Ukigumo nights – dVerse Haibun Monday

August 23, 2016August 23, 2016freyathewriter 21 Comments

Watercolour-whisp clouds, drifting as if the merest hint of Chinese White has been dabbed from sable onto Coeruluem Blue. The sky is a vast upturned cup, an endless realm. I stand and stare, transfixed for a moment, forgetting all that the day has laid at my feet.

a trick of the eye

ukigomo suspended

ethereal eve.

This week, it’s Haibun Monday’s turn over on dVerse (and yes, I am a day late, please forgive me!). The lovely Kanzensakura is our host for the haibun and we have been invited to write on the theme of sky.

I hope you enjoy my offering and please do head on over to dVerse to look up, up and away and enjoy what others have written.

Poets for Peace – a wonderful collaboration

August 21, 2016freyathewriter Leave a comment

I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to take part in a poetic collaboration which I believe deserves a huge amount of support. Over at Forgotten Meadows, something truly beautiful is happening. A collaboration of poets are coming together to promote the cause ‘Poets for Peace’.

Each poet is sharing their thoughts and feelings on the escalation of violence and hatred that appears to be everywhere in the world, apparently more than ever before. No hatred of genders, races, political persuasions, religions or beliefs is expressed, just the hatred of violence itself.

This has been launched by Michael of The Poetry Channel and is hosted on Forgotten Meadows.

Even if I hadn’t been invited to take part, I would have promoted this cause anyway once I learned about it. I began my own poetic forays into expressing my fears of (government mandated) violence as a young teenager, so this is a subject close to my heart.

Praxis Magazine Online will be publishing the collaboration, thanks to the kind assistance of Laura M. Kominski.

Please do take some time to visit Forgotten Meadows and learn more about Poets for Peace – and please do take part if you feel moved to do so.

#poetsforpeace

Denied – A Dash of Sunny

August 21, 2016freyathewriter 11 Comments

The winds they howl and moan tonight
They say they’ll bring the folks a fright
Tear down trees and windows break
The gales will keep us all awake

‘Tis Halloween, the ghosts and ghouls
Should roam the earth and steal our souls
But the weather has them beat
And whipped them all from off their feet

They’re wrapped around the chimney stacks
Caught in trees, trapped in shacks
The wind has sucked away their cries
And turned them dumb, to their surprise

They clench their fists and gnash their teeth
Their tortured souls find no release
The one night of the year for fun
Has left our ghastly ghostlies glum

Frustrated in their scary games
They feel let down, a sense of shame
That dawn is almost on their heels
And not a scream has been revealed

From the throats of human prey
The winds have stolen fear away
The storm dies down, the daylight looms
The scary fiends are bathed in gloom

‘Twas Halloween, a terrible night
For ghosts that die to cause a fright
Mother Nature upped her game
The ghouls were silenced – what a shame!

It’s time for the weekly challenge from A Dash of Sunny, and this week, she asks us to write on ghosts. I’m very happy about this, since I had been looking back through my blog archives and found a poem I first wrote for dVerse in October 2013, when the prompt was (of course) Hallowe’en related. I remember enjoying writing this at the time – let’s face it, I don’t often reveal my comedic slant (at least not in writing!).

I hope you enjoy it, this sideways look on ghosts. Please do head over to A Dash of Sunny to delve into the other side, courtesy of the creative folks that take part!