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emily655321
04-18-2004, 08:21 AM
Hiya! :D Well, I've been nominated to kick this thing off, but before I do -- if you haven't viewed amuse's poll and are like, "Tanks? Tonka? Eh?", I'll provide her description from that thread:


<<< so the tanka (a.k.a. waka) was really popular into the 1500's - and i always think of my brothers' tonka trucks when i hear this word. :)
"The first three lines (kami no ku) usually present an image or thought and the last two lines (shimo no ku) shift the focus to a related idea. We might see this as similar to a sonnet's "turn." - from http://web.njit.edu/~ronkowit/ poets...arch_tanka.html >>>


For our game this means a 5-7-5-7-7 format. The topic of the poem you write is the one suggested by the last poster (if you don't like it, scram or wait for someone else to use it and post a different one; that's the game, babe). Like the "question" and "this-or-that" threads on the General Chat, you then suggest the topic for the next poster. It should be *different* than the themes you used in your own tanka, and be an image or concept that can be used for the first three lines of their tanka.

So for example, for mine someone could have said "metal," "jewelry," "blood," etc... "difficult endeavor," "head holes"... you get the idea. And so I write thusly...

Ten rings on a tray
Barbells are hard to remove
My ear is bleeding.
A warm sting on my eyelids
The x-ray passing over.


[Next topic:] .....Glaring sunlight. (Have fun! :D)

kilted exile
04-18-2004, 10:25 AM
Eyes blinded by light,
Shading the sun from my face,
See nothing clearly,
The strange shapes keep passing by,
Like I am not even there.

NEXT TOPIC: Rain

emily655321
04-18-2004, 11:02 AM
Rivulets dazzle
and dance down each other's backs,
and my hair itches.
Stamping the mud off my boots,
leaving the beauty outside.

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

the ocean in winter

amuse
04-18-2004, 04:00 PM
kilted exile, when my folks wanted to see the "sound" of music, back in the 70's (i guess) i thought it would look very similar to your post!
ocean in winter - just the easy ones, right? :D :D

amuse
04-18-2004, 04:40 PM
i really like these rivulets.

Originally posted by emily655321
... dazzle
...dance down each other's backs,

sorry this is so cheesy: :D

this deluge pounds, boards
without leave, and freezing gales
strip us of our warmth
he loved without mercy i've
always enjoyed winter storms.

Next Topic: birds on telephone wires

atiguhya padma
04-18-2004, 07:14 PM
the restless species
mumble, scream, whisper, converse
through thinnest hammocks
gently swaying with the dance
of children in their dj's.

TOPIC: beechwoods in autumn

emily655321
04-19-2004, 05:10 AM
Originally posted by amuse
i really like these rivulets.

Thanks :D And your storm wasn't cheesy, btw. So, beechwoods...

Silent sentinels,
arms dripping with new copper;
staring, not seeing.
Old boots pick their way through the
sunlight and soda-fizz world.

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

the moon

atiguhya padma
04-19-2004, 05:49 PM
icon of madness,
lovers special sun, beaming
light into raw hearts
fusing streamflows of dreamy
feeling, chaotic passion.

TOPIC: isolation

amuse
04-19-2004, 06:34 PM
dank and lightless in
this closet i burn my nails
into walls, floors, hearts
sun shines on dimmed lids black holes
invert, spit me out deathful.

*re: 'invert' - poetic license, in major discord with laws of physics :eek:
TOPIC: harvest-time

emily655321
04-20-2004, 04:31 AM
:D What else is poetic license for?

White frost and dawn mist,
The raw sky snaps blue candy,
trees whisper with flame.
Hard frost comes, we celebrate,
Then heaven harvests the souls.

atiguhya padma
04-20-2004, 05:43 PM
Emily,

you forgot to give a topic.

Morning's tidy sky
Sweeps me through busy London
Dusting down the Sun
Sending solar energy
Snaking up and down my spine.

Topic: anthropocentrism

den
04-20-2004, 06:38 PM
to wake every morn
we hear the annoying cat
clamouring for food
another dear `posession'
don't forget the affection!

as first attempt this was hard but I'll get the hang of it ... :confused:

Next topic: schadenfreude

amuse
04-21-2004, 02:02 AM
den, it's not the easiest style, is it! cute first post :)
wow, that's quite a word! oh no :(


he doesn't call her
pipes are frozen the keys are
snow banked far upstate.
it's great fun when her frantic
life slides slowly down her cheeks.

TOPIC: framed picture(s)

emily655321
04-21-2004, 03:49 AM
Originally posted by atiguhya padma
Emily,

you forgot to give a topic.

Oh no!:eek: Sorry 'bout that.

Staring from a box,
False faces frozen in time,
speckled with hard dust.
Standing with hands to the wall;
these faces won't stay level.

TOPIC (yay :p) -- Standing on a cliff.

atiguhya padma
04-21-2004, 08:31 AM
She stands on a cliff
In a shawl, looks out to sea,
Alone, lost in time
This was my lovers picture.
Now she sky-gazes seaward.

Topic: a train journey

emily655321
04-22-2004, 05:28 AM
Grey and grey and grey.
The Alps are gone and here is
dawn in Italy.
A man from Amsterdam is
sleeping in the lower bunk.

TOPIC -- intoxication

emily655321
04-23-2004, 08:08 AM
Skin pricks, buzzes with
this heady kaleidoscope.
Arms of lamplight dance.
Careening into bed as
the sleeping pill takes affect.

TOPIC: a locked door

atiguhya padma
04-23-2004, 10:22 AM
Every mind is like
A locked door. Impervious.
Except for keyholes
That give a light upon the
Internal world of others.

Topic: mountaineering

emily655321
04-24-2004, 02:25 AM
Sorry, man, I know *nothing* about mountaineering. I tried, I can't even begin. Just heeping the thread to the top of the pile. Maybe someone else will notice? Den? Az? Ever climbed something resembling a mountain? :D

amuse
04-24-2004, 11:28 AM
at 12 years old i had a very close encounter with the sheer face of yosemite falls when i decided to take a "short-cut" down - ended up on my hands and knees holding on to reddish-orange stakes in the rocks for dear life and too scared to crawl back up.
now as for the figurative mountains...

emily655321
04-25-2004, 06:02 AM
Oochie. But the figurative kind... good thinking. I guess I don't think of problems in terms of such imagery, but maybe I can brainstorm and come up with something.

atiguhya padma
04-25-2004, 04:05 PM
Ascendency. Peaks.
We always want to climb high.
Progress. Growth. Success.
Until the summit we reach
Our pleasures still lie dormant.

Topic: Peace

amuse
04-25-2004, 10:42 PM
bitter you are like froth
on the ocean but this deep
water will soon sooth you.
hate shaves away at your heart;
war is just a boomerang.

boats

atiguhya padma
04-26-2004, 12:37 PM
estuarine love
of the sound of sails and masts
flapping in a wind
floating through the summer surf
and coming home once again

topic: sea views

emily655321
04-26-2004, 12:41 PM
We are stalworth oak,
lashed and tarred against the world,
cutting a blind path.
We are sinking, creaking and
bubbling to the bottom.

[edit: oopsie!] sea views...

