257

[teapot image from google dot com]

TEA AND QUIRKY
we morph the way of cell phones
with this app and that
we list our various ring tones
wearing our collector's hat

hat app cat snap

our selfies take to feelings unwell
oh viral this oh viral that
over miles of cloudscapes to dwell
a new Narcissus brat

brat virus fat iris
TEA AND QUIRKY © gillena cox 2016


I set out to respond to 2. The Way of Tea: create a poem based on a quote by Sen No Rikyu, poet and tea aficionado
BUT it may also work for 3. Kerry’s Wednesday Challenge ~ Gods in Nature:
Written for Magaly's prompt today with 3 listed options
play it again toads

256

[image courtesy 'the imaginary garden']

BATTY MAMSELLE
I come from dasheen planted in the backyard,
Callaloo bush cleaned on Saturday
To cook Callaloo on Sunday,
A few sugar cane stalks
Like thin jointed ladders, shooting up arrows
To catch the sunlight, to make life sweeter

I come from chennet tree and mango tree,
Which girls were forbidden to climb, back then;
Lest they make the fruit sour

And the clothes line,
Sometimes caught up in the tree branches,
If the tree was not trimmed
And the batty mamselle would
Come to rest on the clothes line,
With sunlight glinting transparent wings
Before they fly,
Where to? who knows?
© gillena cox 2016


If you enjoyed 'Batty Mamselle' you may also like 'Sunday Callaloo'


Glossary

#Callaloo bush - leaves of the dasheen
#batty mamselle - the name Trini folks call the dragonfly; also used to describe a sassy woman

#arrows - the Sugarcane inflorescence
#back then - Old folks said if girls climbed trees the fruits became sour

Written for Hannah's prompt
Transforming with Nature's Wonders


AND Sanaa's Prompt Nights

On Popular Demand – The Hidden Realm – [7]



Don't leave before listening to Trinidadian Calypsonian Lord Kitchener(1922 – 2000) Batty Mamselle

255

[image from google dot com]

SUFFRAGE
Pins and needles, hat box glove
She speaks her language, as she knows how
But give her the right, her finger to stain
A much better balance now sustains
SUFFRAGE © gillena cox 2016


Written for
Midweek Motif ~ Suffrage, the right to vote

Monday WRites 66

[image from google dot com]


A PECKING AT MY WINDOW PANE
A bird fluttered by my window pane
I swear confusion was his game
His beak poor he banged
Whilst no song he sang
And then in frustration was off again
A PECKING AT MY WINDOW PANE © gillena cox 2016

❧✿❧



You've heard about the Monday Blues ❧✿❧ well this is Monday WRites (musing on the definition here of rite, as any customary observance or practice eg the rite of afternoon tea).
Welcome to Monday WRites #66, ❧✿❧ Whats your mood like today ❧✿❧ I invite you to link in with one of your WRites




GRAB MY BUTTON
<br /> <a href="http://myblog-verses.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0C9WPzL5kFEY1gEitLn4bC5inZjfq2beowWitvrD3zLruIRMxxj1RyrHw6Xcd6SlmEASrTd6rLFn4mfF8D8XC5Mz4ASE8iblAAmc3uaKNuHtYgvzIWajyH64D6kzlwugaU8wP610yKLRq/s320/button2Monday+WRites.jpg" alt="verses" /></a><br />


AND
The Tuesday Platform


❧✿❧

253

This is a 1993 photo ( me in a hand-printed batik outfit) taken in the St Georges Grenada, market. Two places i always would go when i visited Grenada, were Grand Anse Beach and The Market in St Georges. The energy in the market is vivid and alluring and as a tourist, the prices were always special, not higher , lower for the island spices which i luv. I always bought my mother a swizzle stick, which they make from a tree folks call Swizzle Stick Tree(don't know if that is the scientific name for the tree)

cinnamon and clove
to this new millenium -
their scents follow me
© gillena cox 2016


.......



['Blue Calm Painting by Caroline Philp ' from google dot com]

It was from a little brook
To ponder this pebble I took
Smooth as glass
A wee tiny mass
That so many others forsook
© gillena cox 2016


written for
Weekend Mini Challenge - In the Market for Poems

AND

Sunday's mini Challenge Shallows, deeply
---

252

[image from google dot com]

MAKING NURSERY RHYMES [1] ABSENCE
She coughs into the silence
Does anyone hear
Neither mouse nor roach
To cuddle her near

Her kitchen she had cleaned
With soap and gleam
Her memories in mobiles
Dangle from a beam
MAKING NURSERY RHYMES [1] ABSENCE © gillena cox 2016

Written for Sumana's prompt
Midweek Motif ~ Absence

251

['White Tango' image from google dot com]

TWO HEARTS BEAT
The moon dripped nectar, and stars sipped the night, and we danced.
We danced into our future, where the dance never stops.
I remember our song, tapping on our shoulders, saying.
Hey I'm yours. Cherish me, autograph me, preserve me.
For I know your hearts carry a space where I fit
Snugly.
That night, the moon dripped nectar, and stars sipped the night, and we danced.
We danced into our future, tripping the path of every thing lasting.
Sprinkling stardust.
Leaving a trail of follow the melody.
Come catch this moon as she rides the night on crotchets and quavers to where words weave
Magic.
I hear the music.
The words are now a whisper, clear as rising dawn
Soft as dew on petals dropped.
Tangy as orange peel in a zesty broth of love stew.
Wafting a steam so enticing, the moon dripped nectar,
and stars sipped the night, and we danced.
We danced into our future
TWO HEARTS BEAT © gillena cox 2016






Written for
Prompt Nights – Dancing is like dreaming with your feet – [21]