Category Archives: One Word

Glories

oneword.com prompt: trailer

vines spread their fingers
through the grass
up the  blistered post..
blossoms deepest red
trumpet the dawn
more as sun grows higher
trailer tendrils spring open
stretch finding only air
for now

Irresistable

OneWord : Iron

bits and pieces drawn to patterns
ferrous detritus making us the pile
the splinters the shivers
the magnetic quivers at the poles
north and south it doesn’t matter
push me pull you
by forces and tides
it’s in the walls
no one can hide just ride
it out slide down to the lower floors
run through the doors
flung wide outside the
moon is calling
to blood and iron

Weather

Writers Island: Change One Single Impression: Dawn and One Word: Tide

if I held the moon
in my hands
I would command
the ebb and flow of
ocean tides
hidden strings
wolves would sing
their night song
gazing at my face
my light would paint
the trees and streams
and though I change
and disappear
I would return
huge and bright
haunting  dreams

if I held the sun
I would pour it out
flowers lifting faces
following my path
I wake the birds
to sing you the dawn
while I bath the sky
watercolor ballet
delicate traces
bring forth sweat
as you toil
then rock you at eventide
a symphony of royal purple
and flame
setting and rising
warmth my name

But if I could breathe the wind
I would cover the sun and the moon
with clouds and
blow them all away again
make you chase your hat
while I laugh
the trees would dance and bow
as squirrels cling
the oceans leap and burst
spraying the sky with diamonds
seeds scatter to wait
for the sun
carry the birds
fill the sails
in darkness and light
power of butterfly wings

Without Rain

One Word: without

without rain
I am dry and cracked
future mud
ever waiting racked
with need for something
I can’t even name
to tame the wild flame
of wishful thinking
sinking to the bottom of
the well of all I ever wanted
haunted by the ghosts
of many lives long
past the corner of
the street I used to walk
the ghosts could talk to
you but won’t they’re
mine and mine alone
atone for sins not understood
but do we even
if we could would we
make the change
arrange our lives just
so adjustment made
a sacrifice
for rain

Every Day

One Word: Matching
I’ve been to the local coffee
mecca lattes and frappes soy
bible studies and whispered
small town dreams and
schemes whipped cream
but sugar free light
bible belted covered sin
sipped through
watching eyes in
pretty words with bite

supermarket checkout
gossip rags surreptitiously read
by ladies in Reefs with
Oakleys pushed back on heads
of frosted hair just so
politely speak then slide
the card and hurry to the
other side matching
hummer waiting grating
on the nerves

big fish in little ponds
wave hands and wands
but don’t forget the
past is past and
worries fade and wade
into the deeper water
wait an hour after
supper houses curtained
watching eyes the dishes
washed away the sins
of day after day

tv shadows letterman
top ten answers to
your billion dollar question
assuage the guilt the quilt
will cover all the
bills come due and
you can’t lay the money down
you already paid and paid
and don’t know why
the kiss goodnight
the sleep
the lie

Monkey Thinking

One word: brave Writers Island: Gift

I am not brave she said
there’s monkeys in my head
they scream and rattle
bars and scars and would you
please just take a look
the answer wasn’t in the book
she held the light and looking in
I saw the wires tangled tin
and copper mangled how
the mess was made
she didn’t say but I
knew time had passed and
problems massed and
worsened with neglect
prone to misery abject
the words won’t come and
ideas fade to boredom made
from separation
objectification instant
gratification no easy solution
too much thought pollution
I gave a description
of the prescription
get out of your head
you see where that led
set shoulders stiffened back
try to fake the things you lack
beat it with your tiny fists
always planning making lists
striking out against the tide
better to just let it ride
don’t hide your pride
is not your friend surrender
doesn’t mean the end you’re
in the stream the dreams
of other lives will carry you
just sink into the link to
all the waters flooding surging
changing paths and paths converging
lines will blur and colors soften
even birds ride currents aloft
let it go and simply float
and maybe
sometimes
rock the boat

Icarus

One single Impression: Icarus  One Word: Hawk

Icarus was right.
to try for height
Sun warmed wax dripped
unnoticed, feathers ripped
dumped in the sea
price to be free
birds to fishes
all from wishes
gravity kissed
but who could resist

if wings were mine
I would fly that high
the cool breeze caressing
soft clouds solid blessing
I would reach out to take
scoop up a finger full of cloud
like frosting on cake
pop it in my mouth
ice cream cold
cotton candy spun sugar
melted can’t hold

I would dive with hawks
startled at seeing me
and they would wheel off
disapproval squawks
I would glide
graceful as those birds
gently slide
weightless on currents
unseen in the light
Icarus was right

Go Fly a Kite

One Word: Kite

It’s supposed to be a minute but sometimes…

kites and lights and sites
that please the eyes have
never been so clear so
near to all the joy of all the air
brightly colored paper thin
bits of wood and balls of string
send dreams and hopes up
to the clouds and how we
love to watch them dance
chance tearing wind and
we are on the ground but wish
to send our spirit up to
swoop and soar and climb
and not unwind too far
but just enough to touch
the more and out
of reach of hands and feet
sweet gravity is all that
holds our souls within
without it we would be
the kite and there would
be no tether

Hope Floats

One Word, one minute, write.  Balloon

Standing on  the cliff, valley spread out before her, she closed her eyes and held out her arm.  Without looking she could feel the warmth of the sun and the mountain breeze on her face.  She opened her fingers and her eyes at the same time and watched the wind take the yellow balloon with the word Hope printed on the side.