Rumbling blue dips and
swells, blindly ominous, to
dash itself apart.
My eyes caught in the rage of
their roaring doppleganger.


Okay, it's all in order. :D TOPIC: Leather

atiguhya padma
04-26-2004, 05:25 PM
Weathered leather's best.
Softly stroking satin skin
Touching tender hide
You pull me closer with eyes
That shine brightly through the dark

topic: laughter

atiguhya padma
04-27-2004, 04:37 PM
Children laugh at the
Slightest thing. Repeatedly.
And we who can still
Remember laugh too. We know
What we lost, what we've become.

Topic: Loss of feeling

emily655321
04-27-2004, 05:53 PM
Why do your eyes dance
and glitter life in their pools...
I cringe at the sight.
It seems to me I knew once --
It escapes me now. Oh well.

(God sakes, I wrote like ten for this one, but they all seemed slightly off topic. Maybe I'll tweek all the extras a little and make one big poem for it's own thread.)

TOPIC: facing a wall

atiguhya padma
04-28-2004, 05:41 PM
The sun beats down hard.
My heels are sea-swamped.
The beach drowns under
Ceaseless pressures of water.
The sea-wall falls over me.

Topic: Cities

emily655321
04-28-2004, 06:12 PM
You were once an oak,
Now you're an ant just like me,
amid all the rest.
Once two, we are nothing here;
Snowflakes melted in water.


TOPIC: the countryside

atiguhya padma
04-29-2004, 04:43 PM
Endless rolling hills
Nature's green, rapeseed yellow.
Everything so slow
People moan of how things change
Crazy old-fashioned people

Topic: Serendipity

amuse
04-29-2004, 10:57 PM
prometheus lit
a blaze you arrived when i
was busy elsewhere.
if my car hadn't broken
down, if you hadn't passed by...

bells

atiguhya padma
04-30-2004, 01:25 PM
Sundays, deathdays, days
Of general celebration
Marriage days, burial days
The bells sound out loud
A lost language, long since dead.

Topic: laziness

random_hero
04-30-2004, 07:31 PM
The black leather couch
Lends me its ceaseless embrace.
But time matters not,
For all who enter this realm
Experience nirvana.

New sub...
.:BLISS:.

^^My First Tanka^^^
2nd Serious Poem in My Life... EVER.

emily655321
05-01-2004, 02:23 PM
Silence surrounds me,
Cool and soft and breathable.
The weight hovers light.
Whisper-drunk with the stillness
of my grey before their dawn.

TOPIC -- a familiar stranger

random_hero
05-01-2004, 08:00 PM
wow... tough subject....

The sunlight glistens,
Dancing on the water's edge.
A feeling so foreign.
Now here we are, face to face,
The light and I, strangers now.

How about something along the lines of blindness?

atiguhya padma
05-02-2004, 07:17 AM
Malthus will prove right.
When the oil runs dry, we will
Let more people starve.
This overloaded planet,
Where our blindness procreates.

Topic: Mischief

rocksea
05-02-2004, 08:48 AM
caramba my dog
n me on the road
what mischief today, me look at him
he just smiles n say
you did it last time, now is my turn

topic: one day flower

random_hero
05-03-2004, 12:51 AM
The petals emerge,
No longer afraid of light.
Delicate moments.
The night will bring the end, though,
As this beauty cannot last.

random_hero
05-03-2004, 12:52 AM
Sorry... how about moving (away, from one house to another... something like that.)

rocksea
05-03-2004, 04:11 AM
i smell the curtains
"oofff.. no we r not taking these"
"is there anything we r taking?"
Death, he take me whole
am moving to his beguiling mansion

sure, u can take abt rebirth now

emily655321
05-03-2004, 05:05 AM
Hehe. Thanks, rocksea. ;) :D (Oh, but by the way, in this thread we're trying to stay with syllables of 5-7-5-7-7 for our poems.)

Sink into the dark
soft whiteness of a cool bed
stiff joints come undone.
Not the sun's dawn, but the moon,
Refreshes my dying soul.

TOPIC -- faking confidence

rocksea
05-03-2004, 06:35 AM
woohh!! got it!! thanxalott emily.. :) did i get it proper here?

the wind southerly
i stand along the footpath
grin, a cyclist
kernel of life opening by
i have to do, i will do


now what?
ya it is the next topic..:D

emily655321
05-03-2004, 08:16 AM
Perfect. :D I like it, rocksea.

I came here for you,
Standing before the abyss
Will you catch me if...?
I ran here with my eyes closed
You alone know what comes next

TOPIC -- Being lost.

rocksea
05-03-2004, 08:54 AM
you already got lost. shud be saved!! ;)

hanging some wet clothes
i sing an old song awhile
went down memory lane
a wind lost its way back home
wet my soul, dry all the clothes

see, the wind got lost but u r saved :D

topic : i want to know what someone will do with a tissue paper

emily655321
05-03-2004, 09:57 AM
LoL Oh great, a real easy one then. :p Hmm...

Picking up pieces
of hard and slippery rind
Pavement splashed with wax
A light rain falls, white streamers
hang soggy on dead branches

TOPIC -- eggs

random_hero
05-03-2004, 11:50 AM
Rotten and crum'bly
The nasty boiled egg smells.
And makes me vomit.
My mother always makes eggs,
But thats why she is a ****.

random_hero
05-03-2004, 11:50 AM
I gave up on that one.

Bone Surgery

rocksea
05-04-2004, 02:09 AM
i read somewhere that in tanka, each line is stand alone, makes sense of its own but together they flow into one.. is it? feels that will be cute if we cud,,

i am not going
a heart gift-wrapped lie here
my girl’s birthday bash
pulled out his rib for her
an apple for a precious bone

topic : ancestor

random_hero
05-04-2004, 02:23 AM
My mind holds the brush
The darkness is my canvas....
I... am history.
I am like those before me...
My mind the the devil's playground.

That^^^ was my first personal experience kind of poem. Actually more personal than I have ever been. I tried to make each line stand alone, but it is really ha.rd

random_hero
05-04-2004, 02:24 AM
How about innocence lost, and again, run with it.

emily655321
05-04-2004, 05:20 AM
That's a good point, Rocksea. I had heard that before, but I forgot. Thanks :)

And RH, that was beautiful! Why haven't you written poetry before? It's about darn time! :D

atiguhya padma
05-04-2004, 05:19 PM
In Stealing Beauty
The girl in her wisdom seeks
The perfect time to
Unburden herself of her
Pristine stifling innocence

Topic: Journeying

emily655321
05-04-2004, 05:46 PM
Hehe :D I still haven't seen that movie.

The unreachable
There, just beyond my view
I know it must be
My gaze fixed, I'm still going
Don't look back. Don't look inside

TOPIC -- Collapse

atiguhya padma
05-04-2004, 05:56 PM
From the inside I
Create a tension, vacuum,
That holds together
All that the world sees as me.
One day it will all collapse.

