Oh! Water Lilies

Unabashedly
Displaying their striking hues
Breath catches on sight
They remain incognizant
Of the emotions they stir

Terri’s The Flower Hour #23

Photos captured at Naples Botanical Garden

Shaped

Still and stoic
Shaped by circumstance
Weathered
Beaten
Fated to endure
Bent, not broken

TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 57 hosted by Melissa.

Grackles

Fooling nobody
Shimmering in the sunlight
Inky black feathers
Reveal their iridescence
A glorious unveiling

Boat-tailed Grackle

I. J.’s Birds of the World Invitation CLX

Featured image is a Common Grackle.

Hungry for Nature

Cooped up in the cold
Dreams of ultraviolet
Ravenous for sun

The natural world
Nourishes the starving soul
A walk in the woods

Disconnected times 
I hunger for communion 
The trees welcome me

From want no fruit yields
Insatiable appetite
A spring garden feeds

dVerse Quadrille – Hunger, hosted by Lisa.

TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 53 – Rensaku, hosted by Melissa.

Tranquility Garden

Reclining cliffside
Ambient sounds of water
Drops splash sun warmed skin

Pull Up a Seat Photo Challenge – Week 7

A Chöka: When I Retired

I was the driver
You in the passenger seat
Not moving forward
Traveling backwards and fast
Not on a straight path
But neverending circles
Dreams bring truth to light
Imparting inner wisdom
Telling it’s time to move on

dVerse Poetics – Dream Interpretations, hosted by Sanaa.

TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 49 – Mental Health, hosted by Yvette.

Skull Necklace

That smile of yours was infectious
Your eagerness to please
A waste

Your life on earth was so precious
Shattered by your disease
In haste

You rushed full speed into reckless
With toxic remedies
The weight

Of winter leaves our lungs breathless 
We sink upon our knees
The date

Worn heavy like your skull necklace
Choking us in degrees
Pain great

W3 Prompt #195: Wea’ve Written Weekly poet of the week , Marion, challenges us to write a Memento. I modified the form slightly to make it my own, as prompted by Melissa, hosting this week’s TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 48.

Featured image created with ChatGPT

Land & Monkeys

French vegan delights
Leave the sweet tooth craving more
No monkeys observed

Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt #450 – Sweet (12 words)

We visited two different Land & Monkeys at least three times in as many days for lunch and pastries. One would never know the pastries are vegan! Even the mayonnaise on the sandwiches was quite convincing. The featured photo displays our late morning bounty atop a sidewalk cafe table just outside the entrance to the beautiful Père Lachaise Cemetery.

This Year

Some more memorable than others
Days of the year run together
Will this year be noteworthy?
Camellias bloom in cold
Bees visit when warm
Tentative sniff
A new year –
Mirth and
Sting

W3 Prompt #193: Wea’ve Written Weekly poet of the week, Carol Anne, prompts us to write a Nonet about the new year.

The Flower Hour #12 by Terri

Perhaps

An old railcar
Sulks upon broken tracks
Never to ride again
The cars it once carried
Consigned to scrap piles
Although, perhaps…
a few survivors remain?
Lovingly restored
A spark of hope ignites
Possibilities imagined

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge by Dan on the theme of full or empty.