At the Intersection of Glasshouse St. and Regent St. – A Poem

We met at a party

My intent was clear 

For just one night 

I would you hold you dear

.

But we met again

Our lives, driven and peculiar

What should have been parallel

Fate made perpendicular

.

Now on this island getaway

My compass points in your direction

Who knew that long ago, one night

Would lead us to this destination?

From http://www.what3words.com. This is the

I was three seconds late to add this poem to Mr. Linky for Sarah at dVerse’s Tuesday Poetics. Thank goodness for Open Link Night tonight! I had never heard of the website what3words, but it is absolutely brilliant what the developers did! They gave each 3 meter square in the world a unique 3 word identifier. Sarah gave us a list of 3 word identifiers to chose from to be our prompt for this poem.

I chose the first set, “party.intent.points” and found myself on a traffic island in London, at the corner of Glasshouse St. and Regent St. near Picadilly. After zooming out, I discovered that Glasshouse St actually intersects Regent St at it’s other end. And a poem was born!

I really liked this prompt and might go back to this website for more inspiration. Of course, nothing beats the inspiration of my fellow bloggers here on WordPress! While London isn’t exactly an “island getaway,” this prompt and the “armchair trip” I went on was a welcome reprieve.

©️ 2020 iido

Mama vs Mars – A Haibun

On this day, fourteen years ago, the God of War thrust his sword into my abdomen and stole the apples of my eyes. Like his namesake planet, I was left cold, and barren with crusted blood like iron red rust covering my once life filled belly.

On this day, fourteen years ago, I declared, “Let there be storms!” and created a maelstrom of wind and tears, anger and confusion, sadness and frustration. The storms ate the comforting, yellow sun, the brave, blue skies, the protective purple rains and the just-for-fun rainbows. The storms raged and the war commenced.

Waiting out the storm

I eat Istakhar Apples

Spring’s peace is hard-won

Happy 14th Birthday!

While this is not a traditional haibun, it does incorporate the prompt from Frank at dVerse to use Mars in a haibun. I was also able to include Anmol’s dVerse poetics request time write a poem that included apples and it’s mythologies. The links to the “apple stories” I have used are included in the actual poem.

Lastly, I was able to use Beth’s Tuesday Writing Prompt at the Go Dog Go Cafe. Her prompt was the phrase, “Let there be storms”. The god of war, the red planet, apples and storms – mix together with a dash of angst and pinch of nature and voila! Haibun!

March 4 is the birthday of my twins, Lucas and Larissa, who were born at 22 weeks and didn’t survive. We have always celebrated their birthday with a cake. This haibun captures a bit of the anger and sadness that comes with losing children, as well, the bittersweet aftermath of living with the reality of this grief.

©️ 2020 iido

Drop Growing Cascading – A Cascade Poem

Drip drop trickling
Moving growing powering
Eroding cascading changing

Your idea to smile at that hateful man
Caused me to buy my nemesis a coffee
Drip drop trickling

She, in turn, forgave her sister, the lawyer who caused, then settled her divorce
This lawyer sister pro bono defended the women marching raising the alarm
Moving growing powering

These women gave voice to injustice and hope
A million gallons of smiles rushing forward
Eroding cascading changing

This is Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite National Park, one of my favorite pictures from the start of our cross country trip three years ago, seemed like a fitting picture in response to the theme of “cascade” posted by Amaya at d’Verse Poetics last week. I chose a non-watery cascade for the focus of my poem though. This one was inspired by Devereaux’s prompt at the Go Dog Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Prompt for last week: How can we best avenge the fallen?

I am not sure what meaning Devereaux had in mind when he posed his question – Deceased police officers/fire fighters/military? The “damned”? Angels who have given up their halos to become human? In my writing, I was thinking about people who had “fallen by the wayside” in our lives – either from lack of contact or from a conflict. Repairing these broken relationships (private and public) requires a cascade of loving voices saying, “Rise up and join our love fest!!” Or something along those lines….

©️ iido 2019

Vanishing Solution – A Rubaiyat

To vanquish all the demons of senseless aggression

The women left, with children on hips, for vacation

Without the men and older ones, corrupted too soon

In the middle of the night, they left without resignation.

It started with whispers under the heartbroken moon

Mothers left behind who wanted to hear a new tune

The song of “I’m sorry” for rape, murder, starvation

Made for a hollow dirge in the empty baby room.

