[lemonthief]

Sure you don't want to give it a go, Liss? Boo.

If not, I'll take it. But someone else has to do the next one!

[lemonthief]

diction + economy + promptly + 10-20 lines

The Businessman’s Wife


Tonight I’ll throw rice into a pan
and add heaps of turmeric, just because
it’s irreversible. When you slide the door open,
glimpse this red dress kissing my knees and steam
blurs your eyes, I’ll say: Darling, don’t talk to me
about the economy. I don’t want
your diction, proper as the briefcase
nestled at your feet. I want you

to go to the attic. You’ll find a small snow shaker
in the box we never finished unpacking –
a world caught in glass before it started:
the London bus forever pulling away and not,
a man walking promptly, half jogging, about to miss it
but never missing it. If you understand, you'll slip
behind me unnoticed, place one hand on my hip
like silk, and with the other
shake the snow into flurries of maybe
maybe, maybe.



next: CD + probe + collapse + quatrains

[Bill]

next: CD + probe + collapse + quatrains

You walk through the house;
steps clack on bare floors.
In a last check of drawers
you find a CD.

it slides in your bag
forgotten til night in
your sparse new apartment,
you load it and click.

His face fills the screen,
with eyes that probe yours and
refute what you knew and
you gasp and collapse.

slick, honey, hammer - 20 lines in couplets

[cynthia]

I'll give it a go! It could take some time though.....

cynthia

[godwand]

I'm actually trying it, too!

Just a quick question, though...do the words have to be in order? Like do I have to use "slick" before "honey" for example?

[lemonthief]

yay! *watches the iron race*

and the words can be in any order, so long as they all appear.

[godwand]

okay many thanks

[cynthia]

OK, this is a try...It is REALLY. REALLY WEIRD,


The Tap Dancer

"Honey, the crescent moon needs to fall
So I have somewhere to light me properly"

Shuffle, ball-chang, shuffle-ball change, shuffle
'cross the stage with ignited laughter. "Hurry"

Down the stage steps, 2, 3. "oops, I left a shoe"
Slick sighs so quiet, "What was my name again"

"Final Scene, places please, Honey, have you seen my hammer?"
"I need to nail something really fast"

"It's been so long since I saw the back of my closet"
"The view is much different from in here"

She crept down the street at 2 AM. dangling heels from finger-tips
A caberet singer leans on a street lamp. posing

"Wonderfull, Just Wonderful. Next girl please"
"What was your name, Honey?" "I'm sorry, It's getting late."

"Next week maybe. We'll swim at Midnight in Central Park"
"Or perhaps a carriage ride cozy" (Her eyes roll all the way back)

She was wishing she hadn't seen so many old movies.
The ones with Grand Finales at the Plaza

"Curtain call, places please." "You, over there, Smile will ya, It'll hurt"
Her body, slick as a dancer, sachets polite whispers in your ear.

"I can still smell her in my clothes, she loved my shirts"
Tap shoes dance down the street, absent of a dancer.

[lemonthief]

It is quite strange, but a very original take on the words, and I like the conversational nature of the couplets - works well.

[cynthia]

Thanks, Sophie!

Ooops, I forgot the next prompts: Villanelle; Goddess + sunlight + kettle + laughter!



Take it away, godwand!



Aloha,
Cynthia

[King of Ducks]

This one has kind of stalled, so if no one minds... I'll start it back up... hope you don't mind godwand....

Goddess of the sunlight lay a dreaming
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
For a husband she'd been scheming
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Says she: "I'll find one as bright and lovely as me!"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
In her kettle, hot and steaming, prepares a man gleaming...
What merry fools we be...

Soon her work complete, she calls to her creation
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"Man, oh man, for me alone shall be your infatuation..."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
For a time all is well, him a beauty, she a belle,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
But forced affection breeds contempt, makes love a hell.
What merry fools we be...

Forlornly looking oer the earth, lone man sees potters daughter
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Mending pots and laughing with her beloved otter
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"How shall I woo one so fair, when the sun flies everyday?"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"With this mortal woman she'll ne'er let me lay..."
What merry fools we be...

"A cloth then!" He shouts in joy and dances to the right,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"I'll cover her from head to toe in the rainment o' the night."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"And in the darkness I'll steal a kiss or two with laughter,"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"And I'll lay with my darling, the potter's daughter."
What merry fools we be...

So when the sun grows dark,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
And in the tree silent is the lark,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Please my child do not cry
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
The sun's husband is just getting by
What merry fools we be...


Bears + Mountains + Redwood Trees - 4 verses seven lines each

[cynthia]

This is GREAT!

[King of Ducks]

This is GREAT!

Lol thanks....

[cynthia]

Sophie, I need you!

[lemonthief]

*stands to attention*

[Poppyseed]

I realize the ending is a bit weak, but here is my love offering to you, Bill.

The Midnight Beach

We found silver and gold strewn
among the ashes of our fire that summer.
Darling, can you remember?
The leaks we sprung in each others minds
on that midnight beach:
we rearranged the constellations

to sounds of waves; high tide of California—
sounds of cars on invisible highways—
sounds of a cheap log fire cracking eggs—
sounds of your voice venturing the synapse; me the receptor.

We impregnated the moon with conversation.
It grew restless with our fire,
dying with shadows fluctuating on your face,
the comfortable gloom of stubborn embers

glowing red in the small hours’ breeze.
We settled in a place between sounds and silence,
carving warm niches into one another.

Your Catalina perfume kept me for hours,
committing to memory
this scent that glittered the air.

And at dawn, after so many words—
after so many words,
we would lay together with strawberries
and watch the sun kiss our California shore.
Next up: Write a poem about war. Make it vivid, provocative, have a storyline with one main character. Bring out that other side that will make us feel something. It can be about any war, make it interesting, and have fun.

Poem About War:

It is midnight,
and yet
the sky is alight as the bright dawn.
The noises
such noises
I long to hide.
to escape
To a world of my own.
Never turn back.
Never feel this hurt again.
We fight to protect.
Yet it feels so much darker.
As if a reason we can never understand
A force darker than us
is at work.
It feels like the light of the world has been replaced
It feels that I will never again smile.
It feels like the world has been thrown into a safety blanket.
And yet a cold one of darkness.
Does it end?
Will the bangs and crashes cease?
Or are we always at war in the world...

[Poppyseed]

oh sorry! Promt:

wind + forever + green + haiku

enjoy!

[King of Ducks]

Wind blows over sea
Splashing forever the green waves
Dance soft and tranquil


Next up: A cautionary tale told in rhyming couplets.

[lemonthief]

Yeah, I think there was a bit of a mix-up just there. I tried the "bears + redwood trees + mountains" prompt probably about four times and each of those times failed horribly, lol. So thanks for keeping the challenge going, I do love this one.

And a cautionary tale told in rhyming couplets sounds exactly the sort of thing I'd like to work on... unless anyone beats me too it.

[melissah]

You know, I think I could handle this...

But you do it, too, Sof. I want to read yours.

[lemonthief]

Awesome. I'd love to read yours too!

(oh we're so sickeningly cute )