Crapshoot

 

“No one told her that so much of life 

is spent being old”

Carol Shields - The Stone Diaries

What is “being old?

Name the criteria

Numbers?

70,80,90 years?

Being feeble?

She knows feeble teenagers

That is surely sad but 

none the less true

Being confused?

Well we all know that one

Being set aside to your

place on the sofa?

Closer

Wisdom?

We wish

Bad knees?

What of injured athletes?

Dementia?

Too often

Illness?

Comes at any age

Shrinkage?

Usually

Wrinkles?

Sun lovers have those early on

Toothless?

 Maybe

Loneliness?

Possible

STOP ALREADY!!

Nobody knows for sure

So just keep on keeping on

when you’re old

you’ll know it

Trust the process

Don’t be waiting on it

Don’t count

Life?

It’s a crapshoot

Ellecee

Day 29 - NaPoWriMo - 2022

Inspired by Carol Shields, Poet

 

So much emotion

conveyed in just

one touch

I falter when I’m 

near you

Exhausted

from the rush

Ellecee

Day 28 - NaPoWriMo - 2022

Inspired by antiquated love

Precious Chaos

 

Precious chaos

Seems a contradiction

unless you have in your life

a curly-headed, black-eyed,

boy

Full of energy and smiles

while building towers

or grumpily signalling his want

for TV

He lights up our world

There are few poetic metaphors

to describe how the arrival 

of this small boy

could open a great-grandmother’s

heart

An old woman

not missing anything in life

So she thought

Ellecee

Day 7 - NaPoWriMo - 2022
Inspired by my great-grandson

Stalled

 

NaPoWriMo - Day 3

Inspired by Skylover Poetry & Art - April Word List

Looking for Love?

 

Accept wise counsel

from precious stones

Not black coal 

It does not auger well

for prophecy

Inquire instead

with lapis lazuli

Fall into her fathomless

cobalt blue depth

Ask where your soul mate

hides

Ask what truths need telling

Obstacles that can’t be seen

Sit beneath the mulberry tree

and beg her spirit teaches

you patience

Make no impetuous 

decisions where love

is concerned

Walk softly as if

on eggshells

Lest your heart

break

Ellecee

Written for NaPoWriMo - Day 25

Inspired by

Skylover Wordlist

coal,egg shell,lapis lazuli,mulberry

Hope

 Posted on Instagram April 24, 2021

Written for NaPoWriMo - Day 24

Inspired by

Skylover Wordlist

graphite,periwinkle, Aegean,change, Jupiter

Not it? What then?

 Ordinary living

Breakfast, lunch, dinner,

Wine,, beer, espresso,

Sleeping, waking, working

No job? OK not that then

Washing up, cleaning,

laundry, no pods, bad

for the kids,

No kids? OK, not that then

TV, tablet, computer, IPhone

Everybody always on

No IPhone? OK, not  that then

Watching movies, best actress,

best  actor, drama, romcom,

Theatres closed, no Netflix, no Prime?

OK, not that then

Partner, husband, wife, conjugal sex,

Single, hookup, boyfriend, girlfriend

No love life? OK, not that then

Walking, running, swimming,

Roller blades, scooter, skate board?

No? Not that then

So, what then?

What’s it then?

Ordinary life

Ellecee

Written for NaPoWriMo 2021 - Day 21

 

Static

 

Written for NaPoWriMo 2021 ~ Day 15

Inspired by

Skylover Word List

Grateful

 

Written for NaPoWriMo 2021 ~ Day 12

Inspired by

Skylover Word List

 Greysmoke, serene, restless, melancholy, grateful

Mia Tenda

(my tent)

Nostalgia

overcomes me

a longing

for my wilderness

home

I ruminate on

the trees

the lake

the moldering leaves

my dog

The scents and scenes

slipping away

as

I rush

to catch

Watermark

 

An old vagrant

gone awry

Prognosis - rebel

Uncanny though,

no transgression

to report

Squatting in the firelight

from a flaming

burn barrel

A dim watermark

on a somnolent night

Ellecee

Inspired by 

Kerry O’Connor’s

word list on Instagram

@skyloverwordlist

Affusion

Hot water

barely bearable

cascades over her body

secular affusion
washing away
negativity
perception willingly ascends
with the steam
her body releases itself 
from angst, pity, doubt,
stoicism
embedded within
her zodiac sign
returns unfettered
tension disintegrates
leaving her world
momentarily
unscathed


Ellecee 

Inspired by

imaginary garden with real toads - reboot, rewind, recycle
and
Skywriting - zodiac

Fertility

The lemon tree

plays host to my fertility

My copulating neighbours

bear me no mind

as they await

a succulent meal.

I make no prayer

to the gods of entomology

to rescue my offspring

from their fate.

My fertility knows no bounds

 many will escape.

Amid the leaves of

this birthing tree

we live

and

let die 

Ellecee

Inspired by

imaginary garden with real toads - words count with Mama Zen (60 not including title)

and

Skywriting - Prayer

Flowers

She stumbled upon them in deep grass

two flowers blooming

Bright petals hidden

in plain view

Her never knowing how they grew

What seeds were planted

and when

Unbeknownst to her

yet

blending in

"ellecee"

Lost Son

She searched for him
in many gardens over time
among weeds and brambles
in overgrown spaces

Through years of not remembering
the first flush of pain
from his arriving
his thriving
our
surviving




"Ellecee"

DNA

What is the vocabulary of miracles?

coincidence

synchronicity

come by chance

What stars align to bring

the unbelievable about

What mystery is this

Too many questions, too few answers,

and so

it is enough that they are here

Two flowers in full bloom

Two blended hearts

who were

unaware of sharing

a particle

of

me

“Ellecee”

Inspired by today’s prompt from

imaginary garden with real toads

Bells

“The temple bell stops but I still here the sound coming out of the flowers”

Matsue Basho

Her bells toll

In the temple

that is her body

The sounds echo

in her bones

Memories

 both wonderful and profane

in equal measure

Lest she forget

“Ellecee”

Inspired by today’s prompt from

imaginary garden with real toads

Poetry is

Poetry is bone

Pieces of a skeleton

Each one a story

yearning to be heard

The poet breathes life

into bones

Words to be 

spoken

heard

preserved

Each borrowed from

a moment in time

Creating

history

“Ellecee”

Inspired by today’s prompt from

Imaginary Garden with Real toads

Davie Street

I recall the lights flickering

shadows taking up the street

muted sounds proliferate

a couple silently strolling

the narrow walk

replete from frolicking

yearning for respite

between cool sheets

The old man stands watching,

still awake,

courting memories of his own

The bar maids departing the pubs

some with fantasies in tow, some not

The chef has done his best

the kitchen rests

Someone stands within a shop window

the manikins must be dressed

Seeing this the tipsy young men laugh

having had a better touch than this

Why was he walking his dog so late

Or is he beginning while others finish

Dark giving way to dawn

on Davie Street

"ellecee"

Inspired by today's prompt from
imaginary garden with real toads

Wallflower

The perks of being a wallflower

hiding where the wild things are

 able to suck up their mania

and never have to fall

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

but I remain

having sponged enough chicanery

for one hundred years

of solitude

"ellecee"

Book Titles
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Where the Wild Things Are
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Hundred Years of Solitude

Inspired by today's prompt from
imaginary garden with real toads