Twenty seventeen
will soon herald a new year.
Past, present, future,
family gathering near.
Jingle bells mark festive cheer.
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt – retrospective; and also, Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge, #62 – bells and past
Twilight.
Starkly barren.
Glowing. Sinking. Setting
sun entraps Cimmerian shade.
Nightfall.
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, No. 61 – stark and trap
witchcraft
eerie, mystic
jinxing, hexing, charming
dual spirit, costumed servant
voodoo
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, Tuesday 24 October – eerie and costume; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #186
Image credit Gerald Larocque
detached
lonely, spaces
drifting, slurring, blaming
quietly turning a blind eye
divorce
By Sarah ©2017
Author’s note: This is my first attempt at a Cinquain poem.
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #55 – quiet and space; and also Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #185
Earth’s graceful giant;
a free spirit roaming seas,
singing songs of joy.
By Sarah ©2017
Image credit Pixabay
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #52 Anniversary Special – spirit and joy
Image credit By Sarah ©2017
Unexpectedly you fly in. A true Aussie larrikin*, bursting into the party. Your costume for the festivities is brown and white, peppered with accessories of brilliant blue. You want to be seen, but not necessarily stand out. Your watchful gaze misses nothing; hawk-like eyes alert and piercing, scanning the room. You may be waiting for a friend. Or maybe, you are the friend they are waiting for. Suddenly you throw back your head and a peel of laughter erupts. A chuckling, joyful sound that makes us stop in our tracks, turn and see what is so funny. But before you can answer, you leave as suddenly as you arrived, already looking for the next party to crash.
majestic bird perched
on branch, you witness the world
gifting us your song
By Sarah ©2017
* larrikin (Australian/NZ slang) – a person with apparent disregard for convention; a maverick.
Author’s note: The Laughing Kookaburra is instantly recognisable in both plumage and voice. It is generally off-white below, faintly barred with dark brown, and brown on the back and wings. The tail is more rufous, broadly barred with black. There is a conspicuous dark brown eye-stripe through the face. It is one of the larger members of the kingfisher family and is native to Australia. They are used to interacting with humans and some can be quite tame.
Source: Birds in backyards
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt – laughter, Suddenly, expect; and also, Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #51 – gift and song
Image credit Peterio
Real tough times of late!
Dreams to soar on holidays,
how long must I wait?
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Ronovan Writes, Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt, Challenge # 165 – late and holiday; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #179; and Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #49 – soar and wait
Image credit Pixabay
Excitedly turned,
the stone reveals its pleasure
– a golden treasure!
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #48 – stone and turn; and also, Ronovan Writes, Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt, Challenge #164 – pleasure and excite
Image credit Ooberxandxdavie6
The warm honey glow of the late afternoon sun, was a contrast to the prickling cool of the mountain air on her skin. She climbed to her vantage point, high above the valleys. The ‘T-tree’ had been formed one night when Zeus’ lightning bolt had cleaved it in two – destroying the wine-red leaves of Autumn. The remaining limbs had sagged and sighed their defeat, for it was Winter now and the cornucopia were full for the cold months ahead. It was from here she loved to watch over the world below. The mountain goats were drawn here also and she liked to imagine it was because they were summoned by her power; taking their place beside her in the stars.
nourishing earth’s child
Amaltheia; Capricorn;
goat goddess endures.
By Sarah ©2017
Author’s note: In Greek mythology, Amaltheia is the she-goat Goddess who nourished Zeus as an infant. In later years, Zeus broke off one of Her horns, which then became the cornucopia, providing sustenance for all earth’s creatures. Amaltheia’s themes are success, humor, reason, devotion and providence. Her symbols are goat, cornucopia and stars. For Her diligence and service, Amaltheia was transformed into the constellation Capricorn, where She remains.
Source: Journeying to the Goddess
Image credit Journeying to the Goddess
Prompt: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #176; and also, Daily Post Daily Prompt, above, creature, prickle; and Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #46 – honey and wine
Standing proud their ground,
while choking out my garden
…hateful noxious weed!
By Sarah ©2017
Image credit Pixabay
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #45 – hate and pride
Image credit By Sarah
Sometimes the right path
hides in the dense undergrowth;
asking to be sought
and dragged into clarity.
But when it finds you? Magic!
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #44 – hunt and find (I have used synonym ‘sought’ in place of hunt)
Image credit MKA Photography
He punishes her.
A blush heats her face. Confused,
she bows her head low…
knows she’s still bound to him but
aware it’s unravelling.
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt – blush; and also, Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, heat & confuse and, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #175
Image credit http://reylia.deviantart.com/
though I may roam wild
through the deserts of despair
rain shall drive my calm
creating joyful music
strangled by the whitest hope
By Sarah ©2017
Prompst: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge – #174; and also, Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, wild & calm
musical waves crash
against sky of coloured art
a show called sunrise
By Sarah ©2017
Image credits By Sarah, taken at Nambucca Heads Main Beach, NSW
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #41 – music, art
love is knowing how
things can be spiced up without
losing the sugar
——————————–
you love me, you love
me not, two can play the game
of sugar and spice
——————————–
my sweet tooth needs no
sugar, but my heart craves the
spices of your love
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge #40, Words: sugar & spice
Author’s Note: 🧀Apologies for the somewhat cheesy triple Haiku for this week’s challenge! I’m battling fatigue and missing my hubby while I’m away in New Zealand 😊
in death it’s too late
then to realise the abject
futility of
harbouring resentment for
the person in the mirror
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #39 Mirror and Harbor
on wings of whimsy
and magic, the fairy turns
ancient bone to gold
I lay in bed, barely able to contain my excitement. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to sleep so that she may come! I pictured in my mind, a delicate pixie; fine-boned with pointed face. Her eyes would glitter with mischief and delight as she paid her clandestine visit. She wore cloth spun with gold thread and grew tiny gypsophila flowers in her hair. I wondered if she brought with her a tiny pouch lined with velvet to carry away the old and leave her gift of gold. I dreamed of all the ways I would spend my treasure. I heard the door open and pretended to be asleep. I squinted one eye to reveal a sliver; a glimpse of her true being. But what I saw instead was a monster. It was my mother’s hand reaching for the tooth and slipping a coin in its place.
magic has dissolved
as fairy wings turned to dust
the truth now exposed
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, #35 fairy & magic
I strike the match head
and watch as the flame takes hold
smoke curling upwards
Image credit By Sarah ©2017
sunrise and sunset
paint today’s contradiction
of future and past
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt – retrospective; and also, Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge #35, Words: past, future
By Sarah 