Swaying in the breeze
My youth lives in your shadow
Sheltering my dreams
This has been a busy week – my running and my writing has suffered! So a haiku for the Pic and a Word Challenge #154 – Limbs. I love love love the poem Patrick wrote – so simple in its sincerity and sensuality….
Here’s hoping for some simplicity this week so I can get more running and writing done!
©️ iido 2018
Friends, Poets and Writers…lend me your voices!
“…The evil that men do, lives after them….”Let’s voice our willingness to undo some of that evil…join me and the Bardo Group Beguines at The BeZine for 100,000 Poets (and friends) for Change (100TPC). Share words and pictures (art, photography, video) on the themes of Peace, Sustainabilty and Social Justice.
“Poetry. It’s better than war!” Michael Rothenberg, cofounder of 100,000 Poets (and friends) for Change
“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a [woman or] man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he [or she] sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” —Robert F. Kennedy South Africa, 1966
Today, under the banner of 100,000 Poets (and friends) for Change (100TPC), people the world over are gathered to stand up and stand together for PEACE, SUSTAINABILITY and SOCIAL JUSTICE.
Think on this when you are tempted to lose all hope for our species. Remember that—not just today, but everyday—there are…
View original post 177 more words
A tug
A pull
A cry
But once in my arms
Smiling
(I know this picture isn’t a smiling one but look at that adorable Popeye face yawning!)
******
This 12 word poem about a love story was inspired by the Go Dog Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Prompt. I know, a day late – it’s been that kind of week! These word limited poems are really quite challenging for me but in a satisfying type of way.
This crazy week has also limited my running – limited as in none! My last run was Sunday and I can tell by my energy and mood that I am long overdue for one. Hmmmm, maybe I can sneak in a short run like I’m sneaking in writing these short poems…..
Why promise sunshine
When stormy clouds beckon warm snuggles under blankets
Why promise safe harbor
When tempests rock the rhythm that brings quivering joy
Why promise white picket fences
When unknown roads uncover the places of soft sighs
I will only promise my heart.
******
Trying something new today – yes, I know it’s Tuesday and this was a dVerse Quadrille Monday prompt….well, better late than never, right?
What is a quadrille poem, you ask? It’s a poem of exactly 44 words (not including the title) with the prompt word embedded into the poem. The challenge this Monday was to include the word “harbor” or a form of the word (verb, noun, even using poetic license is allowed) however using a synonym does not fulfill the prompt. A quadrille is also an 18th/19th century dance performed by four couples in a square formation (the precursor to square dancing according to Wikipedia). I’m not sure how the dance became a poem – if you do, please enlighten the rest of us! However it came about, keeping a poem to 44 words was a challenge for me (can you tell by the rambling I’ve done in this section? 😂). Thank you Lillian at dVerse for getting me out of my safe harbor and trying out this new form!
©️ iido 2018
We met every Friday at 5:30
I gave without thinking
You were never poor in spirit.
Me, in my Abercrombie and Fitch,
You, with your Aromatic and Filth
We met every Friday at 5:30.
Pasta and tacos,
Admonishments and side eye
I gave without thinking.
Survival your strength
Laughter your life line
You were never poor in spirit
Thank you to Jamie Dedes at The Poet By Day for this Wednesday Writing Prompt. Her challenge: Based on your experience or observation, tell us about poverty.
I used the cascade form for this piece. Thank you to Michele Vecchitto at Writing and Reflections for introducing me to this lovely poetry form through her poem, “Quiet Spaces.”
Poverty comes in many forms – not just material and monetary poverty, but poverty of spirit and soul – a much worse malady in my opinion. The poem above stems from my time volunteering at a soup kitchen. It’s where I learned compassion and what being rich truly means.
©️ iido 2018
Another fun challenge for the Go Dog Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Prompt: Write a poem about the one thing you can’t live without. Within it, try to state why. Their last challenge involved doing an acrostic poem about our greatest fears (here’s mine). I thought it would be fun to do an acrostic poem for this challenge as well.
