Number One Ghost

 

Free use image by blackrabbitkdj on Pixabay

https://pixabay.com/photos/bird-skull-skull-creepy-valravn-4433244/

spooky baby, my number one ghost

I look for you in the trees

at the botanic garden

with all the sunshine people gathering

to point a finger at the darkling thing

snickering in their stable disguises

I do a pirouette and step inside the building

seeking the department of practically perfect prose

you wink at me from the chandelier

your smile revealing hungry canine teeth

you're the real deal

not a plastic pretender in a popular elastic band

spooky baby, you're my thrill

a chill runs up my spine whenever I see you

lurking in the shadows, waiting for me

I'll let you sink your teeth into my flesh

taste the darkness in my soul

a gothic craving never grows old

I don't miss the consuming intensity

of the need that would eat me from within

I would miss the touch of velvet sin

except for the way it destroys

I miss the way my soul used to rise

whenever it heard melodic thunder

I miss the way it felt to dream

of my spooky baby

waiting on the other side

~cie~

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2020-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-12

Prompt: Include a number in the title of the poem.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/wednesday-poetry-prompts-546

Write a Spooky poem.

https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/2020/11/words-for-wednesday_11.html

Word List

Botanic

Gathering

Finger

Port

Canine

Elastic Band

And /or

Department

Prose

Stable

Wink

Chandelier

Pirouette

This poem was posted to these places:

http://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com

https://lbry.tv/@poetryofthenetherworld:9

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)

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NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 11: Love in Bloom

Image by Ein Kaffee kostet mehr als € 0.55! from Pixabay

some yellow acacia for you
with your eyes of cornflower blue
a sprig of Syrian mallow
to show my heart is not shallow
a cedar leaf shows I'll be true

~cie~

Prompt: The Language of Flowers

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation: Renga With: Waiting for the Full Moon

Image by Chikai Du from Pixabay

the autumn wind:

thickets and fields also,

Fuha Barrier

© Basho

I look at the turning leaves

see future snow in the clouds

a dandelion

now and then interrupting

the butterfly's dream

© Chiyo-Ni

when I am a butterfly

will I ever dream of you

the thunderstorm having cleared up

the evening sun shines on a tree

where a cicada is chirping 

© Shiki

is there a cool night ahead

or restless humidity

simply trust:

do not also the petals flutter down,

just like that?

© Issa

I have never been the kind

to simply go with the flow

in nooks and corners

cold remains:

flowers of the plum

© Buson

promise of warmer weather

pleasant till scorching heat comes

ancient warriors ghosts

mists over the foreign highlands -

waiting for the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

will your troubled soul drift in

for another lifelong fight

~cie~

notes

All the Ageku are belong to me.

Everything else has been credited.

WordPress users, I've been having more trouble than usual commenting on some of your blogs. I won't go into all the reasons why cie hates WordPress here, but they are many.

November PAD Chapbook Challenge 2019: Day 27: Acrostic for Angie

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay

All alone adrift

Nothing nice nevermore

Going, going, gone

Intwining imaginative intricacies

Envisioning elusive eternity

Boiling bad blood brew

Love long lost

Unquiet undying urges

Escaping exotic eyes

~Cie~

Notes:

Today's November PAD Chapbook Challenge asked participants to take one or more of the poems they'd created for the challenge previously and remix them. I took my day 2 abecedarian poem Alpha to Omega and my day 7 free verse poem Angie Blue and turned them into an acrostic using the first letters of Angie Blue.

I'm probably not going to share this poem at the November PAD Chapbook Challenge post because it only makes sense to me. Angie Blue is a poem inspired by various songs that I learned to love as a young teenager in the late 1970s.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #108 + OctPoWriMo 2019: Day 26: What Is Unspoken (Choka)

Image Source

what is unspoken

in the silence of autumn

is what I'm feeling

"speak your truth," the leaves whisper

but what can I say?

I'm biting my tongue

because what I want to say

is I still love you

wish you hadn't gone away

please come back to me

walk alongside me again

the crunching of leaves

sweeter walking together

For Team Netherworld's sadly ignored WIP, Fetch

From Pepper to Gerry

OctPoWriMo 2019: Day 9: What My Eyes Saw

I Blinked and the World Was Gone

Photoshop Manipulation by The Real Cie

My eyes saw that in the end

Everything was just a lie

Seeing is not believing

Hearing is deceiving

Truth is but a silent sigh

Perspective nothing but perception

Reality is, on one hand, subjective

And on the other hand as objective

As a knife to the spine

My eyes are but windows

To the lies my soul tells

~Cie~

OctPoWriMo 2019: Day 1: Dark Night of the Soul

Image by Owensart from Pixabay

Awakening from our dream of love, we see that once again

The dark night of the soul descends

Bleakness that no shiny happy folderol can end

Chaos reigns instead

Doubt descends to destroy

Every beautiful thing

Found in its path

Ghouls dig into the graves

History is unearthed

Incapable of believing

Jealousy

Kills

Love

Morning rushes away

Night descends 

Old fears

Prey on us in the pitch black of our doubts

Regret overtakes 

Soul fire ignites the last vestiges of hope

Tragically, certain ill-advised words cannot be

Unsaid

Vain tears cannot

Win back what was tossed aside

Xenos we are
You fly away

Zeroing the light in my heart
Back
to
Black

~Cie~

Couldn't leave without giving credit to the amazing Amy Winehouse for the inspiration.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #99: Crossroads of Summer

