Wordless Wednesday: Went your just too tired!

One-Liner Wednesday. Life these days.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Elbert Hubbard

Er? Maybe not these days?

This is part of LindaGHill’s One-Liner Wednesday.

#TANKATUESDAY Weekly #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 244 #EKPHRASTIC #PHOTOPROMPT

#TANKATUESDAY. This week it is Ekphrastic Tuesday.

Merril D. Smith selected the image this week. It’s a lithograph and you can read more about it HERE. Remember, we can see what’s in the image, so write your poem using the image as an inspiration. Don’t just describe what you see in the lithograph. Think about metaphor and allegory. Just remember to check what form you’re using. Some of the Japanese forms frown upon the use of metaphors. This challenge explores Ekphrastic writing, inspired by visual art.

I chose to do a Tanka this week, I really love this image, it’s very relivant to the world today .

Image Credit: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/66272

death is so tired
exhausted by the burden.
no one here listens
he turns life’s timers around
drowning us all out of hand.

THIS IS PART OF COLLEEN’S TUESDAY WEEKLY.

Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge 376 DANDY and Lion.

Photo by Daniel Absi on Pexels.com

so fashionable
golden and green this year’s hues.
roaring his presence.

THIS IS PART OF RONOVANWRITE’S WEEKLY HAIKU CHALLENGE.

K.L.Caley’s #writephoto. Folly.

K.L.Caley

Welcome to the weekly #writephoto prompt!

A folly is a building usually constructed strictly for aesthetic pleasure. K.L. thinks this one is a little gem, what do you think?

Merlin has landed Morgana in dangerous situation, is it just folly or a folly too far?

For visually challenged writers, the image shows an almost symmetrical brick folly with gothic style arched doorways at either side.

The Folly – Image by KL Caley

Morgana landed on the grass behind the wall. “Wet bum again!” She thought to herself. Reaching inside her bag she pulled out her instructions and her phone. Her phone was not working, right she thought no mobiles so looks like I am in the past…or maybe the distant future. Her instructions were clear find the folly and the hidden moonstone and then get back quick. Typical Merlin sparse on detail and short on help.

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Nail by neatly manicured nail Morgarna inched her way along the folly wall, counting the bricks as she went. Still fuming about the last few days and Merlin’s lack of care ….except for his car!
Then one brick scuffed her hand it was standing proud…. “Right my little beauty ” Morgana hissed, what have you got instore for me. Carefully she prised the stone out and found a key lying underneath. Taking it out she wiped it on her skirt “Well now you are a bright sparkly thing aren’t you.” Morgan stopped mid sentence as she heard voices approaching.
It was two men, dressed in Edwardian garb and they were busy discussing the dinner at a near by country house that they’d be attending that evening.
Morgana held her breath and waited until they had passed. Then quickly she replaced the brick and slid the key into her bag. Getting her instructions out again she turned the paper over and read, ‘Once you have the key lay low until 7pm by which time it will be dark. The door this key opens is just inside a cave entrance behind the trees to the left of the folly. Then proceed with caution! ‘ “Proceed with caution! Why an exclamation mark” Morgana asked the empty space around her as she lit herself a cigarette , she sat down behind the wall to enjoy her smoke and got a silver flask out of her bag, “Here’s to you Merlin, you shit! ” She said taking a sip , “Mumm, Bacardi and coke, just what the physician called for.”

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It was getting dark and a tad chilly so Morgana was glad to hear a distant bell chiming seven. Carefully she picked up the several dogends she had accumulated and put them in a tin which she threw into her bag. Then retrieving a warm scarf from the same bag and wrapping it around her head and neck she set off towards the cave, key in hand.
When Morgana found the cave the door was easy to spot. It looked as if it was usually well hidden but someone had recently cleared a camouflaged screen away revealing it.
As Morgarna entered the dark passage behind the door she could hear faint music and voices. She took out her torch from her bag and edged her way along the passage, which was cold, uneven and on a steep downward path. The music got louder and soon she could hear chanting and excited groaning. The further she went she could feel warmth, eventually she saw an opening with plenty of light escaping.
Putting her torch out Morgana edged up to the open space. Her eyes widened as she could see a cavern full of people, some dressed in cloaks and hoods and others totally naked. The whole place was lit by flaming torches , in the centre was a huge fire and an alter. Above the alter hung a clear circular stone with markings just like the Moon…. The Moonstone.

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Everyone was totally involved having a great time a real orgy. Merlin, thought Morgarna, you’ve landed me in it again no warning not an inkling….. She was just wondering which spell to use to bypass these sex crazed revellers when one of the company shouted, “By the laws of the Hellfire Club our scrifice has arrived!” Startled Morgana looked round to find herself surrounded by four burly men who held her tight in their grip. ……

Song Lyric Sunday: Delightfully, Pleasant and Sweet!

Jim Adams

Hi it is Sunday evening and I am running late so without further ado let’s sort out Song Lyric Sunday.

Our theme this week for Jim Adams Song Lyric Sunday, is Delightful, Pleasant, Sweet suggested by Paula Light of Light Motifs II.  

Well delightful , De-lovely cames to mind and there are so many versions to choose from , from Bob Hope to Ella Fitzgerald and many I between. Or there ‘A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, in the most delightful way. No I went a tad deeper and came up with Arabesque!

Arabesque was an all-girl trio formed at the height of the European disco era in 1977 in Frankfurt, West Germany. The group’s changing lineup worked with the German composer Jean Frankfurter (Erich Ließmann) and became especially popular in Japan and the Soviet Union. . More information here.

You are a very noble man
Descended from a noble clan
You live by the rules of your family
You can’t marry me
For I am just a humble girl
Not born to see the great big world
Our love can’t be more than a secret love
For no one to see

Caballero, caballero
You’re a famous man in town
I must wait out of sight
Till you kiss me tonight
Caballero, caballero
So delightful, so delightful
Caballero, caballero
If you ever let me down
I’ll be crying and crying all night
But I’ll be gone
Just like the evening sun

In dreams I’m rich and you are poor
And I am looking for amor
I pick you up in a street cafe
Where you spend your days
We’re driving to my grand hotel
My heart’s aflame, you’re looking swell
I won’t set you free for you love must be
Only for me.

Caballero, caballero
You’re a famous man in town
I must wait out of sight
Till you kiss me tonight
Caballero, caballero
So delightful, so delightful
Caballero, caballero
If you ever let me down
I’ll be crying and crying all night
But I’ll be gone
Just like the evening sun

Caballero

Caballero, caballero
You’re a famous man in town
I must wait out of sight
Till you kiss me tonight
Caballero, caballero
So delightful, so delightful
Caballero, caballero
If you ever let me down
I’ll be crying and crying all night
But I’ll be gone
Just like the evening sun.

******

Pleasant was a no brainer for me, it can only be Pleasant Valley Sunday.

Pleasant Valley Sunday” is a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, most famous for the version recorded by The Monkees in 1967. Inspired by a street named Pleasant Valley Way and their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey, Goffin and King wrote the song about the dissatisfaction with the life in the suburbs.

Carole King, the co-writer of the song, stated in her autobiography that, after she and her then-husband, Gerry Goffin, earned enough money from songwriting royalties, they moved from New York to West Orange, New Jersey, but Goffin disliked their suburban life and wrote lyrics to document this feeling, that would eventually become “Pleasant Valley Sunday”.The lyrics were a social commentary on status symbols, creature comforts, life in suburbia and “keeping up with the Joneses“.

There are many alternative interpretations about the lyrics of the song. In the book SuburbiaNation, Robert Beuka described its lyrics as “a wry commentary on the materialistic and anesthetized sensibilities of the adult generation in suburbia…”and Brian Ward said in The 1960’s, that the song was more associated with the New Left and the counterculture, while Michael Nesmith jokingly stated in a 1978 interview with Blitz Magazine, that the song was written about “a mental institution.” Deanna D. Sellnow, author of The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture, commented that, despite so many definitions about the song’s meaning, its rhetorical message is actually “bleak”.

Here are the words and the Monkees.

******

Finally we come to sweet , well again there were so many songs to choose from , Sweet Little Child of mine, Sweet Dreams are made of this, Fly away Sweet Sister, Sweet little sixteen, Sweets for my Sweet, and so on. Then I decided no one rocks it like Queen so I chose Sweet Lady.

“Sweet Lady” is a song by British rock band Queen, which was written by Queen guitarist Brian May.

Sweet Lady” is a distortion-driven fast rocker written by May. The song is an unusual rock style in 3/4 meter (which gives way to 4/4 at the bridge).

According to an online source, Roger Taylor once said that because of its unusual time signature, “Sweet Lady” was the hardest song for him to play live on the drums. The backing track was probably recorded live, as one can hear the wires on the snare drum of Taylor’s kit vibrating along with John Deacon‘s bass guitar riff.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE.

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Sept. 18, 2021

Badge by Shelley Krupa.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “puzzle.” Use it any way you’d like! I used it as an Acrostic Poem.

Ponder this if you will
Undo things that make you ill
Zen is for the high brow
Zoo is where we live
Life is a conundrum
Everyday mystery!

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Throwback Thursday.

Lauren is tugging at our hearts this week on Throwback Thursday Memory BlogHop which she and Maggie at, from the cave walls as we remember those best friends of our lives – our pets. Click on the link to read the rules and join in the fun.

Today’s subject: The Pets in My Life.

Mum, Me and Steve. © willowdot21.

When I was a little girl I was frightened of dogs. My mum and Dad decided to get me a dog for Christmas. The dog arrived on Christmas Eve after I had gone to bed. Somehow the whole family managed to keep it a secret from me.

As I said the dog arrived at Christmas and Dad being Dad and an Irish Catholic

Steve was a beautiful dog, red fox in colour with a white chest and a couple of socks. He was a Hienz fifty seven, a mixed breed, a mogrel a mutt. The whole family fell head over heels in love with him.

I was the youngest child of a big family ten years between myself and the next girl, eight years between me and the next boy and fourteen years between me and our eldest sister. Steve crossed all the barriers and age differences between us all. Steve was everyone’s best friend, except maybe my next brother who really did not get on with him. Why? well that was a total mystery to us all. Later when my brother had joined the army , Steve always barked at him whenever he came home on leave. It was so strange because Steve was not like that with anyone else.

Steve soon became my best friend, he was such a sweet natured dog. He let me dress him up as a baby and let me push him around in the old pushchair, or used my mum’s net curtains to regale him as a bride. He really was a cutie.

During the week we’d all take Steve for a walk but on a Sunday either a few of us or just me would be accompanied by Dad and we’d go for a long walk around the park. It was a huge park with a fishing lake , a boating lake, a play area, football pitches, tennis courts and much more. There was even a stately home and museum. The house and park originally belonged to the Rothschilds.

Steve loved his walks, he loved his food he would eat anything and everything. My dad always had to get up at 5am to go to work, Steve’s bed was in the kitchen, so he always shared dad’s porridge, infact Steve shared every meal everyone ever ate in that house.

Being a big family in a house splitting at the seams, full of many waifs and strays we always had lots of people round for Christmas and New Year. I don’t know how but there was always plenty of food and drink. One particular year I was given the job of taking people their drinks, my dad was incharge of making the drinks I was just the waitress. As the evening went on Dad noticed we were getting through a lot of drink. An investigation was started the outcome to which was: people were having a sip of their drinks then putting them down and Steve was finishing them off. …. So not only was Steve getting drunk people were drinking out of doggy glasses. . Poor Steve he was rather unwell for quite a few days. Another funny thing I remember is that my Dad , being a union man always called Steve Brother….this always made us all laugh!

I was very bullied at school and if it had not of been for Steve I would of been a very sad and lonely child. Until I met hubby. Steve had lots of adventures, he was an escapologist. He lived a long and happy life loved by us all. He was still alive when my eldest was born. Infact my two older sons still remember him.

We only had the pet when I was a child. Steve has never left my mind or my heart. Since I been married we’ve had five cats, two gerbils and two dogs…. The latest is our beautiful Ruby.

© willowdot21

Wordless Wednesday On Thursday: When you realise how short you are!

© willowdot21

One liner Wednesday On Thursday. Ingratitude.

Dropped hubby off at train station this morning and asked him. “Do you want me to pick you up this evening?”

“No I’ll walk he replied”

“You don’t like my driving?” I asked.

“No I don’t he replied”

This is part of LindaGHill’s One-Liner Wednesday.