Mandala #12
The spiders weave their mandalas between plants and trees and blades of grass. Their magic visible only when touched by the sun.
Hour 12 – My Closet
I wish I had a photo of the little holes in the closet wall in our den when I was a child. After removing the rag bag and iron and spray water bottle and what-have-you, I could crawl up on the shelf into my closet; it was at about waist high to an adult. There were some decorative holes on the back of a curio shelf on the other side of the wall. They were perfectly situated for me. When I was sitting on my closet shelf, it was a perfect secret agent perch to look out at the goings-on of my family. I was the captain of a ship peering through the spyglass. I was taking detective notes. I was making subtle noises to try to get family members to wonder what they heard. It was my closet and no one could have convinced me otherwise.
Ordinary But Original (Poem 11)
Unassuming
Not an eye catcher
Doesn’t make heads turn
Maybe that’s what makes it special
It’s probably unlike most
An original piece
I’d bank on it
It would be great to possess
And add to my collection
This one-of-a-kind piece of art
Isn’t complicated to decipher
It doesn’t have hidden or incomprehensible layers
Yes, it’s beautiful
And I like it
I’m gonna buy it
In response to the text prompt:
“Extraordinary in Ordinary”- pick an ordinary object and make it extraordinary. You can do it by giving it some special attributes or a different background and story.
Prompt #12 — Closets
My closet door opens on its own,
exposing my lack of organization and
preponderance of
stuff.
My cats love it.
They plunder the bags of yarn
and leave string trails
of forest green and fuchsia
throughout the house.
I took out all of my skinny clothes and
put them in storage bins under
the bed, and wistfully visit them on occasion.
On my last visit, I realized the cats
had peed on them. What message are they
trying to communicate to me? That my aspirations
are stupid? That I should have let
the skinny clothes continue to mingle with the chubby stuff?
That I should be content
with who I am? No, not that… But
I just cleaned it up, sighed, and walked away,
closing the closet door that
popped back open before I had even
reached the hallway.
Area 51
“Lover, will you please hang up my sweater?”
“Of course, I will. In the bedroom or in here?”
He pointed to the small closet located in the corner of the living room.
I said that one would be fine.
Our little visitor was listening, completely bored,
Until he watched as Steve opened the door
To the small closet located in the corner of the living room
And he cried out ecstatically.
“Hey! I’ve never seen that before!”
In complete glee he waltzed over
To the small closet located in the corner of the living room
And just beamed.
“I never you knew you had one of these!
“It’s just my size. I could live in
The small closet located in the corner of the living room.”
I wondered how he had emulated Goldilocks.
“Honey, you have been visiting us for many years now.
I’m positive that you have even taken your hat
To the small closet located in the corner of the living room.”
Bemusedly Steve and I watched him explore this container.
When his parents and brothers picked him up
He couldn’t wait to take them
To the small closet located in the corner of the living room
Where they promptly shut him in to live out his dream.
In My Purple Bag hour 11
In My Purple Bag
A double-zip wallet in plum perfect
a lilac credit card case
that actually holds gift cards
4 purple EnerGel pens with aubergine ink
one Sharpie marker in orchid
one in magenta
2 ballpoint pens I hate but keep just in case
a red beaded ladybug case
that holds my amethyst rosary beads
a small purple journal with a dog asking
Is it time to play? How about now?
an amethyst carbuncle with a pewter angel
a house key with a purple plastic sleeve
my truck key big and black and lost
to the abyss of stuff
one pack of tissues with lavender irises on it
… why is my bag so heavy…
a clear plastic glass case
with my purple marbled reading glasses
wrapped in a wisteria cleaning cloth
a fabric pandemic mask that says Poet At Work
an old Home Depot receipt I wrote a few lines
of a new poem on but can’t read it
can’t throw it out
a cluster of safety pins pinned together
several vinyl-coated paper clips in
varying shades of purple
band-aids, purple – where did I get those?
my cell phone in the military-grade
dark purple metal case… it weighs a ton
DogSpeak, my purple-cover poetry book
from last year’s 24-hour marathon because
you never know when you’ll be called on —
drug store / doctor’s office / laundromat
to read a poem or two
a pack of grape gum
… oh, that’s why it’s so heavy…
~ J R Turek Hour 11
Family Closet
Hour 12
Family Closet
Keep the bad ones in the closet.
Sort of a family tradition to
keep the doors shut and locked.
Grown-ups kept the keys
in the liquor cabinet.
On special nights
after several cocktails,
they let the feelings out.
Children were not allowed to see
anger fly across the living room,
sadness seep into soup in the kitchen,
fear rattle the rafters.
Pretending to be happy,
compliant children kept their closets closed
until of legal age,
when they could get their own keys.
Sue Storts
09/02/2023
prompt 12
12
in the closet
I want to walk thru like Narnia was on the other side
like it went to a safer place, or
was itself a refuge
door closed, hangers roosting on the rod like plucked seared birds, floor softened with layers of grampa’s clothes, scented with his body in the long ago times when things were only washed when they were dirty, not when they’d just been worn
now that’s something I can get behind- less laundry, longer wearing clothes, a less desperate mind
A Good Place to Be (Poem 10)
They think I’m alone
They wonder how I reached here
They assume I’m missing something
They deliberate over how to save me
They feel I need company
But…
They’re all wrong
But…
They don’t know my story
But…
They are free to cook up their own versions of me
But…
They don’t need to know everything
But…
They’ll probably never know this is a good place to be
In response to image prompt number 10
Nevermind the Heroic
Heroes of the sixth
sit, like slaves, in a cell
six by six, while they
play business as usual.
Viscous lies, vicious against
heroes of the sixth.
Brave, unpaid soldiers
for the free world.
Snakes in suits
remind themselves with
heroes of the sixth
that… they… rule!
Such little minds
in big clothes!
This world belongs to
heroes of the sixth.