Shared with Poets and Storytellers United – October. Looks like I kinda wrote another autumn/seasonal poem!
October’s Monologue – 12th October 2025
A woodsmoky voice and an air of damp earth,
Breakthrough – 11th October 2025
mind wandering
down the road
surrounded
by boredom
the crossroads
a hazy mirage
in the distance
breaking through
to find
the rainbow’s end
on this road
the same road
connections
will synchronise
the crossroads, mind wandering, in the distance, breaking through, a hazy mirage, down the road, the rainbow’s end, by boredom, on this road, surrounded, to find, connections, the same road, will synchronise
a hazy mirage, will synchronise, connections, down the road, the rainbow’s end, mind wandering, in the distance, breaking through, the same road, by boredom, the crossroads, surrounded, on this road, to find
breaking through, on this road, the same road, a hazy mirage, in the distance, by boredom, mind wandering, surrounded, the crossroads, down the road, will synchronise, connections, to find, the rainbow’s end
I wrote this poem in a small space in a notebook and could see that many of the lines still worked together, mixed around, so that’s what I did, perhaps ending up with four poems, though I liked to reiterate the point of looking further on down the road.
Through The Nine Circles – 10th October 2025
Written for the NaPoWriMo day 13 prompt (from back in April):
Donald Justice invented a form that has six-line stanzas that use lines of twelve syllables, and while they don’t use rhyme, they repeat end words. Specifically, the second and fourth lines of each stanza repeat an end-word or syllable; the fifth and sixth lines also repeat their end-word or syllable.
This poem uses for inspiration and some paraphrasing of a piece, Penumbra, by Sunra Rainz here, along with some key lines from other poems
1 – from Elongated Ellipsis by Sanaa
2 – from Be Careful Who You S(c)hpritz by Dwight Roth
3 – from Penumbra by Sunra Rainz
4 – from What the Rain Brings by Ariel Kings
Shared with dVerse OLN #393
A small town thinker where days arrive dressed as debts1;
drowning in the shallow end of dirty waters
and he who chases two rabbits catches neither;
it’s been this way since we arose from those waters;
Letting your words fly loosely, they never come back2,
spinning out on a spider’s web from front to back.
But within lies an unmuttering of whispers3,
embalmed and buried until called for by demons;
they’ve paid the rent and brought a suitcase of gloom4,
unbalanced, unsure if they’re angels or demons;
The shadow self whoops its way under softer skin,
The bottom of the bottle rendering the skin.
Deader longer than anyone can remember
secrets are no longer kept so close to the heart;
new worlds will be sung alive by an old guitar
and a choir of old vultures pecking at the heart;
The waters rise again, to which we must return;
When they recede once more, we shall never return.
October Again – 9th October 2025
You keep on coming back for more
Every year, the change is the same
I shouldn’t be keeping the score
There are no winners, it’s no game
Every time you keep coming back
Has started meaning less and less
And as my skin begins to slack
I’ve stopped caring, I must confess
I’m still wishing for more returns
Even if they’re filled with dread
To just keep on is what one learns
Cos it’s better than being dead
Shared with dVerse – Poetics: October
Dead Horse – 8th October 2025
It’s not up for debate;
incoherent ramblings of a clown.
A so-called head of state
is slowly being shut down.
Among all the heckling and hissing,
he realised he was gonna lose.
He was always moaning and pissing
until exiting the stage to boos.
Shared with dVerse Quadrille #233 – boo
Petition Your Saints – 7th October 2025
All the world a stage for dead actors
their curtains drawn tight
this unearthly fraternity soon factors
once stepped into the light
illuminating with a deeper meaning
to raise a roar transcendent
so petition your saints, convening
a spectacle, exquisite and resplendent.
Inspired and paraphrased by this Red Hand File
Stone The Crows – 6th October 2025
Save your scratch in a small vase
Paris, they say, is better in pairs
Arcs of triumph encircled by cars
Scare the children, and no one cares
State your case to the makers of taste
The eyes on you and me, they see
Heats the spring into summer’s haste
Ate alfresco with a steeping tea
Cider salted by the tears we cried
Peach perfume bought on the cheap
Tired of all the cobbled streets tried
Peek at all these secrets to keep
Rat rummaged garbage made art
Night is made of stuff and thing
Earth must reveal its true heart
Sign the road along where angels sing
Atoms burn bridges over the moats
Stone the crows, we’re taking notes
Written for prompt #7 at the Chimeric Poetry Scavenger Hunt:
An (extended) shadow sonnet, where the shadow words are anagrammatical (because, why make it easy?)! This took a long time, even with help from AI to find the anagrams that may also rhyme. This is also why it is extended, as I couldn’t figure out what to trim after all that effort. Did my ideas translate well enough through all the restrictions?
No Autumn – 5th October 2025
It’s mostly hot and wet
without autumn or spring.
A pumpkin here growing
is no autumnal thing.
A seed spat on the ground
at any time may bring,
A wealth of food and blooms
under the hammock’s swing.
OK, I did it! An autumn poem. Of sorts.
For The Love Of Gods – 4th October 2025
Eros
Passionate desire
A longing fire
Philia
Loyalty, trust
Respect: a must
Storge
Familiar foundations
Comfortable bonded relations
Agape
Grace unconditional
Compassion by principle
Ludus
Playful flirtation
Light dance relation
Pragma
Invested practicality
Commitment and compatibility
Philautia
Understanding self-care
Balanced and fair
Mania
Tormented obsession
Jealous dependent possession
Shared with W3 prompt #179:
Write 5 separate Hay(na)ku poems, each about a different aspect of love, including but not limited to:
Romantic love, familial love, self-love, unrequited love, enduring/timeless love.
Each poem should stand alone but together create a layered meditation on love.
After reading through others’ entries for this prompt, I was inspired to give it another try, particularly after learning more about the Greek Gods of love. Above is the new entry, below the original (titled Curriculum).
~~~
initiation
matures, understanding
flourishing above beasts
~~~
comforted
unconditional inspiration
release and return
~~~
within
mind open
education, experience, esteem
~~~
unanswered
time expands
changes one’s perspective
~~~
beyond
last orders
through all seasons
~~~
Eros
Passionate desire
A longing fire
Philia
Loyalty, trust
Respect: a must
Storge
Familiar foundations
Comfortable bonded relations
Agape
Grace unconditional
Compassion by principle
Ludus
Playful flirtation
Light dance relation
Pragma
Invested practicality
Commitment and compatibility
Philautia
Understanding self-care
Balanced and fair
Mania
Tormented obsession
Jealous dependent possession
Safe Word – 3rd October 2025
Cheekily shared with dVerse – Tuesday Poetics. Always considering a different angle on a prompt, my mind took me to a place that I’ve only heard about (honest, guv!), guided by the Cambridge Dictionary entry for ‘paddle’, which gave me ‘We provide a variety of toys, such as floggers, paddles, cuffs, and ropes.’ I didn’t really get a ‘song’ into the poem but the sounds are clear and obvious.
1994ever 