Image Source

I

buttercups

peeping through fog

opening to the sun

buttercups

I missed my turn once again

may I back it up?

peeping through the fog

on the way to take boxes

last stop on the way

opening to the sun

my heart opens very slowly

fearing further pain

II

sunshine lights

on hibiscus leaves before their

own dark

sunshine lights

but sometimes the sunshine lies

as much as shadow

on hibiscus leaves before their

time comes to fade for autumn

fall's first frost comes soon

own dark

indeed, I once thought I could

instead, dark owned me

~Jane & Cie~

Notes:

The "sleighs" of this team of Troku were created by Jane Reichhold (1937 - 2016). The wild horses pulling the "sleighs" were wrangled by me, or, more likely, I was wrangled by them.

The second stanza of the first Troiku references a favorite song: Aqualung by Morcheeba. This song has deep personal significance, and we'll just leave it at that.

Fetch: I Just Wanted You to Know

A Lost World Version 4

Photoshop Art by The Real Cie

I just wanted you to know

You seemed eternal, you know

And part of my mind which doesn't work quite right believes

That this is still what's going on

And you aren't dead and gone

Taken from the world 

By a disease that destroyed your mind

I'm sorry I got angry with you

For something which was in no way your fault

I believed in you

I wanted to meet you

I wanted to be your friend

I knew no-one like you could ever love me

I know for a fact that no-one can

But I hoped that maybe you would like me just a little

I still love you 

But I fuck everything up

I wish that we could reconnect

I wish that we could try again

Image copyright Skeeze

I'm so hungry for something I haven't a recipe for

I want to believe in magic

I want to believe in dreams

I want gentle ghosts to haunt my graveyard

And my house and my carousel

I want you to come visit me across time

I would give you a place to hide

In my heart or my pocket

I keep your picture in my broken locket

Beautiful little fractured spirit

You are so much more than you know

I wish that I could hold you to my breast

And soothe the sorrow from your soul

The feeling does go both ways, you know

I still love you

I would try again a million times

Sweet thief of hearts

Come steal my heart

Again

And again

And again

For Gerry from Pepper

Notes:

This poem was created for Team Netherworld's long-running WIP, Fetch. 

The backstory for Fetch (and the stanza just below the carousel image) can be found here.

Carpe Diem Summer Love 2019 Day 1 + Poetry Pantry #485: The Worst Lie

Image Source

I never lied to you, my dear. I loved you from afar for years but knew you couldn’t be mine. When you could, I broke my vow to run from love and gave you all of mine.

Temporary thing

Washed away when tides come in

Love is the worst lie

Love,

Cie

Note:

For those who are stickler-ish about things Haibun-ish, be it noted that this Extreme Haibun is a non-traditional Haibun. Like the person who wrote it, it does not care terribly much about adhering to strict rules.

For those who in the past have stated that they will demand to know if my Haibuns are fiction or non-fiction, this is your notification that this Haibun is 100% factual. However, know also that I will not elaborate further on the words I have set down in said Haibun, and I ask you to respect that.

Troiku Challenge 2019: Day 20: The Snow of Yesterday

Image source

the snow of yesterday

that fell like cherry blossoms

is water once again

the snow of yesterday

embraced me in cold cocoon

you were beside me

that fell like cherry blossoms

the snowflakes like frozen gems

my heart was open

is water once again

memories flow from my eyes

as I think of you

~Gozan & Cie~

with the moon

night too disappears

into the ocean

with the moon

memories return to me

I try to catch them

night too disappears

burned away by light and heat

everything in flames

into the ocean

I sometimes wish I could stroll

and be washed away

~Jane & Cie~

Notes:

The Jisei is a Haiku written by a poet shortly before their passing from the world. The "sleigh" of the first Troiku is the Jisei of the poet Gozan, written shortly prior to his death in 1781 at the age of 71. The "sleigh" of the second Troiku was written by Jane Reichhold (1937 - 2016) shortly prior to her passing.

Tan Renga Challenge 2019: Day 18: Lightning Flash

Lightning flash above Athens, Greece

lightning flash–

what I thought were faces

are plumes of pampas grass

what is real, I ask myself

you or I or anything?

