they never returned, even with faces masked, big screens, media rooms and sound bars had saved them from having to cram themselves into uncomfortable seats, elbow to elbow with strangers, potentially dangerous, infested with deadly viruses or worse, brandishing assault rifles, the noisy demons in their heads begging to be slaughtered in the bloodletting of innocents...no, they weren’t going back. renovations could not disinfect the crazy, protect them from the madness, for they had grown comfortable in their shelters, unwilling to risk contact with deplorables, cult crazed zombies, veins boiling with infection and hate... it’s been years now, since these doors were shuttered, renovations teased on a tattered marquee, the people had long grown weary of promises, promises impossible to keep
~kat
NaPoWriMo2021 - Day 4 Challenge: Select a photograph from the perpetually disconcerting @SpaceLiminalBot, and write a poem inspired by one of these odd, in-transition spaces.
on the forest floor lies the shell of an old tree stubbly roots exposed, its core now heartless, empty grist for grubs, in death humility
~kat
For NaPoWriMo 2021 - Day 3...Off topic, but I promise to work on my personal deck. It seems like a worthwhile project to inspire future poetry. For today...a Horatiodet (my own short version of the Horatian Ode...a Form i came up with when i was doing daily micropoetry.) A Horatiodet is a total of 5 lines, syllable count: 5-7-7-5-9 / rhyme scheme: ababb. In other words, it is a short Horatian Ode (only one stanza), a form based on the style of Horace, Quintus Horatius Flaccus (December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC), the leading Roman lyric poet.
fair dandelion golden face turned toward the sun to frost at dawn fades
footprints rain remnants to mop
such stillness peepers choked by frost in hiding
only to be nipped by latent cold snaps at dawn first flowers still rise
~kat
For Tanka Tuesday Challenge to explore the haiku and the senryu, a handful of each in various metered forms: 2/3/2, 3/5/3, 5/7/5 . I love writing little poems!
when I was young and still unsung, with dreams far-flung, nothing but time life’s harsh demands spoilt all my plans, setting my hands to earn a dime my family kept me busy, no longer free with no downtime in just a blink here on the brink, no time to think regret, I find in retrospect my thoughts reflect a life, perfect, ev’ry choice mine
Broken into Stanzas:
in retrospect
when I was young and still unsung with dreams far-flung nothing but time
life’s harsh demands spoilt all my plans setting my hands to earn a dime
soon family kept me busy no longer free with no downtime
in just a blink here on the brink no time to think regret, I find
in retrospect my thoughts reflect a life, perfect ev’ry choice mine
~kat
Tried a new form, the Rhupunt, for Napowrimo 2021 Day 2 Challenge: Today’s (optional) prompt. In the world of well-known poems, maybe there’s no gem quite so hoary as Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about your own road not taken – about a choice of yours that has “made all the difference,” and what might have happened had you made a different choice.
The rhupunt, a Welsh poetic form, has some variability to it, but also some rigid rules as well. Here are the guidelines for the rhupunt: · The form can be broken down into lines or stanzas · Each line or stanza contains 3 to 5 sections · Each section has 4 syllables · All but the final section rhyme with each other · The final section of each line or stanza rhymes with the final section of the other lines or stanzas
Catching up on my NaPoWriMo challenge – Day 1. This is no way to start the month, but yesterday was UTTER chaos! I am using the Lune (The Lune is a short form: 5/3/5 – no other rules, may rhyme, any topic) as my form of choice in response to the challenge: Daily prompt (optional, as always)! Sometimes, writing poetry is a matter of getting outside of your own head, and learning to see the world in a new way. To an extent, you have to “derange” yourself – make the world strange, and see it as a stranger might. To help you do that, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem inspired by this animated version of “Seductive Fantasy” by Sun Ra and his Arkestra. If you don’t feel after watching it a little bit like the top of your head’s been taken off, and your thoughts given a good stir – well, maybe you are already living in a state of heightened poetic awareness!
So it is easier for you to find all the parts/chapters of my ongoing fiction series, I created a new page that lists all the links. You can check it out HERE!
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