Topic: storm at sea

emily655321
05-04-2004, 11:51 PM
Calm blue slides and sinks
To plummet into the trough
Cruel, gnashing jaws
Eyes rage and drown all they see
The mind, like a wave, stands still

TOPIC -- leaves opening on trees

rocksea
05-05-2004, 08:15 AM
i come, go always
forget to watch life in-out
it is spring here now
cherry blossoms allover
let life blossom in me soft

topic : your mother

atiguhya padma
05-06-2004, 07:24 PM
My mother abroad,
A Jekyll and Hyde woman.
I like this distance
That separates us from one
Another. It lets me breathe.

Topic: Pain

amuse
05-06-2004, 08:46 PM
razors shoved up my
spine twist...and deaden, burn; they
numb my world. i fall.
demolition abounds - so
desolate where he once played.

yerch. i channeled my 26-year-old self there.

topic: healing

emily655321
05-08-2004, 11:14 PM
Unending cycle
Scratch the itch is all there is
Heal it up again
Taunting cancer deep inside
Won't heal into nice white lines


TOPIC -- forgetting

atiguhya padma
05-14-2004, 01:13 PM
In her wheelchair
She asked me who I was. Where
Upstairs was. I do not try
To explain. I understand.
Forgetting is her illness.

emily655321
05-14-2004, 02:51 PM
Choking on a smile
Heart crushing in a vacuum
Perpetual descent
The one you love is not me
But I'll wear her mask for you


TOPIC -- deep water

amuse
05-17-2004, 03:16 AM
spanish doubloons wink,
rooms invite, i wander in -
my tank is empty.
will i ever breathe again?
tears pour, old loves suffocate.

topic: flight

kilted exile
05-18-2004, 05:21 PM
The metal bird soars,
Carrying me back homewards,
To my former life,
Nothing is the same anymore,
I can no longer fit in.

Topic: Change

rocksea
05-23-2004, 07:28 AM
you changed the topic
me thinking what to write
cursor not moving
oh life stops still sometimes
my roots replanted, fail

topic : soul

atiguhya padma
05-27-2004, 01:07 PM
Hylozoism
Is what you might call world-soul.
but such soullessness!
To think of the unity
That connects you to killers

Topic: modern art

emily655321
05-28-2004, 03:58 PM
Shiney red rhino
Random placement, sans meaning
Stoic and static
I don't understand at all
These pompous pursuits in paint


TOPIC -- :banana:

atiguhya padma
06-01-2004, 08:20 AM
I looked up skywards
Saw the solemn harvest moon
Move in the darkness
As if waltzing with the stars
Like a dancing banana

Topic Aerial Bombing

amuse
06-01-2004, 11:46 AM
nice.

*s10cr

emily655321
06-01-2004, 03:22 PM
Good one, AP :nod:

There's life in this house,
Trembling like the thunder
Falling from the sky.
Short eulogy for the dead:
"The bad guys have parties, too."


TOPIC -- [as Al Franken:] L-L-LIES!

atiguhya padma
06-04-2004, 11:48 AM
"The bad guys have parties, too"
There's the communist party,
And the nazi too.

emily655321
06-04-2004, 01:28 PM
True, but this isn't the haiku thread. ;)

Tanka topic is still LIES. (You don't have to do it as Al Franken. :p I just said it that way.)

amuse
06-04-2004, 03:04 PM
buttercream-frosting-
words melt in their ears; lovers
coo new melodies.
who'd've known he'd be kissing
different mommas hi today?

(different pronounced difrent, lazy way i grew up.)

vineyards

Isagel
06-07-2004, 05:37 AM
Planted by the wall
the bitter grapes for sweet wine
need warmth and shelter.
Mother is resting near by
head turned towards the sun

sunglasses

amuse
06-08-2004, 11:34 PM
i like that one, Isagel. :)


chrome and men destroy
[optic] nerves. i buy gucci,
dior, in sheer terror.
dollar store shades promise to
reveal my inner ostrich.

ice cream

Isagel
06-09-2004, 03:29 PM
Thank you! i liked the twist in the end of your haiku. Made me smile.

Hazelnut parfait
on her tounge melts to delight-
icecream alchemy
Words, cold, clumsy when I speak
From her mouth, her warmth flows sweet.

pearls

atiguhya padma
06-11-2004, 09:37 AM
Not all waste products
Are wholly without value
Sometimes we don't see
The aesthetic in nature
That's hidden by the mundane

Topic: Europe

emily655321
06-14-2004, 08:56 PM
Wellspring of pilgrims
Victim of Oedipal scorn
Neon signs, old stone
Eating trends out of the hands
of its mutated child

(Sorry, didn't come out very flatteringly, did it? :()

TOPIC -- America

(oh, just go for it ;))

atiguhya padma
06-16-2004, 06:51 AM
US like a cloudburst waits
For the perfect time
Days eat the seams of our lives
Life economic
Our fears make us weary, tired
We sleep alone with our dreams

Topic: tolerance

Isagel
06-28-2004, 08:02 AM
The rain has passed
We talk about the old times-
skinned head and hate
He says “I am free now and
it is so easy to breathe”

This midsummer I talked with an old friend. He has met a woman and he is in love. She is jewish. He told me what a relief it was to let go of his old intolerance. So, that is the reason for the poem.

Next topic - celebration

amuse
06-29-2004, 10:31 PM
how lovely. :)

atiguhya padma
07-12-2004, 02:18 PM
In ancient landscapes
Celebration could live well
In citizens minds
They drank with pleasure, adored
Sensation, knew ways of love.

Topic: Reflection

Isagel
07-29-2004, 03:42 AM
(I liked your tanka, AP. Do you think celebration does not live in deep in the soul anymore? Perhaps you are right. To much party on the surface- to little joy in celebration. Have you read the lyrics to An die freude?
And thank you, Amuse. Glad you liked it.)

Reflection:

It brings the sky down
this pond here in my garden
mirror blue and white.
Contemplating clouds in grass
I reflect pond reflect sky.

(Darn- miscalculated the second line. Changed it. Now it´s better.)


forum

Taliesin
08-02-2004, 08:09 AM
A conversation
between the computer screens.
The distance cannot
protect us from the anger
that lures in our hearts and souls.

(I am not talking about this forum)


I am not sure if I am allowed to change topic, but I'll do it anyway. I know that I should do another tanka to the topic I said but I am too lazy for that.
The reason why I changed topic is that I heard a song today. A really sad one.

So the new topic is: "Dying language"

atiguhya padma
08-16-2004, 10:19 AM
Kernow lost its tongue
Some two centuries ago
Singing sea shanties
Voices from the harbour told
Of a language they once lived

Topic: Lourdes

atiguhya padma
09-01-2004, 09:50 AM
Sixty-six they say
The ‘authentic miracles’
Performed at the shrine
Millions have attended
Might as well play lotteries

Topic: sunshine

Taliesin
09-02-2004, 10:56 AM
The sun is shining
Life forces its way through earth
towards the divine light.
In a few days all of it
will be burnt and dead . Desert.


Topic: temptation

atiguhya padma
09-02-2004, 11:36 AM
My biology
Says go for it, while you can!
My psychology
Agrees. My society
Frowns. To whom should I listen?

Topic: Perseverance

Taliesin
10-23-2004, 08:14 AM
Perseverance

I'll pick seeds today
of plants that will be gone soon,
as will I be gone.
But my children's children shall
plant them when there's peace in world.


