Press strings on fret
hold tight
strum or pluck
find a rhythm
Slide to another
hold tight
chord of C7
fingers aching
Dreams of Joni and Joan
sounds of voice and string
oh to be like them
Never too late
for a new song
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dVerse quadrille using the word fret
In spring and summer most of my time is used in the garden
at times I think I have too much garden
Picking and plucking along the ground
weeds are like words in my garden
Time to share with hummingbirds and bees
who bury themselves in plants of the garden
Slugs don’t stand a chance if they climb through my fence
I will murder them if they enter green garden
I could buy a bag of peppers from the grocery store
would rather I harvest from plants in the garden
Joy of seeing a chipmunk or black-capped chickadee
as they pick out seeds from the garden
Now I know why my beans didn’t grow
because of that mole in my garden
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dVerse prompt to write a ghazal
In Cape Town I am looking for beads, big brass cage beads
let there be some at Greenmarket Square
where the sellers sell to tourists every day
don’t forget to barter, bring down the price
colors are plentiful and makes it hard to decide
I finally find what I am looking for
it is really big and it is already strung unto a necklace
I buy that one and a string of yellow beads
It is time to go
everything packed and carried away
__________________________
dVerse prompt on market – this was my market experience in South Africa
Dragon songs fill the air
audible only to dragon
too soon to tell what was heard
since being tethered in the atmosphere
waiting
to be cut loose that windy day
what flight
their songs fall below
let us know how real
the dragons are
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dVerse quadrille prompt on word dragon
Crazy robin has scarred all my windows
dirty bird footprints all over the glass
all summer he will tap and crash
each window a new threat
til he has exhausted himself
or found a lover
I saw my mother dying
Can recognize when someone is about to give up life
“That’s life” an old woman says at the library when the copy machine won’t copy
“That’s death” I say to myself
in between is limbo
Her strong bones frail now
meds keep her under
she wants more
skin pocked with injections
she doesn’t want to know me
what’s the point
she is dying
it can happen to anyone
at anytime
you don’t have to be old to die
