November

   November strips down to her essence-

   a dozen shades of brown and grey.

   October’s color-riot fades into memory,

   while a spare, somber beauty remains.

   Geese call mournful farewells

   as they retreat to the southern kingdom.

   The spring will bring an agony of birth

   but now, Earth folds in upon herself

   as she prepares for sleep.

Written for FF55 writing prompt.  Join us with 55 words of your own.

Image by Mary Bach 

Fit for a Queen

    Photo source can be found here

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

She looks out through the window with disdain

at these mere mortals crossing her domain.

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

She looks out through her window with disdain

then summons churning forces of the dark

to seek out innocents,  and leave her mark.

She looks out through her window with disdain.

She summons churning forces of the dark.

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

High in her crumbling castle all alone

she summons churning forces of the dark.

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

She looks out through the window with disdain

at these mere mortals crossing her domain.

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

Written for The Mag creative writing group.  

This form was created by Robin Skelton, academic, writer, poet and anthologist. It is a Quatrain, and the second line forms a rhyming couplet with the third line and is also used as the first and fourth line of the following stanza. Any number of stanzas can be created this way and the final stanza is a repeat of the first. This gives a rhyme scheme of: A. B. b. A..... B. C. c B…. C. D. d. C .… D. A. a. D...... A. B. b. A.           (capital letters are repeated lines, and small letters are rhymes)

            THANKS!

Never Mind

Have you made accommodation

for gradual hurt?

Are there places

you no longer frequent

in your own mind?

Places that are too treacherous,

too raw, too honest...

Have civility and formality

calcified your best intentions

into a cage you can no longer escape?

Has it become too dangerous

to even think

of escape?

This is for G-man's FF55.  Go there to read other 55 word long pieces, and feel free to add your own. 

Image: Health.howstuffworks.com

One Smooth Stone

One smooth stone

I hold in my palm,

yet it remains

discrete, separate.

Filled with potential energy

and a history I cannot access,

I touch only the cool, outer surface.

Secrets within remain hidden;

giving up nothing.
It simply is.

Silent and unyielding,

an inscrutable mystery,

I hold in my palm

one smooth stone.

Image: peterbolland.blogspot.com/2010/07/smooth-as-stone.html 

This is for G-man's FF55.  Check it out for 55 words of wisdom, humor or pure good storytelling.  Maybe add your own.

I Got the Low-Down-Political-Dead-Lock Blues

"Meet the new boss

 Same as the old boss"

Mama Zen directed us to tell her how the presidential election turned out in twenty words or less for IGwRT, but Pete Townshend already said it better than I could.  Listen to 

The Who sing it on youtube.

*Disclosure: While I think Barack Obama is basically a good man and the lesser of two evils, with the system we have even the best president is rather ineffectual.

Image: 123rf.com

Late Groom

She smoothed her skirts of ivory lace

while pondering their recent tryst,

and made sure things were all in place.

Her marble features showed no trace

of all the places he had kissed.

She smoothed her skirts of ivory lace.

 His love was spirited, not base,

some discipline was all he missed;

she’d make sure that was all in place.

Six hours late - she was disgraced -

he stumbled in completely pissed.

She smoothed her skirts of ivory lace.

She saw he was a desperate case

when she reviewed her growing list

to make sure things were all in place.

A glacial smile upon her face,

she gave her bridegroom’s neck a twist,

then smoothed her skirts of ivory lace

and made sure things were all in place.

This Villanelle is for dVerse open link night.  Click on the link to see more.  
Also, thanks to Christi Moon for help tweaking the meter.  Here is the Villanelle form using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes: A1-b-A2/ a-b-A1/ a-b-A2/ a-b-A1/ a-b-A2/ a-b-A1-A2

Image: photo.net

f/64

    Image: Charis, Lake Ediza, California, 1937 by Edward Weston

Take me as I am

unrefined and unretouched;

not a vessel to hold

your feelings,

or a mirror

 to reflect yourself back

to you.

Do not oppress me with your

need for perfection.

Accept my beautiful scars

and creases.

They are me.

Do not superimpose

your romantic notions on me,

but see me as I am:

brave, sharp, focused.

I will not flee;

I will not fly into the sun.

I am here.

Written for The Mag where Tess Kincaid provides a weekly writing prompt.  I highly recommend it.  

Notes: f/64 was a group of American photographers, including Weston, who usually set their lenses to that aperture to secure maximum image sharpness in the foreground and distance. In 1934 Weston  resolved to make only unretouched portraits.  This was taken in 1937, the same year Amelia Earhart disappeared.

Leaden

   Dark and threatening

   hammered tin November skies

   split and fall on me

Image: Kreuzberg'd blog 'Spotted in Passing'

Dilution

The world is filled with echoes of

tissue paper sighs;

littered with

soft, sibilant requests

and soliloquies that wither on the lips.

Hope is stored on the top shelf

of a closet

safely wrapped in old newspapers,

only taken out for special occasions.

With desire sketched in pencil,

longing diluted,

it only hurts a little.

For G-man and his FF55.  Go there to find 55 words of wit, wisdom and whimsy from a variety of bloggers.  Maybe add your own!