My mother’s voice is soft now. Her words slur and drift off in a breeze. But today she laughs, and the sparrows twitter and chirp, carrying that laugh up to the sky.
Dawn rises giggling
rose-tipped clouds streak summer sky—
shadows dance on ground
For dVerse, where De has asked us to write a quadrille (a poem of 44 words, any style) using the word voice.
Cape May—a “girls’ weekend” on a summery-spring day. We delight in the warmth, and later watch the sun fire the bay. Overnight, the weather turns and rages, but we laugh and have brunch.
April nor’easter,
tom-catting deck chairs scatter–
inside, fond hearts glow
For dVerse, a haibun quadrille. Grace has asked us to use the word sun.
Once a child in wonder
saw a dragon flying by
breathing clouds of dragon-mist
in swirling twists
of white across the bluest sky.
And there he lay on grassy slope
pondering, wondering why–
only he saw a dragon there,
high up in the sky.
A little wisp of a poem, a quadrille for dVerse. De has asked us to use the prompt, “dragon.”
For some reason, I was hearing the song “Circle Game” in my head. I was thinking the song doesn’t mention dragons, but then I realized it does mention a dragonfly. Weird how the mind works! Here’s Tom Rush’s version of the Joni Mitchell song. I heard him sing this song in concert recently. He sounds so young here.
I don’t need a yacht or rings–
or bling—
only enough wealth
to pay bills, to manage health,
the everyday decisions,
not star-struck visions
(think of
Richard Cory, richer than a king. . .)
but listen to the mockingbird sing—
riches the world brings
This is a quadrille for dVerse, where Kim has asked us to use the word “rich.” For some reason, the poem, “Richard Cory” popped into my mind. You can read it here.
Caspar David Friedrich, “Drifting Clouds,”[Public Domain], Wikipedia Commons
and watched the clouds flying
like time
on feathered wings,
I flew along,
eager for what it’d bring,
asking why–
finding when
happens then
again, and time the thing
like clouds
that drifts up, away, sighing.
Taking a work break! This is a quadrille for De’s prompt on dVerse using the word “up,” and for my dVerse prompt on theories.
And some music, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”–from her Clouds album.
Sapling from the Theresienstadt Tree, Philadelphia Holocaust Memorial Plaza
“There are times when dreams sustain us more than facts. To read a book and surrender to a story is to keep our very humanity alive.”
—Helen Fagin, from a letter recounting the clandestine school she set up in the Warsaw Ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began April 19, 1943, on the eve of Passover.
From the ghetto,
we rose strengthened by dreams,
bolstered and braced by
possibilities,
we escaped
through stories of hope
and love
determined
to rise.
We fought
for survival
We fought
for our humanity.
We fought
to keep magic alive–
but remembering always
the ghosts.
This is a quadrille for my dVerse prompt, using the word rise. The Theresienstadt Tree seemed a good symbol, especially on Earth Day.
Slave Shackles JvL- from Netherlands [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D Wikipedia Commons
I see the spiked collar and the shackles. These may have been meant for a child, the exhibit label states. They would fit my wrist, I think. Ghosts hover; my heart aches.
mothers’ cries echo
soar across Atlantic sea—
gale winds thrash the sails
This is a quadrille for dVerse. De asked us to use the word spike. A quadrille is a poem of 44 words. Mine is in the form of a haibun, though perhaps not totally traditional.
Little girl
gambols by the seaside
the saltwater flows,
and she grows
wondering who she is,
who she’ll be
as onward flows
the sea, she knows
kisses, and soaring free
to be
herself, and shows
a world images–she knows
what dreams can be
A quadrille for dVerse, where De is asking us to use the word kiss. Sorry for all the birthday poems, but I wrote a poem for younger daughter’s birthday, so I had to write one for older daughter’s birthday today. I’m struck by how many of her paintings are of soaring figures—both people and sea creatures. You can see some of them here.
I walk by the riverside—
only the steps are steep–
few creatures stir,
do they hide–
perhaps they’re fast asleep.
I wonder what it’d be like
to soar, slither, or leap,
but my shadow and I walk
side by side–
good company, we keep.
Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ
Enough dark and dismal today–keeping it light for quadrille day at dVerse. Mish has asked us to use the word “steep” in some form in our 44-word poems. I wrote most of this in my head while I was walking.
Caspar David Friedrich, “Owl on a Tree,” [Public domain] Wikipedia Commons
and then she soars
silently, in pursuit
of prey, explores
the land–still unspoiled—
glides with serrated wings
over territory still unsoiled
by the sighs and zings
of manmade things
seeking oil or gold.
But tonight–
only silent wings in flight.
This is for dVerse where Lillian has asked us to write a quadrille using some form of the word “spoil.” She mentions movies, so I’ll say—and this is not a spoiler—that there is a prospector and an owl in one of the “chapters” in the movie The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