If you don't understand, then maybe you should know that native americans have collected seeds of plants that have died out by now so that when all this is over, they can start living normally again.

New topic: Imagination

Jester
10-27-2004, 01:39 PM
Away with the sword,
the dragon, and the damsel
Come away with me
over seas of white and blue
and mountains of candy cane

next: hope

atiguhya padma
01-05-2005, 08:09 AM
The wreckage, the loss,
The pain, the vacuum, the waste.
The things that remain
Remind us of sorrows past
And hopes that are now living.

Topic: dreams

amuse
04-21-2005, 02:01 PM
rainbow hued figure
eights rest horizontally
above laden vines
a small miracle is this,
no, compared with blissful days?


topic:
gender

atiguhya padma
04-22-2005, 05:10 AM
So what is gender?
A physical attribute?
Social condition?
I would like it to be known
That I'm an individual.

Topic: art

Isagel
04-22-2005, 01:50 PM
White feathers, clear sky
blue letters on white paper
to paint the picture
all reverse and far from true
yet in your mind a gull soars.

Topic: revelation

atiguhya padma
05-20-2005, 05:03 AM
Colour happiness
Paints a beautiful disguise
To the beholder:
Mind cosmetically lights up
Nature's esoteric face.

Topic: laughter

chmpman
05-29-2005, 07:27 PM
sounds of glee do float
enchanting the infant me
a smile broadens
to splash upon the ears of
elevated clowns dancing

-------
fishing

amuse
05-29-2005, 09:54 PM
a smile broadens
to splash upon the earsooh, i like

atiguhya padma
05-31-2005, 06:50 AM
She suspends a hook,
Floats just below the surface,
A smile is her bait
Her well-rehearsed elegance
Soon catches the compliment

Topic: Noise

chmpman
06-05-2005, 07:45 PM
Clamour from afar
A mysterious punch of
Sounds that do dispel
The notion of solitude
In a room without windows

Topic: technology

Bongitybongbong
06-05-2005, 08:21 PM
The screech of metal,
Ching ching ching...the machine moves,
Heartless at best and-
Under a complete logic,
Nothing should be a problem.
*****************************
dancing

atiguhya padma
06-06-2005, 01:12 PM
Bare feet move with grace
An accordion holds you
As you silently
Stride across the busy stage
An object of lost desire

Topic: energy

chmpman
06-08-2005, 07:45 PM
Consuming fuel
To give rise to man's ill-thought
Creations of doom.
Delusions of grandeur; God
In the spark of matchless light.

(unsure how many syllables in fuel)

topic: fertility

Bongitybongbong
06-09-2005, 06:53 AM
In the doctor's,
He looks distrested and fearful,
Then he says those words-
"You have had a a miscarriage,
I'm truly sorry." Sorrow

***********************
sight

atiguhya padma
06-09-2005, 08:23 AM
Wipe optical lens....
Steady the arm and hand now...
Press the smooth trigger...
The bullet screams through his eye
Scarlet and white, light, darkness.

Topic: A modern piece of architecture

chmpman
06-12-2005, 10:42 PM
Wide swoops of plastic
Of no apparent structure
Giving question to
Our former meaning of form
Illogical spanse of art.

Topic: sandcastles

atiguhya padma
06-13-2005, 07:54 AM
Nude in the sand dunes
Dreams of days of innocence
Castles built upon
Sun-trapped hollows, ideals
Of a return to Nature.

Topic: Chess

chmpman
06-17-2005, 12:21 AM
War fought by mind's eye
Intellect not brawn to prove
The persistence of
Man's character in peril.
Does 'the king is dead' mean death?

Topic: (good) Cinema

chmpman
06-23-2005, 09:46 PM
Seeing as how this hasn't been responded to for a while now feel free to choose your own topic if you don't like mine. Or maybe I just have no life and am too impatient. Oh well, whatever.

atiguhya padma
06-24-2005, 04:49 AM
The boy grew up and
Fled the village; the old man:
And made his future.
But the name that the world knew
Couldn't save the cinema.


Topic: debt

chmpman
06-26-2005, 06:25 PM
Marked soldiers on a
Collision course make war,
Fighting to be the
Heir of plundered goods; taken
As banker's greedy reproach.

Topic: jealousy/envy

atiguhya padma
06-28-2005, 08:21 AM
Could somebody be
Envious of lifestyles
I experienced?
And yet no-one has a life
That I would prefer to live.

Subject: the unforeseen dangers of benevolence

blp
07-27-2005, 11:42 AM
Giving cannot be
Without a present given
Which present, when passed
Preserves a past presently
Deforming its own moment

droplets on a glass that had contained lemonade

Isagel
08-18-2005, 07:38 AM
The child licks the glass
catching droplets lemon sweet
wanting evrything
I sit in the autumn sun
catching the last of the light.



Next subject - hedgehog

atiguhya padma
08-18-2005, 08:13 AM
Pliny the Elder
Tells how hedgehogs would climb trees
Knocking down apples:
They would spear them with their spikes
A picnic upon their backs.

Next subject: Sunshine in Winter

blp
08-18-2005, 09:15 AM
The light on the snow
Stabbed at her eyes with gold shards
And she crashed softly
A white eiderdown coldly
Crumbling at the bumper

next: black specks

Raven Kaj
11-27-2005, 03:33 PM
Cool idea for a creative game. Hope mine is alright to add. Got the idea off blps "coffee spoons"

black specks:

black pods next to blades
slicing to specks of same shade
make into dawns delight
give me comfort from long night
caffine fix I savor thee

Next subject: Book Spine

Riesa
12-06-2005, 09:06 AM
Pleasing crisp or creased
Vertical, horizontal
That profane shrine of
Adventurous exploits
That heed your strength.

moss covered tree

atiguhya padma
01-06-2006, 06:48 AM
Colours stain lichen,
A down covers trees and earth
It fades from lush green
To a sedate grey. The moss
Finger deep, as soft as snow.

Somewhere without cars

Xamonas Chegwe
01-06-2006, 09:05 AM
The summit is reached,
I see no cars, no houses,
no roads, no people.
Looking up, a vapour trail,
Spoils the moment - Piss off plane!


Embarrassment at saying the wrong thing.

Riesa
01-06-2006, 11:20 AM
Colours stain lichen,
A down covers trees and earth
It fades from lush green
To a sedate grey. The moss
Finger deep, as soft as snow.


absolutely beautiful, AP.

embarrassment at saying the wrong thing:

Red-faced and abashed,
I trip over thoughtlessness:
"Constant Idiot!"
I retreat to lick my wounds,
Self-inflicted as usual.

a fat child, like Augustus Gloop from Willy Wonka.

blp
01-06-2006, 12:02 PM
His explanation
is his metabolism
I suppose it's true
it simply isn't up to
burning off all that junk food

tracing the movements of a fly

Riesa
01-06-2006, 12:36 PM
Eyes crossed, lazily
slumped at the picnic table,
the fly on my nose
buzzes, licks clean its knees.
The breeze lifts, he drifts away.

fountain

blp
01-06-2006, 12:55 PM
Duchamp's urinal
turned on its head was also
conceptually
ergonomically reversed
when he called it a fountain

a rock group's secret passtimes

Riesa
01-09-2006, 11:28 AM
Marzipan puppies
Created by leather clad
Rockers in secret,
Occasionally tasted
By laughing virginal girls.

