Hour 7

Ukraine is a land of freedom

A land of glorious mountains,

Exotic waters, wonders of the world,

and rich plains with a limitless urge to

Grow, share, and provide.

Our culture never seeks to amaze that

Ukraine is a land of freedom

Urging each human to create art and never stop singing

With our hearts on our sleeves

And our history written in the stars.

 

Each building, each monument,

Every book, every song, every word spoken about how

Ukraine is a land of freedom

Will be remembered forever and always

When it continuously proves its worth.

 

We are not like them,

We are not brothers.

We will never be like them, because

Ukraine is a land of freedom

And will never be anything else.

 

My country is facing death

With no end in sight;

But despite attempts to bring us down,

We forever will stand resilient to prove that

Ukraine is a land of freedom

Too Much Month (Hour Four, A Nonet)

Too Much Month

 

Got paid today, got me a pocket

full of change. Ding dong, dang doorbell

rings. Landlord’s got his hand held

out. Crank my truck, tank’s on

E. Gut growls, FEED ME

SEYMOUR! No more

money, still

too much

month.

 

 

(A nonet is composed of nine lines, beginning with nine syllables in line one, eight syllables in line two, and so forth, until the final line is only one syllable, giving off the visual appearance that the poem is slowly disappearing.)

“Shhht”

“Shhht”

 

“Hey! Shhht!”

 

What’s a way to get your crush’s attention?

Walk up all sly, slip on a smile

then drop a pickup line:

“Am I in heaven?

because I see an angel in front of me?”

 

Or do you blow a whistle while

jumping up down

calling out their name

to make them turn around

to the tune of “Brown Eyes”?

 

Are you the kind that

orders a drink and yells,

“‘Mere!”

And try to impress them

with an old joke,

“Why did the chicken cross the road?”

 

Nah.

 

We natives have a way to get your attention.

We call it the “mating call”.

 

It’s a sound that comes naturally

When we see someone we like,

and warn strangers to be wary of it.

 

It sounds like a short electric static

with urgency.

It can make you turn around confusion

and face us.

 

“Shhht!”

“What’s your clans?”

 

So, as a native telling non-natives.

Beware of noises that come from behind,

it can either be a mating call

or just some noise.

H7.P7

Breathing flowers

Tasting rain

Drowning children

Pumping hearts

 

Crying out for freedom

Tasting flowers

Making friends

Higging children

 

Calling nature

Giving her CPR

Tasting flowers

Pregnant pause

 

Rushing home

Catching waves

Growing sunshine

Tasting dlowers

Hour 7: Rose

Roses are red, one petal
two petals,
three petals, four petals

don’t wither, my love is a forever

Violets are blue, don’t fade,
I’ll be bold to call you love, in cold or hot

In good or trying time, let the world
choose to be against me,
I’ll still call you Rose, I’ll still buy you gold chain,

diamond ring and sky blue Queen’s gown.
You are beautiful, I love
you

© Àdèlé

Hour 8 – a million beautiful things

My gender is a million beautiful things.

 

a lump of fuzzy blankets.

the chime of a bicycle bell. 

the head on a just poured stout. 

the swirling mists wafting from the hot cup of coffee on an empty patio on an October morning. 

a dog eared page in a yellowing book.

the way the light shines off of brown eyes blinking away sleep on a saturday morning.

your favorite magnet on the fridge. 

the sunshine yolk of an over medium egg.

a sheen of sparkling condensation on the pint of ice cream when you get home from the grocery store before you put it in the freezer. 

a fan that has been run high every single night since you can remember getting it. 

a toasted brioche bun.

a watercolor painting of wildflowers that grow only on the hills of your dreams. 

the dirt that is still stuck in your hiking boots in the spring. 

the way your eyes roll into the back of your head when you take that first sip of cool water after mowing the lawn.

the first ray of sunshine that breaches the mountain pass in spring.

the caramel at the bottom of your latte.

 

It is every glimmer and beauty that shines in a day

Masks on Masks (Hour 7)

We wear masks

To protect ourselves from Covid

Some think it makes us safer

Some think it’s complete BS

 

But amidst Covid is not the only time

We wear masks

We have been wearing them all of our lives

Whether we’ve realized it or not

 

Anytime we say we are okay when we’re not

Every time we pretend to be or like something to be accepted

We wear masks

They’re just not physical

 

Maybe it does protect us

Or maybe the world would be better if we showed our true selves

But I think more often than not

We wear masks

A Wedding Man

She is a teacher yet unmarried

She wants to stay unmarried

And enjoy her life.

It is a multicultural school in Bradford

Lots of Indian girls are her pupils

They love weddings and all that entailed

Beautiful food, beautiful clothes

The full bridal wear, the jewellery

The marriage ceremony they like it

The bride and groom going around ]

The fire seven times –

The groom wearing beautiful clothes

His face covered with rows of pearls

His turban full of gold.

“How come you don’t want

to get married Miss

A Wedding Man is Bliss

You must get married, Miss

You Must get Married Miss.

The teacher can’t add anything to this

It feels like an order!

Love Is All You Need

Hour 7

(using the photo prompt…….sunflower fields have been very popular in Ohio over the last few years!)

 

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED

As the morning dawns

On a crisp, fall day

The sun radiates through the bedroom window

Gently nudging us to rise.

We awaken to a world of endless possibilities.

As long as we share kindness

There will be hope.

 

The day unfolds

As we glide through the blue skies

Warmed by the sun now high above us

Like a  well nurtured sunflower display

Field after field, seeming endless with it’s beauty

We reap the goodness of what we sow.

As long as we share hope

There will be love.

 

We feel content, full of life and love.

At day’s end, we lay

Under the light of the harvest moon

With it’s vast blanket of stars

We give thanks for the earth’s blessings.

And we know in our hearts

That when we share love

Together we can enjoy another day.