Normal Magic

Lillian is the host of Open Link Night on dVerse Poets Pub and one of her sayings is “Normal” is a setting on a dryer.(lillian) Which got me to thinking about my own sayings that I use a LOT right now. One of which is: “Average is a mathematical equation; normal is an illusion.” (JPP). So in honor of all the times people have said to me “this is the new normal” only to hear “normal is an illusion” I give you …

Normal Magic

They call it the new normal
for me it’s another day
of masks and social distance
and, really, that’s Okay

Normal never did mean
all that much to me
it’s just a grand illusion
whose source I cannot see

So I walk my path alone
isolation’s not so tough
for I have magic in my veins
and for me that’s quite enough

Secret Garden – Nocturne (Lyric Video) ft. Anne Takle

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

dVerse Poetics — Flight of Fancy/Dance of Death

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Our host a dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics is Laura Bloomsbury, who asks us for our flights of fancy. The following is based on a real life observation of a nesting pair of Great Horned Owls who were being tormented by a scold of very noisy jays. One of the adult owls defiantly lured the jays away and suddenly turned on them, snatching one unwitting fellow right out of the air.

Flight of Fancy/Dance of Death

Whump, whump, whump the air throbs
under the assault of massive wings
three powerful strokes and he is aloft
master of the thermals

He dips one wing in silent condolence
to the pitiful flightless things below
while defiantly flying straight
into the scold of jays, and through

He climbs ever higher, taunting
inconsequential forms of lesser birds
that fall behind in the chase
still jeering they cluster … until

Pivoting on one wing, he falls
with sharp talons and flared wings
like an avenging angel set to smite
their relentless taunting

A silent cloud of black feathers
announces his success

Fly Like an Eagle — Steve Miller Band

Til next time ~Peace ~JP

dVerse Poetics — Seeing Red

Rose buds after a frost

Sarahsouthwest is our host for poetics and asks us for something red.

Anger

She was pale, like the waning crescent moon
stark against the black of night
lips painted a shocking garnet
like a vampiress fresh from a feed

Her aura was a blazing shade,
not the cool magenta of sunrise
nor the deep claret of late sunset
but the bright crimson of blood

She wore her anger like a second skin
so tight it seemed ready to split
staining the world a sooty brick
with the blemish of her hatred

Every Rose Has It’s Thorn — Poison

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

DVerse Poetics – I Rise

Super moon over Bryce Canyon

Mish brings us this week’s dVerse Poetics and bids us contemplate what we have gained through personal (or global) crisis.

Like the Moon I Rise

Like the moon, I rise
from the darkness
to brighten the very sky
like the moon, I rise

Like the pheonix, I rise
from fire and ash
I spread my wings and fly
like the pheonix, I rise

Sorrow cannot keep me down
when in pools of darkness
I fear to drown
like the sun, I rise

Every day, warm or cold
night may bring good-bye
but, every morning,
like the sun I rise

At Last I See the Light — from Tangled

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

dVerse Poetics — Constancy of Change

photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

Merildsmith is hosting Poetics at dVerse and bids us “I’d like you to think about impermanence, things that are transient, or things that have passed their time. If you want to stick to the seasons, nature, or the weather, that’s fine, but I’d like to challenge you to try to come up with something different or unusual.”

Constancy of Change

What do we hold on to
in a world where the only constant
is change

Words that spoke of love
passed and slipped away
with the impermanence of Spring

In a universe where
even brightest stars burn out
and skies remain empty at the loss

Who is to say what is eternal
and what is transient
hope still beats strong within my heart

For in this universe of transience
and temporal impermanence
only one thing remains sure

You and Me. Always.

The Best Thing that Ever Happened To Me ~ Gladys Knight

My Wabi Sabi Heart

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

dVerse Poetics – New World — The Great Mother Smiles – a Prosery Tale

Mish is hosting poetics over at dverse poets and enlists us to create a new world

“As another year approaches, it is sometimes difficult to maintain hope for what lies ahead, though hope defined is really something of our own making. We can always have hope. We can always have dreams. This world we live in has progressed in countless ways but has also taken regressive steps, in my opinion regarding humanity. Often my poetry tends to dip into the dark. For me, the words flow from what I see as an obvious truth, a direction that our society has taken, without hesitation or contemplation. Today I am asking you to do the same. Dream with me. For this prompt, create and describe a “new world” as you envision it. You can write from a general perspective or focus on one particular scene in your new world. Try, if you can to avoid a specific political view. This ol’ world has been a bit lost for awhile now. The sky’s the limit. Maybe your world doesn’t have a sky. Maybe we live in the sky. Keep it simple or take us to Utopia.”

