We Don’t Need Another Poem – 20th January 2025

We don’t need another poem
Out of the holidays, out of the seasons
Don’t make the same mistake again
Rolling seas and moonlight are not reasons
To write another one the same
And I wonder when are we ever gonna change
A prompt repeated ’til nothing else remains

We don’t need another poem
We don’t need the same old metaphors
All we want is life beyond
Another simile that simply bores

I know it’s something we can rely on
But there’s got to be better out there
Love and nature, their day is done
Just another castle built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change
A prompt repeated ’til nothing else remains

We don’t need another poem
We don’t need the same old similes
All we want is life beyond
Another metaphor to simply please

So what do we do with our lives?
We leave only a mark
Will our poem shine like a light
Or end in the dark?
Give it all or nothing

We don’t need another poem
About autumn, Christmas or Halloween
All we want is life beyond
Another set of rhymes already seen

To the tune of We Don’t Need Another Hero. After following a number of poetry prompt blogs for more than 12 months now I found it a little amusing that the same seasonal themes return again.

It’s more an observation than a criticism as I rarely bother to write about seasons specifically, or holidays (especially if they are not relevant to my location). Folks can write about whatever makes them happy. It’s easy to not read something! But I do like to be challenged by the writer to perhaps come at the prompt from a new angle for a change.

26th Sep 2025 – Shared with Poets and Storytellers United – fall

When Incommunicable, Stay This Way – 19th January 2025

Cyanide words in hot Julys
Sticky skin and fireflies
Warm and breezy, pulled outside
Golden hours of calm collide

Sweet and bold youth is claimed
Self-reflections blush ashamed
Come back again once gone astray
Beg the child to stay this way

The war that comes forces change
In adolescence turning strange
The inner child is shutting doors
To light dancing across the floors

To find the love in light tonight
To find the words burning bright
Experiments in consciousness
The honesty earned to confess

To the streets, to the skies
Cyanide words in hot Julys

Inspired and paraphrased by this post at Spinning Visions
19th Feb 2025 – Shared with Moonwashed Weekly Prompt prompted by the word unpretending.

Simples – 16th January 2025

Along the path, a muddy slip
Into the mediocre field
Or to sit under a tree for a bit
Until the bloodied knuckle healed

A bite of the hanging fruits
A nap before pulling on
The still-muddied boots
And trek where travellers belong

Looking for the complicated
Blinded all to common sense
The simple to be contemplated
To ensure the least expense

Inspired by this email from The Stoa Letter
Shared with Moonwashed Weekly Prompt – simplicity

Ascension – 15th January 2025

– Dreams fuelled the fire
– – Sacrifices made to inspire
– – – Hard work satisfies desire
– – – – A ladder to heaven
– – – – – Ascending to the stars
– – – – – – Dreams fuelled the fire
– – – – – No stone remains unturned
– – – – Sacrifices made to inspire
– – – A lesson always learned
– – Hard work satisfies desire
– Reward is duly earned

Shared with dVerse’s Quadrille challenge – lift

A Hold On Power – 14th January 2025

The bow is taut, passion tight
Get a shot off! Get a shot off!
Where will the passion land?
A strategic misdirection

Waiting for sweet release
All possibilities in existence
A strategic misdirection
The essence of a passion tight

Before the shot goes off
A strategic misdirection
Watch your head! Mind your head!
Anticipated release

A strategic misdirection
Whilst the bow is taut
Get a shot off! Watch it fire!
Ready your art for war

Spun out from this quote “When the bow is taut it hasn’t been shot yet but the power is there and you can shoot the bow in many different directions, that is the essence of strategy.” which I probably read at The Stoa newsletter.

World Wonderful – 13th January 2025

Like a skimming stone searching for the shore
Scared of immersion, drowning in life’s maw
Turn and face it, walk towards this escape
Where magic is revealed ready to take shape

Attention paid to break the challenge’s grip
Unveils the awe-inspiring depth of this trip
Suffering settles deeper in a comfy bed
Yet rising shapes the world wonderful instead

Based on a quote by psychiatrist and author, Anna Lembke, on facing life’s challenges head-on.

The Fool You Find – 12th January 2025

It’s Not You

With the brightest smiles
and feined sincerity
that serves you so well
As the bee flits
from candied purple
to butterfly blue
You’re on your way
keeping all that honey
as stored ammunition

It’s Me

The facade crumbled
the honey on my lips
enlightened by my taste
Poison to my senses
the comfort of your nest
no longer warms
I’m on my way
I’ll make space
for the next fool you find

Shared with dVerse – MTB: New and Old in a Palinode and walking away from a friendship.