Stoned or Dreaming

                    Women of Algiers in their apartment – Eugine Delacroix

Women with glassy eyes sit waiting

for the next caller to request their services.

Smoke from the narghile pipe numbs their senses

transporting them to another place and time.

Ignoring the harem slave girl, as she waves adieu in parting,

the hashish settles in… and time stands still.

Today at d’Verse, Grace and Melissa have come up with three paintings from which we were to pick one and write an ekphrastic poem in any form. I found the painting by Eugine Delacroix very interesting. With a little research, I found it may depict women in a harem in Algiers. I also discovered that he did a second painting of the same women in a darker more evocative format.

                                 Women of Algiers in their apartment #2 – Eugine Delecroix

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

March Winds

Boisterous warm march winds

Daffodils flavor washed clothes

flapping on rooftop

***

Her thoughts float… bathed in sunshine

Dreaming of summer’s past love

*

Today at d’Verse, Merril asked us to write an ekphrastic poem from a painting about the March wind. She provided us with several paintings to choose from, and I chose John Sloan’s painting, Sun and Wind on the Roof. I was captivated by the image of the woman hanging out her clothes and wondered what she might be thinking.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

 

 

 

Frozen Reflections (haiku)

Frost nips tall grasses

Reflections freeze on the Lake

Reality twists

Today at d’Verse Sarah asked us to revisit Faye Collins’ wonderful art. I chose Grasses at Ennerdale Water! I love the tall grasses and leaves along the pond. I don’t know exactly what season this is set in, so I chose to make it a frosty interpretation! It looks like it could be late Fall from the reflections.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Floating… or Floating?

Yesterday, our d’Verse Poets Pub prompt was on using Minimalist Photography as a source of poetic inspiration. “Minimalist photography often pays attention to one single subject in its composition, using nature as its background representative subject matters include geometric patterns, lines and textures, which can range between an apple, a mountain or a bridge, to name a few examples.” ~ Minimalist photography – Wikipedia

I took this photo last Sunday at a local park. When you view the photo you cannot miss the small bottle standing out in all that sea of color. The abstract water reflections surrounding the beer bottle give the illusion that it is floating in mid-air! I love the effects of the gently moving water distorting the reflections from the canopy above.

Bottle suspended

By lake water or by air?

Green canopy shines

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Fly Me to a Star

Skeleton key

rejected

heart of stone, cold

birthed of bloody fire

fire’s frigid reflection

pocked complexion

ashen emotions

powdered cheeks

laid bare…

swallowed away

I tip my top

riding Orion’s space

in hand rejected metal

key to your heart

unturned, upturned

sailing

galaxied space

winged bird

all-seeing-eye

whisks me on

seeking

hot smoldering

star-fire love melting

key to my heart

offered unconditionally

For d’Verse Poets Pub today, we are writing Ekphrastic Poetry. We are to write a poem motivated by one of artist Catrin Welz-Stein’s images. (I decided to try what I will call a “Lucy style poem” with this one.) A little different from my usual casual write. Enjoy!!

You can find her work at: http://catrin-stein.imagekind.com/store/

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com to see the other choices. Click on the Mr. Linky box and read some of the other poets choices.

On and Off

Painting by: Piet Mondrian, ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie’, 1942-43, moma.org

Kim at d’Verse, introduced us to the painting above, and asked that we use it as inspiration for our *Haibun Monday. As I looked at the implication of streets and intersections, I thought that would be too obvious to write about. My wife thought it looked like a circuit board, which really connected with me.

Circuit boards have gone from large boards of soldered tubes, transistors, capacitors, and switches to boards so small you can’t even see the pathways. My hearing aids have four channels and three volume settings, and are hidden neatly behind each ear. Pushing one button controls both at the same time. Now we have wrist watches that can check body functions and even do electrocardiograms. Who knows what they will come up with next.

Hidden solder paths
Connect on and off switches
Summer tree roots ‘twined

******

*Haibuns are a form of Japanese Poetry with two or three short crisp paragraphs of prose followed by a traditional Haiku, that references a season.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

Tears of the Moon

Tears of the Moon stream down evaporating in the abyss;
Memories of a blue planet rising and setting echo silently
off the Sea of Tranquility, they are quickly swallowed up
in fiery canyons and portals of a whole new world.

People have been gone for eons,
obliterated when the earth threw a world-wide tantrum
blowing its stacks // spitting fire and ice over everything
ridding itself of the leeches, ticks, and bedbugs known as humans.
Now its a new dimension of colored portals exuding light.
Silence speaks volumes on this Third Rock from the Sun.
The moon still shines, but the echo of voices is lost forever

Tears of the Moon painting: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Merril asked us to write a poem that includes some form of the world Echo. I decided to turn my painting into a sci-fi piece.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Road to the Sea

Road to the Sea

I wonder alone

Down the well-worn road

Leading to the sea

Summer’s gone

Kids are back in school

Parents run in the spinning cage

And I am all alone

Just me // the fence posts // and the sea

What treasure might I find

On the empty strand

Perhaps a shell, a coin, or a polished stone

The best found treasure of all

Peace and calm of sea and soul

A time for renewal of spirit

With every ebb and flow

************************************************************

Painting by: Fay Collins

Our prompt from Sarah today is to write an ekphrastic poem about a piece of visual art. This involves writing a descriptive poem about that art piece. The paintings we were given to choose from are by Fay Collins who paints with oils, pastels, and water colors.  https://faycollinsart.co.uk/   I chose this one for its vivid colors and its blend of the pastoral and ocean views. The stark aloneness caught my attention, so I put myself in the painting and told the story!

Come join us at: hppt://dversepoets.com