This is a Haibun of 44 words for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, using synonyms for play and guess, and for dVerse’s Quadrille Monday, where De Jackson asked us to use the word bounce.
It’s been a stressful couple weeks. Thoughts bounce about in my brain, as I try to sleep. My cat is nestled beside me, and his soft snores echo in my dreams. Time and space now speculative.
ideas frolic
gamboling animals romp
visions of wonder
Franz Marc [Public domain ], via Wikimedia Commons
Here’s another winter solstice poem. This Haibun is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday. She asked us to use synonyms for the words cover and precipitation.
I’m tucked under the blankets. My big-eyed, grey-striped cat is cuddled against me. Our white cat has closed both his blue eye and his yellow eye on the pillow beside me. My husband, wrapped in a green-bordered patchwork quilt, has fallen asleep downstairs in his recliner. We all dream. Our dreams are shape-shifting creatures that fly high to dance together amongst the stars. I dream of winter snow melting in spring sunshine. In my dream, there are green fields and blue horses in a silver mist. There is a building, where inside a dark room a woman slowly chews and swallows some strips of paper. She smiles because now she holds all the secrets–buried inside her like a seed. But someday they will sprout in light, blooming flowers of truth and beauty.
Dreams reign solstice night
soothed by moon’s lullabies,
slowly, the sun wakes
Franz Marc, “The Dream,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
A Shadorma for Eliot’s November Shadorma Challenge and Jane’s A Month with Yeats Challenge.
Today’s quotation:
“..by water among the trees
The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh” —W.B. Yeats
stag and doe
over golden leaves
side by side
they travel
at dusk, searching, wandering–
sighing, find a home
Franz Marc [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
I didn’t get my Yeats Challenge post up yesterday, so here’s Day Sixteen. I’m also linking it to Dverse’s Open Link Night.
Jane chose this quotation for Day Sixteen:
“Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns?”—W.B. Yeats
At dawn the robin sings to greet the coming of the day,
the sun rises then in golden glow to brightly light the way,
across the sky, excited geese soar high in V formation
honking directions and chattering in winged conversations.
Young lovers meander in noontime explorations,
declaring their love in breathless exclamations,
taking breaks from work or school for this, a secret tryst,
holding hands, then coming closer, sharing their first kiss.
Later, the young white deer gambols in the gloaming
still young without his horns, carefree in his roaming,
but never too far does he wander from his mother’s side
bleating to her when he is scared, listening for her replies.
The owl spreads her wings, takes flight in the blackness of the night
she hoots from a branch to tell her mate that everything is right,
nocturnal creatures flit and scurry under the humming moon,
and in an upstairs room, we sleep, dreaming to the tune.
Franz Marc, “Deer in the Forest,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Ilya Repin, “What Freedom!” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Pretend I’m the Queen of the Sea–
in my long reign
we will dance upon the waves,
careless of the sparkling spindrift
delighting
water-spriting
unrestrained,
without reins
we’ll ride our horses of ocean blue
under the singing stars,
and only a gentle rain will fall,
soft drumming to the humming moon
Franz Marc, “Large Blue Horses,” [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
This poem is for dVerse. Lillian has asked us to use the words rain, rein, and/or reign, and to write something upbeat.
I’ve used this painting by Ilya Repin before, but I love it. The Blue Horses and spindrift are for Jane. 🙂
Franz Marc, “The Little Blue Horses,” 1911, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commona
Lead me, dancing wind
on a journey of delight
tend my soul with pure sunlight.
Lead me, dancing wind
to find a shimmery shore,
a place of peace, without war.
Lead me, dancing wind
to where blue ponies play, stay,
bravely dance, in waves and spray.
Lead me, dancing wind
in sailing ship or small cart,
lead me now, to find my heart.
This is for Secret Keeper’s Weekly Writing Challenge.
Using these words: Brave/Tend/Pure/Lead/Dance
I feel the need for blue ponies.
***WP is telling me I should encourage US voters to vote by “adding a subtle prompt.” So here is link to register. VOTE! Is that subtle enough?
Vote your conscience, but I’m With Her, and I’m voting #LoveTrumpsHate.
Franz Marc [Public domain],”The Little Blue Horses,”via Wikimedia Commons
Reflecting the sky,
manes and tails
glow,
Four legs gallop, then rest
sides heaving,
blue
mothers and foals nuzzle,
in sheltered
love
safe from Earth’s war and bombs
far travels
space
and time, final frontiers,
journeys of
hope
under the sky’s two suns,
peaceful world
found
This is a tilus series in response to Jane Dougherty’s poetry challenge. The prompt was the above painting by Franz Marc.
A tilus is composed of 10 syllables altogether: 6 for the first line, 3 for the second, and 1 for the third. I found this form very difficult to write. I’ve put together a series to tell a story because I really wondered about those blue horses, and I couldn’t tell their story in 10 syllables.
