Plague

How quickly our perspective changes;
Like fighting children on the playground
arguing over insolent remarks;
Now lined up before the school master
waiting to be disciplined;
Wondering if // and when…
How hard // or how little?
Who even remembers
what the fuss was about?
When we are facing the chalk board
with our life written on it
our past…
our present…
our future…

For now the plague has come.
We all are Egyptians
with no blood on our doorposts;
Waiting to see
if the death angel
will pass us by…

And when this dark night is past
we have a Red Sea to cross.
The promised land awaits

Photo: Dwight L. Roth
At d’Verse, Bjorn asked us to face our present reality of quarantine along with our reflection of past epidemics and the Black Plague of years gone by. Today we are writing a poem using the prompt plague!
Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Pieces

Shattered bones broken

Eight degrees // separation

Dysfunctional parts

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Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Black Crow Awakening

Today I am attempting a Renga poem for Frank Tassone’s Haikai challenge. He asked us to write a Haikai poem of our choice that included crow’s first call. A Renga is usually more humorous in nature and often composed by two or more people each adding a verse. I hope I have done it justice!

Bad dreams awake me
Incessant cawing won’t stop
Outside my window

Black crow’s obnoxious racket
Creeps loudly through my pain(pane)

I lift the window
Yelling loudly at the crow
Crow ignores my fuss

I shout and bang on the pane
Breaking glass falls at my feet

My toe is bleeding
Frustration drowns out the pain
I reach for my gun

With shells in my hand I load
A bullet in the barrel

A loud gunshot fired
Black crow quickly flies away
My shot went awry

Hitting nothing but blue sky
Black crow flew back as I cried

On blood marked carpet
I tiptoed to the bathroom
Getting a band-aid

I wrapped up my toe tightly
Black crow perched laughing loudly

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Print of crow: Bing/pintrest

Join us at: https://frankjtassone.com/2019/01/05/haikai-happenings-68-1-5-19-first-raven-crow-cryhatsugarasu-haiku-senryu-haibun-tanka-haiga-renga/