy world,
distracted, cushioned by their amazement
at finally rising above voices, gunshots, hospital beds,
screeching brakes, trees, mountains, universes, and their own shells.
How long are they aware of us, the hoi poloi below?
How soon fixed fully on their own rising?
Empty Pockets at Fifty
My pockets are turned inside out.
No riches do I have to flout.
This state of my intimidation
is perhaps an apt reflection
of my early hesitation
to obtain an education.
Perhaps if I had done my math,
I’d have pursued a richer path!
Prompt words today are pocket, intimidate, hesitation, spoil and reflection.
Purple Prose
Grandma grinds plums in her conical grinder, shredding the flesh from the pits. Under the table, my little brother sits, purple around his mouth from taste-testing the plums he no doubt earlier helped her pick. A stream of sugar on the table is a roadway for tiny black ants.
My father pushes a cooling cup of Postum closer to my grandmother as he resumes the story I’ve interrupted. It is another “Deafy Sterner” story, and he emulates the high explosive accent of this man from his past that I’ve never met, yet know so well.
I dash to my room, having just minutes to prepare for the dance before my car full of friends arrives, honking the horn. My Grandmother begins another story about the old country as I tear off my school jeans. I dress in their stories—patterned and purple as night.
Below is the dVerse Poets prompt today. The quote we are to use in our short prose piece is by Kimberly Blaeser from her poem “When We Sing of Might.” Image by Engin Akyurt on Unsplash.
Photo of Kimberly Blaeser from University of Wisconsin
Incorporate the above quote into a piece of prose. This can be either flash fiction, non-fiction, or creative non-fiction, but it must be prose! Not prose poetry, and not a poem. And it must be no longer than 144 words, not including the title. (It does not have to be exactly 144 words, but it can’t exceed 144 words.)
Summer Block Party
So many trillion burning stars form the signs of night.
Most of them so secret that they are out of sight.
Others are so numerous, they form a sort of haze,
spreading out a Milky Way at which we like to gaze,
lying spread-eagled in the grass, during summer nights,
cockleburrs’ sharp edges and mosquito bites.
The chattering of mothers on our screened front porch,
feline yowls and dog barks, Father’s questing torch,
seeking out the faucet to turn the water off.
A roar of laughter from the men, a smoker’s raucous cough.
All the familiar voices of our little hive—
the neighborhood we live in, cozy and alive.
All the roles we choose to fill united for this night
when the stars have chosen to bless us with their light.
For The Sunday Whirl Wordle 530 The prompt words are: edge, stars, roar, burn, role, chatter, hive, sign, feline, curse, haze, secret. Image by Andy Holmes on Unsplash.
Neighborhood Shopping Spree
I can’t abide the wantonness of my neighbor’s wife
and how it encroaches upon my family life.
And though her husband seems content to overlook her ways,
believing her disinterest just a menopausal phase,
when she goes out for groceries, I watch her shut the door
and know that she’ll be shopping for a single item more
than bread or milk or celery, for as she leaves her house,
I hear my back door closing and know it is my spouse
off upon some shopping spree—some sudden hungry whim
that guarantees her shopping list is bound to include him!
Prompts today are encroach, wanton, content, abide and grocery.
Image by Jessie McCall on Unsplash.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 