When I Think About Rooms

When I think about rooms

the one that encompassed me

front door corridor

entryway

dark hardwood door

no windows

rarely used

darker in its none use

where no one went in or out

(always the side door)

but this room

with its front door

that held a way in and out

held me as a three year old

who sat on the bench

with hinged top for boot or shoe

other side was closet

a closet rarely opened

such a small room

for my small person

remembered now

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NaPoWriMo prompt on describing a room remembered

Ninth Grade English Class

It was the ninth grade, in Sophie Pouch’s English class, we passed the reading of Macbeth from reader to reader until it went all around the classroom yet still was not done. The next day we did it again and again, when finally, it was finished.

And Shakespeare’s words went out into those hallways of the school with a morning greeting of “How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?” as we congregated around our lockers. A commanding response of “Speak. Demand. We’ll listen.” “Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.” And on it went into our school day.

Autumn moonlight—
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut. Basho

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dVerse prompt to consider Shakespeare and Basho in a haibun. I will never forget Sophie Pouch’s ninth grade English class.

Wonder Uterus

Sunny gardenia

gothic drink in the morn

gecko or fox in a hole

this penny & tulips

wonderful uterus

lover of countries

democracy & t-shirts

a tornado of Hemingway’s

sunshine

Dear Jane

Kim is dead

turtle & Goodnight Moon

rebar into birds singing

of governments & ferries

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NaPoWriMo prompt to take the quiz presented and make it a poem. The Wonder Uterus graffiti was found in Lisbon, the land of graffiti.

Hope in the Desert

I was slipping on a mossy hillside

green against my skin

ready to slide

I am lying in a forest of ferns

green against my skin

beautiful bed

I saw a rainbow in the East

green against my skin

hope in the desert

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NaPoWriMo Day #1 prompt— a self-portrait poem in metaphor— how nature and God provide

Sweet Smell of Africa

Sweet smell of Africa

clings to my nostrils

it is in my bag

open it

my clothes unfold

a memory of singing

and dancing

under the night sky

fabric swirls

keeps the air

in its weave

releases

smells

of Ghana

Cote de Ivoire

 

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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille and use the word keep

Sonnet for Game of Thrones

Off they went to battle with death

better organized than their foe

hardly time to pursue a breath

the horn did three times blow

 

 

Picture them now on the battlefield

dragon glass spikes and burning moat

fire rains down on corpses held

under spell a straight spear will unbolt

 

 

Heroes will live and some will fall

I hope your favorite is not done

we know it can’t be the end of all

there are more episodes following this one

 

 

Game of Thrones season finale is here

read the book or binge-watch next year

Hometown Building

The library, church, elementary and junior high school were buildings significant to my childhood.  Their appearances would suggest that they were built around the same era with bricks from the same brickyard perhaps by the same bricklayers.  I never knew their history only their halls and rooms.

A tornado destroyed the schools.  The old library has been purchased for an upscale living space.  The church still has service once a week by a visiting pastor who says God is good.  The organist plays but there is no choir.  High on the steeple, bells still ring out the time and a tune.

oh what memories

built from debris of the past

rip through the springtime

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dVerse prompt to write a haibun on your hometown