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“nervy anna” … and other responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt

c 2018, Jamie Dedes

 

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper.  Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper.  The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here.” Thick Nhat Hanh as quoted by Satish Kumar in You Are Therefore I Am, A Declaration of Dependence [Recommended]

Three brave souls took on the the last Wednesday Writing Prompt, A Commonwealth of Saints, August 7, both challenging and probably controversal to some. A few of the poems are not quite on target but certainly pointing to it. Enjoy! and Special Kudos! to Gary W. Bowers, Paul Brookes and Sonja Benskin Mesher.

Read on and be with us tomorrow for the next Wednesday Writing Prompt.

I hope you’ll visit and get to know these poets. It’s important for us to support and encourage one another in our art and in our solidarity around our concerns for the social and ethical issues with care about.  I’ve linked in blogs for your convenience.

nervy anna

we won’t incur nirvana’s wrath
if we don’t stroll the eightfold path.
for lucid lurid sharp or dense
nirvana has indifference.
and karma is as karma does
but karma will not be nor was
nor heretic nor missionary
is a beneficiary.
it is never headline news
when one retains one’s unright views.
the crunch point is what satisfaction
derives from someone’s unright action.
a range from peace to dissolution
is found in retro retribution.

© 2018, Gary W. Bowers (One with Clay, Image and Text)

That Yes

of your breath as it lets go into the fresher air opportunity offers with open hands,

an apology for pain given from the giver heals the sores and blemishes, some self inflicted, hands

over a cup of tea, coffee or glass of fresh greeting
A wholesome kiss and gleam gladdened eyes

without expectation of return or reparation,
sip down electricity that sparkles your bones.

© 2018, Paul Bowles (The Wombwell Rainbow / Inspiration. History. Imagination.)

So Grave

As she stands in the queue
she sees his down turned mouth,
his face buried in his chest,

Along with her order she buys
an extra cup of coffee.

The stranger smiles at her smile as she gives
him the drink. “You look so sad.”

“My wife’s grave has been vandalised,
love. It’ll cost a thousand pounds to repair.”

© 2018, Paul Brookes (The Wombwell Rainbow / Inspiration. History. Imagination.)

.sarah’s bible.

there is lavender
in the fire, someone
is tapping
on the window, patterned
with cracked kings and
predecessors.

sarah’s bible, hand held,
open via perspex
and blue velvet
at ecclesiastes
chapter three.

to everything
there is a
feafon, etc,
in italics.

© 2018, Sonja Benskin Mesher

.notes for anna.

back to the cathedral where the book says it is all for nothing anyway talk about giving hope away. a spiritual reduction, a sad deduction from some who should know better.

© 2018, Sonja Benskin Mesher

There’s much to enjoy in Sonja’s art and you can view much of it on her sites and she shares are generous amount on her Facebook Page. So multitalented.

 

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. Currently I run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers.

My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman.