226

[scarlet pimpernel flowers from google dot com]

WILD AND FREE
Those were the days, yes, when heads rolled
Like sliced bread, on buttered ways;
For Madame Guillotine, quite sharp was she,
A pampered princess, could, headless peasant
Tomorrow be.

But a market cart driven by a hag, may just
Be Chauvelin's snag, for wildflowers, the colour
Of blood, blossomed free and wild
Insignificant, the scarlet pimpernel
Along the country sides

Yet, hearts swooned where a love story gleaned
For Sir Percy and his fair Marguerite.
WILD AND FREE © gillena cox 2016



"They seek him here,
they seek him there,
those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That damned elusive Pimpernel."[ The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emma Orczy 1865 – 1947]

Written for
The Challenge by Sanaa:
On Popular Demand – – When armed with the license to Quote – [13]


AND

The Challenge by Magaly:
Plant A Poem Within A Tale
– Dark Poetry for the Cruellest Month, 2016 (Day 22)

Monday WRites 55

[BIRD SONGS in Asheba's back yard
in Trinidad from YouTube]


WHERE FROM
From the excitement of twittering beaks,
These bird songs telling, telling of skies,
Skies given in transition to feature shades,
Shades of grey, whittling into silvery salmons,
Tints of unbelievable yellows and pale pale blues

From the other whorl of dreams and fantasy,
Fantasy, believers craft in make-believe worlds,
To challenges senses, to look deeply into self,
For where else, does creation bud but within

Up from this place of erstwhile rest,
I came into today, tapping keys,
Keys black, on a silver keyboard, simply saying,
Saying, the morning which feathered friends
Declared; really is today.
WHERE FROM © 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 #55, ❧✿❧ My morning mood today, inspired me to write and link to The Imaginary Garden With Real Toads❧✿❧ 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 />

Written for Susie Clevenger's prompt
Real Toads ~ Where Do I Come From?

HER CHALLENGE: Today's challenge is to write about ~ Where do I come from? You can write about ancestry, place, environment, time. event...endless possibilities. Just pick a place in the story of you and take us there.
❧✿❧

224

[image from google dot com]


TILL IT BE MORROW
First Voice
Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow [William Shakespeare]


Second Voice
You leave us your music
You take with you your smile

Good night then and adieu

Colours of the rainbow curved
Into your every harmonious vibe

Oh but such sweet sorrow just for a short while

Some say music will never die
It ever is just absorbed into ether

Let eternity hold yon Prince onward till
TILL IT BE MORROW © gillena cox 2016

written for Kerry's prompt

Kerry Says ~ Let's Tip Our Hats to the Bard
Challenge: ...to approach the topic of "things Shakespearean" in a different way. Our world is a very different place to the one he inhabited, and many would question the relevance of Shakespeare's work today. If you could save only one piece of his body of work - one name, one line, one title, one sonnet, one play - which would it be?

223

[a google dot com image]

SO I CAN DANCE
fashion me a coat of song
let’s dance to the beat of weekend’s light
let’s dance
let’s dance
beat
beat
of weekend’s light

so come on yur all
fashion me a coat of song
happy or sad
today we dance
dance
dance

in weekend’s light
between the trees
lets plant new seeds
to sprout
soca
rumba
salsa
cha cha cha
SO I CAN DANCE© gillena cox 2016



HAPPY EARTH DAY TO EVERYONE ON PLANET EARTH
I'm excited to be the prompter today at The Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, visit to read all the responses.
fashion me your words ~ so i can dance

also you can revisit


#
#RIP - #PRINCE
Surely the World of music lovers is saddened by the passing of Prince Rogers Nelson, yesterday
[Prince factoid from Wikipedia]
...known by the mononym Prince, he was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor.
Born: June 7, 1958, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Died: April 21, 2016, Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States
Spouse: Manuela Testolini (m. 2001–2006), Mayte Garcia (m. 1996–2000)

222

[image from google dot com]


LOOK! AN ELEPHANT
His skin so rough,
Or was it her skin, so
Tough; big and gentle looking
With doleful eyes expressing,
The journeys of a circus;
Such is life -
Pages written in with ink of expressing;
A performance becomes a rite of passage
Within reach and within bounds
Of caution;
Sitting up there in the stands
You look, and you gawk,
You leave the circus,
And tear up your ticket,
The keepsake is fresh new understandings,
Becoming memories etched.
LOOK! AN ELEPHANT © gillena cox 2016

Written for Fireblossom Friday: An Elephantine Challenge

221

[image from google dot com]


LOVE SPELL
You tease, where i thought you would
Appease, my every unmeasured sense;
Waves, approaching in torrents; I stood
At the shoreline, carrying a stick of incense.

Those murmurings, a love spell,
The ocean dared chant in mantric charm;
I pluck it out of the sands, a seashell;
Trap the genie of passion, do him no harm.

Your calm surface, to smooth the command
Of wishes, yet unspoken; for before me and
At my whim, your chicane now shall be;
Oh Love, I, shall conquer thee.
LOVE SPELL © gillena cox 2013 [ first posted at Poemhunter dot com]

Blog hopping today at The Tuesday Platform

Monday WRites 54

[image courtesy imaginary garden]


READING UNDER A CLOUDSCAPE WITH DAY MOON
Page after page, activity and characters appear
Taking two dimensional form in mind invisible

A cup of tea, brewed right from a tea bag
There is no strain of creativity in such actions

Just a sense of knowing from remembering
What each sip warrants the maker's hands

But a sky chock full of puffy white clouds
Surrounding a day moon there in ambush

That's a surprise for a clear evening
Apparent just for a very few minutes
READING UNDER A CLOUDSCAPE WITH DAY MOON © 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 #54, ❧✿❧ Todays write is linked to The Imaginary garden with real toads❧✿❧ 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 />

Written for Brendan's prompt
Turns of the Tale: Poetic Surprise

THE CHALLENGE: Discover something new by revisiting a favorite theme of yours from a different perspective.
❧✿❧
HARM AND BOON IN THE MEETINGS:by Jack Gilbert
We think the fire eats the wood.
We are wrong. The wood reaches out
to the flame. The fire licks at
what the wood harbors, and the wood
gives itself away to that intimacy,
the manner in which we and the world
meet each new day. Harm and boon
in the meetings. As heart meets what
is not heart, the way the spirit
encounters the flesh and the mouth meets
the foreignness in another mouth. We stand
looking at the ruin of our garden
in the early dark of November, hearing crows
go over while the first snow shines coldly
everywhere. Grief makes the heart
apparent as much as sudden happiness can.[courtesy the imaginary garden]

219

[image Columbus Inspired from Wikipedia]


WHEN THREE SHIPS SAILED
In ships three
Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña
They set out to sea

They sailed and sailed
But mutiny stung his men's heart
“ Give me my men but three days"

This was his voyage three
Lo! ahoy! he saw the peaks three
And named the landmass La Trinity

Some say he governed with greed
And his rule was one of tyranny
The Columbus brothers three

Christopher, Bartolomé, and Diego
Returns to Spain from voyage three
Reward to chains of imprisonment

Freed eventually and rewarded
Were the Columbus brothers three
This is a small tale

In lines of three presented
Three cheers for
The island of Trinidad
WHEN THREE SHIPS SAILED © gillena cox 2016

Written For Hedgewitch's prompt
Poetry To The Third Power

The Challenge:The idea of three can appear in any form and in any association in your poem: three objects, as in the floating heads shown in the painting by Odilon Redon below, three places, events, people, states of mind, directions, colors, or whatever, as long as you incorporate the number as a meaningful element of your piece.

218

[empty tomb - image from google dot com]


AWE OF RUINS
Days remaining, shadowed in doubtful failing light
Light regarding, shone on past to present line
Line curving, pointed in one dimensional vision
Vision slipping, honed of voices hushed to silence
Silence remaining, spoke of trust to harvest futures
Futures sustaining, carved of words good in hope
Hope retaining, bounded by fists refusing to open
Open cajoling, chanted thus the refrain of "sesame"
Sesame hearing, emptied a cave in morning sunlight
Sunlight blinding, chimed an end - beginning days
AWE OF RUINS © gillena cox 2016

Written for
In The Remains of This Month (April!)

The Challenge by Outlawer: this 16th day of this crazy month of April write something that stems from this word--remains, remaining, remainder-- and I post pictures of sculptures I have taken or pieces that seem to me to be remains of some kind. (Feel free to do an ekphrastic poem and certainly to use your own pictures.)

AND

The Challenge by Sanaa:
On Popular Demand – Pour me drops of glorious sunshine [4]


AND

The Challenge by Magaly
Of Peculiar Fun and Me – Dark Poetry for the Cruellest Month, 2016 (Day 7)

217

[a google dot com image]


THE REASON BEING
Crunch colour and lace
Who sets the pace

Just because, angels respond
Not every sylph will be blonde

Falling lilacs when they carpet
dull spaces in their contacts

Break the spell of doldrums
Even now Spring time comes
THE REASON BEING © gillena cox 2016


Revisit to read
Angels
Crunch colour and lace
Falling Lilacs

Written for Magaly's prompt
A Poem of Our Own

The Challange: to create poetry into which we weave the titles of 3 of our own poems.

AND

Prompt Nights – Spring is the time of land’s awakening [11]

216

[anteater: a google dot com image]


SOMEWHAT SILLY
Do anteaters eat aunts?
What a wildlife to live!
And of uncles, would they flaunt
A tongue so fickle, as to give,
Riddles to every question asked?

Chased by the pride of lions

Truly, i'd rather be an aardvark
Running fast and burrowing deep;
So grandma can sing me to sleep.
SOMEWHAT SILLY © gillena cox 2016


Written for Kerry's prompt
Get Listed! ~ The Compound Word Edition

The challenge: to use compound words in constructive and imaginative ways:a minimum of three words to include in your poem of the day.

AND

Day 3: Idiots Herding the Blind 4/6

215

[image courtesy the imaginary garden]


HAS IT SPROUTED YET
never again to traverse the hill
nor the dales dear Panza
for broken jaws and wasted spears
if not by maidens be despised

forlorn this pinwheel spins a tale
such were the jasmines we planted
where giants we accosted
by folks windmills they were cursed
have they sprouted dear Panza
HAS IT SPROUTED YET © gillena cox 2016

Written for
Flash 55 PLUS!


AND

214

[a google dot com image]


SECURE
Shield me fold upon fold
Tight as a bud, secure in
The prime of moon's swooning

Let the freshness of morning,
Jewel me dewdrops, to awaken
My desire, for cloud filled skies;

Oh harness the songs of birds
Twittering for another dawn
Of dreams that poets may pen

To say nay, to look away,
Surely you jest, for i wither,
I wilt, without morning light
SECURE © gillena cox 2016


Written for
Prompt Nights – Sûrement vous plaisantez – Surely you jest [10]