:worrying about siblings

Xamonas Chegwe
01-09-2006, 04:34 PM
Oh brother! My brother,
You won't believe what he's done.
And in public too!
Remember that cat in Prague?
It's worse; Two buckets this time!!



Finally overcoming your fears.

Riesa
01-09-2006, 04:51 PM
Redwoods incident,
Hallucinating crawling
Spiders all over.
No more panic, just squash them.
My children are not afraid.

Dawn view over a lake, river, or ocean.

emily655321
01-10-2006, 02:30 PM
Pink fades into blue
Fades into long black shadows
Sun burns off the mist
Water laps the creaking boats
Warming in the morning sun


New topic: Watching people on a busy street

Xamonas Chegwe
01-10-2006, 02:39 PM
Lovely post Emily.

As you passed me by,
I wondered how your voice sounds,
And whether you snored;
But now that you've disappeared,
I forget what you looked like.


Oops! Forgot to post a topic.


Next topic: Forgetting something important. :lol:

emily655321
01-10-2006, 03:00 PM
Thank you, Xamonas (do you prefer "Xamonas" or "Chegwe"?). Yours is beautiful.

Creeping sense of dread
The string fell off my finger
Was it ever there?
I'm scanning my memory
I'm gazing at a white wall


Next topic: Finding out you've done something wrong

Xamonas Chegwe
01-10-2006, 03:24 PM
Thank you, Xamonas (do you prefer "Xamonas" or "Chegwe"?).

As we haven't been formally introduced, perhaps it should really be Mr. Chegwé. But I'm not one to stand on ceremony. So Xamonas will serve. Do you prefer miss 655321 by the way? ;)


I entered my name,
To register and talk books;
well, most of my name.
The oversight is acute,
I have no accent, touché!



Climbing a rope ladder.

blp
01-11-2006, 11:34 AM
But Dad, can't you see
The support is unstable
My hands are burning
All the pulling in and down
Isn't worth the going up

mopping up the light

atiguhya padma
01-11-2006, 01:30 PM
Leaves flicker in breeze
Their shadows like flakes falling
Upon your face. The softness
Of your skin, your voice against
The warm earth, the well-worn bark.

The photographs of Ansel Adams

emily655321
01-11-2006, 01:49 PM
Black and black and black
The shadow of a mountain
Impressing itself
So clean and sleek and sterile
Postcard from another world


Distruction of a museum

Riesa
01-11-2006, 02:42 PM
Holding on tightly
To my sense of quiet calm,
Observing beauty,
I step back, The walls breathe life.
Built so, by reverant hearts.


next topic:
a spirited elderly gentlemen

blp
01-12-2006, 08:47 AM
During the tea dance
He jumped around, squashed a cake
and pulled his pants down
Spirited? He was indeed
His blood was half Scottish malt

joypeg

Xamonas Chegwe
01-13-2006, 03:35 PM
I love my joypeg,
My gentleman's gentleman,
My red wand of love.
A euphemism by some,
other name; but still as coarse!

Sorry blp, it wasn't my idea - I shall spare the blushes of the guilty provocateur - but she knows who she is! I'm afraid we couldn't find out what a "joypeg" really was; and "that" was all I could think of!



Next theme: Unnecessary crudity

Riesa
01-16-2006, 11:04 AM
Bump!

Base and odious,
That foul verbiage you spew,
Demolishes me.
Young Fledgling, Do you kiss your
Mama with that tactless mouth?

metrosexual

Xamonas Chegwe
01-16-2006, 06:46 PM
Excellent post Riesa - worth waiting for (and don't worry, I won't tell them who goaded me into spouting that filth in the first place. Your secret is safe with me.)

My feminine side;
I paint it daily but I,
Am not, not, NOT gay!
I'm just of the opinion,
That grooming is important.


Cribvirgins - See post in Gen Lit - unofficial words for definition.

Riesa
01-16-2006, 06:49 PM
HEY! unfair, unfair!

Xamonas Chegwe
01-16-2006, 06:54 PM
Don't worry, I'm sure no-one noticed. Now stop making a fuss or they might! ;)

Riesa
01-18-2006, 12:20 AM
Her charming French self,
Squeezed in to peer over your
Thin Intellectual
Shoulder, seeking Sonnet aid.
She dallies with your genius.

Son art de l'auto-portrait
Français charmant, serré dedans
Au pair au-dessus
De votre épaule intellectuelle
Mince, aide cherchante de Sonnet.
Elle dallies avec votre génie.

Next topic: Psychological Millstone

Xamonas Chegwe
01-18-2006, 03:04 PM
Now if the french had been in Tanka form too, I would have been impressed! Btw, did you notice how quickly the "little french girl" disappeared as soon as people started using her "native tongue"? Strange that, eh?

I cannot shake it;
This feeling that drags at my,
Heart and at my soul;
Did I really betray you?
Was your anger feigned, or real?


Next topic: Your CD collection.

Riesa
01-18-2006, 07:09 PM
Unfortunately, Babel Fish doesn't do Tanka. It does sound pretty good in French, though, doesn't it?

Did she? I hadn't noticed.


My music, at times,
Fails to amuse me. Wish I
Had taken the discs
In lieu of the cat when I
Left São Paulo forever.


Next topic:
Being mediocre at something you wished you were great at.

Xamonas Chegwe
01-21-2006, 01:31 PM
"Who's hurting that cat?"
They shout whenever I sing,
(In truth, try to sing.)
But I sing because I must,
To get what's inside outside.



Next topic: Having to be nice to someone you despise.

Riesa
01-23-2006, 12:35 PM
The idiot's name:
Socrates, quelle irony.
I've met wiser bumps
On a fallen tree's fungus.
Oh, bloody hell, He's my boss.

Next topic: Favorite teacher/professor

blp
01-23-2006, 10:54 PM
I love my joypeg,
My gentleman's gentleman,
My red wand of love.
A euphemism by some,
other name; but still as coarse!

Sorry blp, it wasn't my idea - I shall spare the blushes of the guilty provocateur - but she knows who she is! I'm afraid we couldn't find out what a "joypeg" really was; and "that" was all I could think of!


Not to worry. I invented the word without knowing what it meant. Something like a jpeg I'd say. A rude jpeg maybe.

atiguhya padma
01-24-2006, 01:48 PM
This Kantian mind
Wandered through the halls and courts
His stride constant, fixed.
Life was like the road, fields,
Skies all seen through a windscreen

Topic: The early death of a genius

Xamonas Chegwe
01-24-2006, 07:46 PM
Jeff Buckley

His guitar cried pain;
His voice pierced and tore and soared,
Where others dared not.
River-stolen - snatched in prime,
Grace in music lost to us.


Next topic: Secret gluttony.

atiguhya padma
01-26-2006, 01:45 PM
I feast upon death
In its decay, there is taste.
Bodies are sexual.
When I eat, I devour.
Skin, flesh, consumed. Renewal.

