Even the Sky

Even the sky blushes when it thinks of the night to come. Anticipating the taste of you, the day passed so slowly. But your touch can stop time, making star lit night grow longer and punishing day for taking so long to yield.

Waiting for your skin

to alight upon my body

is sweet agony.

Song Choice: Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee

This poem was inspired by a prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads: Fashion Me Your Words, Slowly. It is also linked to the Friday 55 at Verse Escape and Poetry Pantry 385 at Poets United.

 I seriously love the song behind the prompt, especially because as a Spanish speaker, I know how unsubtle that song is. This was crazy fun to write.

Scorn

I see you, scorning souls that could be your mirror. Compassion flees me, so Sense must stand up and toil towards a future safe for fools.

Song Choice: Champion by Fall Out Boy

This poem was created in response to a prompt for Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Writing Exercise I picked C for Compassion, and was amused with where my thoughts led me when I investigated that theme in tanka form.

Invitation

The weeping willow’s green curtain beckons souls who want to hide, yet still be outside. But merengue and the smell of barbeque float from the other side of the park. The bookworm waits for someone to speak her language before deciding.

Footfalls keep the beat

while Spanglish sings over the park

coaxing me to join.

Song Choice: Sube las Manos Pa' Arriba by Pitbull

This poem was created for Verse Escape's Friday 55 It is also linked to Poets United Poetry Pantry 383.

Singular

The singular grace
of crooked flower petals
sets apart the bloom
meant for his kiss. I receive
twisted beauty in my hand.



Song Choice: Good Enough by Evanescence 


This poem is linked to Poets United: Poetry Pantry 382

She Be But Little

It’s not about pretty or ugly – it’s about convenient. The dumpy girl who blends into the shadows always walks home from the library alone. She didn’t pay attention to the look he gave her when she bent down to pick up a pencil. She is not paying attention to who is standing outside the library now. What he forgets is that arms that can carry so many books are strong. And that a voice that whispers in a library is the loudest voice in the choir. She can sing loud enough to make church walls shake.

Silenced voices grow loud.

Rejecting shame that isn’t theirs,

they rise and break walls.

Song Choice: Fighter by Christina Aguilera 

This poem was created for a prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads -  Wordy Thursday With Wild Woman: The Silence Breakers.

Natural

My hair is too big for the cap I was given. Blowing myself a kiss, I let it fall along its natural part and adorn it with flowers, unconcerned if they match my dress.

It is tiring

to prune one's blooms to conform.

Define glamour

by the plumage that suits you.

Rebel by loving yourself.

Song Choice: Confident by Demi Lovato

This poem was created for the Midweek Motif at Poet's United: Narcissus (Vanity/Narcissism). I am also linking it up to the Friday 55 over at Verse Escape.

Revelations

Fall revealed the rot
of branches hidden in spring.
I can't deny it
exists to avoid my pain
lest it consumes the good left.

Song Choice: Praying by Kesha

This poem was created for a prompt given by Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, A Skyflower Friday: Goodbye. Hop on down to the pond to see more poetic inspirations from the rest of the Toads. It is also linked to Poets United: Poetry Pantry 381

Momentary

Matcha's perfume wafts
from cradled porcelain bowl
tasting of springtime.
My spirit needs this moment
to remember my purpose.

A sketch of one of my newest tea bowls

Song Choice: A Little Too Much by Shawn Mendes

This poem was created from a prompt given by me over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Creature Comforts. Hop on to the pond to see what the rest of the toads have to say on the topic of comforts. It is also linked to Poets United Poetry Pantry 380.

Stolen

Giichi opened the dogu box honoring his brother on the family shrine. Would blasphemy make matcha taste even sweeter? Yuuki would not have shied away from either thievery or blasphemy if it stood between him and a perfect bowl of tea.  His heart thumped as he pulled out a tea scoop. Yuuki had sacrificed himself because Giichi’s failed attempt at stealing dogu refined enough to use with it. The rightful owner caught him in the act, demanding Yuuki’s servitude in exchange for Giichi’s life.

No one was here to thwart his thieving this time. Making a bowl of tea with this particular scoop would be a better way to honor Yuuki than letting it remain unused.