Without any recourse than to cry and wail with rage

The women made a plan to change the history page

Eve’s disobedience might be original sin

But Cain killing Able spotlight the violent stage

Without testosterone, how/where would the anger begin?

It became clear that peace could never start from within

Add in voices loud with societal machismo

Can’t unlearn this behavior yet men had no chagrin

It took years to create the perfect utopia

Women agreed there was only one panacea

As much as it hurt to acknowledge the truth of it

Leave them behind, the only viable idea.

After kisses and climaxes for the lucky ones,

And tender tough love goodbyes for those who had older sons

The women vanishing in one night of defiance

Bringing babies, clothes, food, seeds, tools to create, no guns

When the world awoke, there was silence then confusion

There was crying and wailing and raging delusion

The accusations turned deadly with no end in sight

The world was burning, cleansing all those in collusion

And the women waited, teaching their children new ways

With emotional regulation, without fake praise

Listening, reflection, the basis for discussion

Decisions consensus, not perfect, a better phase.

Is separation the best course of action for now?

Or work hard together and put our backs to the plough?

I don’t know the answer or the moral of this tale

To change our world, what are we willing to disavow?

This is my first attempt at a rubaiyat – inspired by Frank Hubeny at dVerse call to action. Feedback is welcome and most appreciated!

The theme is in response to Patrick’s Pic and a Word Challenge #172 – Vanishing as well as Jamie Dedes’ Wednesday Writing Prompt. Jamie’s prompt this week deserved a lot of thought – it was hard (for me at least) to imagine what a world would be like without murder, torture, starvation. In writing this poem, I am NOT saying that all the bad in the world are due to men but statistically, most of the violence in the world are perpetuated by those with a Y chromosome.

I don’t think separation is the answer. As the saying goes, if you’re not part of the solution…however, sometimes I do just want to take a vacation from all the strife I hear about in the world. Yet, where would we go?

©️ iido 2019

I Want to Move to a Place with a Better Climate – A Poem

Here, our words turned hot

from sunbathing sizzle

to lobster pot boiling.

Here, outer shells were shed

as were inhibitions

and gloves.

Here, our friendship froze

Hearts that were unique snowflakes

Refused to be thawed

But

Somewhere else, the breeze brings the scent

of salt water shed because of

The lost of connections

Somewhere else, heat bakes stones

That refused to be thrown

Or made into walls

Somewhere else, curiosity trumps judgment

Words move feet

To makes space

Somewhere else a smile is welcome

Here, a smile is a privileged challenge.

This past week, my head was consumed with a political issue that turned personal (hence the lack of posts or catching up with all of you lovely writers). I think in the current state of the USA, these types of scenarios can’t be helped, especially as a woman and person of color. The white woman I was talking to said “You can’t talk about peeling back the layers of the onion if you don’t want to see what’s underneath.” I kept on telling her that I don’t mind peeling back layers, that I wouldn’t be doing that if I wasn’t curious about the layers and if I wasn’t prepared to discuss the layers. I think she didn’t like the way her layers were looking or maybe she didn’t like the smell of her part of the onion. Either way, tears were shed.

This poem incorporates Patrick’s Pic and a Word Challenge #171 – Words, Hélène’s “What do you see?” Picture Prompt ( the picture above is courtesy of her prompt), Devereaux and Beth at the Go Dog Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Prompt (use the word “somewhere” twice in a poem) and Lillian at dVerse Poetics (use the word “shed” in a poem).

©️ iido 2019

Snowfall – Two Haikus

Flat boring paper

The snowfall of my mind smiles

Possibilities

Prompts in the forecast

The snowfall of minds gather

Blizzard of poems

Tuesday was a busy day! At the Go Dog Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Prompt, Devereaux and Beth requested poems that used the phrase “snowfall of my mind”. While I did change it a bit for the second poem, I hope my offerings are accepted for this week.

Over at dVerse – Poetics, Gina reminded us about the magic in ordinary things. I chose paper and prompts as my ordinary things. As a poet, I use paper and write about prompts weekly. One day of contemplating these ordinary things lead to these appreciative haikus.

In this busy season, I hope you all can take some time to appreciate the ordinary – isn’t this what the season is all about anyway?