Poem A Day

 

Day One

Huitain

8 syllables
8 lines
ababbcbc

it is that time of year again
a daily write of poetry
purple lilacs in  droop spring rain
shaded by dark pink cherry trees
i watch with scones and cups of tea
i dream a while and think of you
and how we'd be just you and me
it would not work this tea for two

Books

Letters and Owls

dverse

 she never receives letters or cards anymore
 she threw all her old letters away

her mother threw all of her photographs out
in order to obliterate her existence

it is awful how families always favour one
the other forced to live under the stairs
never measuring up or being good enough

everyone could use a brood of owls
now and then to come to the rescue

or  warm arms  about  them
to feel safe

everyone needs to be that special person
for someone at some stage during a life

it seems
there are not enough arms to go around
one can see it etched in all the faces of the lonely
as they trudge home to empty rooms

surely goodness will follow me always
til the end of my days

if one opens their hearts and minds
i believe it is a possibility

Sylvia

 dverse


Back then
it was the tailored skirt
it was coloured stockings
it was long thick braids
it was mission brown
everywhere

Back then
winters were colder
everyone was thinner
it was open fires in
the crumbling mansions time
of fur coats and himmler specs
of Dylan Thomas lying strewn
in the shag pile of a flokati rug

Back then
there were children
soft rosy cheeked
milky baby skin and
nappies

Back then
there were dinner parties
Laura Ashley
Elizabeth David
orange ash trays
steak and kidney pud
cheap red
cheap rents
onion soup

the viola girl
put her head in the gas oven
i could have been lady lazarus

it could have been me
but it wasn't

I
am still
Here
much to the amazement
of those who can barely conceal
their disappointment

Shadorma

shardorma
3 5 3
3 7 5

when it rains
make the best of it
let it shine

when it pours
keep laughin' keep on dancin'
survive while you smile

Quatern

Quatern...8 syllables per line

1 2 3 4
5 1 7 8
9 10 1 12 
13 14 15 1



these stitches contain her small life
keep her little fingers busy
creating a fiesta of
luscious rich floral wonderment

how many thoughts are seamed french knots
these stitches contain her small life
the coloured threads are her journal
sometimes things she does not dwell on

dark blue and watermelon pink
she remembers the yellow light
these stitches contain her small life
the secret taken to the grave

when she is gone and laid to rest
her tapestries will be for sale
final days in an old op shop
these stitches contain her small life

Triolet

Triolet----ABaAabAB






How great my grief,my joys how few
But when they come they are delight
He seems to know this right on cue
How great my grief, my joys how few
Shoots a sharp arrow ripped right through
To wound, cruel viper out of spite
How great my grief, my joys are few
But when they come they are delight

Must remember to hide my joy
Hide it, keep it secret from you
For fear you will again destroy
Must remember to hide my joy
One day I will be free from ploys
For now this hardship must endure
Must remember to hide my joy
Hide it, keep it secret from you

Party Time

joy-sparks spin
around us

as we sync-glide
to the beat
together

by night-beam
in the tropics

courtesy
of hot -wish
fantasy flight

Grendel's Mother

dverse

they called her
water-woman
woman of the mere
a roaming water-spirit

a female warrior
aglaec -wif  ferocious fighter
the sea - wolf of the depths

she could sail a
foam- floater
on the salt-froth
better than any puke-mewling
brandishing his battle-gleam
around in the air
stepping over raven-pickings

she would draw red-sweat
until the sleep of the sword
to avenge her shepherd of evil

her cries  are still churn-wet
with faint cosmic echoes
still reaching us
from the dark-time

Warm Hands and Slippers

 Sunita Sehdekar

 dverse

cloaked in jonquils
she used to hide herself
from the moon

watching his warm hands
finger the white buds
unaware of her presence

 that was years ago
 now she no longer hides herself
 they know each other

they speak of  mundane things
the frisson of secrecy long since past
a soft comfortable slipper in its place

Bliss

dverse 


i sit at the back
in the dark church
eyes closed
listening
to the contrapuntal themes
weaving in and out
stretti and sequences
darting schools of fish
in a fugue
bathed in brilliant sunshine
my soul soaring
enveloped in a kind of well being
with something telling me
that i am not alone
that i am loved
that everything will be alright

Hamburger For Poetry Jam

 poetry jam 



the hamburger
will outdo you
every time

you will become
its prisoner
squashed and drowned
in a waterfall of ketchup






no one will hear
your cries for help
like tin tin
tied to the rail tracks

the tv executives
using fresh faced kids
from cliched families


rub hands together
smack their lips
at the healthy monthly profits
planning new programs
to rope in more suckers



eat hamburgers
you get to be
Paris Hilton

Pumpkins For Dverse

a great desire to enhance
cannot let things be
man-constantly gilding the lily
imprinting his stamp
leaving his mark
like a tom cat

The Oscars

poets united mid week motif

she was watching
the oscars on tv

a black male slave
in the cotton fields
of the winning movie
said
he did not want to survive
he wanted to live

200 years later
she smirked
at the idea of that

she could not imagine
anything  but survival
she had perfected it
as an art form

the idea of choices
apart from survival
were as remote as
flying to the moon
with paper wings

The Battle between Carnival and Lent

Breugel the Elder

Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Day

Poetically Evolving

dverse


 poetically
 evolving, (sigh) i think not
 time to start again

planet of the apes
law of the jungle still reigns
behind the veneer

civilization
an opaque veil to hide all
the monkey business

Sweet Little Lies

 dverse

she came back home
after many years
a ghost in her own town
she grew to love her invisibility
the freedom of her anonymity


if only her feelings
were not invisible to him
but then again if he were not blind
she could well be relegated to the
extinction file if he twigged

it was the pretence of just wanting
to be good friends that was killing her
living a lie is never easy