Giichi had been snooping around his brother’s room the first time he held this scoop. As he pulled it out he heard, “Can I help you with something, ototo?” from behind him. Yuuki stood where a flower arrangement had been a moment before. Giichi hadn’t realized that he could change himself into smaller, non-animal objects yet. At 180, Yuuki was young for a kitsune to be able to do that.

“Did you really steal this from a warlord?” Giichi said.

“No, I stole it from a merchant. One of my bowls was from a warlord, but it was a gift,” Yuuki came over to Giichi and took the box. “If you ask nicely I will show all my dogu to you.”

“Please?”

Yuuki arranged the box’s contents in front of Giichi, explaining each’s purpose. Giichi wasn’t very impressed with the tea scoops.

“They’re just bits of curved bamboo,” Giichi said.

“To eyes that rush maybe. That’s why it’s best to ask. You can take the time to appreciate them. Each has a special name, sometimes associated with something seasonal. This one is called Ginpu,” Yuuki said, lifting one.

Giichi studied the scoops. “I like the first one,” he said, picking it up. “What’s its name?”

“Its previous owner didn’t tell me. I suppose I’ll have to think of one.”

“Can I name it?”

“Yes, but put it down carefully. Each tool should be handled like you are saying farewell to a dear friend whom you are unsure of meeting again.”

The next day Yuuki performed a ceremony for Giichi’s amusement, claiming he needed to practice a special form reserved only for royalty. Though he knew nothing of tea etiquette then, Giichi played the part of the noble. He had fidgeted, wolfed down every sweet Yuuki had talked a cousin into preparing, and demanded Yuuki name the scoop “Prince Giichi” even as his affronted cousin rolled his eyes at the inappropriateness of the name.  Still, Yuuki kept the name until the day he was stolen.

Giichi’s mind returned to the present as he made himself a bowl of tea. He handled each tool just as his brother had taught him, and drank. It was exquisite.  He picked up the scoop again.

“When I find you, oniisan, call it whatever you like. But while it’s mine, its name will be Matsuyuuki. Each bowl I prepare with it honors you.” 

Japanese words:

dogu: tools used in Japanese tea ceremony

ototo: little brother

Ginpu: "reading poems in the autumn breeze while moon gazing"

oniisan: big brother

Matsuyuuki: literally "snow covered pine", which is a fine name for a tea scoop, but it is also a play on Yuuki’s name (which means snow) and pine, which oddly enough has a similar double meaning in Japanese and English (both a tree, and to wait or long for something). 

Song Choice:  My Hero by The Foo Fighters

This is some of my dogu.

This short story was created as part of October's Heart Bits With Magaly: Love is Love is Love and Words. Follow the link to see other fun offerings. Long time readers might remember Yuuki from several short stories I've written before. If you are new to the blog and curious as to what actually happened to Giichi's brother, you can read about it here.

Candied Violets (Last Lesson)

Wizened palm pressed

violet confection into young fingers

damp from tears.

“Taste, then understand,”

the crone whispered.

Apprentice tasted

spring rains on her skin,

rich loam through her toes,

before feeling blossoms torn,

scorched stiff by oven,

and finally melting on tongue.

“Don’t let your bitter steal your sweet,”

apprentice said.

Crone nodded, then slept.

Song Choice: My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit

This poem was created for the prompt given at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, Fireblossom Friday: I Put A Spell on You. It is also linked to Verse Escape's Friday 55.

Look Alike

The tree would only speak when the sun was at just the right angle to see the face woven into its gnarled bark. Mira waited until she saw into its eyes clearly to ask, “Why can I ask questions only now?”

“It’s when the light makes you look most like a tree,” the oak said.

Song Choice: I Can See Clearly - Johnny Nash

This poem was created as part of the Flash 55 for Verse Escape.

Precious Gem

She spread them out in front of him so he could see. One by one, she explained each’s story.

“This last,” she said, holding a stone so red it was almost black, “appeared when I made a home for the darkness.” She blinked, looking away from him.

“Beautiful,” he responded, placing his hand over hers.

Song Choice: Strong Enough by Cheryl Crowe, acoustic version

This bit of flash fiction was created for Verse Escape's Friday 55

It Takes Two

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”
 
― E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

When Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads announced they'd be bringing back their In Tandem series (collaborations between the poets swimming in the pond) I was delighted to get a chance to work with amazing fellow poet, and (after a few years of visits and crazy phone calls) good friend, Magaly Guerrero.  We kicked around the idea of doing something Quite Serious, but realized, for various reasons, it was better for our health and happiness to go a little more lighthearted with this.