Topic: Killing someone in a slow and painful way

Riesa
01-26-2006, 07:49 PM
Nice one, Xamonas, I was going to do Charlie Parker if no one else posted soon.
Oooooh, AP has a dark side, scary. I'm busy reassessing my image of Atiguhya.

Head down, eyes pleading;
Hint of acceptance, dying
Inevitable.
The ties that bind, bound tightly.
Blood zipper, drawn and quartered.

ugh.
feel free to give it another go someone.

next topic:
Tsunami.

Xamonas Chegwe
01-27-2006, 10:42 PM
Sudden wave of death;
Water power magnified,
By earthquake kick-start.
The next flood, compassion's gifts,
After the deluge, the hope.

Next topic: Meusli

Riesa
02-01-2006, 08:31 PM
Morning divulges
Secrets, florid blushes pale
As light flippantly
Floods the world; To face this day
Requires nourishment: Meusli.

Next topic:

the microwave oven

chmpman
02-01-2006, 10:03 PM
The Microwave Oven:

Dawn of the moderns,
Symbol of the vapid age;
The glow of your light
Brings charm to many a home
And kids have a welcome meal.

Next:
an ode to science

blp
02-02-2006, 09:28 AM
Science is over
Now we know it does not end
With no common goal
It atomises and then
the atoms break down too

the evening news

atiguhya padma
02-02-2006, 02:24 PM
Watch the evening news
All those lives of painful change
Somehow make us feel
Lucky. I always prefer
The weather report myself.

Topic: Withholding love

blp
02-02-2006, 03:06 PM
You claim you love me
I'm afraid this is not love
These quiet ordeals
Love as something to vomit
To make you despise yourself

a plastic box

Xamonas Chegwe
02-02-2006, 03:44 PM
Why put it in that,
Plastic exoskeleton?
Non-degradable!
When the world chokes it's last breath,
It will be our epitaph.


Contradiction.

chmpman
02-02-2006, 06:25 PM
Changing thought proclaims
Without a recurrent theme,
And that thought is left
To survive with no reserves,
A solitary sample.


A modern epic.

Riesa
02-06-2006, 12:22 PM
Original work;
Modern world so full of verse.
Intense the reason
For epic domination;
That grand series of insight.


Next topic:

growing older

Xamonas Chegwe
02-06-2006, 02:45 PM
I feel myself age,
But I don't mind it at all;
I still have my health.
Ouch, my back shouldn't do that!
Nor my knees, nor my neck, nor....


Next topic: Chocolate

atiguhya padma
02-07-2006, 06:21 AM
Everywhere you go
Its sweet scent follows, intrudes.
Numberless outlets
Advertise this sugared drug
So bad for you, yet so good!!

Topic: Being bored at a funeral

Panurge
02-07-2006, 08:47 AM
Look at his old tie
Hasn't done a knot since school
Tapping his foot now,
Tell him later in the pub
To pay attention at mine

Topic: superheroes

chmpman
02-07-2006, 05:34 PM
Average at first look,
'Till a dash into a booth
Reveals an alter ego;
Fantasic expression of
Man's viewed mediocrity.

computers

Riesa
02-10-2006, 10:36 PM
I know this smart guy,
He thinks, and hums to himself,
Chimes, winks, tells stories,
Pretty much all day long, then
Sleeps; 'till you push his buttons.

Next topic: favorite shoes

atiguhya padma
02-13-2006, 01:25 PM
My favourite shoes
Are those that frequently lie
On your bedroom floor
So good of them to unveil
These beautiful latticed feet

Topic: Misunderstanding your feelings

Xamonas Chegwe
02-13-2006, 03:19 PM
I know I love you;
My stomach is turning and,
I have a fever.
Unless, of course, it's typhoid,
It's so hard to tell sometimes.


Perspective

atiguhya padma
02-14-2006, 01:30 PM
Your thoughts live in me
Converge with mine. Mind tunnel
Walls, meeting your light
At the end of my darkness.
Diversity unifies.

Hypochondria

Riesa
02-19-2006, 09:53 PM
The shades are drawn taut.
A silence of dark unease;
The mental battle.
Certain death is upon me,
And yet here I still remain.

Holding your breath underwater

Xamonas Chegwe
02-20-2006, 01:28 PM
Bubbles bleed upwards,
I keep count: ninety-one, ninety-two ...
The record is close;
Bursting gasping and coughing,
From the pool; alas too soon. :bawling:


Next topic: Babysitting

atiguhya padma
02-20-2006, 01:32 PM
Could always do this.
Opening my eyes was hard.
Lying on the floor
Blind world of stifled movement
Alone. A kind of freedom.

Topic: distorted glass in a window pane

Riesa
02-23-2006, 11:08 PM
She grew up learning
To read Jane feverishly
By it's prism-light;
Warped Zinnias, water-stained.
Rain river dips, hesitates.

next topic: not taking the serious seriously

atiguhya padma
02-24-2006, 01:44 PM
I laughed at my pain
Fractured glass, littered carpet
Sliver hit my arm
Sliced a thoroughfare through flesh
I laughed at the lack of blood.

Topic: An Unusual Kind of Salad

Xamonas Chegwe
02-25-2006, 08:58 AM
Chocolate flakes on
Lettuce, tomato, basil;
Add a french dressing;
Not to everybody's taste,
Not really to mine either!


Next topic: Babysitting (seeing as it got skipped last time)

Riesa
02-25-2006, 04:28 PM
Heavy as a frown
Time squeezes by grudgingly;
Paid to brave chaos,
And wipe noses of other
People’s Pride and Joys.

Next topic:
dandelions

atiguhya padma
02-27-2006, 01:48 PM
Skyscrapers, yellow
Helicopter blades static
On the helipad
Bending in the wind. Natures
Heliocentric structures.

Topic: Cooking with red chillies

belle ringer
02-28-2006, 05:51 AM
It burns my mind's eye,
more than it scorches my tongue.
Still, I am tempted,
now, to take another bite
of red chillies in the pan.

Next topic: walking the dog

Xamonas Chegwe
02-28-2006, 06:11 PM
I twist the leash tight,
Around my hand; this mongrel beast,
Pulls so forcefully.
Still, who am I to keep him,
From a pedigree in heat.


Next topic: Hayfever.

Riesa
03-05-2006, 02:14 AM
Nose and eyes battle
With vital fertility;
A days undoing,
An unraveled mood drowning
Midstream of Spore River.
:D

Next topic: Salt Peanuts

Virgil
03-05-2006, 10:52 PM
Bird puffs his round cheeks
Dark suit, dark shades, smoke filled room,
Dizzy nods his head
Horned rimmed glasses slide.
Salt peanuts they chant.

Next topic: Central Park

Riesa
03-09-2006, 08:02 PM
Stuck on Imagine,
I'm traveling slow this time;
Taken in by false
Calm, fake castles; stillness of
Morning still finds its way here.

gnats on a bike ride

Ryduce
03-09-2006, 10:09 PM
Sun had just risen
today was filled with promise
I mounted my bike
the promising day was void
I did not know gnats could kill.





Next topic:Robbing an ice cream store.

