Better than I am

Red lights at the distance flickers smoky flame  
I inhale deeply - sunset's hues - dying flame   

I swallow my pills & the last of my drink 
as music echoes, I drift, waning flame      

Moonlight gleams on my ordinary face 
Anxieties mothballing, snaring flame 

I might look better if you dim down lights
To candle tap, softer flowering flame 

There are nights I despair, fretting in shame
But you give me hope, fierce as warrior's flame

My dreams bring me wading out to the sea   
Weaving a storm, my hands are birthing flames  

You gaze at me with grace & breathless awe 
Here I am, better than I am - divining flames   




Posted for Dverse Poets Pub - Poetry form - Ghazal, hosted by Gay Cannon.  This poetry form will be discussed in detail when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.    This form follows the traditional ghazal (an edited version) and I will attempt to write a contemporary one in the coming days.  Mr. Linky is open for 1 month.   

cake

i watch rain clouds roil the sky
then knead & butter the soil  

birds and small creatures honey- 
comb & sword-peck on seeds, grains

it's a feast-
specially the cake's throne topper-

spring maiden rules
dotting dandelions, daffodils, daisies

i soup & eat 
slowly, richly 

Dandelions by Grace@EverydayAmazing

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille, hosted by Kim Russell.  This is a 44 word post  with the chosen word, RICH.  See you when the pub doors open for poetry reading at 3pm EST.   

distance is relative & love is everything

I squint
but I cannot see the light 
year travelling at speed of 
186,000 miles per second or 
about 5,880,000,000,000 miles!

It boggles my mind that between falling 
cherry blossoms
a galaxy is revolving
a cluster of white stars are born
a supernova explodes
and nothing escapes the black hole

Against the heavenly sky
We are only stardust 

Yet, in our own world
we are stewards of this enormous 
blue planet

If we will do our job well as kingmaker
it is possible  
a bird nesting site is saved 
a river roaring back to life 
a forest rising from destruction


My eyes are myopic
I don't want to miss the hues of vanishing 
sunlight, the folded wings of 
butterfly, smile of innocent child

I put too much meaning 
on an empty cocoon
broken feather on ground

and the miracle - watching that dew-
drop
on a blooming tiger 
lilies 



Posted for dVerse Poets, OpenLinkNight -  This is a late post for poetics of Theory of Everything and Anything - hosted by Merril Smith.   Come and join us for OpenLinkNight, when the pub doors open for poetry reading at 3pm EST.

Elemental

Within me, new moon rises
with horns and head of the bull

That I am stubborn yes
But my late father says it is my strength

When journeys are darkly stark
I dig in, plowing & building lamp posts  

I am metal
Strong, steady as a bedrock

A home, with my nest egg  
pleases me.   At my core, heart of 

dragon's mother when the 2nd child 
was born in year of blue-green dragon 

I see Luck in my palms, 
specially during Autumn season

Venus rules me
Pining for deep kisses

Sensual as blood red flower
nectared by bees

And stitching contentment
with my love, scents of memory

delicate as white gold threads 
and sounds of violin strings at night  

Though gravity ties me to earthly concerns
I harbor words luminous by water's reflection

Painting images kited by air, I offer
not emeralds, but peace & kindness to friends

And if my Luck holds
My actions will be blessed by Full Flower moon 

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics - In My Elements, hosted by Amaya.  Sharing a bit of myself using Chinese astrology, dominant elements and horoscope.  Please join us when the pub door opens at 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visit.

the time of blossoming

wrapped in shawl of green
inside me white queen
waiting
in shadows to glean
slate of rain - its sheen
blazing
bare earth - velveteen
the trees pink wild - scene

of ardor, i lean
where red, blue birds preen
shaking 
feathers -  so serene
spring sun slips between
waking
inside me, white queen
wrapped in shawl of green

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Lai and Lai Nouveau - Poetry form, hosted by Frank Hubeny.   Pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Poetry form is Lai Nouveau.    

an army rises

stir my senses

afire, I'm your presence

reinvigorated

unsettle my tongue

for taste of spring tide-

above raspberry brambles

  

with curled tendrils, I lift

my palms up

to stairways and turrets 

of your sky, 

where you

brightest of light & giver

of seeds,  

calls

Spring@Grace

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille hosted by De Jackson.   This is a 44 word post with the given word:   UP.   I also love that movie, UP.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visit.  