We are not terribly serious people anyway.

So I am pleased to present the product of our combined efforts, Anima and Animus, from Dream to Flesh. Click on the link to hop on over :)

Jane

I remember being not out of earshot too

and hearing words reminding me

I’m no one’s ideal of beauty.

I loved you then,

for our shared sin

of not adorning the world.

I revisited you, year after year.

One day, after a pilgrimage to a crossroad

that long had intrigued me

I found what I reverence, what I delight in –

you fell a little in my eyes.

I’d have never ran

from love to conform to a dogma

that did its best to shame me.

Then I grew a little more, realizing

you defined your own dogma

to align with the dictates of your spirit,

just as I’ve done. Though I’d go left

where you’d go right, conventionalities don’t bind us.

My spirit recognizes yours

and I’ll always love that.

Song Choice: Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies

This poem was created as response to the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: My Dearest Book, I Wrote You a Poem. I chose one of my all time favorites, Jane Eyre. I love the book so much, I have an infinity scarf with the text from the scene where Jane and Mr. Rochester confess their love to each other. This is also linked to Poet's United Poetry Pantry #370

The meek...

suppress joy for fear

their light might make someone uncomfortable.

They are told

to devalue their drive so not to appear immodest.

I don’t want

someone to judge my worth on how quiet I can be.

When I am dead I will be quiet enough.

I’m alive,

and not the slightest bit meek.

Song Choice: My Shot from Hamilton

I created this piece to play along with the Friday 55 challenge offered by Verse Escape. There some terrific pieces there, including the one created by the hostess, to satisfy your poetic cravings.

My Love. Crazy.

I prefer your kind of crazy

to the sanity the world tries to sell.

I prefer the sound of your tongue

whispering blessings in my sacred grove

instead of droned heartless hymns.

I have no fear of the world

through the looking-glass

as long as you are on the side

I enter into. You

have filled my head with wonders

since the day you stole

into my tower built of doubts.

You told me my hair was magic

and I believed. You

enchant and enflame me,

until I have no choice but to submit

to the mysteries you have initiated me into.

I lay as novice, but rise as priestess,

adept at the skills you have taught me. I

cannot live without your madness -

my armor against the madder reality

I must inhabit.  I must play at sterile sanity

while the eyes of the world are on me,

but when they turn away,

and the stars are the only witnesses

then I will let you kiss me, madly.

And I will kiss back.  

Song Choice: Crazy In Love by Beyonce, remixed 

This poem was inspired by a prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Play It Again Toads where we got to pick an older prompt to work with. I chose the Sunday Mini Challenge based on the poetry of Carilda Olivar Labra, specifically her poem, I go crazy, my love, I go crazy. I've also linked this poem up to Poet's United: Poetry Pantry #369.

Daylight Rationalist

I trace the circle around me

well salted with cynicism.

Sharpened stones lie

in every quarter,

while I’m cloaked

in rationality, secure

nothing under the sun can touch me.

Bleaching daylight gives way to the moon.

And nocturnes too subtle for day’s

cacophonous babble break

through to pierce

my too proud heart.

I cross the lines I created,

cutting myself on my own touchstones.

My cloak falls off in tatters

and I fly

until I am star drunk and well sated.

There is no shame

in my eyes

when I greet the rising sun.

Song Choice: Under Your Spell from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Musical

This poem was created by a prompt given by me at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, Meme, where I asked people to create a poem from either the 13th line on the 7th page, or the 7th line from the 13th page of a book nearby them. The book I used was Witches by Erica Jong, and the quote that provided the inspiration (line 7 on page 13) was, “The rationalist scoffs, secure in his superiority to all those who claim that intellect is not enough to take us through this life.” 

Her Magic

She is her own

kind of magic. Banishing

limitations placed

by parochial minds,

she is innocent

darkness. Her hues

are enchanted to delight

her own eyes.

She knows

where her heart is,

there is her power.

So she cherishes all

that matches its beat -

and allows

no interruptions

to its rhythms.

Alphabet R by Erté

Song Choice: Video by India Arie 

This poem was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, Flash 55 Plus, where we were invited to consider the art of Erté while creating our poem, as well as keeping to the 55 word limit. It is also linked to Poet's United Poetry Pantry #365.

