Photo: Koshu Kunii on unsplash
No humdrum moment.
No silent pause
Or rest.
The tempo of the chanting
Rises
As crowds flow
And crest.
They march to call
The winds
Of change
To come,
And heed the soul
As hearts’ pain
Hums
And drums
The need for
Better times.
For the dVerse quadrille poetry challenge: drum
Enslaved persons cutting sugar cane on the Island of Antigua, 1823, (The British Library)
She fed them well so
They would
Sleep,
And silently
She gave the slip,
To all she knew
Yet did not sweep
Away the bite
Of whip.
She fled,
So the child in
Her belly’s keep,
Would not writhe, helpless,
In another person’s
Grip.
For the dVerse quadrille challenge: slip
(Note: Dedicated to all who suffered and still suffer under the yoke of injustice, discrimination, racism, and pretense. We can do better than this. We must do better than this.)
Photo: Will Malott on Unsplash
She refused to budge
Or borrow.
She would not allow herself
The slightest
Reach.
“If it ain’t broke,” she said,
Hiding sorrow –
Holding on to life
In tatters
Yet refusing to
Give in even
A stitch –
“There is no need to seek
A fix.”
For the dVerse quadrille challenge: Fix
Photo: Smadar Epshtein
Silly Billy was too chilly
So he too a little nap.
Silly Billy did not really
Think it would cause him mishap.
Frilly Tilly woke him shrilly
And with very little slack,
Sent him home and told poor Billy
That he isn’t welcome back.
For the dVerse poetry quadrille challenge: silly
Note: I find this photo too delightful to use only once… So if you think you’d seen it before, you are not imagining things … 🙂
Photo: alexandra lammerink on Unsplash
She did not know how
To have her heart
Be known,
Other than to
Let her spirit
Be flush with
Hope,
And to allow her
Soul to
Blush bright
With the
Intent,
Even if
Her words paused,
Timid,
From the moment
She’d left
Home.
For the dVerse quadrille poetry challenge: flush
Photo: Lynn Jordan on Unsplash
Shuttered windows did not
Matter,
For all who lacked knew that
The door remained unlatched
The rusty locks, unfastened,
To let the needy enter
And rest their weary heads
Within,
Their huddled warmth
Steadfast in lieu of
Hearth,
Never closed from
The ancient inn.
For the dVerse poetry quadrille challenge: close
Photo: Charlie Hammond on Unsplash
I believe the magic
That is people,
And the unremitting wonder
That is found
Undaunted
In their hearts.
I believe the small,
Persistent,
Staunch soul rumble
That continues
Shaken but unfailing
To grow
Through the hardship,
Making handholds of the worry
All the while.
For the dVerse quadrille challenge: magic
Photo: Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash
She was always one to cause
Quite a bit of stir
In every entrance,
In the very way the air around
Her every move
Would shift
To agitated waiting,
For something breathless
That was not easily worded
Yet nonetheless remained
Indelibly perceived as
Inescapable.
For the dVerse quadrille poetry challenge: stir
Photo: Morgan Petroski on Unsplash
She peeled away the stale layers
Of sorrow,
The sheets that wrapped around the core
Of what had once held
Grins.
And underneath the soot of tears
And grit
And grief
She found the gold that had been
Hidden
Soft against reality’s biting teeth.
For the dVerse quadrille challenge: Peel
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
Fill your eyes with the budding
Potential of life as it bounds
To the surface, bursting forth,
A force to be reckoned, with a sigh
Of tremulous
Hope.
Fill your heart with the tenderest
New things, which will bloom
In your soul
Deep within.
For the dVerse quadrille challenge: fill
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