After the Fall

Buffalo Center Terminal

Image source

On a deadly breeze

Blow the dreams of yesterday

Tomorrow is lost

~Lily~

 

Notes:

I was looking for inspiration to start a new story. I found these two prompts, and I think I may have my beginning. I guess America is great again--great for inspiring post-Apocalyptic fiction, that is. We are living in the horrible dystopian future.

NaPoWriMo 2015: Day 11: Sorta Sapphic Pterodactyl

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Sorta Sapphic Pterodactyl

They challenged me to do a syllabic thing

Easy peasy I said, and started counting

But then they threw in Sapphic pterodactyls

I just couldn't hang

Not one to give up on the very first try

I looked over the instructions with fresh eye

But then they started talking about trochee

I'm no good with crafts

The syllables were likely as stressed as I 

I knew not before that syllables have feet

Or feet have syllables as the case may be

I learned something

~Lily~

The Instructions:

Our (optional) prompt for today departs from such concerns, however. Today, rather than being casual, I challenge you to get rather classically formal, and compose a poem in Sapphics. These are quatrains whose first three lines have eleven syllables, and the fourth, just five. There is also a very strict meter that alternates trochees (a two-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed, and the second unstressed) and dactyls (a three-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed and the remainder unstressed). The first three lines consist of two trochees, a dactyl, and two more trochees. The fourth line is a dactyl, followed by a trochee.

Thank You

Thank you all so much for the kind comments on the poem I wrote in memory of my father. I'm also very flattered that the Flash 55 folks wanted to make my little Flash graphic their official Prompt Logo. This is very cool. 

Thank you all again.

~Lily~

For Dad on his 78th Birthday

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For Dad on his 78th Birthday

When his cool blue Chevy got t-boned in ‘72

He walked away without a scratch

In the summer of 2004

Four days after his birthday

He suffered a stroke

Things would never be the same

Another stroke

His body betrayed him

Worse, his mind slipped away

November 28, 2010 was his last day on Earth

~Lily~

My father loved comics, so I created this Flash 55 logo in his honor.

No, I did not draw The Flash. I just photoshopped in the words.

Shadorma: Shadow Memories

C) Jen from Blog it or Lose it!

Shadow Memories

Memories 

Of a ghost of a

Dream of a

Wish that I

So wanted to make come true

Was it just a lie?

~Lily~

This poem was created using a Mindlovemisery's Menagerie Prompt. The prompt word was Memories. A shadorma is composed of six non-rhyming lines (sestina or sextet) and the syllable pattern is 3-5-3-3-7-5.  It can have as many stanzas as you like, just as long as each stanza follows the syllable pattern mentioned above . 

I write the poem in memory of my father, who would be 78 years old today. However, it is not about him. It is about a love gone sour with someone who committed suicide a long time ago.

My father was a professor of English literature. He instilled in me a love of reading and writing. He died at the age of 74 after a long period of physical and cognitive decline. I truly think the worst thing he suffered among the many things that went wrong was the destruction of his mind. He suffered multiple strokes which eventually resulted in dementia as well as severe physical handicaps.

~L~

A to Z Blogging Challenge: V is for Villanelle

A to Z Blogging Challenge:

V is for Villanelle

by

Lily Strange

A Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa.

The first and the third lines in the first stanza are repeated in alternating order throughout the poem, and appear together in the last couplet (last two lines).

A villainous challenge is presented by the Villanelle. First, I will provide an example created by another, then I will create one of my own.

Runaway

Why do they runaway?

My soul so beautiful, so bright

But for some reason I keep them at bay

Sometimes I wish they would stay

They give up on me without a fight

Why do they runaway?

Some think I am pretty, I say I'm okay

Though this doesn't feel right

But for some reason I keep them at bay

What can I do, what can I say?

What causes their flight?

Why do they runaway?

Just when I think I've won their heart, they stray

I feel like the farthest planet in the night

But for some reason I keep them at bay

What have I done to chase them away?

My soul beckons to them like a beacon of light

Why do they runaway?

But for some reason I keep them at bay

Copyright © 2000 Julie Wright

Evil Eyes

Your evil eyes captivate my mind

My heart doesn't stand a chance

Although you are cold and unkind

When I try to forget you, I find

My mind can think of nothing else

Your evil eyes captivate my mind

My life is only a grind

You fill my waking hours with dreams of you

Although you are cold and unkind

If only I could rewind

Erase all traces of you from my heart

Your evil eyes captivate my mind

With every tear, the contract is signed

I long for the warmth of your flesh

Although you are cold and unkind

It would be better to be struck blind

Than to be burdened with a love such as this

Your evil eyes captivate my mind

Although you are cold and unkind

~Lily~

An Explosive Moment

An Explosive Moment in Art

An Artist was working on scenes

While eating a can of beans

The backdraft caught fire

Cause his lantern had a loose wire

Like a rocket he flew over the greens

~Lily~

A to Z Blogging Challenge: K is for Kyrielle

A to Z Blogging Challenge:

K is for Kyrielle

by

Lily Strange

A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the amount of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the accepted minimum.

My Bouquet

Some days I sing, some days I cry.

My soul's the one determines why.

Sometimes it laughs, sometimes it mourns.

On my bouquet are many thorns.

Wake up each day, face a dark cloud.

My happiness wrapped in a shroud.

The day begins; to me it scorns.

On my bouquet are many thorns.

Lay down my head, dark nights begun.

With the sad setting of the sun.

From all my sorrows my heart mourns.

On my bouquet are many thorns.

Copyright © 2003 Floria Kelderhouse

Divine Lily

Divine Madness, you plague me so

I wish that you would let me go

I tire of wishing I were dead

Take now yourself from out my head

Divine Madness, of you I tire

You bring me naught but pain and ire

I wish that you would go away

And let me live my life one day

Divine Madness brings me such shame

Though I'm told that I'm not to blame

Thanks to you, I'll never be loved

You're a curse from Heaven above

~Lily

Dedicated to Bipolar Disorder

Here is a list of poetry types, which you may find useful.