maleficent (I)

23 Apr 2019 12 Comments

by lynn__ in enjambment, free verse Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

no sleeping beauty, she’s an
(un)fairy, frightful villainess
come back in black; horned,
winged, pale with hungering

what do you offer to appease?
appeal? tease? or try to deal?
a cupcake?! O, she’s no mousy
muffin that you’d be stuffin’!

whip up a delicacy for those
cynical red lips, a mouth that
purses when speaking curses;
bake over coals of tongued fire,
in thick forest of thorny briar

rich, dark chocolate cake–it’s
devil’s food; a true-love’s kiss
baked inside, laced with poison;
white-frosted, too-sweet icing

serve at dawn as darkness dies

 

Linking to TS Poetry where Callie invites us to make cupcakes for a fairy tale character! Also linking to dVerse Poets where today we re-visit legends with Anmol.

old barn door

11 May 2016 16 Comments

by lynn__ in enjambment, free verse Tags: , , ,

Lillian is opening the doors of the poets’ pub at dVerse…join us!

IMG_1026

 

hip-roofed, wood frame barn
built in nineteen thirty-six
(the year scrawled on wall)
proudly presides over all on
Iowa farmyard/homestead

split-door is half invitation
to go ahead, peek inside;
smell leftover manure,
hay, veterinary medicinals
for former/current residents

lift latch-hook, swing open
duck, step over threshold;
lean against rough y-post,
finger a knotted bale twine
and feel cobwebs brush face

listen for echoes, stories of
past and present agriculture:
work horse munching oats
piglets nuzzle as sow grunts
new kittens mew, mama purrs

beady-eyed boss hen clucks
proudly in her nest-box row,
rusty elevator squeaks as
crew moves/stacks straw,
voices of boys play in loft

close door quick, keep calf in!

not home yet lament

29 Nov 2015 4 Comments

by lynn__ in enjambment, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

 

Weep, cry, wail, mourn, grieve

 

for refugees coming

across rough seas

on an over-crowded

raft or the immigrants

risking midnight run

through wild desert

 

all young sex slaves

and child brides who

grow up/old too fast

on twisted un-love of

a childhood missed,

an innocence lost

 

the wives who feel

un-cherished or the

husbands who are

under-appreciated

and senior citizens

who go unnoticed

 

the friends, family

who suffer alongside

those held hostage

by mental illness or

cancer’s grip or HIV

no good end in sight

 

for unborn babies

denied of person-

hood and a life, seen

as inconvenience and

an inter-ruption with

no voice or sanctuary

 

all victims of terror-ism

by wrong religion or

wrong politics or being

simply in wrong place

at the wrong time in a

wrong-headed world,

 

sick from sin, weary of the wait, longing for home.

the accident

06 Nov 2015 21 Comments

by lynn__ in enjambment, free verse, story Tags: , ,

Linking to De’s prompt at dVerse on enjambment…

(Enjambment occurs when a phrase carries over a line-break without a major pause)

If i remember right,

his grandfather told

story of when

they were filling

barn loft with

hay crop of

rectangular bales in

clutches of six, hung

from clawed

bale hook swung

from hay wagon up, up, up

in-to

loft’s massive open

door,

slide creeeaking toward back of

loft and released with a

jerkkk

when close to position of men stacking

bales (by hand) inside barn.

Metal framed hooks hung from

pulley on cable while entire

mechanism was

operated by horse power;  this day’s

chosen

 beast of burden was

neighbor’s loyal work horse, well-trained to

obey master’s voice commands.

They had un-loaded

a few clutches of hay bales when some-

thing terrible,  when some-

thing went terribly

wrong…

The horse, wearing blinders,

un-expectedly sidestepped, shying

in fear from un-certain threat, whether

dog barked,  kitten scampered, or

barn swallow

swooped,

that horse jumped off path, over low curb of wide

shallow well, covered by light lumber;

the now terrified animal’s weight

broke through

boards…

men watched helplessly as it

f

e

l

l

down  into

the  w

e

l

l

and drowned.