Tag Archives: Open Link Night

A Rainbow Future After the Storm (Revised with Audio)

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First the clouds gather, a bevy of soft doves,
transformed, reborn as wolves, who black and roaring

pounce with boom and crash, then with a flash,
the shrouded sky shines with strands of woven light,

a tapestry,
a multitude of shape, color, hues. Here, a strand of azure,
there, emerald-green, glistening with diamond sparkle, threaded
over, under–and again

embroidered with the vibrant wishes of children—blue horses, red deer,
twinkling golden stars, a spotted purple dog, a striped-orange cat—

all that—

a collection, a connection of
smiling faces brighter than the sun,
with dreams of a rainbow future–
after the storm is spent and done.

A Sunrise Rainbow ©️Merril D. Smith, 2021

For dVerse Open Link—Live.

I’ve revised this poem written for Paul Brooks’ January Ekphrastic Challenge last year. Here’s the link to the first version. You can see Kerfe Roig’s art, which inspired the poem. A couple of weeks ago, I saw rainbows on two different days. Here’s

Glancing Back

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Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, The Muse History, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Coy Clio,
with half-smile and backward glance,
her stance unsecured–
she balances time and chance.
Reflected in the glass,
her image wavers, not quite straight,
always moving, she knocks down Fate.
She leaves her scent in dusty tombs,
and book-filled rooms, and there within
a musty cell, a faded ledger in a bin.
There are cries from eras long forgotten,
she sighs through silk and ships of cotton,
whispers through graveyards and dockets, ill-gotten
gains and weathered remains of centuries, unexplained.
Ask her for enlightenment, not for glory,
still she replies there are many untold stories–
look at the monuments, partly erased, salted
and wind-kissed, the lines spaced
unevenly in past’s embrace.
And here, a doll, a letter, a locket
that falls from a red-splattered pocket—
love and connections, a mystery,
blood-drenched fields, the history.

This is in response to Ingrid’s dVerse prompt this week to write a poem invoking a muse. Some of you know I have a history book chapter that I need to finish writing (like now), so perhaps a poem about Clio, the muse of history will help. I’m posting this for today’s dVerse Live Open Link Night.

A Morning Walk: The Ducks

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  • Duck at Red Bank Battlefield

A quack and a dash,
a soar, and a splash

off with a quiver
into the river–

only the ripples remain.
Each different, multi-planed,

dappled shadows, growing bright
everything changes in the light,

once from stars, then into the sea–
all connected –ducks, ripples, sky, me.

For dVerse Open Link Night, where Lisa is hosting. She shared a wonderful duck video on the prompt page, which made me think of the ducks I see at the park where I walk. The next OLN will be on June 24, and it will be LIVE at 3:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time. As with all dVerse prompts, anyone can join in. Then dVerse will take a two-week vacation.

Breathe In, Blue Fire–dVerse Open Link Night Live

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Linda is hosting the Live Open Link Night for dVerse today. I’m sharing this poem that I wrote in December. It’s a poem inspired by the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. I don’t think too many people here have read it because it was posted on December 26. I missed Sarah’s Poetics prompt this week to write a poem of blue, but it appears that I’ve written many poems about blue!

The Question

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Mortal, we
free-fall in life-aches’
whispered, whys.
Dark matter
attracted, but questioning
the spin, the drop–still

carbon-based,
not immortal, but
time-holding–
swallowed stars
coursing through our veins, scattered
light diffused, always

there waiting,
the flame, unknown or
forgotten,
a beacon
within brain, heart, skin–or soul-
dimmed till it’s released.

In a dream,
a blue river shines,
calling me,
and I wake
with the vision remaining.
I send it soaring.

And does it
live on in space-time?
Not human,
not mortal,
but eternally, star-sparked–
circling forever.

Cloud Reflections on the Delaware River at West Deptford, NJ ©️Merril D. Smith 2020

A shadorma sequence for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, where I chose the theme, “Immortality.” I’m also sharing this with dVerse for Open Link Night, which is live tonight! I really did wake from a dream of a blue river

The Escape

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Today the peacocks ran away–

waiting till the rain had ceased

and the sun released

from clouded sky.

They gazed

up at a rainbow,

pavonine–

a sign to fly.

Ostentation at the brink

of an avian adventure,

they wandered

up the road

to somewhere new,

beyond the zoo.

 

Embed from Getty Images

 

 

I read today that four peacocks wandered away from the Philadelphia Zoo. Apparently, they do this sometimes, but they decided to explore the Schuylkill Expressway, and now one has been found dead.

A group of peacocks is sometimes called an ostentation.

I’ve used Secret Keeper’s Challenge Words: BRINK | WALK | GAZE | SKY | ROAD

And linked this to dVerse’s Open Link Night.