Simple Gentility

To discerning hearts,

meek field strewn peasants ascend

to tea house nobles.

 My flower arrangement for tea ceremony. 

Process note: The art of arranging flowers for tea is called chabana, and it is customary to use simple seasonal flowers, even weeds and grass so long as they aren't fragrant, in the arrangement. 

Song Choice: Simple Gifts by Yo Yo Ma and Alison Krauss

This poem is in response to the prompt given at Imaginary Gardens for Real Toads: Weeds in the Garden.

Summer's Charm

Summer is a show off.

Draped in vines encircling hips,

and occulting flowers,

Summer stretches out an arm

drawing you in.

Drawing you in, seedling in full quiver,

and insisting you bear the heat

as glitter tongued Summer

licks each longing leaf and petal.

You wait your turn for Adam Eve kisses,

murmuring lily oaths

into Summer’s bejeweled ears.

“Oh dear love,” Summer whispers

with lupine lips brushing your skin.

“Speak to me in snapdragon sighs.

Be bold when you kiss back,

and I will withhold nothing.”

And you do. You kiss back,

until your firefly eyes see clear

after the poppy bliss of daylight.

And the night wind carries

chamomile caresses after a day

well spent, with Summer’s promise

of “Again, at dawn’s first light.” 

Song Choice: As the World Falls Down by David Bowie

This poem was inspired by Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Bits of Inspiration - Amber Rose Tamblyn

Odd Girls

Come and play where the odd girls go.

Come, play the games that only they know.

Fall down, follow down, do come soon.

Come play along in the light of the moon.

Follow me, follow me to the forest where it’s dark.

Don’t be afraid of the teeth that are sharp,

for I have sharp teeth of my own,

and those that bite me will never go home.

Come and play where the odd girls go.

Come, play the games that only they know.

Fall down, follow down, do come soon.

Come play along in the light of the moon.

Please come play. I have stories to tell,

ones that are familiar and some you don’t know so well.

Stories like wind through ancient bones.

Stories that cause screaming in stones.

Come and play where the odd girls go

Run to the place between delight and woe.

Some come home, wiser than they left

and some linger on as permanent guests. 

Song Choice: Creepy Doll by Jonathan Coulton 

This post is in response to a prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, Eerie Nursery Rhymes

Lessons from Roses

“I come from latkes and empanadas,”

she said, waving her assignment high for me to see.

She wears her crown of in-between so well,

no doubting or worrying where she belongs.

I smile. It won’t be too long before

some teen woe sets us at odds.

But, she still wants to show me 

how she can be like me.

I want to learn to be like her.

I’ll put down the chore list

and listen to where her words took her,

because motherhood isn’t measured out

in laundry baskets or coffee spoons.  

It’s more like preserved rose beads

made of memories strung together.

Song Choice: Watching You - Rodney Atkins

This poem was in response to the prompt given over at a Dash of Sunny, Prompt Nights: Stop and Smell the Roses and is part of the Tuesday Platform at Imaginary Gardens for Real Toads

Laughing in Purgatory

You’re no angel.

Shining down on me from heaven?

You’re laughing your ass off

in purgatory at best.

No twee robes for you.

Now I’m laughing too

thinking of you

forced to float to harp song.

I want to call you to explain

how funny you would look.

Then I remember I can’t.

That’s when I cry.

Song Choice: One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men

A prompt so great, I had to play with it twice. Another one for Imaginary Gardens for Real Toads: Flash 55, Sad Song edition. I saw the video clip included One Sweet Day and it hit me so hard, this came out of it. The line I worked with was "Shining down on me from heaven".

Outrun

I fled

only to find myself

in the same spot

my mother escaped.

Can I

put behind

my teenage thrill

of adrenaline and lights?

Here are your bags.

I’ve made my decision.

Maybe you’ll find peace

going your own way.

Or not.

That’s not my concern anymore.

I have work to do 

to find mine.

Song Choice: Fast Car by Tracey Chapman 

This poem was inspired by Imaginary Gardens for Real Toads: Flash 55, Sad Songs I chose to base my poem on Fast Car by Tracey Chapman working with the last two lines of it, "You've got to make a decision. Leave tonight or live and die this way."