Month: July 2024

So a new prompt at dVersepoets.com, It Begins to Dawn, says, to begin the post, “After our summer break, we’re beginning again, beginning afresh, like a new dawn perhaps” with a couple of examples of dawn, one as the start of a day or another with dawn as a verb.

It then offers up the prompt of writing in the style of the A L’Aora, a form created by Laura Lamarca (I learn something new all the time at dVerse).

Poetry style:

4 stanzas (or more)

8 lines per stanza

only lines 6 & 8 are to rhyme

no syllable count per line

And to:

write about the dawn, literally, metaphorically, objectively, personally … or write of the dawn as a verb.

Initially I was a little daunted by this, that’s a bit involved I thought, and was going to turn instead to the latest quadrille prompt instead, #203 “Feeling Crabby” even though the “window” had closed. I mean, crabby? I could surely do crabby, I could use the word “crab”, but then I just started to write to the “Dawn” prompt …

.

Day Broke Night Fell Day

It broke again the night

the dawn, this day

the same way it always does

with pious judgement filled

clarity of righteous spirit

better than thine

with joy in the shed shaming light

on sins of the dark from earliest of time

.

It fell again over dawn’s day

any day, this night

the same way it always does

with quiet purpose, no ill intent

to help rest the weary, romance the lovers

cover the honorable, storm the fields, focus the mind

but also, it seems

hide wrongs from the earliest of time

.

It broke again, again the day

the night, this dawn, out of fear

the same way it always does

after sun filled growth tears fall clouding in imposter storm dark

not for feeding the land, nourishing the creatures

no, only to darken the light

so that dawn broke again then the next

with more righteous intent and zealous might

.

It fell again, once more, once more

over day and it’s qualms, this night

the same way it always does

hoping to quiet its fears

to dance instead in fashioned flamed dawn

to celebrate what day had brung

and what night too had brought  

that maybe together bells could be rung and songs could be sung

.

They dawn and they fall

this day and this night

the same way they always do

neither be true, neither be false, neither be right nor be wrong

but day still is wary of songs not sung in the light

while night asks just not for blame

of day’s greatest fears

and that night does wary too day’s songs just the same

.

But maybe  

in compromise wary aside

maybe

just

maybe

in twice a day half-light?

So a flash fiction prompt here from Melissa …

Hello! Welcome to Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will post an image I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the image. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from Gülşah Olgun on Pexels.

The image depicts a cat lying in a field with flowers. We see the front half of the cat with its paws outstretched in the grass. Lying in the grass in front of its paws, we see what looks like a mirror and the cat is reflected in it.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post and use the tag #FFFC. Please create a pingback to this post and/or manually add your link in the comments. I hope it will generate some great posts. Don’t forget to stop back and read/comment on the posts of others. Thank you for participating!💅🏻

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“Marty, is that you?”

“Bill? Or should I say “Snookems? (hehehe)”

“Shut up Marty, you just got lucky to have yours name you something cool”

“I know, Sly for Sylvester IS pretty cool, something about a cartoon cat”

“Yeah well, and don’t get me wrong, I love her to death, she’s my world, but I got adopted by a 10 year old girl”

“Well, how have you been Bill?”

“I’m good, Rachel, that’s the girl, she’s 12 now, has finally stopped dressing me in human clothes with hats, was never a fan of the hats, she takes me on walks on a leash though which is fantastic, sometimes she even lets me roam … You?”

“Good here too, Bobby, that’s my human, has the other human, coincidentally named Rachel by the way, buy me treats and we’re in pretty good shape, plenty of stuffed mice to knock around the apartment and look silly with”

“Ahhh, that’s great, glad to hear. But let me ask you, what’s with the mirror? You kind of look like me?”

“Oh, that’s because I am you Bill, just in another reality”

“Really? Well, that’s kinda weird”

“I know huh?”

“Cats dream too Bill”

“Seems so. Well good to see you again Marty”

“You as well Bill, or “Snookems”

“Shut up Marty!”

“hehehe!!”

Haven’t posted one in a little while so was torn on a So Then Sunday for today. Something fairly recent or maybe something a bit older? I know that sounds ridiculous right? But well to end this silly quandary I thought I’d go back to the early parody days but something that is still pretty relevant, thus the reason for my jockeying. Some of the older things can be pretty particular time, event specific but there are some that can still work though, singing of the dangers of the Orange Devil is still pretty universal time-wise me thinks, time specifics be damned.

I mean he ain’t stop bein’ some devil.

So back to 2019 then and one of my many versions of a Beatles tune.

Baby General’s Golden Black Heart’s Band / Sky’s Orange When You’ve Got Blind Friends

It was two plus years ago today

That baby general came to have his say

In a propagandist fascist style

With his lies he’d go the extra mile

He’d hammer them unto the red

IQ’s regressing in his stead

Baby general’s golden black heart’s band

.