New World — The Great Mother Smiles – a Prosery Tale

Echo – dVerse Poetics

Merril is our host for Poetics at dVerse poets pub this week. So, for today’s Poetics challenge, I’d like you to write something about echoes. You can write actual echo poetry—where you repeat the end word or syllable or echo sounds.

OR—you can write a poem about some sort of actual echoes.
OR –you write about the myth of Echo.
OR—you can combine any or all of these.

Voices echo dimly
in the hollow of my heart
empty no longer

The Voice – The Moody Blues

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

Less by Moonlight – dVerse Poetics

Laura Bloomsbury is our host at dVerse Poetics this week. In this season of more, more, more, Laura asks us to pen a poem of less.

The suffix ‘less’ has both negative and positive connotations and even neutral ones. The challenge is to choose ONE or MORE from THE LIST of words BELOW and include it/them in the body and/or title of your poem. If possible, add a soupçon of hopefulness for Hope is the message in this first advent week!

ageless ~ boundless ~ breathless ~ careless ~ cloudless ~ colourless ~ faceless ~ fearless ~ feckless ~ flawless ~ formless ~ harmless ~ heedless ~ helpless ~ homeless ~ listless ~ needless ~ restless ~ rootless ~ senseless ~ tasteless ~ weightless ~ windowless ~ wordless ~

Weightless by Moonlight

Gazing out at the cloudless night
colourless half moon shining bright
My eyes beheld the flawless sight
an owl in ageless graceful flight

Hovering weightless in the air
faceless prey now moves with care
for this fearless hunter dares
to hunt the boundless forest bare

harmless tonight he floats on by
formless hoots and eerie cries
restless now he scans the sky
the beat of wings his breathless sign

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

dVerse Poetics – Black

from my polyvore collection

HA is hosting and welcomes us to another week of dVerse Poetics. “Today, I am prompting you to think of what comes to your mind when you picture ‘Black’. Think of what it means to you or what it stands for. You can venture into different areas like identity, materialism, personal experiences, physics, et al. as well. Or you can simply incorporate the word ‘black’ in your title and poem. Once you have thought it through and you have written and published your poem, link it up in the widget down below.”

Black Heart

Deep and Rich and Dark
the black of night
removes the colors
from our sight
but for a single star
that burns more bright
or is it just illusion

Hearts so fragile
and easily broken
when into blackness
the mind is woken
when angry words
can’t be unspoken
souls lie in confusion

Blackness covers all
withered limbs that
writhe and fall
crumbled ‘neath the wind
we must walk away or crawl
as colors dance in gay profusion

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP

The Dance – a Poetics Portrait

Photo from moderncolors on Pixabay

Ha is hosting Tuesday Poetics at dVerse Poets Pub and Ha bids us:

“This week, I am exhorting you all to write/create a profile/portrait in your verse. You can go about it in a variety of ways — you can write a descriptive piece about an interesting person you met today or profile a loved one (or perchance someone you don’t like at all) or think of an event involving one or multiple people and write about the things as they transpired with people in the focus or perhaps do a self-portrait. It is open to interpretation but there are certain tools that can enhance a profile/portrait, for instance, rich details, movements, sensory descriptions, quotes, et al. Choose any or all.”

The Dance

She walks gently across
the last grass of summer
bare feet barely bruising
the browning blades

The scarf around her waist
is festooned with tiny bells
that jingle and clamor
with the sway of her hips

We lay a blanket on the grass
and she takes out her cards
telling me my future
while I smile and laugh

By the light of her lanterns
we dance beneath the stars
to the ancient song of the trees
and the music of the winds

We dance for our sisters
both near and far away
those who cannot remember
a time when the swish and sway

of a woman’s hips and legs
were so profound and beautiful
that music was molded to it
and they called it the dance

Til next time ~Peace ~JPP