Thomas Lindsay, US

Free Verse

Woodchip

Beauty such as this
at my fingertips
colorful mushrooms
among the woodchips
The good wood
meets the great flower
an awesome display
of nature's power
Not a potato chip
and not an ice chip
far from the poker chip
is the land of the woodchip

Diane Mayr, US

Haiku

autumn mist
fungus draws colors
from the gray

Pamela Pignataro, US

Cinquain

Humble Light

Red stars
a light among
debris of fallen trees—
in shade, the meek provide their own
soft glow

Gillena Cox, TT

Haiku

Everywhere
There is life; there is
Beauty

Tracy McPherson, US

Free Verse

Life Lichen

Fiery lava runs down slopes to the sea
cooled and re-emerging, life is awakened
tingling, dividing, multiplying
bursting forth soft silvery grey
Lichen emerges, it’s tender appearance
belies it’s violent birth

Sandra Martyres, IN

Free Verse

The Strange Dump – The view of the Innocent

Dumper trucks moved in slowly
And unloaded tons of debris
As noiselessly as possible
In an area sparsely inhabited
Just outside the city limits.

The following morning
Passing villagers were stunned
To find a strange dump
They knew not what it was
Nor from where it had come

Soon there were hundreds
Of simple folk visiting the area
To check out the phenomenon
The red instruments looked scary
Lying among with the other things

Rumours spread far and wide
The world was coming to an end
As only God could have placed
So much deadly looking stuff
In such a short time!!

Bernard Gieske, US

Free Verse

Where There's Three, There's Mystery

What do my eyes behold?
For these three I must be told.
They must have a singular name.
They look to me to be all the same.

Suddenly they came from hidden spores.
No doubt mixed up with ancient lore.
Where there’s three, there’s sure to be a mystery.
I wonder about their history.

Of these I caution one to take note.
The color red does not get my vote.
These might just be common stuff,
Perhaps used for something like snuff.

I want to know why these intrigue me,
Huddled there beside the giant oak tree
That once stood as high as a sailing ship,
But now carted away leaves only wooden chips.

Paula Fish, US

Haiku

Hawaiian sunset
Ah, the smell of his cologne
my fun guy

Bernard Gieske, US

Haiku

once a giant oak
a trio of creation
where the sun now shines

Joe Messingham, AU

Free Verse

Supplicant hands

See the fragments of a life
blasted from the timber hut that
once was home.
A stray shell did this near Herat
though the Afghan peasant farmer
did no wrong.
Perhaps the saddest thing to say
is he held up his hands to pray—
burnt stumps plead.

Karin Anderson, AU

Diminished Hexaverse Poem

Star’s Cascades

We found a hut as
full moon’s sapphire sea
shimmered on springtide
where star’s unstrung jewels
spilled on wood-strewn ground~~

I locked you deep
inside of me
as tinsel sky
blushed star’s cascades~~

You brought morn
on tea’s tray~~
as outside

starfish
mushrooms

blazed!

 

Definition—Diminished Hexaverse: A poem containing stanzas of 5 lines, then 4 lines, then 3 lines, then 2 lines, ending with one word. The syllables in each stanza correspond to the number of lines, i.e. 5 in each line in the first stanza, 4 in the second stanza and so on. This form may contain more than five stanzas.

Poetry Soup: "Diminished Hexaverse"
 

Cezar-Florian Ciobīcă, RO

Haiku

splinters of pine
wounding the light—
summer's end