221 posts
Photo: stock.adobe.com via Bing “When you trust yourself, you trust others too” Maya Angelou Just As We HideAutumn let golet go of all the brittle insecurityof spent summer,the sun throwing herself atgranite as if she might break open the truths of nature,the granite resistingeons at a time,not so much by strengthas by stealthholding back the contents,just as we hide our own truths by shame…
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At dVerse Punam is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem about regret – for more detail follow the link below: dVerse Poets – Poetics – Regrets and more … Photo: metapress.com “We will be what we could be. Do not say, “It might have been, had not or that, or this.”” Ella Wheeler Wilcox As Yet UnclearIn hindsightany attempt at regret, that bastard child of grief,is euthanised by…
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At dVerse Frank is hosting the Haibun with an invitation to write about the death of someone (a loved one or someone close), to memorialise them (in the US it was Memorial Day yesterday). dVerse Poets – Haibun – Momento Mori Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay “Let’s go for a walk and touch the trees that survived like us” KB Brookins Re-membered My father never wore a military uniform, he wore…
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Image by Lee Travathan from Pixabay “Live in the layers, not on the litter” Stanley Kunitz Soul FoodSome fruits hold delightbehind a jacket of skin,a bananaan orange mmm mango,some fruits -a strawberryso smallthere is nothing yetit is everything at once,but the pomegranate needs timethe right time,patience a woundinga diggingdeeperfor the arils,seeds of sweetnessunlike any other fruit,like…
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Photo: pedestrian.tv “Gently I stir a white feather fan …” Li Po Sun TideWarmBlack mozzarella,gooey, stringysteamingoozing,unable to resistthe sun,urban pizzasticks to my shoestyres,stalactites onthe wheel archeswaves along the road,surfing to work. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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Photo: news.com.au “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other” Thich Nhat Hanh RestorationThat day, whenmuddy paws smudge your jeans,the burger erupts and spattersit only rains as you leave the carwater from the bin lid fills your shoes,no matter how hard you try the marmalade will not come off,always a trace just as butter in a beard,traffic heavy like a…
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At dVerse Sanaa is hosting Open Link Night (with Saturday Live Edition) – the night we choose a poem to post/read: to join in follow the link below: dVerse Poets – OLN Taken at one of our local cafes in 2023, male magpie – the cake not the coffee methinks 🙂 “The soul wants to fly away when caged, like a bird longing for the open sky” Rumi Listen To The SongGautama always compassionJesus…
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Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay “The dew is like pearl; the moon like a bow.” Bai Juyi I Am Leaving A Trail Nature's spritz gathers on my shoes now sodden as I merrily wend my way, nothing seems to be stirring in the cool of this early hour, only a fool would imagine they are unseen in this quiet, though nothing flutters or moves I am leaving a trail. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent…
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At dVerse Li is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write about magical moments of intimacy. dVerse Poets – Poetics – Intimate Moments Photo: Flat Rock reserve on the Blackwood River, 2024. “One doesn’t really suck on frozen sugar water. One allows it to melt in the oven of the mouth.” Diane Seuss Can Never Be SpokenWe left the day as it happenedskirted the weather because it was,saving our…
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At dVerse Kim is hosting the Quadrille (44 words sans title) with an invitation to write a poem which includes the word (or a form of) Quiet. dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Walk Quietly In My Dreams Image by 춘성 강 from Pixabay “Fair Quiet, have I found thee here …” Andrew Marvel This Gauzy Quietude Feather soft plumeslift and floatmodestly cloaked along her length,wetness shroudedin mystery,the…
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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay “My candle burns at both ends …” Edna St. Vincent Millay From Where Are You Looking?Have you ever noticedhow time is unequal,would you agreethat winter takes its long time whilesummer skips alongas redolent childforgetting autumneschewing winter,time has its own agendait will andit won't,rarely does it add up,there's no jumping ahead,always the questionsfrom…
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Photo: artawkrn – pexels.com “What am I to myself that must be remembered …” Robert Creeley How Soon?Soft autumn rainlike petals,kissesfallinggatheringtouchingmy cheek,how soon will theybe forgottenwhen the cloudshave melted andthe sun returns? Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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Photo: gardenersworld.com Herb garden “But there is one who holds this falling infinitely softly in His hands.” Rainer Maria Rilke After The RainsTodayI strolled the borderI stroked the herbsmottledblotched,old tanned skinstems all lanky,woodyaged,after the rainsI will stroke thenew soft shootstender as youth. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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Photo: 10000birds.com a pair of Mandarin ducks. “Few recognise that love is commitment …” Nikki Giovanni The Sleep Of Lovers A little bird told me something small enough to be significant about mandarin ducks who sleep the sleep of lovers who when frost and ice intrude swap sides through the night, keeping their exposed sides like their hearts. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon All Rights…
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Photo: fountaintechpumps.com “Be grateful for whatever comes” Rumi The MeasureNonot by spoons of coffee,it's different nowcomputersemailsEVspond pumps,on averagefive years on the pumpssiftingfilteringbeing cleanedhow many make a life,how many till I go? Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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At dVerse Dora is hosting Poetics with an invitation to take the example of Sandra Cisneros where she takes Spanish words that have no direct English equivalent and uses them to form the poem ‘I Have No Word In English For’ Dora has provided Cisneros’ words of which we can choose one, two or many of the words, incorporating them in our own poem. For more detail and to see the two choices offered…