******
Written down
Or spoken or
Running unabated in my head
Daring my pen to play or pause
Sharing connective catharsis
(I cannot live without WORDS!)
******
Words have always been a big part of my life – even before running was, actually even before walking probably! I have always loved words – reading them, saying them, writing them, researching them, playing with them. Now that I have found a wonderful writing community in WordPress and IRL, I realize every day the importance of words in my life – for communicating and commiserating. I’ll even admit, that I would not love running as much if it wasn’t for the wonderful conversations I have had during my runs.
Our words shape our lives as much as our lives are shaped by our words (and sometimes the words of others). What words are you using today?
©️ iido 2018
This has been such a full week for me with a lot of additional activities besides our usual ones. Yet it is sometimes when I am busiest that my thoughts tend towards the opposite direction: loneliness, quietness, stillness. Hence, Patrick Jennings’ Pic and Word Challenge #153 – Emptiness, hits the spot again! While his lovely words look at outward, mine veered inward. Opposites….
******
Empty
My womb is empty
No more sparks of life
Like fireflies on a summer night
A fleeting hope twinkling into sad thought
My womb is empty
Candle wishes extinguished
The birthday banner ripped and askew
Only cone hats left to point fingers at who’s to blame
My womb is empty
An unwanted Frankenstein
Stitched and stapled, stretched and scarred
Lightning bolts of regret
My womb is empty
It can add no more
4 out of 6 is more than statistical chance
Minus its function – a fraction of its worth
My womb is empty
Of sad thoughts
Of blame
Of regret
Of function
Now what will I do with all that space?
©️ iido 2018
Sharing this – not just because they published four poems that I wrote and submitted – but also because of their focus on Social Justice, which is a subject near and dear to my heart…
Sunspot—May Peace Prevail on Earth (3 languages)
Digital landscape from photos
©2018 Michael Dickel
Social Justice
The Zeitgeist of Resistance—a Historical River Flowing
Justice is a historical river flowing to us, around us, and through us, toward freedom. The river’s current, like our current Zeitgeist, is one of resistance. In times of extreme injustice(s), people rise. This issue of The BeZine dedicated to Social Justice brings you some of the history and much of our Zeitgeist of resistance.
You will read about the current White House occupant, the state of race and gender relations, economic disparity, oppression, and more that disturbs us in our time. However, coming to The BeZine from unrelated directions—some invited, some offered, some come across by seeming chance—history has sent reminders to us that we are not alone. Others have lived in times of extreme injustice(s). And people rose up to defy and resist injustice…
View original post 1,903 more words
Seventeen years ago, September 11, 2001, was a cloudless, bright blue Tuesday morning. This year, it was a cloudy, humid Tuesday morning. Still, we remember.
In Patrick Jennings’s Pic and a Word Challenge #152 – Fire, his poem for this prompt evokes a warning from a toxic threat. The Tuesday Prompt at Go Dog Go Cafe, inspired by the events of 9/11, requested: “Write about a time that you were challenged by an outside force, and talk about what you did to overcome it? More importantly, how did it change your view of yourself and/or the world around you?” Lastly, I was introduced by Linda Lee Lyberg at Charmed Chaos to a poetry structure called the “reverse Nonet”. This is a poem whose syllable count is: 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9.
Read on for a poem inspired by past and current fiery events, written in reverse nonet. The picture is an oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rosetti depicting Pandora and her infamous box (he also wrote a sonnet to accompany this painting). In the painting, the words on the box state “Nescitur Ignescitur” meaning “unknown it burns”.
******
Pandora’s Fire Box
or
NESCITUR IGNESCITUR (Unknown It Burns)
In tears I watched my world burning down
Like twin towers of faith and hope
Rumors about That Woman
Hatred for That Black Man
I am still held down
My disbelief
Progressing
Fearing
Fucked
Hurt
Anger
Loss of voice
World view shattered
Land of the “what now”
Home of the “not our job”
Reclaim the tiki torches
Be a beacon to light the way
Dried tears fuel the fire of freedom
(“Pandora”, Oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Public Domain)
©️iido 2018
I Do Run 
