A Tanka Poem – Hour 3
Not going to lie,
You keep running through my mind,
Not always constant,
Just enough for memories,
To flash, and I slightly smile.
Waltz
Waltz
Keeping time requires that the listener
overcome the awareness of his own body
in order to sync with the
vibrations of the whole.
It is painful to fight the waves of music
that require absorption.
Surrender.
There comes a point when you stop mouthing the counts.
Begin with a skip
and a trot
and a gallup
and a turn
and a spin.
Throw your shoulders back,
catch the air with your lungs–
levitate.
Hour 3 – Beneath the Hangman’s Tree -Image Prompt
A man stood beneath the tree,
Waiting it seemed, for me
His gaze was soft as diamond
His mood as light as iron
He had been waiting for me
But why beneath this tree?
This tree was like most around it
Red leaves and branches
But unlike boughs in woods confounded
This one stood alone
The hangman’s noose upon its branch
The grass around it dead
And though I felt fit as a fiddle,
The tree filled me with dread.
I approached the man with care
He asked me for my name
Perhaps trying to cause a scare
He asked my silence again
At last I felt my courage rise
And deigned it wise to answer
And he nodded, to my surprise,
He Spoke. “Born the sign of cancer”
How could he know that, I did wonder
Then realization dawned
This was no man, nor land I lived in
My life, indeed, was gone.
The memory threatened to drown me
But He then took my hand
I left there as Death had found me
And guided my soul to the promised land
Restless
Hissing engines
Day and night
Headlights on high beam
Wonderland never sleeps
Restlessness the residents’ friend
As sleep seems far
In the winter land of London Canada
Snow vehicles plow
Making way for drivers
Searching for a path
Wonderland never sleeps
In the sunny summer
When horns of trailers blare and brakes screech
And the loud mufflers of bikes herald their arrival
In the flurry of traffic’s steady flow
Sleepy people wait for
Stillness
One that never comes
As Wonderland stays awake
Prompt 3 – The Smile
Hour 3 – The Smile
he stood listening to the beautiful music
played by Cello’s in the Park
With the crowd clapping and swaying in time,
he smiled at the woman passing by.
smiling back, she extends her arm
shy, he mouths “I’m no dancer”
“follow me and keep smiling” she says
1234, off they go in hold to the joyful beat.
The crowd clap, sway and cheer for the dancers
he forgets about everything, caught in the moment
a hop, a skip, a twirl, her dress extends fully
her perfectly extended arm folds, rejoining the hold
The Cello’s slow the piece down, then stop,
he smiles, she laughs as they separate and bow
the applauding audience wants more
as she walks away, looking back, he still smiles.
2022 hour 3 / prompt 3 “tension”
2022 hour 3 / prompt 3 “tension”
Prompt: chose – audio prompt ‘city of stars’ arr. for 2 cellos
Dance, like life, is an exercise in tension
So much can be expressed with so little
Knowing when to reach out
Knowing when to not
Knowing when to let go
Knowing when to hold on
One gets rehearsals
One does not, more’s the pity
Both have beauty
Both have risk
Both have the capacity to encompass the best
Of art, of motion, of love, of wonder, of passion of joy
Of pain, of sorrow, of loss, of lack
In all of this tension, this possibility
… is life, is timing, is trust…
Put your best foot forward, hold out your hand and dance onward
For you cannot back into the future
Merry – LordCricket 2022 poetry marathon
Hour 2 To Robert Frost
“My little horse must think it queer”*
to see the big deer standing so near
At this hour no other stake
was guarded like a great keepsake.
But when the buck tilted his prongs
then one could see what lingers here
The grass so filled the stream and blake
It hid a tiny spotted fawn, not quite awake.
The eyes of the buck fixed still on mine
We stood our ground and passed the time.
I whispered in the breeze so light
Don’t quake my friend, I will not cause you heartache.
Inspired by Robert Frost https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening
Hour 3- Filled vessels make the most noise
He stood singing in the empty room,
His eyes closed as he travelled through the trills,
The sound of his voice bouncing off the walls,
Standing alone but filling the entire space.
The stage of his mind was elaborately jewelled,
Its many colours and lights standing out,
The many stories and songs that it held,
Covered in shrouds of secrecy that was his skin.
He let out the power he held in short amounts,
Controlled, as it had to battle its way through him,
The notes fighting to leave his fingertips,
The words fighting to work through his fast scribbles.
Like the water flowing from a full dam,
He was the spillway that brought its magic to all life,
A vessel connecting the real world to the world of glories,
To a world we would all live better in.
Note: The poem is on Jonathan Larson, an American composer, lyricist and playwright who wrote the musical ‘Rent’.
Prompt 3
Light the Way
Wait for me in the stars
Between Venus
And the war lord of Mars
Wait for me in the light
Between the dark
And the dazzling bright
Wait for me until I am near
Shining out
So my path back to you is clear
Prompt – Music – City of Stars (From “La La Land”) Arr. for two cellos