221 posts
At dVerse Melissa is hosting poetics with an invitation to write an ekphrastic poem using one of four paintings by Emil Nolde. The double challenge is to do so knowing the artist originally declaimed his connection to the NAZIs but was eventually outed as having been involved in the NAZI party. Note: There are a number of famous people who fit into this type of moral dilemma – Martin Heidegger…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Li is hosting Prosery (144 words of prose) with an invitation to take a phrase from Alice Walker’s ‘Before you knew you owned it.’ The phrase is – “Make of it a parka for your soul.” dVerse Poets – Prosery – Making a Parka Image: aljazeera.com Evil personified! “Oh shade obscene from out the jungled past.” Burnett A. Ward Madness Lurks A bleak wind blows. Everywhere madness creeps…
View On WordPress
Image by Yogendra Singh from Pixabay “… where concrete slogans armed with body conflict expunge paradise …” Kari Edwards Every EvilMy headsteam pressure valvescreaming from my mouthso loudmy lungs crawled out,my eyes hemmed body trapped inside a replicating babushka dollcursed by the magician'sapprentice, knowingno one could hear,all the while feelingevery evil,screaming aching for an…
View On WordPress
Image by Susann Mielke from Pixabay “How many others are in this place? I don’t know.” Nazim Hikmet Time Traveler Can I ever be that sure whenlife is as tenuous as mothsin heavy rainfall,what is permanencebecause time travelseems to be an everyday event,only yesterday I was deep in conversationand a word,doesn't matter which word,had barely landed in my earwhen I was transported to themoment of…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Bjorn is hosting Open Link Night with Live Edition, the night we choose a poem to post. dVerse Poets – OLN Photo: theartistnextlevel.com “I refuse to be claimed.” Naomi Shihab Nye Compassionate ResistanceI write the word noit's my defiance in an age whenyes has become aplague of expectation,where compliance ismerely anticipated,a fait accompli,but I left that paddock long ago and…
View On WordPress
Photo: taken at Lake Margarette, September 22 – bobtail lizard. “And the lizards each gone to his dwelling” Percy Bysshe Shelley MeanwhileI left the leavesdidn't rake,a small thing caught my eyebobtail's skinonce comfortablenow shedfor something new,I skirted round left it there as testimony to sacrednesshow life is up and down,as I stoodperhaps as witness,birds came byfrogs, lizards,native…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Sanaa is hosting poetics with an invitation to write a Valentine’s poem choosing from the following three options: 1- Love Potions and Concoctions: Write a poem as a recipe for a love potion. Throw in some berries and cream, maybe a dash of cinnamon and chivalry. Tell us what love means to you. 2- Love Letters Through Time: Write a poem in the form of a love letter. It can be…
View On WordPress
At dVerse De is hosting the Quadrille with and invitation to Zing, to include Zing or a form in a poem. dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Poems With Zing Photo: outdoorshell.com “O Winter! frozen pulse and heart of fire” Helen Hunt Jackson Get A Free ZingCamping in the winternow that's not the thing,the closer to zeromore woolies need to bring,because of the temperaturesome vigorous walkingis de…
View On WordPress
Photo: Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries – popsugar.com “With mouth so sweet, so poisonous …” Conrad Aiken After DinnerAfter dinnerin his rakish suitand exquisite silken tieunder the canopy of rich black haircombed down,so leanyou think he'llslowly, tenderlyunbutton your blousestroke your thighstill tremors overrunand dizzying lightswhirl your eyes,but did you not…
View On WordPress
Image: neurosciencenews.com “In each item’s rightful place, lies the secret to peaceful days.” Michael Anderson Entropic The house gods were rumbling,a certain volume of discord some resonance, vibratoentropy - everything expected isbehind the unexpected,the erased layershave reappeared Kondo would faint,but even she wouldn't sandwich the tailsor permit the elvesto pile sand in the bedor smear…
View On WordPress
Image by Simon from Pixabay “… the old revolutionary road breaks off into the shadows near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted who disappeared into these shadows.” Adrienne Rich The Long HaulWe set out one stifling summeralbeit and unbeknown, asNapoleon on a bent to Moscow,determined to climb the mountainpiton after piton of division, hateand everything that was a cruelpolluting…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Laura is hosting Meeting The Bar with an invitation to write a Sparrowlet – Laura explains (and includes a link to our first foray in 2022 with Grace) And with this first MTB of February 2025 we are turning to an invented stanzaic form created by Kathrine Sparrow that she calls a variation of the Swap Quatrain. It was first prompted by Grace in 2022 namely the Sparrowlet:- Poetry…
View On WordPress
Image by Victoria from Pixabay “The hours and seasons are sometimes a flowering, sometimes a disappearance” David Whyte On Second ThoughtsBeware the the time gobblerwho stalks in recommendationsjudgementsloaded advicesweet expertise -said the dentist, flosssaid the hygienist, twominutes of brush,said the doctor, walkingsaid the dietician, some prepsaid the food guru, this methodsaid the guide,…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Dora is hosting poetics with an invitation to write a poem using defamiliarization – for more information about defamiliarization and the prompt follow the link below: dVerse Poets – Poetics – Reimagining The Familiar Photo: ar.inspiredpencil.com “There is a snake in swans.” Sylvia Plath Pound By PoundThen, I wonderedif other homes were habited bysuch darkened men of tradeswhose…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Frank is hosting Haibun Monday with an invitation to write alluding to Groundhog Day. For more info and examples of Haibun follow the link below: dVerse Poets – Haibun Monday – Celebrating Groundhog Day Image by Rodolfo_Llanos from Pixabay “Be grateful for whatever comes” Rumi Shadow Play Birds, heading north, south, change is surely coming. Ants mounding their holes against rain.…