One spring day

morning mist  
bridal veils of white   
rain hymns on my cheeks

skirt me emerald green
with thumbs so new
dewdrops slip from my crown-

robe me blue
deep shade of lake
pregnant with reverence

slipper this path-
dash of yellow tulips & whiff of
pink magnolias

and I'll spin
in the jar:
birdsongs, cotton stars
and sun-roasted spice

                                               Blue-eyed wild flower, Riverwood


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- OpenLinkNight, Hosted by Lillian Hallberg. Join us with a poem when the pub doors open at 3pm.  Thanks for the visit.

in the eye of the storm

fire is gone from your

     eyes

you, caught in tangle of fallen

     spires

have lost your sparkle, twinkle
  
    and stamina 

i don't want to know

    more than I need to

Inside, I'm also speared  

   shell in limbo

i 'm trying to find our ocean, 

    but the netting is heavy rope

in the flickering candle-

    light




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Theme is Limbo, by guest blogger M.   It is also 55 words, in honor of the late G-Man.   Thanks for the visit.

Picnic, Then & Now

That first year that our family arrived in Ontario, we were thrilled to picnic along with some friends during the summer and autumn months.  We excitedly visited parks and lakes for a taste of fresh air, sun and maple trees.   Four or five families would decide what to bring (lots of food and plastic ware) and then we will meet in the park with our young children.   It was fun grilling meat on barbeque pit, feasting on fresh fruits and vegetables, and most specially catching up on each other's lives.   The children played ball, and chased the birds and squirrels.  

How times have changed over the years.   We find packing and preparing food for the picnic now tiresome.  Since our grown up children don't join us, it is just my hubby and I hiking and eating our Subway sandwiches in the nearby park.  The lighter our load, the more enjoyable our walks.   We still reconnect with our friends by going to someone else's house and dine in the outside patio with catered food.   It is not the place that matters now, but the bond of friendship that we most treasure.    

two geese fly eastward
as April clouds blanket sky-
tulips budding - joy -


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub -  Haibun Monday - That Picnic- with Gina as our lovely host.  Our theme for this week’s haibun is picnic!  Share with us a memory (good or bad or funny from a picnic – your haibun must not be fictional but a real experience!

the (un-fairy) bartender listens to

Prince Henry, glass-eyed
with fetish for feet
-dainty-
but his search for bride
is futile, his pride
plainly  
lost, his friends would snide
He's love-struck moon-dyed
daisy!


Cinderella, she
is happy as bee
tipsy
as skipper on spree-
she crated to sea 
whimsy
dreams - Prince Charming - he -
a past, her soul - free 
gypsy


Stepsister, coiffed stiff
grumpy - date with quiff
missing
She's Insta-belle, biff
with her is death gif
Listen
No balls, just a spiff
on Tinder, star-swish
fishing


(Note:  daisy- urban definition:  to be lame and act in a grandma like fashion) Posted for dVerse Poetry Form:  Lai and Lai Nouveau.  
Also late post for dVerse Poetics: Myths and Legends, hosted by Anmol.  

Poetic form is Lai.   This is our next poetry form, including Lai Nouveau, which I will be hosting.

This basic form Lai,comprises of a five syllabled couplet followed by a two syllable line. The number of lines in each stanza is fixed at nine and the couplets must rhyme with each other, as the two syllable lines must also rhyme. In English this line is probably the most difficult part of the poem.

The Lai is a very old French form and tradition states that the short line must not be indented, it must be left dressed to the poem. This is known as Arbre Fourchu (Forked Tree) there is a pattern meant to be set up as a tree.

The number of lines in each stanza is fixed at nine. The number of stanzas is not fixed and each stanza has its own rhyme pattern. The rhyme pattern is... a. a. b. a. a. b. a. a. b.