Who would think that one day I would be marching to Rule, Britannia with other wazungu, one Indian and a Kenyan. We sweat together, smile and laugh in a cheerful atmosphere of aerobic exercise.
Outside the matatus and tuk tuks drive on, delivering workers and school children under the tropical sky and half-moon.
on a veranda
wait for the rainy season
to fall on us all
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dVerse prompt to write a haibun and use of the word half-moon
I am travelling to Mombasa with maybe five hours of sleep over two days. Delays, delays, delays and not sure I really slept at all. The movies keep me entertained. The food is okay.
The gritty leg from Doha to Nairobi, I see the desert beneath me and the three small children traveling with their mother let out sounds like a mad cat. They cry and moan sometimes in an echo of the other and sometimes in unison. This cacophony lasts for the duration.
let out a howl
unpleasant in the pleasant
changing of seasons
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ I FEEL SO BOXED IN]]]]]]]]]]] CONFINEMENT AND ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[SPACELESS WONDER ]]]] [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ NO MOVEMENT FOR ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] [[[[[[[[[[[ MY [[[[OWN ENJOYMENT]]]]]]][[[[[]PLANNING MY ESCAPE ]]]]]]]]]]]
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NaPoWriMo Day 28 prompt to write a concrete poem.
Imagine there is heaven
not only in the sky
what surrounds everything
and everyone
reflecting the divine
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NaPoWriMo prompt to pick a phrase and write against it. I took John Lennon’s “Imagine there’s no heaven”.
My great grandfather
built his home in Southern Iowa
out back was a grove of ash trees
the people called the town Ash Grove
now gone from the map
forgotten place
I can still see the changing color
of leaves falling to the ground
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dVerse quadrille prompt on the word ash
three dots on my phone
wiped the mud with my sweater
rainy season now
There is much to do
weather is changing
prepare for less light
more rain
bring in chairs
fold the sunshades
move plants inside
where they will linger
in warmth of a fireplace
or the winter sun
coming through glass
perhaps flower and fruit
again
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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille using the word linger. I am preparing for the continuous rains and trying something new in bringing some potted plants (tomato and pepper) inside to see if they will continue to produce.
This is what happens when promises are made that cannot be delivered. I gave you weapons. I gave you training. I gave you a plan of governance. I never gave you peace and stability in your own country. I put your sons and daughters on a plane as refugees. Your wife went too and now in desperation you cling to the fuselage.
Houses for sale in the Algarve
follow the cobblestone to the yellow one
imagine myself speaking Portuguese
eu escrevo em poesia
nadar no Mediterrâneo
cultivar vegetais
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dVerse prompt concerning an imagined house — I’ll take one in the Algarve of Portugal. Translation:
I write in poetry/ swim in the Mediterranean/grow vegetables
Now it is only a trickle of a stream
where boulder rocks and pebbles accumulate
no hint of water on their smoothness
a dry bed until the hard rains come
gathering a force that pushes land
creates a new course through the city streets
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dVerse prompt on writing a quadrille using the word stream. Also recalling the flooding at Zion National Park and the water flowing through the streets.
wordshophop 