Merril D. Smith

Thank you very much. 💙

You're very welcome! 💙

I forgot that she also responded to the Poetics prompt! It's a dVerse prompt. I'm one of the hosts there. There are new prompts every Mon, Tues, and Thursday.

You're welcome! 😊

Try what? Thursday doors? Some of my friends post them every week on their blogs, but I haven't yet.

You're welcome, C!

You're welcome, David!

Photo of the inside of a nightclub with people's dancing hands silhouetted holding drink and cigarettes. Overlaid with a poem in orange letters: nightlife I lie on the pavement no spirit left to me I left it all – in the dark where the light drips off the glitter ball in the furnace of weekend bodies heat-seeking parts in the thud of relentlessly irresistible beats I gave it my all I shed I moved and shook and ground consumed every bit drunk to the dregs of the night – and here I am spent and here I am stupid and happy

Love ending a crazy busy week with a nice little #PoemsAbout hookup. And enjoyed the #Spent prompt. Happy Friday/weekend poets! 💜
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk

So beautifully crafted. I love the repetition of and here I am at the end.

Exposed Exhausted I stumble up the steep hill of you. Sense disappears in your gust. My words smashed against your craggs. I cradle the warm eggs of my words you snatch and crack open till my insides tumble unborn deadyolks colour the purple heather of your tongue that fills my mouth so my words cannot be heard, inert. I can't breathe. Your body is an oven whose mouth swallows my whole self. I inhale your gas. Fumble for meaning in the lost map of us.

For #PoemsAbout #spent. Here's my most recent one dedicated to #SylviaPlath. An imagistic narrative:

She is shaped by demand. The dress, one of her favourites, bought by a name she can't remember. Black. Simple. Something he'll like. He brings her a gift bag, the tag for his daughter removed. Inside, crumpled pink tissue, the perfume she listed, some cash and a card he doesn't mention. To give is a calculation. To receive is a debt. No choice without cost, but choice, still remains. She asks about his day. A practiced kindness, soft as clean cotton. "I don't usually..." She nods. Waits. He adds more, about work, about the drive, about nothing that matters. Not for her. Not even for himself. Just to see if his voice can fill a room without breaking. She listens longer than she has to. Outside, a siren passes. Neither moves. His hands hover at her waist, not from guilt, but as if he has forgotten how touch begins, how it once cost nothing. She takes his wrist and places it properly. A small instruction. Almost tender. She laughs once, unexpected, real, and for a moment they are startled by the sound of it, as if joy were not included in the price. The script resumes, but less certain. After, he remains seated on the edge of the bed, studying the pattern in the carpet as though it might explain. In the dim light they look ordinary. Two people avoiding the mirror.

Desire has a price tag before we even name it. This is a #PoemsAbout bodies, bills and the brief moments that slip through transaction. Thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk

This one was a movie in my mind--a sad movie. There are so many wonderful lines, beginning with the first one. The unexpected real laugh makes them so human, real people. I really liked this one!

#poemsabout #spent

Banjaxed: a common Irish slang term meaning something is broken, ruined, severely damaged, or beyond repair.

Such a great word! I think many will be able to relate to this poem!

Good morning #BlueSkyPoets! #PoemsAbout #Spent
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
I took the traditional sonnet and tweaked the form to create a List Sonnet, I hope you enjoy! Excited to read your poetic creations!

The list builds and builds to that devasting ending!

Many thanks @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk for today's #PoemsAbout prompt #Spent. Here's a brief off-the-cuff 'tribute' to someone we knew only too well in the UK. Apologies, I was feeling tetchy this morning....

"spaffed" was new to me--but well-done!

Selfless // Spent You lie beside him like a gutted animal. This needy. This vulnerable. This far gone. Nothing is as exhausting as opening up, as making a church of the mess of yourself, as becoming a light for another. Ribcage and sanctuary. Shepherding the wayward sheep back from the storm-clad edge. Him and you both. Homebound. You wanted so much to be a morning star but you’re just the flick of his lighter with which he immolates you. You define your worth by how satisfied the hunter is, how easy the bullet’s job. How small can you make yourself so you’re not in his way, how fast can you do what he wants. Now he has rearranged your entrails to fit more pain inside. But you agree and carry it even like a crown. Anything, everything to make him stay; you are out there and dying just reaching for his hand. Afterwards, you sob silently behind the bathroom door as if your sadness was a great secret, something so dangerous and feral, you have to keep it hidden and leashed. Or, worse even, you would be found out, exposed for the wretched hollow bitch that you are, a martyr no angel would want. All you have to offer is the bones of yourself and isn’t that terrible, to be so thoroughly you? All that you are and were and aspired to be, you have given everything to him. The myrrh of ruptured spleens and breathless lungs, the hard gold of marrow. Incense of spit, myth told in freckles and stretch marks, stuttering. All your unspeakable stories spelled out scar by never-healed scar. And yet, he will get up and walk through that door. And leave, like you’ve never ever happened. You showed off your best tricks but you’re still just a dog. Your hot tears tangle helplessly in his wet hair like an army of startled fleas. You stand on the train station platform as it snows. He kisses you goodbye and it’s like drowning a puppy. Your teeth clash like barbed wire fences. He says see you soon and in that moment you know that there is nothing more cruel …

For #PoemsAbout #Spent ✨

for @thebrokenspine.co.uk
& @alanparrywriter.co.uk

When you give everything you have but it still isn’t enough.

So heart-breaking, yearning, visceral . . . I'm spent reading it! Powerful!

#poemsabout #spent

I'm a day late, I think. Because, well, yesterday I was #spent. But here's how it finally seeped out during the late late hours.

Such wonderful imagery and precise language. Beautifully crafted!

spent from being mistaken. the space returns to quiet. no performance in it.

For this week's #PoemsAbout #Spent, I'm thinking about how things feel. And posting late.

Thank you to the host @alanparrywriter.co.uk and
@thebrokenspine.co.uk and to all of the other writers.

#poetry #poem #writing #PoetryCommunity #BlueSkyPoets #writingcommunity

I like the ambiguity in this. It can be read in many ways (at least to me).

A black-and-white photograph shows a person in close profile, partially obscured by shadow, peering through horizontal window blinds. One hand lifts a slat, allowing light to fall across their eye and face. The Broken Spine fountain pen logo appears in the top left corner. “@thebrokenspine.co.uk” is written in white at the top right. Bold white text in the lower right reads: “Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #BEINGWATCHED”.

This week: #BeingWatched.

The look that lingers.
The sense of eyes before proof.
The body adjusting itself without knowing why.

Write the awareness.
The almost-seeing.
The way desire sharpens when it’s observed.

New theme opens Friday.
Don’t post early.
Use Alt Text.
Tag #PoemsAbout to be found.

Roberta Writes – d’Verse, Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge, and Thursday Doors d’Verse – Poetics Tuesday: Beginnings are Endings Punam hosted a fun challenge this week for d’Verse Poetics Tuesday. You can read other poets contributions here: I decided to go …

Roberta Writes - d'Verse, Esther Chilton's Writing Challenge, and Thursday Doors roberta-writes.com/2026/02/28/r...

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Lesley. 🌺

You're very welcome, Sue! 💙

You're welcome and thank you, Gary!