~Basho & Cie~

Notes:

The Hokku stanza of this Tan Renga was written by Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694). The Akegu stanza was created by me.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #84: What the Apple Blossoms Know

Apple Blossoms

(Photographer unknown)

Apple blossoms watch

I rush forward resisting

Time passes for all

~Cie~

Notes:

This meditation asks us to work Unduo (movement) into our piece. I believe I succeeded in this.

Tan Renga Challenge 2019: Day 6: In Shadow

Image Source

autumn moonlight--

a worm digs silently

into the chestnut.

presenting a sunny face

though my brain feels full of worms

Basho & Cie

Notes:

The Hokku (Haiku) stanza of this Tan Renga was written by Matsuo Basho. The Akegu (closing stanza) was written by me.

Matsuo Basho was born in 1644 and died 28 November 1694. As a point of coincidence, my father died on 28 November 2010.

As Chèvrefeuille explains, Basho's Haiku references his desires for a man. Basho was a Samurai, and, as with the warriors of ancient Greece, homosexuality was considered normal and acceptable. Relationships between older men and adolescent boys were also considered acceptable.

I do feel that homosexuality is normal and acceptable, but I think it is better not to have sexual relationships between adults and youth.

My portion of the poem does not refer to my sexuality. Being heterosexual, I never found myself in the position of keeping my sexuality a secret. It refers to living with mental illness in a society which stigmatizes people who struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. 

Some people think that in this age of readily available psych meds, no-one should struggle with psychological problems. Many people do not respond well to psych meds, and not all psychological problems are chemical in nature.

OctPoWriMo 2018: Day 18: Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time

In a world where everything seemed possible

I cast a spell of enchantment

I believed my prestidigitation

Would inspire fascination

In the souls of those sorts of people

With whom I wished to spend my time

But it was only hocus pocus

My magic was out of focus

And I was but the punchline

Of a rotten cosmic joke

~Cie~

OctPoWriMo 2018: Day 17: Normal is Boring and Sanity is Overrated

I'm just sane enough

To know what I'm supposed to

Do so I fit in

And just sane enough to know

That I damn well think it sucks

~Cie~

OctPoWriMo 2018: Day 3: Insecurity

Blood and Roses

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

I doubt your promises are true

I trust nothing you say or do

You say overcome, start anew

Something so broken can't renew, don't even ask

I'm not secure in your embrace

Don't trust your sweet and pretty face

I know that I'll just fall from grace

My trust can never be replaced, don't even try

~Cie~

Senryu: Golden

Copyright Sharon McCutcheon

He once was golden

Then came the disaster which

 Turned him back to dust

~Cie~

Prompt Used:

Three Line Tales

Notes:

This poem is for Team Netherworld's Fetch, the story which refuses to die no matter how many nay-sayers try to kill it. In context of the tale, the image is our protagonist, Gerry Clifford, photographed for the July 1977 issue of Loud Magazine.

A Fetchy Shadorma: The Blue Garage

The Blue Garage

Photoshop image by The Real Cie

I went down

 Went down to the blue

To the blue

Blue garage 

 Where I could hear the blues play

 But all was silent

You can still

Hear the blues playing

 A ghostly

Echo of

A voice that once was alive

A sound that rang strong

The music

Itself cannot die

Song is sung

On and on

But the blue garage is closed

Blue street is silent

From Pepper with love for Gerry

(who probably thinks this song is about him!)

Notes:

Today the prompt was to describe an abstract idea using concrete nouns, and I think I did that. The blue garage is a metaphor, at any rate. Music itself cannot die, but musicians sadly do.

Fetch is the story that won't die in spite of repeatedly being stabbed with steely knives. Check it out here if you're so inclined. 

Senryu: Hidden

At the End of Everything Version 10

Photoshop Manipulation by The Real Cie

I am not ashamed

Of the one who haunts my heart

But must stay hidden

~Cie~

The prompt today asked participants to write about a secret shame. One of the suggestions was that one might be ashamed of eating "too many cookies." That's a trick statement, there is no such thing as too many cookies. 

However, that is not what this poem is about.

I decided to do a little twist on the prompt. What if the secret is not something shameful, but must be hidden anyway. What if the poem's protagonist is homosexual but comes from a homophobic family? What if, as in many dramas, the protagonist is from a rich family and falls in love with a poor person, and their family does not approve?

I actually wrote the poem from the point of view of Pepper, the female protagonist from Team Netherworld's WIP, Fetch. Pepper, a medium, loves Gerry, a ghost. There is actually nothing shameful about Pepper's feelings for Gerry. They are both older adults. However, the majority of the populace would not understand Pepper's feelings. Thus, in order to avoid becoming a pariah or even being institutionalized, Pepper must keep her feelings to herself.