Panurge
03-10-2006, 09:14 AM
He moves for the mint
I motion with the barrel
'The red one' I say
His hands tremble with the scoop
I just hope it's strawberry

Next topic: Elvis

Xamonas Chegwe
03-10-2006, 03:06 PM
"Hey baby", he says,
His hips gyrating beneath,
neon bright lamé;
But he's not really the King,
Just some Presley pretender.


Next topic: A weird looking cat.

Riesa
03-15-2006, 04:34 PM
Butterscotch, ragged
Treasure, has lost some stuffing,
One side's whisker-less;
He's a vessel of secrets,
Beloved keeper of dreams.

Next topic:
daydreams

chmpman
03-15-2006, 04:59 PM
I wander in the
Silence of occupation
With a mind to meet
The joys only it can bring;
Alone all is acquired.

Next topic:
A divided self

Xamonas Chegwe
03-15-2006, 07:05 PM
I climbed in the box,
He said it wouldn't hurt me,
As he sawed through me;
But now I am in two halves,
And can't find clothes to fit me!


Next topic: Temptation

Mililalil XXIV
03-16-2006, 02:41 AM
Allured by the news
that you were rendered double,
and no neck tie serves,
though socks and mittins fit,
undesirous, minus took.

next;
ulcers

blp
03-20-2006, 01:08 PM
Ha. At any rate
Nature's morality
is arbitrary
Or otherwise why this gut
punishment for egg and chips?

Next: war and id

chmpman
03-20-2006, 02:02 PM
Suppressed desires
Transfigured in agony;
"Mother, mother, come,"
Cries a paralyzed victim
Lost in the trenches.

Parenthood

Riesa
03-20-2006, 04:37 PM
Blind fancies crumble,
With awakened amazement,
I leave behind the
Chimeras of guesswork, and
Watch the unfolding of hope.

Next topic:
Spring

chmpman
03-20-2006, 04:56 PM
Warm air brings life in
Sprouting flowers and birdsongs;
A jesting feeling
Pervades my deep encrusted
Aura of wintry weather.

Constellations

Xamonas Chegwe
03-20-2006, 11:10 PM
Holes punched in darkness;
Forming heroes, gods, kings, queens,
And animal shapes;
Shooting stars dart between you,
But your gaze never varies.

Next topic: Archimedes

Mililalil XXIV
03-21-2006, 02:22 AM
Of Phidias' house,
possibly related to
king of Syracuse,
this is someone Euclid would
call superior in youth.

blp
03-21-2006, 08:04 AM
We need you to post a new subject Mililalil XXIV

Mililalil XXIV
03-21-2006, 02:15 PM
Sorry!

Horrible oversight

blp
03-21-2006, 08:38 PM
sun corruscated
on a rolling, glaucous sea
He gazed at it all day,
forgot his medication
and died swallowing his tongue

Next: disco boots

Mililalil XXIV
03-23-2006, 04:07 AM
Beneath the flood light,
shimmering as magma live,
on the shining floor -
each is lifted in its turn
until the crowd is breathless.

Dante's peak

Riesa
03-27-2006, 09:37 PM
Desert paused, timeless,
Unblemished and expectant;
Ghosts holding silence
Harvest salt from the flats to
Fuel spectral dreams of verdure.

Next topic:

Space

Virgil
03-28-2006, 12:13 PM
One walks through it, steps
Into it, without knowing
Where it begins or
Where you come to its closure.
Sometimes it just ends.

Next subject: Cleopatra

Xamonas Chegwe
03-28-2006, 05:27 PM
Oh! What a needle!
To stitch such a vast country
Together for so long;
But caesars and generals
Curdle the asses milk bath.


Next topic: Furniture polish.

Mililalil XXIV
03-31-2006, 03:12 PM
Sitting on this chair
has garnered me your long stare;
I see what you see:
the color once of rocker
is transferred now onto me!

heritage houses

chmpman
04-03-2006, 01:36 PM
After crossing the
Archaic threshold, engraved
With past ideals of
Illuminated splendor,
I felt time's longing embrace.

Cubism

Xamonas Chegwe
04-03-2006, 01:47 PM
Guitar and bottle,
Newspaper print and vases;
All facets in view.
Picasso and Braque present
Another way of seeing.


Next: Global warming

Riesa
04-03-2006, 02:36 PM
To Antartica
I moved, to escape this heat;
The icebergs have gone,
And now there's a beach with red
Pails and blue-striped umbrellas.

Next topic: Doom

chmpman
04-05-2006, 12:33 AM
Foreknown or unplanned
This feeling bites my innards,
Shifting a terror
Strongly down to shake extreme
Branches in a desperate wind.

anything mischievious

Mililalil XXIV
04-05-2006, 03:40 AM
I behaved like you,
there in the sandbox of time!
The only sandwich,
packed with extreme love and care,
I tossed at the passing cars.

insecurity at playschool

chmpman
04-05-2006, 06:50 PM
Large abstract symbols
Fit for a bungler's fingers;
Now, grasping, I think:
Will old age corrupt my hands
And drive me to infancy?

Clowns

Xamonas Chegwe
04-05-2006, 07:36 PM
"Mummy they scare me!"
"Don't be daft pet, they're funny,
"Look at their big smiles."
Years later I read King's "It";
He knew what I meant that day!


Next topic: Differential Calculus

Riesa
04-07-2006, 10:45 AM
Propulsion systems
For Interplanetary flights
Must begin somewhere;
Differential Calculus
Applied may bring us farther
Then we ever thought likely.



Next topic:
Outer space

XC: I tried. :eek: It's not dull at all, I am just a dunce. :D

Xamonas Chegwe
04-07-2006, 12:32 PM
Not bad Riesa - except for the extra line! :lol:

Riesa
04-07-2006, 02:13 PM
:eek2:

that's what happens when I get anywhere near math :goof: :lol:

chmpman
04-07-2006, 03:06 PM
I feel the same way, only I didn't even know what Differential Calculus was.

That place lies beyond
Our known locale, the system
Of Greek observers.
From our new manners of sight
We see timeless mystery.

Next: A communication breakdown

Xamonas Chegwe
04-07-2006, 03:26 PM
Led Zeppelin,
Named for a "Lead balloon" joke,
But rocked many worlds;
"Communication Breakdown"
Is a perfect case in point.

Next topic: Standing in the rain waiting for a bus that doesn't come but feeling strangely happy for some reason.

Riesa
04-07-2006, 10:16 PM
Muh! XC. :D

Little raindrops on
Eyelashes kaleidoscope
Life passing, thoughts are
Warm and fragrant as sun drenched
Melon; I'll never get home.

Next topic: last summer's kite stuck in a tree

Mililalil XXIV
04-07-2006, 10:26 PM
That was the last flight,
that cold and dark July night,
when all I could do
was to swing on a long string
and just cry for my play thing.

bubble gum in her hair

Riesa
04-14-2006, 01:28 PM
Peanut butter has
Come to the rescue of lots
Of little girls, when
Brothers blow bubbles too close
To Sister's dressy tresses.

next topic: telemarketers

Xamonas Chegwe
04-14-2006, 01:32 PM
The fifth time today;
The ringing telephone stops
Just as I answer.
Number withheld every time;
I don't want double glazing!

