Ardor Quill

He chortled as he moved the game board. Monsoons drenched west, and earthquakes rattled east. He lit a match and fwoosh forest fires burned.

One of the tiny creatures ran, trying to #elude the destruction.

He flicked his finger. “Bwaa ha ha. Such fun.” #vss365

#vss365
#elude

There was a club in town that no one wanted to join
It was completely free, no need for dollars or coin
They met at odd hours
No matter clouds or showers
Despite all sleep eluded them — some thief did purloin

It #eludes me
Peace
Sanity
Fitful dancers
Flitting as flickering embers
Buoyed & buffeted
On ravens-wing winds
Lost in abyssal aether
An echo of an unheard cry
& still I grasp
The straws razor-sharp
Biting me
Flaying my soul bare
Until all is numb
And the tears gone dry

#vss365

the memory hisses and pops
with the cloudy connection
of analog synapses
confused with plaque

where the data just
stirs in place
hoping to be read

while the mind’s screen
conspires to elude
the sharp focus

of some just yesterday
when the the memory
was last played

#vss365 #elude #poetry

You might see me
a pitiful worm
but reconsider
with this thought
While humans are frail
susceptible to both sickness
and death
I can elude death's strong grip
and be reborn
to sing again
#vss365 #elude

The Oscar eluded me
the Nobel peace prize too
my life’s work
overlooked
ignored
like a plate of bland food
Try as I might
never get noticed
not a single accolade
my esteem is at its lowest
#vss365 #elude

tiny prisoners
learning how to #elude
the dragons
like genies
they magically disappeared
flames beneath the fire
neighbors would say,
what good little soldiers
you've trained them well
he smirked, knowing
one flew to heaven
the others
stayed in #hell
#vss365 #poem #prompt
photo~ammar_sab3

For a moment,
the balcony breathes.
The marigold leans into fragile joy,
its golden head lifted
by the butterfly’s tender presence,
eluding for a moment
the haze of stillness.

(2/2)
#vss365 #elude #vss

Fluttering on the blooming petals
of a marigold standing alone,
a creature with prismatic wings—
a butterfly graces my bleak balcony
with its shadowed railing arched above
the tiles, worn and faded.

(1/2)
#vss365 #elude #vss

as grace for me
eluded you
so would I
elude you
#vss365 #elude

I try to elude him
But he pulls me in
My soul longs
Regardless what I do
To elude is to try
To do what I can not
Forget him?
Never.
I can’t #elude him
Even if I wanted to.

#vss365

questions intertwine
answers elude every door
rumors ride the wind

#vss365 #elude #inkMine #rumors #haiku
#art by Monika Luniak

You may elude your
Past for so long, you forget
What you're running from.
#vss365 #past #elude #haiku #senryu #poem #writing #writingcommunity

Photo of a vibrant tree from my old home in the autumn

#Elm at my old home -
one of my favorites
each autumn.

It was cut down
just before I left for good,
its stump jagged
and wearing many rings.

#vss365 #poem #poetry #poet #skypoet #writing #writingcommunity #photography #trees #leaves #autumn

Disclaimer: I am not 100% sure this is an elm.

Deep Ellum
a confluence
of divergent cultures
#vss365

In the middle of the #elm forest there is a clearing, with a banner on a pole, a scarlet red dragon with golden trim. And a yin/yang symbol on a small flag below. Oh my, that wasn’t an #ogre back there, it was a trollock! This isn’t another reality, it’s the third age!

#blueskyrelay
#vss365
#TWOT

By trees, surrounded
Cursed, hungry, their maws unhinged wide,
I became overwhelmed

#vss365 #elm #haiku

(Psssst- there's a pun in there of sorts. OverwhELMed)

The stereotyped #sapphire
Known for its deep blue color
But it comes in many colors
Its depth rarely appreciated

Once our minds are fixed
Our glasses don’t
See in multi colors
The color has only one truth

Our perceptions
Our prejudices
Rarely changed
Stuck in our reality

#vss365 #resist #poetry

Every evening, he
sits still on the porch,
to listen to the old elm creak—
a note the house
always echoes back.

Nobody sees him,
the birds avoid
the elm, and the house
remains invisible.

Three things
descend into decay,
waiting to be lost
forever.

(2/2)
#vss #vss365 #elm

On a quiet street
of a busy city,
a house, tired,
leans into decline.

A tree—an elm
guards it
with hollow limbs
and roots tangled
in silence.

A man full of age
lives inside, yet
nobody knows him.

(1/2)
#vss #vss365 #elm

By The Whimsy Sea - C. Oulens It’s a Sea of change; last night I drowned in my dream, rather than in the usual — the daydream. Tonight I shall not forget, let me wearily, warily remember that it isn’t that easy, in the middle of the whimsy sea— the drowning act; there seems some secret pact between dream and daydream. So, I am gonna prepare well tonight; my #cummerbund and a pen & a page — my guerillas, squat light-lipped bed-side— the seaside, ready for attack. Yes, heck, yes! It’s gonna be one bloody sea at the tip of my pen and it shall drown on my page; dare it, I repeat — dare it drown me in dream again!

An old, slightly edited whimsy piece for today’s
#PromptCombo #Seaside and for host
@rfsmith.bsky.social
Shall catch up with other pieces later.
Also fits in today’s #vss365 #Cummerbund

#blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry #writingcommunity

I think of my old
wedding album,
a photo of #2,
black and white
thumbs in his
#cummerbund,
his freckled young
face so naive-

I burned
the wedding
album
well before our
marriage ended,
you were mad,
I laughed,
and said affairs
don’t make great
Memories.

#vss365 #poetry

My life wrapped in a #cummerbund
On the outside
Neat and tidy
On the inside
A storm brewing
With rain predictions

It’s part of survival
Don’t let anyone see
What lurks below
The naked truth

Being okay is
A constant battle

#vss365 #poetry #poem #writing

a seal is rolling around in the snow with the caption " what should we call me " below it ALT: a seal is rolling around in the snow with the caption " what should we call me " below it

The evening went well
Smoked grape and kingfish crude with spice
beluga caviar
a dessert of rich Frrrozen Haute Chocolate Ice
cigars and brandy
my #cummerbund began to tell, wait no, it began to swell
i should have stayed in for a binge of the walking dead and snacks instead
#vss365

unwanted changes
hormonal waist expansion
nature's #cummerbund

#vss365 #haiku #PostMenopausalWoman 😁

Soon the hill called,
and I obeyed,
to see, to feel, and to know.
But the place was barren,
with a cranky, roofless house,
and a smell of decay,
outgrown by trees,
a ragged man lay in—
Skeleton.

#vss #vss365 #cummerband
(2/2)

They said a man lived
on the hilltop,
who wore a cummerbund—
tight and neat,
and lived a life of lavish.
A man of culture,
a synonym of success,
who spoke in wisdom.
Curious of the tale,
rose a temptation
to seek.

#vss #vss365 #cummerbund
(1/2)

It lay stretched out
still from the life it once contributed to
a witness to Kings 
african goddesses 
and ordinary beings
held within its
#cummerbund
once wrapped tight
holding skin
#vss365 #poem #WritingCommunity

#haiku #senryu #vss365

a child learns
the word iridescence—
oil on asphalt

#prism seizes starlight
shattering rays through the void
night's hues surge and soar

#vss365 #HaikuSaturday