Fall 2018

The first time I time traveled

to the fall of 2018 in my mind

was when your father whispered,

“Look around. Any one of these

could be future family.”

I saw you, with your grandfather’s smile

on your young brown skinned face,

putting down your video games with an ease

you never showed when your father or I asked

to follow a smiling face to adventures unknown.

I traveled again, to the fall of 1990,

when I smiled at your father. We didn’t know

about the spring of 1995. “Just friends,” was what we said.

After all, I was dating someone else,

and if your father(‘s family) had ever time traveled,

he (they) had never seen someone like me

standing under a canopy next to him in the future.

My family was equally surprised.

My heart got broken and mended,

just as yours probably will.

Then I time traveled again, to fall 1999

when I vowed to keep you safe, knowing

there’s only so much a mother can do,

even if she plays video games, watches Pokemon,

and makes time to talk about the small things

to make it easier to talk about the big ones.

I know in the fall of 2018, I will crack jokes.

I’ll be the laid back mom you leaned on

through every big change that came before.

We got through everything as long as we could

laugh about it, even if we cried a little too.

I’ll cry a little in 2018. But I’ll show you

this poem in the winter of 2019, once you’ve settled in.

We’ll joke, “Dear gods! What will we do

in the fall of 2021?” while having your favorite dinner.

Hopefully the taste of rosemary will remind me

to enjoy that moment, and let the future take care of itself.

This poem was inspired by the prompt given at Imaginary Gardens For Real Toads: Watch the Corners which was based around the song by Dinosaur Jr of the same name. I have also linked up to Poet's United Poetry Pantry 363. 

While I could go with Watch the Corners for the song choice, instead I'm going to go with the song that had me bawling when I was pregnant with my now college-bound son, You'll Be In My Heart by Phil Collins, from the movie Tarzan, because that was really the first time I knew that someday my baby boy was going to grow up.

Unnatural Wound

Sophia’s skin pulled tighter over her shoulders and the first tears formed along either side of her spine. It was time. She threw off her pajamas and climbed onto the tree outside her window, making her way to the limb that would give her back the most exposure to the full moon’s light. Finding the branch that held her teeth marks from full moons past, she bit down. Her emerging wings pushed through, widening the tears into gashes. She bit down harder, until a pair of amethyst colored wings fully unfurled themselves.

Relaxing her jaw, Sophia pulled her mouth away from the branch and rested. She opened and closed her wings slowly and let them drink in healing moonlight while her heightened senses picked up the perfume of every flower in her backyard. Once her wings were strong enough, she pushed away from the branches and flew.

Sophia soared over her street, the feel of the wind on her skin wiping away any lingering aches she had. She flew high enough to take in most of her small town in a glance. Her high school was easy to get to, but Sophia decided she didn’t want to waste her time on pranks again. Tonight she wanted to spend every moment in the air. So she did, flying until the moon had gone down behind the hills of the next town over.

Her grin disappeared as soon as her feet touched down at home. Sophia ran her fingers along the edge of a wing. The longest she had kept them was three days, when her parents were away. But tomorrow was a school day. And they grew back every month. So she went to the shed, just as she always did, and grabbed garden sheers to cut her wings off in small enough pieces to bury them in the compost bin. 

Song Choice: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away covered by Eddie Vedder

This short story is part of Magaly Guerrero's and Emily Yardis' Beautiful Freak Fest 2017. Follow the link to meet some more beautifully freaky fun.

Daydreams and Nocturnes

Daydreams (where I feel blades

of grass, taste each grain

of sugar as it melts, blaze

from the heat of sparks

bursting from constellations

made from all the aspirations 

and imaginings too big

for small worlds)

and nocturnes (with the hungry lilt

of an unfinished love song

I can't help but sing along to,

that makes goosebumps dance

with delight, as a cool rush of air

kisses my skin and teases

with the hint of places

not yet discovered) –

these twine around my atoms

like jasmine on a trellis,

releasing its bewitching fragrance

on hot summer nights,

if you care to stay up

and witness it.

Song Choice: Pocket Full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield and As the World Falls Down by David Bowie

This poem was inspired by the prompt given at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: I Am Made Of  where Magaly asks us to contemplate what we are made of.

Sprout

I am a giant –

at least I pretend to be –

standing among seedlings.

But I know

I’m only beginning

to bloom too. I manifest

all I need

to grow into myself,

drawing from

all the good green things.