Next topic: Picking fluff off a black jumper.

Riesa
04-14-2006, 01:41 PM
Jesse Owens made
Famous the long jump and sprints,
But chastised the coach
For picking dandelion
Fluff off during the races.

Cherry blossoms caught in the gutter stream after a heavy spring rain.

atiguhya padma
04-18-2006, 01:16 PM
Lifeless dependence:
Endless debris, momentum.
Cherry blossoms trapped
In linear existence.
Struggling, overwhelmed by time.


Absence

chmpman
04-22-2006, 11:50 PM
Not a thinking man,
He finds solace in action.
In front of a crowd
His words procure restlessness
For anything to suffice.


Romantic ideals

Xamonas Chegwe
04-23-2006, 07:34 AM
As the La Manchan,
I long to risk all for love;
For a chaste beauty.
Hey there! Sad girl on the bus!
Have you a dragon to slay?


Next topic: A steep hill during a bike ride.

atiguhya padma
04-24-2006, 02:05 PM
Steeped cloth on my back
Smell of determination
That burning feeling
Think not of this hard struggle
Feed on the beautiful view.

Topic: Arguing against what you believe

Xamonas Chegwe
04-24-2006, 02:43 PM
I had a bet with myself that the next post would be about going up the hill - you could have coasted down it with the wind in your hair instead. :D

atiguhya padma
04-25-2006, 12:28 PM
As a keen cyclist, I would say uphill struggles tend to be more memorable. The effort taken to get the spectacular view or the exhilirating downhill freewheel, tends to last in your long term memory. Anyone who has done the London to Brighton bike ride will always remember going up Ditchling Beacon, far more so than the six miles of freewheeling into Brighton from its summit.

chmpman
05-08-2006, 01:08 AM
With death imminent
By Terror famed instruments,
Rebels turned reckless,
In spite of past circumstance,
And sang harmonizing tunes.

Next: a man in black.

Riesa
05-08-2006, 04:50 PM
A brand new house in
Vacation-land, he lived life
Modestly, “Invest!”,
They said. Veiled, weeping, she says,
“He splurged on that Armani.”

Next topic:

Kicking a bad habit

Foxvoices
05-09-2006, 11:53 PM
tracks for many miles
nothing in sight left to right
funny how we seem
to be going with the dream
then turn out the light


nest topic: turtle soup

Mililalil XXIV
05-11-2006, 01:18 AM
Crackers in a shell,
delightful to the waiter,
as to the owner,
but neither to the children,
nor to mother or father.

a cat's disease

autolycus
05-13-2006, 01:22 PM
green eyes questioning
belly swells with crabby death
beneath the soft fur
do not think the crab will win
don't you know what kills a cat?

rooftops in the sun

Mililalil XXIV
05-17-2006, 08:48 PM
On top of the house,
all covered up in snow white,
sits the last bouquet;
the petals reach to the sky,
as the spring melts hoar away.

the rodeo of tough bulls

chmpman
05-26-2006, 04:40 PM
Wow, this was way back there. Good one Mil. :D

In raucous cowboy
Colosseum a stand-off
Show to please many
Mayhem screaming Montanans
Ends in the death of the brute.


An evil pigeon.

Mililalil XXIV
05-26-2006, 04:59 PM
Black on black and white,
the polar thing of the night
(six months without light),
garbed in winter camoflauge,
entreats a blizzard to rage.

the Sanil (you decide what that is) from Kalamazoo

chmpman
05-26-2006, 05:12 PM
Hehe, I think he read that as 'penguin'. :D

That spectacular
Cephalopod named Sanil
In a graceful spout
Of liquid obscurity
Has blinded Kalamazoo.


Rosy cheeked children.

Xamonas Chegwe
05-26-2006, 08:04 PM
They stand by the road
Offering bottled water
And tissue packets;
Going for a few pennies,
Their poverty interface.


Standing in a slow-moving queue.

chmpman
05-27-2006, 01:20 AM
Downloading knowledge
Through the twitter of birdsongs,
Like a parading
Parable linking belief
That meaning is grasped ahead.


Mindless entertainment.

Mililalil XXIV
05-28-2006, 02:02 AM
In a trance of raves,
raving ravens craving beers
spin in their distress.

random mirrors

DStrangelove
07-11-2006, 01:01 PM
In the carnival
Fun room, all appears absurd,
Faces bent and turned
To picture gross illusion;
One leaves glad for normalcy.


Next: A chivalric gentleman.

Haler
07-11-2006, 01:32 PM
His ability
To see nobility in
The ragged beauty
Of questionable ladies,
And giants in windmills moves.


next topic: a reluctant traitor

Riesa
09-17-2006, 12:58 AM
He's trained to obey
the order to annihilate
the young enemy;
Craggy rocks hide thirsty men
Sharing the last tinny drink.

Next topic: Steve Irwin

autolycus
09-17-2006, 05:13 AM
Sifts his toes in sand
Watching his final sunset
A diver at play;
The drama reaches climax
Just as the last ray ascends.

next: looking for a lost cellphone

holograph
09-17-2006, 08:53 AM
the ringing wont stop
[technological disease]
overcomes judgement
my invisible scarab
button eyes and antennae


next topic: the colon ;)

autolycus
09-18-2006, 12:14 PM
things are looking up
the wrong end of history
shudder at the waste;
fast and purge the narrative
clear the post-colonial stage


next topic: the semicolon :D

holograph
09-18-2006, 03:30 PM
good one, auto. i love the colon. ;)

tear my heart in two
add another bitter phrase
conflict unresolved
a ball and club suspended
in mid sentence, paralyzed

next: hmmm....adam's apples and oranges.

autolycus
09-20-2006, 12:26 PM
thanks, holo! :)

always to swallow
difficult these fruit become
as bitter lemons
love is the music of fruit
and so the humans play on

next: four hundred smiles

Haler
09-26-2006, 09:58 PM
Graduating Class,
1923. Sal's high
on Coca - collar
collapsing in heat hitting
high 99's, snapshot caught.

next topic - a pumpkin patch

Riesa
11-26-2006, 11:15 PM
glistening, waiting
bright faces creased with sideways
frowns or unborn grins
like a hundred harvest moons
they wait in a sky of green

next topic:

Bacchus

Il Penseroso
11-28-2006, 02:51 PM
Cheerful fluid god,
whose languid walks lead satyrs
and such scandalous
muses to deep willful festivals,
let the gathering not end.

Next topic:

The birth of Jove

Susan Sonnen
12-03-2006, 03:03 PM
Rhea deceived him,
stone wrapped in swaddling clothing
given her husband
to swallow, Zeus secretly
sent to Kriti, raised by nymphs

next topic: ages ago

Il Penseroso
12-03-2006, 06:51 PM
The scythe's twang rang deep
in the branchless wilderness
of metallic mind,
A soul lost to memories
of ages and dates gone by.


Wishing for contentment.

Riesa
12-05-2006, 10:37 PM
hands resting softly
nuzzled in wool, chamomile.
the cat on the book
laid aside, she watches through
the window a hawk in flight

an unexpected turn for better