Tag Archives: #MVB-PROMPT

Spoils of Battle

Spoils of Battle

Ancient relics in the sand—
a rosary, a chaplet and
a rusty cross, figure obscured,
a Bible with its message blurred.
Who remembers the intent
of liturgy or prayer or Lent?
What human adds the voice to this
howl of wind and water’s hiss?
This mix of emblems on the strand,
meanings erased by weather’s hand,
relics of a bygone day
when Spanish galleons held their sway.
Conquistadors long turned to dust,
their favorite weapons gone to rust.

Prompt words today are ad, favorite, erase, intent, mix, chaplet.

chaplet a wreath to be worn on the head. : a string of beads. : a part of a rosary comprising five decades. a small molding carved with small decorative forms.
the prayers said with such beads 

Thanksgiving Poem

Thanksgiving Poem

I confess my adoration of all you say and do,
and want to find a way to convey it here to you,
but ideal admiration cannot be sold or bought,
and sincere thanks is not delivered in a flowerpot.
And so I write this little poem, paltry in its length,
to show my gratitude for your kindness and your strength.

 

Prompt words today are thanks, confess, adoration, deliver, ideal and flowerpot.

Nativity

Nativity

He met her in a tavern and invited her to stroll
with him in the garden to escape the clack and roll
of the dice on gaming tables that made conversation hard,
so they went to view flamingos in the verdant tavern yard.

Their talk was convoluted, far above the usual yawn
of “polite” conversation as they strolled across the lawn.
She had been to Bali and he had been to Nome,
and so they toured these foreign places, going there to roam

beyond the borders of this garden and this tavern and this town,
and when they reached the meadow, this was where he laid her down,
thus beginning a long story that ended here with me,
of how my father met my mother and how I came to be.

Prompt words today are volute, happenstance, yawn, flamingo, tavern, roll.  Image by Kristine Zanate on Unsplash

The Dandelion Forest

The Dandelion Forest

The dandelion forest is spooky deep inside,
so it’s not a perfect place for small creatures to hide,
but when a mouse comes creeping up to steal a single berry
from your breakfast cereal, he’ll put up with those scary
dandelion spirits who register the stress
of all the timid creatures who register distress
and quickly gobble up those fearful ones who enter.
He’ll weave around the edges, avoiding  the dead center,
careful not to manifest any dread or fear,
so the dandelion goblins will not come very near.
I’m qualified to tell you this tale I verify
is the gospel truth, for I wouldn’t tell a lie.
That a stand of dandelions is a cause for care,
maybe isn’t obvious when you are way up there,
but before you question this tale of fear and vice,
remember that this tiny mouse is not afraid of mice!!!!

 

Prompt words are spooky, qualified, register, manifest, berry and dandelion. Mouse image by Ricky Kharawala on Unsplash, Dandelion by Judy. And, also for Cee’s FOTD.

I admit, this one is a stretch, but a person’s gotta try…..

Can of Worms

 

Can of Worms

I find I have no antidote for your ogreish moods.
I can’t dispel your fury and the dark cloud it exudes.
Nothing can dissuade you from your atrocious mood.
It is your obligation to sit there and to brood.

I try to draw you out the door to take a little walk—
to absorb the joys of nature, for a picnic and a talk,
but your mood is much too durable to fall apart so easily.
It cannot be deflected by cajoling made so breezily.

If I drew a stat sheet on these redundant snits
that are bound to come on weekly and soon turn into fits,
the graph would be predictable, with bad moods every Monday—
ironically, that day you’ve set aside and call your funday.

It’s that day you go out feeling fine and come home feeling sick—
that day that you go fishing with your brother Rick
who always catches bigger fish than those that choose your hook—
the ones that you throw back and don’t bring home for me to cook.

So, all-in-all, my gloomy spouse, the thing that I’ve been wishing
is that you’d suspend your bouts of familial fishing.
Stay home with me and prove to me that you’re my sexy man,
and we can dine on  tunafish straight out of a can!!!

 

Promp words for the day are ogreish, obligation, stat, durable, draw and redundant.