They make up my seed coat. Let’s see

what my flowering will look like.

Song Choice: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

This poem was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Word Count With Mama Zen. She asked us to draw a tarot card as our inspiration for a short poem. I happened to have this card in my hand when I read the prompt and thought. "Why not?" I love the way the figure in the card, which is meant to be a child/youth looks like a giant because of the perspective in the picture. 

For the Sake of My Beloved

Between sighs of pleasure, I open

my eyes and see

this world has teeth.

I cannot feign surprise.

Only fools think beauty

doesn’t have roots in darkness.

(It was there I found you.)

Monsters and angels sing

in the same key, leaving the listener

to decode the lyrics of their songs.

You taught me to sing too,

with a voice I found

at the crest of delight.

(It was there I found myself.)

I can shut my senses to it all.

But the brush of your lips on my skin

is not something I want to pretend away.

And pretending it’s safe only makes me prey

for things with less innocent intentions.

The price of honey is the risk

of being stung. I didn’t forget.

That doesn’t mean I can’t

find my own stinger and teach

monsters to tremble instead. 

Song Choices: Marvelous Things by Eisley 

This poem was inspired by the prompt I created for Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Of Angels and Monsters. I asked the Toads to select from a list of seven quotes related to monsters and angels. I chose two of them.  “I’m the thing monsters have nightmares about.” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and “One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel.” from Doctor Who.

Worth the Fight

“Trash!” she shrieked, hurling another rotten fruit in Aiko’s direction.

After a month of this, you’d think her aim would have improved, even a little, Aiko thought as she loosened the hold between the broken china and bent cutlery that made up her body. The pieces of herself rearranged to fit between the gap between the wall and the restaurant’s industrial freezer. They didn’t resume their normal configuration until she got to her nest in the crawlspace in the wall.

Once inside Aiko examined the filleting knife that served as her sword. Satisfied her weapon was as sharp as ever, she laid it down and examined herself. She hadn’t lost too many chips this time, but the crack on her breastplate had gotten bigger. Aiko could swap it out any time she liked, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was a gift from the original owner of the restaurant.

Aiko kept the restaurant free from pests, from hobgoblins to roaches, for a decade. Of course she didn’t expect the new owner to salute her, or even sit and share stories and sake with her. But to have her cracks and dents earned through battle mocked! She didn’t have any other place to go, but she refused to linger where she was disrespected.

She was contemplating which of her personal effects to take with her, when she heard a rapping on the wall. Aiko picked up her knife and went out.  Tucked into the space between the freezer and the wall was a paper cup with sake, and a note. “Dear General, please stay.” It was signed by all of the kitchen staff.

Aiko folded the note as tightly as she could and tucked it in the crack of her breastplate. She took the sake home, and placed the paper cup in a place of honor among her things.

Seto-taisho by Matthew Meyer

Find more of his amazing art and fun facts about yokai

at yokcai.com

Song Choice: Woman Warriors by Soldier Hard

Process Note: Aiko is a type of of yokai (Japanese faery creature for lack of a better translation) known as a seto-taishoo, a little soldier made of broken kitchen things. 

This short story was inspired by the prompt given at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Mythical Prejudice, where we were asked to explore prejudice from the point of view of a mythical creature who is part of our modern world.

Nightingale Hours: The Read Aloud Version

Today is Beltane, which leads the mind to linger on...well, perhaps that's best expressed in some of the poetry I've written.

Nightingale Hours has been a popular piece ever since I wrote it a year ago. It certainly suits the theme of Beltane quite well, so I thought it'd be fun to record it in honor of the day.

Nightingale Hours

Wildness floats around you,

wolf wicked,

but I’m no little girl

to be dandelion led.

I am a pebble-strewer,

hoping you’d find your way

to my hidden home.

Delight-whisperer, come

find me quick

amid the mysteries

of the sentinel forest.

Bring your power

midnight mage.

I’ve plenty of my own.

Bring your passion

moon brigand,

and see that I

am just as adept at stealing

kisses and nightingale hours

as you are.

Song Choice: I Drove All Night by Roy Orbison 

Closet Monster

I wish you believed

I lived under the bed.

Dust bunnies aren’t bad

conversationalists, once

you get them talking.

and there’s a better variety

of books and toys there.