We’re baby general’s golden black heart’s band

We play you all ya need to know

Baby general’s golden black heart’s klan

The torches are only for show

.

Baby general’s cor-rupt

Baby general’s morally

Baby general’s bankrupt black heart’s band

.

There’s nothing to be seen here

Just back room in the know

There’s such important work be done

Now won’t you all just pray with us

We love it when you’re dumb

.

We don’t want you to be in the know

But we make you feel you’re in the show

Keep you happy swimming in the glow

Helps suck you in the undertow

Now let us to present to you

The sad and lonely Orange years

.

Baby general’s golden black heart’s band

.

Trump D’s victim’s tears…

.

What would you say if I sang you a lie

So obvious you can’t deny?

But you take it and then get to singin’ along

Cause re-ality it don’t apply

.

Oh, the sky’s purple when you’ve got blind friends

Mmm it’s any color when the truth gets bent

Mmm the sky’s orange is the new message sent

.

What would you say if I filled you with hate

Gave you an enemy you could detest

Locked them away less than human they’re caged

As you lend deaf ear to mankind’s rage

.

Oh, the sky’s black to go along with blue

Mmm your hu-manity now shares that hue

Mmm your sold souls invent a diff-er-ent view

.

Could you think you need saving?

That will surely come bust

Do you need to get praying?

But only to an orange need’s lust

.

Where will we be when sad histr’y holds true

(do you re-alize that there’s a cost?)

It’s measured in lives deemed be less than they be

(can you jus-tify the ones we toss?)

.

Oh you get by when smallish minds stay small

Mmm to think more’s an order way too tall

Ooohh there’s no longer a sure one for all

.

Do you feel the en-emy’s breath

(when it’s their last just at our door-step)

Does it feel sad em-powerin’

(to de-value them as he has pled)

.

Oh you get by when it’s a think of group

Mmm it’s much eas’r in an ignorance troupe

Mmm you ‘splain why but only in a vacuum

.

Yes you get by

Believin’ nationalist lies

You’re just a means to his end

Aaaahhhh

Had to head into the “rack room” earlier today just to check on whether I could still hear the smallest of our radio stations in their little speaker. Thankfully that was all I had to do, a simple enough task which is good. You don’t want a ME in the rack room (the main engine room for all of our stations) for anything other than simple because if shit is for any reason even reasonably complicated there I could just possibly, though unintentionally, take everyone off the air or possibly knock out a power grid or possibly even initiate WWIII.

But maybe at least followed with, if so, an old school sitcom-like, where everyone turns to the camera …

“Oh … that Frankenberry!!!”

Anyway, after discovering that said little station was indeed coming through on its little station’s little speaker just fine I was then heading out of the rack room as quickly as possible before I brought down some satellites or something when I noticed the engineer’s stool at the engineer work bench. The rack room is also where the engineers have their spot (office and work bench) thus the reason I don’t go back there, I was actually probably violating some sort of FCC regulation by not being properly “degreed” or “accredited” or “smarter than you” enough’ed to be back there in the first place, and probably, according this regulation, I also didn’t have a big enough brain. I mean, engineers, and their big brains aren’t going to accidentally take the planet out of orbit right? They’re engineers … with bigger brains.

Frankenberry on the other hand?

“Oh … that Frankenberry!!!”

Anyway twice.

On my way out of the rack room I noticed that the engineer’s stool had this wrapped around a leg of it. It was actually chained and padlocked to the leg of the work bench, and not some simple chain either, no, this was pretty heavy duty looking stuff.

My first thought was “Oh, wow, you kinky bastards!” but my next thought was “Jesus, one of these guys REEEEEEEAAAAALLLLLYYYY likes his work bench stool!”

The next time I saw one of these engineers, Tom (sightings are rare by the way, the habits and migratory patterns of engineers can be difficult to pinpoint or map) who is quite possibly the tallest engineer this side of the Mississippi, mentioned for no other reason than the dude is just really tall, I asked of the work bench stool and the heavy duty chain. He said one of the other engineers had done that in response to a morning show messing with him and stealing it as some sort of ongoing prank. This was how he put a stop to that the only problem being that it stayed this way because he forgot the combination to the padlock.

Well, the bigger brains are still bigger brains and I still should never have to step foot into the rack room, just me crossing the threshold earlier could have had dire consequences for our nation as a whole …

“COUNTRY’S ENTIRE INFRASTUCTURE COLLAPSES!!”

“Oh … that Frankenberry!!!”

… but at least I did realize that the engineers are human just like us, bigger brains or not. Though I hope in the future there isn’t a situation where Houston says …

“Ok, captain and engineer Tom you are a go for Mars … just enter your passcode and the system will take care of the rest …”

“Oh, son of a bitch!!!”