Sunday 160 walk the road

Star thistle cracks

asphalt path

to armchair party

footrest overpass.

Awake broiled desert

nocturnal shriek

a circus Ferris wheel’s

anonymous census.














What do you do about loneliness?  Do you face it? Or do you walk on without recognizing it?

This is a post in exactly 160 characters, including spaces, a challenge by Monkey Man HERE  post on Sunday, and visit Monkey Man and one other 160 post.

Tuesday Toes: Shadowstalking

Kat Mortensen's book Shadowstalking arrived on the central coast of California yesterday!  (Note the wine grapes in the foreground)
She wanted to know where I read it, and as usual, I have no time to write.....

so here's Tuesday Toes with her new book of poetry:  Shadowstalking.  You may read her work, and order her book yourself,   HERE . (Note these are the more typically golden hillsides you may expect)

Muse-seeking Rap-Blues 160

Take the jump

straighten the slump

work the hump

angrily stomp

feel yourself cry

slowly sigh

make a try

see how high

you can fly

This is a poem in exactly 160 characters, spaces included.  The challenge is from Monkey Man, HERE  for a story or poem, posted on Sunday, let him know and visit one other 160 .

Take care of the quisinart - 55

-

Sacred, sparkling,

pristine, and white,

labeled with too much
care….. or neglect?

Stained, sticky,

scummy, stinky,

under-washed,

but cared-about usefulness!

Shiny, polished,

glassy, sterile,

unused, neglected,

disregarded?

Chopping
with loving gusto,

with excess

wantonness!

The scales tip,

unbalanced.

Kindly, attentively,

noting the soil,

caress it to

a smooth rebirth,

in a moment

of balancing regard.

(this should be titled, "cleaning up the creative mess" but that's too crass)

If you want to join the Friday 55 Challenge, write a poem or story in exactly 55 words, let Mr Knowitall  know it  HERE and visit one other 55 fiction blogger.

Summer nights

Dancers pave the park
Salsa strings sing to fairies
toddlers circling trees


(This is a Theme Thursday, for the prompt Park)

Sanctuary

Make home a sanctuary,

with gratitude,

with attention,

to the shiny dishes,
to the new dishwasher,

to the subsiding vise grip
of needling swelling,
to yoga after sleep,
to the dark cocoon,
to holding still wakefulness,
in the middle of night noise,

to the agenda-free haven,

to the deep and dark, black and white flicker,

of Gregory Peck or Tyrone Power,
minus commercialism, complaints, combats, compromise.

Attentive to making a safe place,

a refuge, an asylum, a shelter, a haven .

(my 3 teenage boys are gone for a week, can you tell?)

Tuesday Toes: Puerto Vallarta

In preparation for a recent trip to Puerto Vallarta with “the girls”,  my friend Kim painted her toenails caution cone orange.  The rest is pretty clear......

The answer to the riddle on Sunday's Poetry Bus Challenge:  "The Trick" is a Chinese Finger Trap.  (-or a relationship counselor, if you have ever needed one, you'll know what I mean.....)  Some of you got it, weave was the clue.  

The trick

-

She moves hers to his

touches

now caught

in a weave.

They try hard to pull apart

but are held more tightly.

Supported in the middle

pushed together,

they are freed.



(what am I?)
this is a flash fiction in 160 characters.  If you want to meet the challenge, post on Sunday and let Monkey Man know  HERE and visit one other 160.

Dumpster Love

-

Lovers in dumpsters

escape detection. Awake!

before they smell us!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is a Poetry Bus Challenge, from the blog by  Argent  at Delusions of Adequacy HERE  If you want to join the bus write a poem or haiku with humor about unrequited love this week.... See Argent for the rules.

55 flash fiction friday: nightmares

-

Nightmares aren’t at mid-night,

but the two A.M., cold Amen

collared by the dankest sweat.

beneath the early crescent,

razor-edged, faceless
discus moon,

in the Chihuahua’s darting eyes

seen in a dream, leashed to a teen
running behind, silent cries,

not the beating rumbling waterfall

but a mid-night crushing crack

from a summer thunder roll

Getaway

-

Imaginary


breakout. Getaway:  foiled


by awakening.

Tuesday Toes

So, here goes.....if it's Tuesday, it MUST be Toes.


SHADOW KNOWS TOES WITH HER NOSE.

Since I can't blog everyday, as many of you creative writers do,  I am reduced to posting a piece of my life with simple digital photography.  

I have very limited experience traveling.  At the age of 23, I went on my first trip to New York city. I wanted to record my experience artistically.  Using the same portrait frame of my companion Kim in every shot, however, made for a very boring forground perspective.  (nothing personal, Kim, you're beautiful!) Thus, Toes across America, or wherever I happened to travel, ensued.  Trump Building: Toes.  Central Park: Toes.   Statue of Liberty: Toes.  Seattle Space Needle: Toes.  Eventually, Kim sent photos anonymously in the mail to announce her return to NYC, with the Statue of Liberty, and....yes:  her toes.

Fairyalchemy

-

Fairy lights

moon-droplets

of elfin magic

from paper and mastic.

Gossamer wings,

rainbow swings,

dahlias cavort,

among St Johns wart.

Wise-women dance

men are entranced.

This is a poem in 160 characters, spaces included. Actually a true story, not fiction.  A magical midsummernight's dream party in a fairy garden with klesma folk music and contradancing. 

 If you want to meet the 160 challenge, post on Sunday, a flash fiction or poem in exactly 160 characters.  Let Monkey Man know HERE and visit one other 160 blogger.

55 Flash Fiction Friday

micrometry

Sand loss slides off layers

sea stone sleets into silica

pumice blows over brick grains

shell shards sprinkle snow frost

quartz gold speckles sparks

flesh tone peels off slivers

scab grounds drop off cornices

surface dust dries tooth grit

serpentine sea froths into slate

wind darts shave off escape

writers hide in dune grains

(This poem, without the final line, was written in a rare contemplative moment during 4 hours on isolated sand dunes near my home in California. )

This is a poem written in exactly 55 words, shared with my writing workshop and deemed more than an exercise.  If you want to meet the challenge, write a short story or poem in exactly 55 words, and let Mr Knowitall know HERE

Amores Armor

-

Wait

alone look

for stars.

Back

to the earth,

orchestrate orbs in apogee.

Beat

a track to distraction

with biped rhythms.

Openly gorge

on the world

each day embryonic and adored.

Laugh quickly

as one freshly weaned,

but hum songs with sages.

Jump into colder currents.

Strain to inhale.

Count every kick.

Bard stallion flanks with thighs

to rock, and climb,

wind down, and be steady.

Roll skin and sweat

into dusty

aboriginal balm.

Drink from a bard’s elixir

and nod
under star companions.

Sunday 160 ode to ee cummings

-
-
I saw a wind


in your eyes

evanescent thermal

on my cheeks

tossing air

in each hair

slap-stung

hissing grains

yield transient blows,

unrelenting,

waves’

sussurant wishes