Of course it isn’t you

who decided I’d be a resident

of closets and nightmares.

Your parents did that.

Create something to fear

and you create obedience.

But what if you weren’t afraid?

What if you liked looking

into all the dark spaces

and asking hard questions

with complex answers?

What if you learned

to trust yourself in the dark?

Then child, you’d know not to fear

me. You’d have your own teeth

and voice to make the world listen.

  

Until then, I’ll pass the time

with your special occasion clothes,

giving the occasional growl

so you’ll hear how it should be done.

Song Choice: Goodnight Demon Slayer by Voltaire 

This poem was created by the prompt I gave over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: The Boogeyman. It is also linked to Poets United: Poetry Pantry 351

A Pirate's Last Request

You wanted the last thing

I saw with human eyes

to be faces taking satisfaction

from gasps stilled

by the crack of my neck.

I'll look to the sea instead.

A pirate’s corpse

is unfit to lay

with land bound lambs

you reminded me,

unless I renounce myself.

Keep your dirt patch.

I look to the sea.

It holds my heart and soul

with a more tender

and honest cruelty

than any you ever gave.

I want no sterilized afterlife

filled with more like you.

That would truly be hell.

The sea and I suit each other.

I belong there. 

Song Choice: He's A Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean 

Process Note: A few years ago I visited an exhibition about pirates at one of the local museums. I remember reading a blurb on one of the displays that said pirates were not allowed to be buried in graveyards among the respectable citizens. I immediately had a mental picture of a pirate scoffing at that, which was followed by an urge to write a poem. I actually didn't then, due to having to wrangle my then-young children past the gift shop. But the combination of the two prompts reminded me of what I wanted to write.

Frost on the Tombstone. Photo by Liz Young.

This flash fiction poetry was inspired by the photo prompt at this week's Friday Fictioneers and the prompt at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Outsider Art.

Photogenic Pain

Tilt your chin a little that way

so we can get the full shine

from the tears in your eyes.

Maybe you’re born with it?

Who cares. Hold the pose.

But we should check that background.

Life complicates the composition

and there is no time for color correction.

We only want the pain

that looks the prettiest on camera.

If you’re not picture perfect

get out of the way of the lens.

Song Choice: Hell You Talmabout by Janelle Monae featuring Wondaland Records

This poem was created for Poetry for the Cruelest Month: Protest and Outrage and for Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

In Samantha's Shoes

Dinner’s in the fridge.

Don’t forget Tabitha’s bedtime story.

Make sure Darren Jr does his homework.

I’ve laced up my take-no-prisoners,

Valkyrie-on-a-broomstick, hell-yes

you’ll-hear-me-roar boots.

You smiled at me,

while I decided between

belladonna or datura -

made me want to reach

for damania instead.

I love these boots.

But I also love the slippers

we’ve made of our love -

the warm, mmm-so-cozy,

love-rare-lazy-afternoons-with-you,

strong-enough-to-go-through-the-wash,

still-sturdy-after-so-many-years slippers.

But tonight, there are great, odiferous, pestilent

hydras to contain and a coven waiting for me to rise.

“The hydra doesn’t stand a chance,” you say

before we kiss and I fly.

Shoes and Books by Magaly Guerrero

Song Choice: Groovy Kind of Love covered by Phil Collins

Process notes: Belladonna and datura are poisonous plants while damania has a reputation for being an aphrodisiac. 

This poem was inspired by the prompt given at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Poetry Through the Eyes of Carol Ann Duffey and the picture prompt given over at Friday Fictioneers. It is also linked up with Poets United: Poetry Pantry 350.

Returning the Favor

Don’t cry for the kid I was.

He was weak. An old man

had to teach that kid

his eyes wouldn’t be dried

by caring hands,

and his skin needed to be trained

to be harder than the fists that hit it.

I made my own lullabies

from the cracking of skulls,

the stomping of boots,

and cries for mercy.

I made lesser things

scream the pain I didn’t allow

myself to show, peaceful

until the next time anger howled

in my brain, demanding prey. 

(i can’t punch hard enough to save her)

Heaven gave me hell.

I’m just returning the favor. 

