KPG 27
Poppies

Poppies are red dancers in the field,
wide-eyed, bright, swaying to bumblebee beats
and the sough of undulating green,
earth mothers, moon-blooded,
made pregnant by the sun.

REF2y and SEB27

Daylilies

Daylilies are summer flames,
safety-vest-orange-lipstick calls you—
no safety here–as curling leaf-fingers beckon,
their languid curls belie their passion,
their heat. Daring you
to play with fire.

Two poems for Day 27 of Paul Brookes annual ekphrastic challenge. Sort of companion poems. I was inspired by the art of all three artists, Karen Pierce Gonzalez, Robert Frede Kenter, and Sara Elizabeth Bell. You can see the art and read other responses here.

KPG24

Puzzled

Her world
bewildered her with its feather boa flare
and confetti charm—life lived in an endless grid of
Miami Vice colors, turquoise and pink,

pretty pastels, flashes of fuchsia and
neon blue. Every day

she wanted charcoal grey, purple, black. Question marks,
not periods.

She wanted a road with unexpected curves,
she wanted road trip companions,
she wanted an endless, changing
puzzle, a lifetime of pieces to fit together, even if
some were turquoise and pink.

For Day 24 of Paul Brookes’ annual ekphrastic challenge, my poem was inspired by the art of Karen Pierce Gonzalez. You can see all the art and read other responses here.

KPG23

Heart-clasped

In her hand—jolts of electric blue–
the scents of ocean and earth, lavender
and salt, seaweed and chiles—
this is my world, she thinks,
clutches it tighter.

RFK23

The Summer of Flowers

She remembered,
oh, how she remembered
his eyes

the color of blue asters
the ones in that garden behind
the gate, buzzing
with honeybees

sensing the passing of summer,
the dying of the light–

the shadows grow now,
the blue deeper,

the air buzzes, her eyes close.

SEB23

In the coming of spring

Lavender and gold,
a bridge between the seasons,

~ephemeral stage~

ingenue players waiting
to become the sensational stars.

For Day 23 Paul Brookes’ annual ekphrastic challenge, a poem for each piece of art by artists Karen Pierce Gonzalez, Robert Frede Kenter, and Sara Elizabeth Bell. You can see the art and read other responses here.

Inspired by KPG21, SEB21, and RFK21

A Lingering Trace

She felt every color—the azure of sky,
the velvet-red of roses—she inhaled
and exhaled it–
star-darting, shifting, slanting rays
time dances that echoed in her light step

in early mornings after late nights,
quiet streets, where storefronts blinked–
their faces not yet awake—

but she was ready to take a bite
from every apple, insatiable for knowledge,
adventure, and love

she picked that, too. Chose it
again, and again.

Sunset comes earlier now,
But she’s strewn pastures with windfalls
tart and sweet–
memories left for others to taste. Shooting stars
leave a trail.

For Day 21 of Paul Brookes annual ekphrastic challenge, I was inspired by all three images today–the work of artists Karen Pierce Gonzalez, Sara Elizabeth Bell, and Robert Frede Kenter. You can see the art and read other responses here.

Three Poems

Inspired by KPG20

Remembrance

Strands of supposition,
thoughts seeded with meaning—
we traveled the world
collecting

souvenirs. Evergreen memories
planted and nourished–a forest
of dappled light and lengthening shadows.

Inspired by RGK20

At the house down the road

beyond the bent spine curve,
the front steps are like
red cracked lips, too weary to smile–

everything here moans
with wrong-side-of-the-tracks
lonesome freight train blues.

Somewhere in the background,
sirens wail, but

the tenacious tenants
refuse to leave this house, they

drift into view to
welcome you with their own cracked-lipped smiles,
black eyes without sight or light.

Inspired by SEB20

Rooted in Love

they reach sunward–
birdsong-ringed tentative flutters,
generations whisper wisdom,
grounding them, letting them fly.

One poem for each of the images today. This is Day 20 of Paul Brookes ekphrastic challenge. The artists are Karen Pierce Gonzalez, Robert Frede Kenter, and Sara Elizabeth Bell. You see the art and read other responses here.