Nonsense Cloud

Myriads of fantasies

always billow about in my brain,

as easily contained as dandelion fluff.

They promenade in by the score

vying for attention day and night,

brightly feathered and chirping,

heedless of my need

to deal with terra firma.

But if you were to ask,

not just about my imaginings,

but of desires and aspirations –

I want

my children to know

happiness from knowing oneself,

my husband to feel

at ease in the comfort of our love,

my friends to have

peace of heart, mind and body,

a good cup of tea,

a story to tell,

and to find people

who’d like to hear that story.

Song Choice: Give Me the Simple Life by Ella Fitzgerald 

This poem was created from the prompt given over at A Dash of Sunny, Prompt Nights: Dreams

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Alarmingly Fearless

The center ring is my home.

My dance always draws a crowd.

Dancing in darkness is my specialty,

and it’s getting darker now.

Laugh!

I’m funny.

Laugh. Remember

how good it sounds?

Laugh, look into my mirror,

which no distortion can mar.

It’s alarming, I know,

to see how strong glee can be.

Don’t look away now!

Be fearless. Understand

you are powerful in your joy.

Fashion a sword and shield

from laughter in the dark.

Protect the one in the mirror’s reflection.

Their joy is needed.

Song Choice: Between a Laugh and a Tear by John Mellencamp

This poem marks a first in that I hit all three suggested prompts for the Toads's Play It Again Toads. The first one was Word Count With Mama Zen (Is Your Life a Circus/ 90 words or less). The second was the Way of Tea (base a poem on a poem by famous tea master Sen Rikyu. I chose, "See with your eyes! Listen with your ears! And if you wish to smell the fragrance, press for an explanation of every unresolved matter until your understanding is complete."). The third was Kerry's Word Challenge, Gods In Nature (write from the point of view of an old god). I took a little poetic license with the original assignment as written, and went with a different pantheon from the ones suggested. I chose Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto (sometimes known simply as Uzume) from Japanese Shinto lore. She was the goddess who got Amaterasu (the sun goddess) to come out of the cave in which she was hiding by performing a bawdy dance. One of her epithets was Alarming Heavenly Female.

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Traveler

The air feels cleaner in my lungs

when I’m there.

I taste mint as I gulp it down,

and the tingle of it runs

down the ley lines of my body.

Did a lamppost in the snow guide me there?

I probably already knew the way,

before stumbling across a worn book,

unnumbered, and hidden on a high shelf.

It is there I go, to remember what matters.

I drink from the well of heroes,

fan the spark of resolve inside me

until I know my heart again.

Perhaps it is strange to find comfort there.

Though unlike faerie gold, that spends true.

It costs me nothing, dispensing largess

in the form of words and verse,

leaving my version of a lamppost in the snow

to guide others in their travels as well.

Song Choice: Pocket Full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield  

This poem is in response to A Dash of Sunny's prompt, The Hidden Realm

By Rommy Cortez-Driks