Vulture


Vulture

I am not too fond of this peculiar guy
who seeks an invitation to see my latest buy.

He barely fits the envelope of people I can bear,
for he is always scouting out possessions that are rare.

So it is with priceless antiques that he says are just old
and so he makes these propositions that are brash and bold.

When I replace this table with one brand spanking new,
he could haul off this old one for me (for a buck or two.)

He thinks I do not know the value of all that I buy
and so he reconnoiters with a greedy eye,

and when he sees an object that has seen a bit of wear,
he’ll focus on the object with his greedy stare

and say that when I’m done with it and go to buy another,
he could take my old one and give it to his mother.

Friends like this, I’m sure you’ll say, come a dime a dozen,
and I’d agree and shun him if he weren’t my only cousin!

Prompt words today are envelope, peculiar, invitation, seek, latest and spanking.

Smart Wooing

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Smart Wooing

He met her on the parkway where she sold her sweet confections
in a lot where merging roads made their first connections.
He, too, sought a connection for he found her very fine
as he viewed her from his place at the end of a long line

of some who sought her pastries, but others who sought more.
Clearly, not the only man who’d felt his heart to soar
when he viewed her classic beauty, he had known at once that she
was the perfect partner to balance on his knee.

And though his first  reaction was to woo her with dramatic
declarations of his love, he was more pragmatic.
When finally it was his turn, he simply bought each bit
of confectionary she had left and asked her help with it.

So as other hopeful suitors had to fade away,
there being  no excuse for all of them to stay,
he asked if since his car was small, if she could deliver
to the homeless shelter that was down there by the river.

And then if she wanted, she could even stay
to see the excitation as he gave the sweets away.
The occasion was his birthday and he thought the greatest lift
that he could get in celebrating was to give this gift.

And so he got into his car and she followed after,
stayed for the party afterwards, enjoying all the laughter.
You might guess, he won the maiden, for it’s no surprise
that sometimes in giving, one wins the greatest prize.

Prompt words today are partner, connections, homeless, pragmatic
diplomatic and parkway.

Makeover

Makeover

She yearned to be apocryphal, a legend in her time.
Her face on Wikipedia would make her feel sublime.
She yearned to be a feature in all the major papers.
To be of national interest would give the girl the vapors.
Her impact on the fashion scene she knew could change the world.
They’d want to know her lipstick brand and how her hair was curled.
The collapse of world markets would be based on her whims—
where she took her refreshments and where she took her swims.
It didn’t really matter what was inside her head,
for everyone would concentrate on what she did instead.
Her bikin waxes and her French manicure
would be the accomplishments destined to endure.
No one would remember the plain girl that she’d been
once that she had changed her name to Kardashian.

Prompt words today are face, feature, collapse, apocryphal,  impact, refreshments. Image by Freestocks on Unsplash.

Sweet Dove


Sweet Dove

Sweet peas and petunias fill the gutters on this morning,
and bluebirds buzz your head and land on shoulders without warning.
Curmudgeons sprout wide smiles and doubters grow proactive.
And even grim Chernobyl becomes less radioactive.

Guns forsake their targets and missiles stop their tracking,
and mathematicians give up seeking what they’re lacking.
It’s Universal Peace Day, and for once all enter in
as the hand that holds the grenade pauses to pull the pin.

 

Prompt words today are curmudgeon, proactive, apocryphal, target, gutter and morning. Image by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash.

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First Love Reignited

First Love Reignited

I fall into the great abyss
of my lover’s tender kiss.
He kisses eyebrow, cheek and hair,
almost too much for me to bear.
Then hovers near, as though to see
what is left of the rest of me.

I hope for more, and yet I fear
that this one that I find dear
will find my passion somehow lacking—
that this passion I find wracking,
will, indeed, not translate to
this lover that I’ve met anew
years after our first furtive touch—
the one that I have missed so much.

“It’s typical,” you say, and fold
me in—that tender act of old—
“to question love that has been cast
away from us in years long past.
But I, for one, still feel the flame
and I hope you feel the same.”

Prompts words for the day are bear, indeed, hover, typical, hope, abyss. Image by Devin Avery on Unsplash.