no quarter

Come on, then--
I am an easy target.  I defied all
their laws to bring this invention
to the people, this shifting thing

that is danger and beauty in one
flickering compelling gleaming piece.
I never wanted to live forever,
but with that granted, the people

are at their mercy just a little less.
Come in and sit at the hearth,
they can offer, even as you pull
moist and quivering chunks

from my gaping flesh.  It's of no
matter here, where I wait
to see your silhouette
against the day's rising.  Still,
I cherish the flame lodged in my heart

and will remain unrepentant
until I am granted a release.

It's Form Monday over at One-Stop Poetry, and this week's theme is mythology.  Which, if you've been following along at all, you know is very close to my heart.  So I won't call this a challenge, so much as a piece that has been waiting for a place to roost.  

will

Star
caught,
match won,
journey's end,
no. None of these fit.
None are appropriate--not yet.



It's One-Shot Wednesday again, with One Stop Poetry, and this week the lovely runaway sentence. wrote TWO Fibonacci poems to show me up...and suckered CDG into it, too, somehow!  And to make it even worse, they had them posted ages ago.  Sigh.  Looks like I'm going to have to step up this game.  Next week?  An aubade.

press

You take a breath wide as the sky,
Deep as the sea, with ragged edge.
Though sweet sleep around me ebbs,
My body wakes to your wondering eye.

Lean into me now and touch my thigh.
Come cut, come tear the bitter hedge
That on my hateful heart grows etched
When straight from me to her you fly.

Just kiss me until I am gone to dream again,
Caress me until we both can sleep.
Pretend tonight we've spoken only truth,
(this pretense saves face for many men)
Tell me this moment we will keep,
Tell me that we won't regret our youth.

equinox

What will an autumn girl do in a summer stretched thin,
While red and orange give way to shades of green?
I hope she stays, and paints the autumn colors in.

Some girls are satisfied to let yellow summer win;
Winter girls have run and can scarcely be seen!
What will an autumn girl do, when summer draws in?

Let the sun beat down, with its fearsome hot grin,
While passersby grow desperate, parched and mean!
Watch how she stays, and calls the cool breeze in.

Spring, summer, and winter may be called her kin,
Though how quickly they fade when autumn is queen!
What can an autumn girl do 'til summer grows dim?

Other seasons are far too intemperate for sin,
A well-loved pastime of mine you may try to redeem.
Watch the autumn girl smile, smell her cinnamon skin!

I cannot love those others, too heated, wet, or grim.
And, imagine this world without bright Hallowe'en!
What can an autumn girl do, if summer never gives in,
but watch, dreaming until the equinox rolls again?



For One-Shot Wednesdays, I've decided to work mostly on forms of poetry that are very strict, or that I have trouble writing...since this is a writing exercise blog, after all! The villanelle is a perfect example of challenging poetic form, with strict rhyme and meter, a twisted line scheme, and an insistence upon theme. I sweated hard on this one, and the ending is still a little weak. So I'll be thinking about edits, too!

You may have thought my Twitter handle was a joke, but I am dead serious about autumn. Just ask the Halloween Posse!

So--anyone else up for a Wednesday challenge? Next week...sonnets, I think.

red sky at morning

words are shifty things

worse than emotions

slippery in the night

falling from my fingers

like cherry pits

thrown into the wind,

pale plum blossoms

shivering on the tree,

the touch of your skin

at dawn,

too precious to describe.

words and tears pale against 

burning velvet sunrise

like dry leaves

caught up

in the silken breeze.