View On WordPress
Photo: dupreestrees.com “monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum” Virgil ‘The Aeneid’ Book 3 – line 658 (trans – “a huge horrible monster whose light has been taken away” or “A monster frightful, immense, with sight removed” – Polyphemus, or Cyclops) Not Wanting To BelieveThe tree died before it diedit was, to the eye, fully aliveand yet it was dead to its core,just the shoots…
View On WordPress
Photo: commons.wikimedia.com “Since I can’t go where I need to go … then I must … go where the signs point” Nikki Giovanni What Signs?Looking out over the roadSometimes I smile(though a few times I too have been caught)at the holiday makersgrasping at the prize ofa short cut down to the river,rushing down our street with caravans in towor the bulk of a winnebago missing the sign which saysNo…
View On WordPress
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay “I read somewhere, “we become lyrical when we suffer.” Elisa Gabbert RecallingWhy nowin a dental surgeryforty-five years latercar crash comes recalling,the childhood orthodonticsnot-with-standing followedby volleyball face-plant,extensive reconstruction,twenty years laterall done again,then at xmasan amalgam falls away -upper molar number five,procedure…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Grace is hosting Open Link Night – the night we choose a poem to post. dVerse Poets – OLN Image: ‘Japanese Girl Standing Beneath A Willow Tree’ by Emil Orlik, 1901 – Colour woodcut. Found on Tumblr. “breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire” T.S. Eliot Of Course The TreeWhat is it to seeare we seeing what she sees,or is it that we are seeingbut know not…
View On WordPress
Photo: taken two weeks ago at Flinders Bay, Augusta. The rock and reef provide a sheltered swimming and snorkelling opportunity (and the recent addition of a fresh fruit ice cream van). “Oh, to be lying on a beach, somewhere, with sand in my toes.” Linda Harnett Down Along The ShoreHe texted meto saythe pallets are readybut I have no energyto go and get them,it's not just that it's hotthe rain…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Kim is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem using an optician’s word grid, taking two lines and using the words in order. Here are the sets of words: nose – one – cause – evenwere – crone – our – summername – use – means – arosenear – can – remove – surecrow – verse – see – renewassume – once- van – sumaware – caves – sea – cream dVerse Poets – Poetics – The Optician’s…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Mish is hosting the Quadrille (44 words) with an invitation to write a poem on the word Hint. dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Can You Take A Hint? Image: found on pinterest.com “Why would we want to scourge our softness to straight lines like a Mondrian painting?” Marge Piercy Gouache MeTaut canvaspine ribs showing,O gouache me slowlywith that real ox hairbrushing,…
View On WordPress
Image by Dirk (Beeki®) Schumacher from Pixabay “Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality” Jean Cocteau I Strike A MatchThe old house is fullso many lifetimes,ghosts of secrets lingerin the shifting shadowswaiting their moment,that one opportunityto scare the livingwith their truthsof forgotten liesballed up like lintin neglected corners,as I…
View On WordPress
Photo: found on pinterest.com “there was epiphany in the pain” Olu Oguibe Once MoreDark emotionnow jiltedexcludedsulkingnot completely annihilated ,woundedhidingdeep in the interior,rising almost to lifeas feelings swirlwhen tiredness infiltratesprojected,legitimised by thincircumstance,attempting blamethwarted by thesmoking gun ofself-awareness. Copyright 2025 ©️Paul Vincent CannonAll Rights…
View On WordPress
Image: found at bondibeauty.com.au via Bing “Let me float across the sky” Maya Angelou She WondersShe is flying sparkledalong the brooding clouds,seeking benedictionabove the forests whooffer lessons in slowness and where the question hums -if the seasons are not welcomedwill they come at all?As she flies she wonders,upon reaching the horizonwill she sing her song and will her words be…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Bjorn is hosting Meeting the Bar with an invitation to write a poem using an apophatic (αποφατικοζ) or negation approach – the not knowing, (as opposed to a cataphatic (καταφατικα) or positive approach – the knowing/affirming). For more detail follow the link below: dVerse Poets – MTB – Meet The Bar Positively Through Negation Image by Nick Kirtoki from Pixabay “The rose has no Why?…
View On WordPress
Photo: from antiscamclub.com – scam sites in social media and communications use stolen photos. “everybody was nudging, inching, cheating for some insignificant advantage, the lie was the weapon …” Charles Bukowski RedfacextwitsapinitBelinda,if indeed that is her name,with a thousand emojisbikini avatarangled for peeking,declares she's single, 32seeking friendshiplooking for love,posts…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Punam is hosting Poetics with an invitation to – For today’s poetics you can create a cut-out poem, write a newspaper blackout poem, you can use the headline from your local newspaper as a springboard and write a poem on it or you can simply write why you love or hate reading the newspaper. You can also write your poem as a comic strip or create a collage poem from cuttings from your…
View On WordPress
At dVerse Merril is hosting Prosery (144 words) where we write a piece of prose (fiction or non-fiction) which must include the line “Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?” from the Poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ by Amanda Gorman. dVerse Poets – Prosery – Finding The Light Photo: mensxp.com “As in what if the shadow is golden?” Rosamond S. King Where? Where can we find light in this…
View On WordPress
Image by Jean-Dominique POUPEL from Pixabay “As the potter’s hands shape each mound …” Rabindranath Tagore Potter's PassionTo plunge my hands into its sticky, creamy wetnessthat's a thing,too dry it cracks, breaksif wet as slurry nothing holds,but if it's just rightyou can feel its soulsqueeze its firmness to a form, shape, orsome distortiontowards fame,its fulness is alive. Copyright 2025…
View On WordPress