Basic Black

one word, one minute, write

One Word: Dress

It was black and simple and she had saved for two months.  It was perfect.  She got her hair and nails done and knew this would be the night.  He picked her up and took her straight to his place without even buying her dinner.  The gun matched the dress.

Meaning

One Word: Meaning

the first stanza completed in the requisite minute. The rest?  Well…

the words the look the sound
the meaning can be found in
many places and ways of hearing
and seeing and your heart knows what it
knows but is it the meaning

the where we’re from and where we go
the who and when of all
the more and less than what is really
truly spun out of the thought
we say what we mean but
mean what we say or what
you hear and read take all within

my words transform
to your words your alchemy will
spell the magic of the is and was
and will become and you will write
and I will write and ripples flow
and we the stone that’s thrown
touch words across the miles

the stories of our words
of poem and tale and form
take pieces of the writer
dreamer poet soul of
all the writers poets
tellers of stories and fill
an ocean of emotion and history

a mystery to me and all
the tenuous connections of
humanities’ inventions
chronicled here and there and
now again go out
come back and never left
not bereft but more added
piled high to night
the fire burns and never
ever goes out

Honeysuckle Wind

One Word: Stand

One Single Impression: Reign

honeysuckle wind
tastes like rain
the birds all puffed up again
the reign the weather
she is queen around here
spring is her season and she
don’t mess around her dress
is green she can flirt
you will hail her as
she twists and whistles right
by the dark clouds
the wall clouds the how’d
you hide in the cellar
and she raise the roof when
she wants you just tell her
do her thing hold
on and hope you are there
come morning
some prayer that goes up
so you won’t have to
leaves all inside out
spouts of water big
fat raindrops you know the kind
that sound like bacon frying
children crying
but the sun comes flying
and drying all the puddles
and the muddles where the
huddles of all the people
say amen
we got flowers and showers
and towers can’t stand against her
don’t you try she will be
sweet again and the singing
will commence as feathered
in the sun weathered by the storm
dawn gives us a come hither look
and see she is all around blue
and green and golden
fruit and blossom breeze
gardenia tucked behind her ear
smelling sweeter squeeze all
the juice and spit out the seeds
she grows them up again
with honeysuckle wind

Where I Would Go

One Word: Lashes and Writer’s Island: Stowaway

I would like to be a stowaway
a castaway, a vagabond
a kite blown where wind blows
that knows what wind knows
and take all my hungry eyes
can hold under lashes
sleep heavy dream wishing
deep fishing for blue sunfish
train hitching nerve twitching
car jumping hitchhiking
sun melted snow pelted rain
of millions of days liking all
that I see and seeing all that is shone
and not shown if you don’t
stray from main roads and
cities of boxes and boxes and
shopping and carpool and tennis
and tanning and Sunday and golf
for me I will take the old man
on the porch or the shade tree mechanic
Tim down at the Dixie Cream
that sponsors the ball team
coached by that guy that plays
banjo on Saturday night in
a barn out on highway halfway
to the graveyard where willows
weep lonely past road signs
and white lines that go on forever
that’s where I would wander and
wonder and ponder and walk
down the white lines and pass
all the road signs till sunset sets
low and the lights shine and glow
and go on to the star shine
and moon shine the state line
yes there I would go

Working Lanterns

One Word: Industry More Japanese Lantern Poems

eight
hour day
industry
weekend
short

feed
machines
industry
eats up
men

school
seems like
industry
product
drones

man’s
precious
industry
getting
things

grey
windows
industry
blinded
eyes

Industrious Labor

One Word: Industry and another Three word Wednesday

busy busy
stir the scrabbling
stew pot bees
buzzing peas porridge
hot as a firecracker
ignite the rotten
core the termite heart
infestation defenestration
bath water and baby depart
lay it down easy
feather soft feather
filled pillow pink slips
who needs all that buzzing
fuzzy memory
jive in the hive
the queen preens
while we go marching
one by one
hurrah

Just Breathe

One Word: Joyful

and riff off a friend’s twitter post – for you Tony 🙂

bubbling over all around
it just wells up from who knows
where or cares because
it’s here and when it comes you
just gotta squeeze the juicy juice
into the glass that’s more than
half full, it’s spilling over
getting all the goody sweetness
everywhere and covering
a multitude of sins the ins
and outs of all the shouts
of glory hallelujah boys we
sing because we can and why
shouldn’t we lift our voices
lift our hands and let
the pretty balloons go flying
trying to touch the clouds
we fly with them another day
and looking down on tops
of trees and breezes blowing
smiles are showing who
we are and want to be
at least today we’re joyful
grateful to just breathe

Behind the Mask

One single Impression: Mask and One Word: Castaway

behind the trappings
slapped on skin
the laces and velvet
the denim and boots
lift up the petals and leaves
to the roots
cast away the chaff
but keep the meaty part
the heart the chocolate
covered inside is the best
the test of all
time stands still for
the tender shoot that pokes
it’s little green head up
well the world just runs over
us and leave potholes but still
the center holds
are you in there
is anybody home
echoes if you look under the
bed but out here
we be sailing along
the song keeps playing
I’m just saying