Song Choice: Behind Blue Eyes by The Who

This poem was inspired by the prompt (I created!) over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: The Villain Speaks. I chose Turk, the Neo-Nazi character from Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. The poem also borrowed inspiration from a line spoken by the villain from one of my favorite animes, Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi ( "I'll have my revenge against the heaven which has only given me hell"), who, when I thought about it, had a fair bit in common with Turk, both being hurt children who grew up to do terrible things as a way to deal with their pain. This poem is also linked up to Poets United Poetry Pantry 349. 

Weeping With Joy

Among the boughs of the weeping birch

she discovered how far up she could climb

and which branches supported her

as she tried to touch a cloud.

Among the boughs of the weeping birch

he discovered how green looks at dawn and at dusk,

and which other colors dipped their toes

into the emerald sea he tried to capture on paper.

Under the boughs of the weeping birch

whose leaves form a curtain

giving those who love it sanctuary,

love unites, and births new loves too.

This is the sign I carry to rallies

Song Choice: Run Away With Me from the play The Unauthorized Biography of Samantha Brown

This poem was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Out of Standard - Signs of the Times, where we were asked to create a poem including a slogan from a protest sign and write something not political.

Fine Indefinitely

I’ve made a sort of peace

with my chimera-like self.

Yes, I’ve envied

those whose lives were made

of uniform fabric, whose seams

always lined up with each other,

until I realized the beauty

in the patchwork of all my loves

stitched into my grinning soul.

I shall never be elegant.

I shall never neatly fit

into the costume of a role

not meant for me to play.

Those itch anyway.

Singing my praises to the beautiful blue

of a sky as high as I can imagine,

or murmuring prayers to the heart of a fire

that jumps and sparks in steps known only to itself,

I know that certainty sometimes equals confinement

and prefer to stay unconfined, undefined -

unless of course that’s what I desire

at that particular moment.

Song Choice: Closer I am to Fine by The Indigo Girls

This poem is linked up to the Tuesday Platform over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads. Kerry asked us to contemplate if a song has ever saved our lives. I'm not sure about saving my life, but something about this song always comforts me and feels like home.

Delicately Bold

Demurring by day,

true night blooms are selective

binding up allure

into beguiling scents not hues,

beckoning night visitors.

Night Perfume (1950)

Kaoro Kawano

fair use

Song Choice: Because the Night covered by 10,000 Maniacs

This poem was inspired by a prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Kerry Says: Let's Paint A Picture, which asked us to create a Tanka based on the art of  Japanese print maker, Kaoro Kawano

Unvanishing

Spaces between can be stretched, like shadows lengthening in the fading day. Strange magic tugs on atoms, bending and pulling objects until they vanish. She does not understand that it is herself she wishes to make gone when she says her words into the waiting air. She only speaks the words, “Make it go,” and mass, neither created nor destroyed, rearranges itself elsewhere. It is simpler to make things disappear instead of feelings.

Easy to banish

a bowl or a trinket, still

the shadows remain.

Song Choice: Smile by Nat King Cole

Photo by Jellico's Stationhouse

This story told in haibun came from a combination of the picture prompt given over at Friday Fictioneers and the prompt from Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, Physics with Bjorn: Space time and the theory of special relativity. 

First Green

They look like hope-

those first buds swelling,

with all the possibilities

of a life happily started

under a warming April sky

fed by vanishing March snow.

And I still hoped,

even as my roots told me

the earth is still cold.

The sun is lying.

I cannot lie.

I felt the buds

push towards the sunlight,

and dreamed

of the first green uncurling,

only to have

the March wind screech,

pulling me from dreams

to see stillborn green

devoured by a shroud of ice.

Song Choice: I See A Darkness by Johnny Cash 

This poem was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads, Speaking For Spring's Stillborn Sprouts.

To My Dark Delight

To my dark delight I heard the susurrus

escape the restraint of your lips

before they alighted on me,

to reciprocate joy.

My bliss drunk eyes

can see no star to rival you

in the night sky, which bears reverent

witness to the adorations we bestow upon one another.

Of all the jewels found at night,

well after the sun kisses the moon

and the blushing evidence of their desire

turns from flushing scarlet and melts into indigo,

you, my love, shine brightest.  

Song Choice: Love Me Like You by Ellie Goulding 

This poem was inspired by A Dash of Sunny's Prompt Nights: It's Easy to Love the Light. Show Me Your Darkness and is linked to the Poetry Pantry 347 I was inspired by the sentence "Then to her dark delight there was a susurrus" from the book Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (although you should note the topic matter of my poem and the book are extremely different - very, very different) and the poem There Be None of Beauty's Daughters by Lord Byron.

