Prompt 11
Reigning monarch of your world—
But, I beg your pardon—
If you’re the only one enjoying it,
It’s not much of a garden.
Hour 12 – An argument for coexistance – Image Prompt
To trim the fat on an old adage,
nothing is simple nor is it savage,
While time may change tastes
And consumerism increases pace
The winner is the one who adapts
A meeting room with old ways and new
Combined into a comforting view
Is far better than the corporate smooth
Method of minimalism
The complexity of a simple shape
Cannot defeat the the purity of man’s mastery
Of tools in a comfortable space
Function and comfort need not be separate
They each have their place and can coexist
So why does brutalist architecture still exist?
Gathering Around
a moment in life
a pleasure to live
in any way is fine
around a table
in the house
in the church
with tears of joy
… or
with tears of sorrow
it’s a unique joy
to share with others
the joy of gathering around
(Hour 12-@Mejia)
The Sound of You – Hour 11 Prompt
When we lay in bed at night
Our skin touches
Our bodies sink in
Our minds ease
Then we say the silliest things
My beard looks like I’m trying to sell you a pan for mining gold
Sir, please stop stacking those rocks
Can we train worms to play the theremin?
I keep going
Until you can’t breathe
Your stomach muscles ache
So I can spend more time with you.
Gathering (2022 Poem 12)
Gathering
Three sisters sit, toes drifting in warm sand
Sun sets in crimson hues on the sea’s horizon
Wine glasses raised, they solemnly toast
Times shared long ago but not forgotten
Who could have known what would befall
Both parents passed on too young
A fourth sister left, full of her own conceits
Unable to stay her harsh tongue
Memories of childhood, lived innocently
Before the world became too much
Laughter sounds softly and smiles emerge
Our lives need a gentler touch
(Prompt: Write about gathering with others.)
Hour Twelve – The Joy of Human Interaction
Hour Twelve – Write about gathering with others. The specifics are up to you.
The Joy of Human Interaction
Lockdown – I thought I had been fine
Complacent in a cosy home all mine
Wandering all day from room to room
Meeting friends and family on zoom
Then out into the world we burst
When it was clear we were over the worst
And at once we saw what we had missed.
People. People. People. One item on that list.
Oh, the joy of inane chatter
with strangers on streets, the heady patter.
It didn’t matter what was said
Communication then, was not dead.
Muffled through glass partitions and masks
‘How would you like to pay?’ she asks
Oh, the unmistakable, unforgotten thrill
to chit-chat with the girl at the till.
Words being exchanged, conversation made
You walk on after, but the smile, it stayed
This is what us humans need
Our battery juice, on what we feed.
This Joy of Human Interaction
Prompt 12: Meeting of the Garden Club
There they are, bright and billowing,
Assembling just beyond the pond
Gathered in their summer finery,
To buzz about the garden sod.
From vernal budding, singing frogs,
Through spring’s unfurled leafy swale,
And marching through the summer meadow
Resplendent Monarch, Swallowtail.
First blush to blister, then to bluster,
October skies unfold with wind
Soon the snow will lay its blanket
And begin the year again.
So buzz they do, ‘round phlox and rose,
Their constant chatter keep;
While they can, they frolic frenzied;
Then to their hives, for winter’s sleep.
With next year’s garden dreams to keep.
The Commune (Hour 12)
The Commune
Perhaps my life has been random.
Or it could be that every step has been planned.
Why did I extemporaneously quit dental school?
If the stars were different or the sun out that day
maybe I would have stayed.
Calling Mike from the battered, graffiti covered pay phone
and asking if I could join his commune.
The subsequent call to my mother who understood my quitting
dental school but asked that I not join one of those hippie communes.
Mike helping me move in and then finding that I had to be voted in.
The questions and answers in front of the group.
How did I feel about group nudity was a tough one.
The celebratory joints when I was accepted.
The joyous jaunts to second hand stores to buy old rugs and furniture.
The nine-bedroom house for $350 per month rent in Philly’s fashionable Main Line
that was only so cheap because it awaited demolition to become apartments.
The landlord who said we could do whatever we want with the home.
All of this in stark contrast to any other alternative that I faced on that
dark and rainy day in a run down section of North Philly.
There was laughter and creativity and talk about changing the world.
For me it was a pause in my hyped up engine of having to be somebody.
A time to regroup and realize that everything ahead didn’t need to be planned
when you are twenty two.
I gained the strength in that group to then be alone.
And after a seven thousand mile hitching adventure that became the rest of my life
I found a place where the rain wasn’t depressing and a vocation that
captured my fancy and the just right partner for the rest of my life.
All because I was smart enough to know I needed a group to make me
realize that I could be alone which I needed to understand before I could clearly see.
Better and Better
Things will only get better and better
as you spend time cultivating the possibilities.
improvement is always
on the next horizon
ready to reveal
her worthiness for the task at hand.
Things will only get better and better
the more you do them
the better things will be.
Don’t wrestle with the should haves
of life because they always stay the same.
Things will get better and better
I know I’ve been told.
Practice always makes perfect,
when you establish a good goal.
There’s no need to doubt or second guess
where
better can be found.
Just look deep inside your soul
where grace and mercy can be found.
Debra A. K. Thompson
Hour Twelve: Coven
We convene under full and new moons
Sisters and brothers alike
Draw the circle and light the fire
Pour a cup of tea and settle in
Breathe in breathe out
And presence ourselves
All five elements appear
Connect heart and soul
And cross the bridge
For we are all one here