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At dVerse Merril is hosting Prosery (144 words) with an invitation to take the line “I have no skill for flight or wings to skim the waves effortlessly, like the wind itself.” from the poem ‘The Magnificent Frigate Bird’ by Ada Limon. dVerse Poets – Prosery – Ada Limon Photo: goalcast.com “We live in secret cities and we travel unmapped roads” Alberto Rios Just MeI am not bark or fibre, I am…
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Photo: Taken in Kirup State Forest May 2023 “Perhaps the purpose of trees is to hide the verticality of trees” Linda Pastan The Leaf Is AllThe leafis a riveris a cloudis rainis the groundfor the seed,becomes a plantbecomes a forestbecomes oxygenbecomes breath,life for all thingsand whenthe leaf fallsit isit becomes,for all things. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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Photo: gettyimages.com via bing.com The arrest of the Mayor of New Jersey who was doing his job. Note: In my view the U.S. has descended into fascist rule, the regime has given permission for the worst behaviour in policing and disregard for the constitution and the law. I hope those who aid and abet this regime face the consequences of their actions in years to come as the tide turns. “Then…
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Photo: found at scienceinfo.net via Bing “… now will you rest forever, my tired heart.” Leopardi Giacomo My Write HeartIf my heart were a writerwhat might it write about -grand visionstruths of the pastspeculative thoughts on loveideas of travel to marshopes for peacefood enoughan end to poverty?Nothing particularly original,maybe that's a clue -is my heart more about fiction? Copyright 2025…
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At dVerse Grace is hosting Open Link Night – the night we choose a poem to post. dVerse Poets – OLN Photo: zmescience.com “And the dead tree gives no shelter.” T.S. Eliot The Old Casuarina I often pass the old casuarina,green tobrown to grey,soft to hardthe end of sap,juice of the livinggonedead,elemental washthe smooth soon enoughsplits and pits,what once coherednow shredded,a fibrous…
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Image by Milada Vigerova from Pixabay “Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand, mine to yours, yours to mine.” Alberto Rios Hand To HandThe cupan open palmelectric fizzlife flowing,small breathslong stepsmoving light as air,being offeringa gift to souls,hand to handlove's perpetuity,the combat only compassion knows. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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At dVerse Melissa is hosting Poetics with an invitation to respond to some of the work of Georgia O’Keeffe’ as an ekphrastic poem and to include a handful of art vocabulary from the provided list. The words I have included are: aesthetic, primitive, patina, coil, montage, decoupage, relief, atelier, distortion, vanishing point. For more detail follow the link below: dVerse Poets – Poetics – In…
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At dVerse Mish is hosting the Quadrille (44 words sans title) with an invitation to write using the word or a derivative of tangle. dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Untangle It Photo: co.pinterest.com “Past the entanglement where hopes lay strewn” Wilfred Owen TanglishI speak tanglishlike a cradle cat gone bad,I speak pythonthough nothing of codejust a twistingcontortedelectrical cord,I speak…
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Photo: found at leadingwithtrust.com “A hole torn in the fabric of the world …” Nathaniel Tarn We Don't KnowThese linesmean nothingthere is nothingonly hidden intentionsof secret desires,that strange landscapeof internal confusionprojectedmasqueradingas certainty while ever doubting,because old, hackneyedhalf truths spreadliberally across thecollective mindshow how propagandaactually works…
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Photo: Dawn – Taken last week looking out over the Blackwood River to East Augusta. “There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground …” Sara Teasdale The Morning CelebrationI dosometimesjust a few linesof made up song,more often I just humfor the physical resonance,I sing mostly in my heada song for all life,now and again I keenfor so much lossbefore I turn tocelebration. Copyright 2025…
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Photo: wallpaperflare.com “Waiting lies heavy on my lids” Sylvia Plath If I WaitThe letting gois most curious,all that running up hillchasing after anythingjust out of reach,something craved,desiredeven lusted,breathless.Even the child's balloontaunting on the eddies or a breezecome backcome arounddown to earthas the chasing turns to waiting,it always comes to me. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent…
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At dVerse Laura is hosting Meeting the Bar with an invitation to write an Alliterisen – For today’s MTB prompt our poetry follows the style of The Alliterisen, created by Udit Bhatia. It is a 7-line poem (septet) containing a set number of alliterations per line and adhering to a specific syllable structure. I have chosen the non-rhyme scheme version. For more detail follow the link…
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Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay “When I have fears that I may cease to be” John Keats Same OldA while backdigging in the weedy spring undergrowth,discarded skincaught my attention,surely a goanna's butno, a snake came byjust to remind methat you can peal offthe outre layerwhile the inner canremain the same old same. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights Reserved ®️
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At dVerse Kim is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem with an opening hook, Philip Larkin’s work offered as a prime example, follow the link below for more detail: dVerse Poets – Poetics – Getting Hooked on Opening Lines Photo: greencollar.com.au “And I am sharp as steel with discontent” Claude McKay Watermelon Whine Blackened, rotting water melon on the vine sans coffee post…
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