Moss-Covered Secrets

I have secrets!  You don’t believe me?  Of course not.  I am a model citizen after all.  I check each of the boxes: A successful career, a lovely family, wonderful friends…  Nobody suspects the darkness within, nor sees the weight of the burdens I carry.  I don’t believe that speaking of such things is beneficial for the soul. I just continue to add layer upon layer of moss to camouflage the wounds.  I keep the snapshots of my past within and I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook.  With the photographs there and the moss hanging heavy, perhaps even I will no longer see the truth. 

dVerse Prosery hosted by Kim.

Kim asks us to write a piece of fiction incorporating the following line from Take This Waltz by Leonard Cohen “And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook, with the photographs there and the moss.”

A Haibun: Every Summer

Each summer, I gaze into the bright face of a sunflower and vow to plant some in my garden. Spring arrives… I ready my flowerbeds, go to the local nursery and buy the usual vegetables and annuals.  Deep summer arrives and I see sunflowers…  in somebody else’s garden.

Faces shine brightly
To rival the summer sun
They pull at heartstrings  
Such a fierce summer yearning
To be forgotten by spring

Colleen’s 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 47

Spreading the Fear

Disseminating fear
Easily dismissed by my brain 
Just another day in a backward world
Yet my body feels the impact 
Little flutters of the heart
Fatigued to the core 

Image Credit:
Greg Bulla on Unsplash.

Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge #281

Garden Stroll

“The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world. It is a magical place because it is not divided.” Thomas Moore

All of the photos in this post were taken at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. A lovely and irresistible place for a garden stroll!

Lens-Artists Challenge #311 – What’s in a Garden? hosted by Ann-Christine.

Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Irresistible by Gerry C. and Sue W.

The Marvelous

Mass production of “must haves”
at the press of a button.
Machines are modern marvels,
but the marvelous are handmade.

Featured image is a photo taken by me of an artwork display at Albany International Airport. Robert Hite, Migration House, reclaimed wood and metal, 2007-2017.

https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2024/08/10/weekend-writing-prompt-376-handmade/

Kingbirds

Eastern Kingbird

Flycatchers abound 
Balmy afternoon
By southeastern lake
They fly around me
Swooping and darting
One lands finally
An eastern kingbird
Perched high in a tree
 
Next day undeterred
I walk by a swamp
And for goodness sake
It’s a gray kingbird
That swoops from the sky
It may be absurd
Is the app faulty?
Same bird possibly

Gray Kingbird

dVerse MTB: An Octameter for August and Sara Teasdale, hosted by Laura Bloomsbury

I. J.’s Birds of the Week Invitation LXXVI

Cottage on the Pond

Childhood revisited
Pond-side summer cottage 
Just where it was so many years ago
Rowboats and canoes 
Dock jumping at rustic community beaches  
Barefoot freedom through green pastures
and hardwood forests (yes!)
Poison ivy infections…  
an occasional bloodsucking leech (ugh!)
Little has changed since then
Just the perspective 
The natural beauty breathtaking 
The adventure elusive

W3 Prompt #119: Wea’ve Written Weekly poet of the week, Robbie, prompts us to write any combination of prose and poetry about a childhood memory and its impact.

Wild Carrot

Queen Anne’s Lace going to seed

Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge (FOTD)

A Photo Cannot

A photo cannot capture the caress of a gentle mountain breeze.  Nor can it produce the sound of birdsong echoing through the valley.   It cannot release the perfume of wildflowers that dot the meadow or fill lungs deep with fresh crisp air.  It is simply a chapter in a much larger story.

See the fog roll in 
over mountain and meadow 
dewdrops rest on skin 

Colleen’s 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 46

Light Rail

Image by Владимир Харитонов from Pixabay

The light sits low in the sky
On the train fresh tears I cry
A brief hello… a sad goodbye
Still the sun rises and sets 

Moonwashed Weekly Prompt – Coming or going

Ovi Poetry Challenge 59: LIGHT