Sadly, this is the last week of Prompt Nights, but Sanaa's wonderful energy will still be going strong over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads.

Circe

Fred flew towards the sound of her laughter. There was always food left whenever he heard it.

He swooped in through an open window of the boat, and landed on the table. Fred started gobbling the food down as his feet alighted, ignoring the gasping man.

“You bitch,” the man choked, before the arm reaching towards her shrank, growing feathers.

She strolled to the table. Fred stopped eating when she reached for a piece of bread. Instead he chased the new bird out. No matter how many she changed, he was still her first.  Fred flew to her waiting arm.

Photo by Fatima Fakier Deria

Song Choice: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police

This short story was inspired by the photo prompt given by Friday Fictioneers. More flash fiction available at the link. 

Passing

The strangest thing

I’ve seen all week

is my reflection

in passing.

After pretending

I should know

the rules they have set,

after keeping worlds

trapped in my throat

underneath paper bag skin,

I see myself

smiling, like nothing

could be more natural

than bared teeth hidden

behind well rouged lips,

like it’s nothing.

Song Choice: Free Your Mind by En Vogue 

This poem was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Word Count With Mama Zen 

Memory Pressed Into A Journal

Dear Diary,

I dreamed of her again, but this time she wasn’t screaming.

I wondered if the dreams would return once I saw the sold sign on the old Williams house yesterday. I touched the wrought iron fence to see if I could feel anything besides cold metal. Nothing.

But I did hear hellos from some workmen cleaning things up before the new owners move in. I said hello, talked about the weather. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do. And kept walking.

I know she’ll be back. I just need to find a way to keep her from screaming.

Song Choice: Creep by Radiohead

Gateway, photo by J Hardy Carroll

This poem was inspired by the picture prompt given over at Friday Fictioneers. To see what the other Fictioneers based on this picture, just follow the link.

Beyond the Boundaries

“Get back here!” she said.

Danny looked from his teacher, gripping the boundary rope around what she thought was a simple park exhibit, to the security guard briskly advancing towards him. It didn’t matter. He had made it to the communication cog first.

Danny stroked the spot he knew would activate it. “This is D’ynveh 5. I survived the Rylor expedition but am stranded. Send help!” His words were cut off by the guard pulling him away, but he saw the fine lines of energy light up on the cog’s surface, sending a beacon towards his home world. Danny smiled.

Song Choice: Theme from Invader Zim

Photograph by Jennifer Pendergrass

This bit of Flash Fiction was inspired by the picture prompt given at Friday Fictioners

Unnatural Allies

They waited until the bruise colored sky settled into a uniformly inky color, dark enough to see the stars and dying moon clearly. Then, the rhythmic pecking began.

Every rooster and hen who was able gathered the needed ingredients, then placed them in the appropriate spots for the ritual. The high priest strutted around the perimeter of the circle. He grabbed each ingredient with his beak and dropped them into the bowl in the center. The beat of the pecking sped up as he worked, stopping completely when the last ingredient was added. Then he spoke.

“Oh infernal one, we have gathered herbs and spices pleasing to you to summon you here now. Defend us from the goblins who encroach upon the peace of our coops. Devour that which threatens our happiness!”

A wisp of smoke rose from the center of the bowl, growing larger and thicker, until it took the form of an old goateed man, clad in a crisp white suit, spectacles and a string tie.

“Well,” the demon said, “isn’t this just delicious?” He licked his lips once, then began to feed.

From the hill beyond the wall of the farm, the goblins heard the squawks of terror. They looked at each other, a few of them dropping the bags of seeds they had brought to offer the chickens, in the hopes of establishing an alliance with them.

One shook his head in disgust. “That’s just great. The chicken mages were our best hope for standing up against the trolls. What do we do now?”

The goblin elder looked at the now violently shaking coop. The wind brought the scent of the ritual’s herbs and spices to her wrinkled nose. She had a fairly good idea what had been conjured and why.

“We find other allies. Smarter ones,” she said, turning to walk back into the forest.

Song Choice: Why Can't We Be Friends by War

This story was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Title-Tale, where Magaly asked us to compose a story or poem based on a silly book title she had found. I chose Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop: And Other Practical Advice in Our Campaign Against the Fairy Kingdom, by Reginald Bakeley

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