poem – Page 4 – Susan Joy Clark

Creative Life, Poetry

Conquering the Dragon(fruit)

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

who

would have

guessed that past

your unfriendly

exterior was

a sweet reward for those

who adventured? who was the

first to make the discovery?

bright and beautiful, your scaly hide

suits the fierce creature for whom you were named,

even the plant which yields you is prickly,

unwelcoming, dangling and serpent-like,

was it a wanderer sick from thirst

who was the first to conquer you?

who knew cactus could produce

a sweet fruit, gorgeous in

fuschia pink color,

with juices that

dye your skin,

purply

red?

This poem was written for the dVerse Poetics challenge. We were challenged to describe a fruit’s exterior and interior in a form of our choosing. I chose a double etheree. Dragonfruit (pitaya) seems to be getting trendy in the U.S., but I have only tried it recently. I bought some frozen cubes of the fruit to use in a fruit punch at Easter, and it did dye my hands with its juice. It seems it can also be white on the interior as well.

Creative Life, Poetry

Eden Stroll, #Tanka Tuesday, #Shadorma

This is for Tanka Tuesday hosted by Colleen M. Chesebro. This week, it’s Poet’s Choice, but Colleen suggested we try magnetic poetry, so I put this poem together on a site called magneticpoetry.com and used the Nature Poetry kit, then took a screen shot of my finished poem. It was interesting working with preselected random words.

Creative Life, Poetry

A Writer’s Life

Curious questions plague my mind,

just when I’m ready to unwind,

These thoughts refuse to let me be,

E’en when the clock says it is three,

Compelling me right out of bed,

To straight to the computer head.

So works curiosity,

Mother of creativity.

This was written for dVerse’s Monday quadrille challenge, using just 44 words, and including some form of the word “curious.”

Creative Life, Poetry

Stillness, #Double Tetractys, #Lucky Dip -Saturday Mix

Photo by Susan Joy Clark, Verona Lake in Verona Park, NJ

Stillness

is calm

and peaceful,

safe and serene,

where there is no fear of flood or high tide.

As David said, “beside the still waters,”

I know my God,

lovingly,

will guide

me.

This was written in a double tetractys format for Lucky Dip — Saturday Mix. According to their page, here is an explanation of the tetractys form.

“Tetractys, a poetic form invented by Ray Stebbing, consists of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also be reversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1

Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

and so on.

‘Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own – Tetractys. The tetractys could be Britain’s answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables.’ – Ray Stebbing”

Creative Life, Everything Entertainment, Music and Musicians, Poetry

Waltzing to Strauss

Floor-sweeping gowns

Gracefully turn.

The orchestra plays

In a romantic way.

A corner of skirt

Held in the hand

Beautifully draping

In splendid display.

The couples twirl

across the floor,

Gliding with elegance

In their limbs.

The music floats

Light as a cloud

As feet tilt and turn

And the dance floor skim.

This is in response to dVerse’s poetry prompt, Meet the bar waltzing. Bjorn, this was an interesting prompt indeed.

Some of you may know that I am a fan of Gershwin, so I thought of this scene from An American in Paris, Gershwin’s tribute to Strauss. The original lyrics (not included in the movie) include a little joke on himself,

“Away with the music of Broadway!
Be off with your Irving Berlin
Oh, I’d give no quarter
To Kern or Cole Porter
And Gershwin keeps pounding on tin.”

And for some actual Strauss and beautiful waltzing …