Blade and Balm be

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Blade and Balm

Here in a crevice near my heart,
the grief I field does not depart.
Lodged in the depths beneath my skin,
it harbors pain trapped tight within.
Lifted from the depths below,
my heart succumbs to thoughts of woe.

Its edges cut like sharpest steel
insisting I recall and feel.
The wild tides tumble me again,
salting my tears with waves of pain.
Its murmurs stir, then rock me calm.
offering me a soothing balm.

Ancestors reach up from the deep
to lull me to a restful sleep.
These bruises that I bear today
are the price that generations pay
for life that harbors treasures, too,
along with sadnesses we rue.

For Wordle 575 the prompts are: grief field skin depths edge salt murmuring bruises ancestors lifted crevice wants

Mutable

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1949
1953
1955
1958
1963
1974 Addis Ababa
1987
2022

Mutable

No matter how we grovel, time marches staunchly on.
You do not need to call it, for it will come anon.
Moment after moment, we can’t avoid its flight.
It segues from each morning to afternoon and night.

We can’t exceed its time limits, for it determines when
we pass from pretty newcomer to become a has-been.
It is the plan of nature. We can’t escape the way
that time chooses to change us day to day to day.

Prompts today are flight, grovel, pretty, exceed, moment and segue. This post, I realize, seems a bit self-centered, but I couldn’t find photos of anyone else that showed this many stages. I had more photos that included people from different stages, but unfortunately I forgot to save it so after an hour of work, lost it. These are hurried photos briefly illustrating the mutability of life.

Idara

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Idara

Her very name meant organization. She exceeded all the rules
for unity and order. She didn’t allow curls
to pop up on her hair ends. Her locks hung lank and straight .
It was with trepidation that she allowed a date
to disturb their perfect order when venturing a kiss.
She could not help but worry something would go amiss.

Daily she checked her batteries, fearing one would fail.
She doubled her insurance for avalanche and hail
and taking due precautions, she exceeded sound and reason,
preparing many months ahead for every change of season.

She flinched at lights and shadows, expecting the worst—
some tragedy or danger for which she’d not rehearsed.
Her parents thought it their fault for giving her the name,
wondering if they’d named her Hope if she’d turn out the same.

 

Prompts today are lights and shadows, trepidation, battery, exceed, organization and name. The name “Idara” really does mean organized. Stock Photo.

For FOTD Oct 22, 2022

1 Reply

For Cee’s FOTD

The plaque was carved from Walnut by my husband Bob. It says “And Owl Moved to Some Other Tree.” It is a quote from Winnie the Pooh, I believe. It sorta looks like this brand new hibiscus is photo bombing the shot. Note buds above. This bush has dozens of buds on it and usually a minimum of 5 blooms. I can see it both from the hammock in the lower garden and from my desk in the sala up above.

Buddha Cat

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When my friends John and Cleo and their housemate  Jay all passed away within a year of each other, John’s son asked me to choose something from their house to remember them by. This little Egyptian blue Buddhacat was what I chose. He sits guarding my catfood in my kitty bodega.

For City Sonnet: Egyptian Blue

25th Anniversary

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Silver Anniversary

Cut glass, silver and fine linen stowed away unseen
in my mother’s attic, remnant of the queen
she knew as a mother. From it I extract
a latent innuendo that I construe as fact
that my mother finds within her something of the same—
some hidden possibility she, too is a grand dame

who might one day need niceties like crystal goblets and
napkins hand-embroidered by a genteel hand.
I hear the screen door closing in the kitchen down below,
close the trunk lid. Swiftly down the attic stairs I go.
But when I greet my mother, though I’m sure my manner’s normal,
I start to plan an anniversary dinner that’s more formal

than their usual getaway for movie and a meal
at a local diner that is hardly a big deal.
I’ll have dad distract mom with some ordinary chore,
then cook a special dinner, buy flowers and what’s more,
resurrect my grandma’s china, silver, linens and her glass
and show my mom that I for one recognize her class!

Prompt words today are stow, extract, screen, latent,glass linen, attic. Image. by Jamie Coupaud on Unsplash.

Autumn Garden, FOTD Oce 21, 2022

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For Cee’s FOTD

Fishermen

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(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Fishermen

On platforms built over the bay,
the fishermen begin their day.
In spite of last-night’s sordid fun,
they’re up before the day’s begun,
ready to join their fishing fleet
so later we can leave replete
with fish from platters piled high
with clams and shrimp and codfish pie.

Wild fishermen of bar or tavern,
in days of old in inn or cavern
drank their wine and emerged bleary
to their boats, hungover, weary.
Simon and Andrew were the first
to leave their fishing nets and thirst
for cups of wine filled to the brim
to change their lives and follow him.

Joined after by the other ten,
they all became fishers of men.
And even though eons ago
they, too, had their wild oats to sow,
these fishermen would be surprised
that since then they’ve been canonized,
thus feeding souls with other than
can be dished out in dish or pan.

 Prompt words are platform, sordid, bash, canonize, fleet and platter.

Pink Hibiscus for Cee’s FOTD and Bren’s In the Garden, Oct 20, 2022

8 Replies

 

 

For Bren’s In the Garden and Cee’s FOTD for Oct 20, 2022.

First Caress

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First Caress

Like that exquisite tension between first caress
and the dropping of shoe and removal of dress.

Like that mellow first stirring of love and desire
that creates a friction that flares into fire.

Appetites that merit no dish or no spoon
enjoyed under covers and the light of the moon.

Each generation discovers anew
That first caress and the drop of a shoe.

 

Prompt words today are exquisite, tension, merit, desire, generation, mellow.