
Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge “FOTD – August 4”
Books and Poetry
At the Bamboo Bar
Join me for a drink
Pull up a stool
Reveal all your secrets.
Join me for a drink
The drink is on me
Reveal all your secrets
Hold nothing back.
The drink is on me
Loosen your tongue
Hold nothing back
Information is gathered.
Loosen your tongue
We’re listening
Information is gathered
A free drink with a high cost.
We’re listening
Pull up a stool
A free drink with a high cost
At the Bamboo Bar.
W3 Prompt #66: Wea’ve Written Weekly’s poet of the week, Melissa, prompts us to write a “pantoum with at least four stanzas.”
David pointed out that I screwed up the rhyme scheme, so I’m adding a sequel to meet the criteria for the Pantoum:

The Golden Gate path will lead
To the Bamboo Bar
A password you’ll need
Or you won’t get far.
To the Bamboo Bar
You’ll require invitation
Or you won’t get far
There’s no negotiation.
You’ll require invitation
To share your secrets in kind
There’s no negotiation
No changing your mind.
To share your secrets in kind
A password you’ll need
No changing your mind
The Golden Gate path will lead.
Drifting and surging
Transitory as the sea
Always in motion
Like the ebbing tide
Consistently retreating
Compelled to return
Prompted by Colleen’s #TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge, Synonyms Only: No. 331, 8/1/23.



For I.J.’s Bird of the Week Invitation XXIII
Prompted by Sadje’s What do you see # 197- July 31, 2023

I came upon a house
Built into the ground
A hilltop for its roof
A front door green and round
I couldn’t help but wonder
Who must live inside
I hid among the flowers
Until I finally spied
A funny little gnome
Skipping out the door
Prancing down the stairs
Until he was no more
I looked upon the house
Saw the door ajar
Snuck up to the stoop
But didn’t get too far
When the funny little gnome
Spoke up from behind
“Is there some way I can help you?”
In a tone that was kind
And so I did admit
For all that it was worth
My great curiosity
For his house built into earth
The little gnome just smiled
An expression of pure pride
And with a wave of his arm
He ushered me inside.
A firestorm ignites -
words pour forth;
affording order in chaos;
an outlet amid tragedy.
Flames fueled by grief
spawn phrases through smoke.
Vehement inferno diminishes with time;
residual embers refuse to be extinguished;
kindling for composition.
W3 Prompt #65: Wea’ve Written Weekly’s poet of the week, Sadje, prompts us to write a poem about: “‘What inspires you to write?’ or: ‘What inspires you to write poetry?’” This poem is really more about what inspired me to begin writing.

Prompted by Cee’s CMMC – July: Alphabet any word that has two “M”s and Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge (FOTD).

Midday sustenance
Placed upon a checkered cloth
Spread atop a hill
Shaded by an ancient tree
Pristine lake below
Serene cows grazing green grass
A warm summer breeze
Provides the stench of cow dung
Unappetizing picnic
A picture worth a thousand words may still only tell half the story.
Prompted by Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge No. 330 to write an ekphrastic poem in syllabic form, inspired by the depicted image.
I chose to write a Choka followed by an American Sentence.