Stories

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Like most homes with kids, bedtime meant stories. In our house, it was tall tales and ghost stories told by my dad.

Learning how to cast shadow puppets against the wall, and tales of shooting and twinkling stars were my favorites. Especially if we had just seen it from the varandah before bedtime. Then, there were the magical tales of the moon. Always the moon.

Ellie and Portia always wanted to know why did the cow jump over the moon? Also, what was the man in the moon doing while this was happening? To this my dad always had an answer, a different one everytime, and more fantastical than the last. Ellie and Portia would get really quiet. Those two – “…In their dreams they sleep with the moon… “

Pat R

9/15/20

For Prosery Monday over at dVerse Poets Pub hosted by Merril where the rule is to use this line in your prose, no alterations, in no more that 144 words.

“In their dreams
they sleep with the moon.”–From Mary Oliver, “Death at Wind River”

To read and participate go here

Birthday – Haibun

I was never really a particularly chatty person. I always had my nose in a book, and I could never abide foolishness much. I was more interested in capturing catapillars and watching them change. Looking back, It felt like even as a child I was an old soul.

This, coupled with parents who were always at each others throat didn’t leave much time for celebrations. Especially not of birthdays. I don’t remember ever having a birthday party when I was young. That was never a big thing at our house. There were more pressing needs.

I do remember it being a day of protest, or acting up on my part. Thinking on this day I was somehow immune. The problem was my mom didn’t much abide foolishness either. So usually with my acting up, I got the order to “go pick a switch”. Birthday or no birthday.

new butterfly soars
on the wings of summer wind –
the nature of change

Pat R
8/03/20

For dVerse Poets Pub where it is haibun monday and the prompt is “Birthday”.
Kim is hosting. Come do some reading or paticipate here.

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For Tanka Tuesday over at Colleen’s where it’s Poet’s choice this week. Stop by and do some reading or join in here.

Nightfall

at nightfall

a sprinkling

of fireflies

Pat R

6/25/20

 

Linked to Open Link Night OLN over at dVerse Poet’s pub. Stop by and do some reading here or join in.

 

 

New Moon –

In lockdown, bright sunny days are lures to resist.

The flush of spring was without fanfare, the blooms are on their own

No leisurely stroll under cherry blossoms this spring. Nature tips the scale.

 

a new moon
the earth feels tilted
up is down

Pat R

4/20/20

For Frank Tassone Haikai Challenge where the prompt is New Moon

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dVerse Poets Pub where Mish is hosting Quadrille Monday (a 44 word poem) invented by dVerse. The prompt word this week us “Flush”. You can do some reading of join in here

 

Nesting

 

It feels weird to even think this, let alone say it out loud. But I think the same set of birds that seem to live in my garden are back. A true sign of spring. They were here yesterday. They came back today. A gnarly bunch. A diverse bunch. Sparrows, red breasted robins, cardinal ( the red one with that funky head piece), and a green parakeet. That one I didn’t see.

The birds are back again today
This time, more than just one couple

She is still about the work of the day
Still locked in her nest building bubble

Pat R

3/26/20

No, I didn’t know all that about birds. I looked it up at The Cornell Lab – All About Birds. Very interesting site. It’s connected to Cornell University I think.

For dVerse Poets Pub where Frank Hubeny is hosting…the prompt is Couplets. My first time writing one of these. To read more about it, to see other entries or to participate go here

Magic

In the black of night
I step out onto the porch, no light…

Stars are bright, moon’s out
adding to the magic of the night

Wonder how many others are
are finding this night just right

Counting stars enhances the magic of the night

Pat R

3/23/20

Tonight over at dVerse Poets Pub Linda is hosting Monday Quadrille (a 44 word poem invented at dVerse) and the prompt word is “Magic”. So stop by to read or to participate go here.

 

 

“I Love You”s

She is not one to say it often. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe she doesn’t know how, never learned how. Maybe she’s just not good at it.

My mom has been on her own, for the most part since she was thirteen. Her mom died one morning as she was readying her daughters for school.
I’m thinking since then, she has had issues with god / creator for letting such a catastrope befall her and her younger sister.

Some things trickle down, whether it was meant to or not.

I am no good at love. Most times leave me feeling like a lunatic, if not acting like one.

But, I keep an open heart. Even so, “I don’t know why I was surprised every time love started or ended.” I guess in a cock-eyed sorta of way, I believe in love.

Pat R

3/17/20

Over at dVerse Poets Pub the prompt is to write prose (keeping it tight at no more than 144 words) and to include the line below:-
“I don’t know why I was surprised every time love started or ended.”

https://dversepoets.com/2020/03/16/prosery-surprised-or-not/

Spring Quadrille

As I look out at the garden, browns look back at me. Baby leaves everywhere are not yet big enough to hide the strewn of winter. The dry grass stir in the breeze.

twittering song 

born of lively worm hunt, and worm moon

Pat R

3/09/20 

For Quadrille Mondays (a 44 word poem invented at dVerse Poets Pub) where the prompt words is “Stir” 

&

Eugi’s Weekly Poetry Challenge where the prompt is “Song”

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Frank Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge where the prompt is ” Super (Worm) Moon” 

Conversations

She came to visit on a peaceful saturday evening. Meandering conversations about everyday things, morphed into events of childhood and upbringing.

The traumas and dramas, the love and conflicts. Families and their decisions made out of love, that is truly misunderstood by the young minds they were meant to  shield.
 
Then came reflections on this life changing sorrow. There are moments caught between heart-beats, that goes the way of time. There is no changing it. There is no revisiting it And its one true quality is that it is everlasting.

This was one of those moments. After the revelation it just hung in the air.

a mother’s grief –
in remembrance
through decades, she kept
the last T-shirt he wore,
bullet hole intact

Pat R

2/16/20

For dVerse Poets Pub where Kim is hosting and the phrase to be incorporated in the response is
” There are moments caught between heart-beats”

Nearly Spring

This winter felt like a misnomer for most of the time. It has been marked with extraordinarily picturesque skies. Everytime I turned my camera skyward there was that little voice. Nature reminding me that at the very heart of such beauty, may be global warming.

As spring creeps in, I keep waiting for the charm of a proper snowfall. This unseasonably warm winter  seem to have fooled no one but me. The young leaves of the butterfly bush takes a stand. They look sturdy and healthy. They’re not going anywhere, despite their encounter with a transient snowfall. They’ve suffered no harm.

spring comes alive
plant pots at the garden’s edge
wore winter like clutter

Pat R

2/03/2020

Dverse Poets Pub where Frank Tassone is hosting Haibun Monday and the prompt is “Spring”

For Ronovan Writes Haiku where the prompt words are “Charm & Harm”

For Eugenia’s Challenge where the prompt word is “Alive”