Geometric Memory
It’s one of those words,
comforting to hear and speak.
To say as tongues touch teeth,
not lips, a fun word to think.
Fifty years since projected
mosaics, as she asked,
“Does this tessellate?” We
learned patterned meanings.
No use for the word, till now.
Yet, I remember the day and teacher
who taught me how polygons tessellate.
Look both ways teaching and learning lessons.
Memories are forever but mind the gaps for irretrievable loses.
What a wonderful little word and inventive subject. I’ve written of pens and paints, but not of ink, before now. I even read the history of ink and how it was and is made. Forgive me brother and sister writers. I got so excited—I wrote two twenty-two-word poems. Like money and sex, only too much poetry is enough.
5K Years Since
Inks. Invisible,
permanent. India’s art.
Printing or pens.
Words on paper,
not electronically;
ink, a catalyst to creativity,
with words and art.
Lines of Magic
See the flow on paper,
watch lines, curves, and shapes
appear in history, law, art;
even in silent music on a page.
Look both ways for waves of imaginative creations.
Mind the gaps for innovation’s utility and art’s beauty.
There’s joy,
in the smiles of others,
in visions of those we love,
people we care about,
that is where truest,
most honest, happiness thrives.
To see such dancing zest is to feel
the same in my bones, heart, and mind;
while tears of delight run down
my cheeks. When babies laugh.
Hope laden felicity. Even
an old man simply must smile.
To sing and dance
with those we love most,
to see and hear them rise
in rebirth to life’s glorious days,
to overcome fears and sadness
that come with what we call
our human condition.
How strange, that we may
give or receive no greater gift,
no higher prize,
no nourishing of the spirit,
no deeper love than to allow
others to be and to see us
high on being alive.
Even more, to here and now
let love swirl among us all. Hallelujah!
Look both ways for the joy of love.
Mind the gaps, but live and let live.
This final prompt challenged me to write a poem in the form of a series of directions describing how a person should get to a particular place. Sarcastic humor has my heart.
You may need to buy a ticket,
live a normal life, and do
human things, but they say
there is a way to Hell.
Who alive knows for sure? (Many)
To ensure arrival, you’ll have to die.
Before that, good intentions should
provide a smooth ride. You’ll wanna
mean well, tell the truth about what you think,
eat lobster and for God’s sake,
want what the Jones’s have,
or you’ll want one of the Jones’s,
or dislike the Jones’s as in no love.
Lie about the Jones’s.
Make a self-portrait.
Say “God damnit” or “Jesus Christ.”
Ya might say God’s name to no purpose (in vain)
Laugh at a George Carlin’s joke, or forget
the day it is when it’s Saturday or Sunday.
Work weekends, since Sabbat is negotiable.
Argue with Mom or Dad.
If ya marry the wrong person, get a divorce,
have an affair, kill them, then you should
find things warming up. Or just
be who or what you were born to be.
Having sex with anyone, especially
if ya likes it; or, if you’re shy,
having sex alone has been known
to get ya where you want to go.
If not, maybe just think about having sex,
or eat bacon (see the relationship there?)
Belong to some other religion.
Piss off the Pope if you can.
In the south, dance with a person
of the opposite sex, or better
dance with the same sex, except for girls,
unless you think of sex with her.
Drink booze or coffee if ya live
near a Salt Lake. Try pot. Try gambling.
Keep all your money (trash tithe)
Finally, you must certainly die,
but fear not, they tell me this is easy.
Look both ways for sarcastic humor.
Mind the gaps unless there are too many.
If so, look for the god of the gaps.
Above all, have fun and enjoy life,
especially if you’re Hell bound anyway.
Neither spiritual nor religious, I
See life’s awesomeness, and feel Nature’s beauty,
In such vast Universal vistas of consciousness.
They don’t escape this precipice of
Love, admiration, and appreciation.
Look both ways.
The awesome beauty of it all is not lost without a god.
Mind the gaps, lost logic fits well there.
Sitting on a bench
beside this small lake
on a warm, sunny
winter March day,
in Texas, not yet Spring,
but it feels good.
A golf course
on the opposite side,
with carts silently
moving, following, stopping,
going nowhere
to find a ball.
Golfers swing clubs,
ride to find balls.
Some call it exercise.
I gave it up
in college. No
regrets.
What is it
about the water
that calms me
and I want to
write a poem
about feeling
peaceful, calm,
listening without
hearing brave birds?
Soon it will be
Spring, and
I’ll return here,
to find calm.
A nice day, this,
in many ways.
Look both ways around the water.
There’s the natural and the not.
Mind the gaps where golfers lose their balls.
Half of One
Her possession complete,
their synergistic power became
magic greater than ever.
Look both ways because life is short and comes with a price.
Mind the gaps for inspiration and answers.
(I have no idea if she is the possessor or the possessed. I was thinking the former, but the latter works too.)
Oi, Nineteen: Lust Laughs at Love
Normally chic, now
nearly naked, she lounged in his lap
slovenly taking in
the stunning sunset,
Lamenting his languid,
lackadaisical lovemaking,
leaving his heart listlessly
lost to his long love song.
Feeling inferior
yet yearning to reggae
he cajoled and coaxed playful
music to prove she danced
not too fast for him.
Their love withstood the storm.
Look both ways in love and lust.
Mind the gaps as perfection is myth.
Be lovingly entertained.
Many thanks to Victoria Slotto for hosting the dVerse, Poets Pub bar for this prompt. Our play is to write a quadrille (44-word poem) that uses any form of the word garden.
***
Hortus Art
Neither musician nor gardener am I,
yet their music I love. My camera
captures beautiful flowers, botanically
cultured or randomly given by
nature’s pressing flora.
Perceived beauty touches every sense.
In wind, rain, desert’s secret bounty,
all life contributes to more life.
Love it.
***
Look both ways into the magical world of horticulture,
to the earth, air, and sky.
Mind the gaps for contributing animal life.
Click here for a link to the links of all the other participants.
Many thanks to Rochelle @ Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple for orchestrating Friday Fictioneers. The challenge is to write a story based upon a photo prompt (and thanks to Jean L. Hays for that), with a beginning, middle, and an end in fewer than 101 words. This is my third venture.
Genre: Ironic (flash) Fiction
Word count: 100
***
Lobo and Robin met and married at the University of New Mexico following his return from Vietnam in 1970. He was from the Atchafalaya Swamp region of Louisiana, she from Montana ranch country.
Doc Robin, as she was called, was an internationally known infectious disease specialist. Lobo, a highly sought after free-lance journalist.
Their 50th anniversary party was planned for Saturday night on their rancho near Albuquerque.
“What’s in the box, Robin?”
“Designer surgical masks for the party.”
“You’ve thought of everything.”
“Not really, Babe. But it would not do for our quests to go home with COVID-19.”
Lobo howled.
***
Look both ways to plan a party.
Mind the gaps of the ironic mind in a literal world.
