By Scott Bailey © 2018
Small
But in control
Determined
Light touch
On throbbing power
Riders
In response to my daily prompt Trainer
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Jockeys
Creative Writing
Running
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Running
So fast we run
Stay ahead of the game
This is the story we are sold
Suckers
In response to my daily prompt Resolution
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Snippets
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Featured snippets
Knowledge panes
Keyword magic
Am I insane?
Chasing figures
Spun in the air
Where do I begin?
Where do I begin?
In response to my daily prompt Feature
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The Long Dark Night
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Orange
King of the hues
When autumn starts to fall
Slowly, fear steals over the land
Chilling
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 104, HAPPY OCTOBER – “POETS CHOICE OF WORDS”
Check the link for the guidelines and rules
And if you are feeling in the mood to get creepy – check out this
#CINQUAIN
Together
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Yet another step
Up the winding stairs to you
Slide down together
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Pleiades
By Scott Bailey © 2013
This mini-series of poems were written as part of a year-long daily poem challenge and published in my collection A Spring of Dreams. They are in a form called Pleiades (read about it here).
I chose to write seven of them one for each of the original Pleiades – the stars once called the seven sisters, and base the poems around the mythological characters.
Alcyone
Another spirit lost
Awash in the swell and foam
Anguished over lost love
Anger dealt him the blow
Arising from the sea
Alighting on the air
A bright bird arises
Asterope
A nymph darts between trees
Afraid of the hunter
Always close behind her
Away she flees in haste
Another danger lurks
At her feet as she runs
A butterfly is born
Calaeno
Caressed by the wide sea
Corals catch the new child
Carry her to the shore
Colliding with bright fate
Climbing into the sky
Coronal light shines out
Cascading to the sea
Electra
Ever shining bright spark
Equalizing her rage
Encompassing justice
Ever seeking revenge
Endless pain unanswered
Echoing from murder
Electra takes her aim
Maia
Mother of he who brought
Music up to the Gods
Malice turned to justice
Magic cascading from
Mother of the world storm
Mighty God of the earth
Must meet a mortal end.
Merope
Marriage was forbidden
Mortal husband taken
Masked in a veil of shame
Must watch her husband’s pain
Most faint in the heavens
Marred by following love
Misty those lives above
Taygete
The hunter is hunted
Twisting between the trees
Turned into doe from nymph
Trailed by her lover’s bow
Tumbling through the forest
Two golden horns that shine
To rise into the skies
In response to my daily prompt Cluster
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Dancing Disaster
So this is a direct quote from Theresa May’s speech at the Tory Conference.
Leaving without a deal – introducing tariffs and costly checks at the border – would be a bad outcome for the UK and the EU.
It would be tough at first, but the resilience and ingenuity of the British people would see us through.
Was that supposed to be inspiring somehow? All I got from that as is this.
Doesn’t matter how bady we fuck it up – doesn’t affect us. You poor sods can bear the brunt of it.
Again
She is literally dancing on the graves of her victims.
A Huge Jump!
That’s what I call jumping up the charts! Over a Million positions! Can you help me make it more?
Ghosts Arising!
Have reached no 188 in the Amazon Charts for Short Stories! A few more sales might get me to number 1! Anyone want a good collection of Ghost Stories? Get in the mood for Halloween
Check it out here – Thirteen Tales of Ghosts
Ban
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Ban
The things
We don’t like
Or understand
Don’t agree?
Are you sure?
I mean look at it.
Intimidating
Scary
Dangerous
Just take a look
At what’s happening
The rapes, the murders
Think of the children
That’s it!
You know it makes sense
Join with us
Ratify it!
Stamp it!
Make it official
Make it law!
Good!
What’s next?
Blue eye!
I hate them.
Let’s kill all the blue-eyed
Bastards
In response to my daily prompt Ban
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The Arrogant Moon
By Scott Bailey © 2018
The arrogant moon
Believed he outshone the sun
But she disagreed
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #220 He&She
#amwriting, #postaday
Blue
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Another blue birthday
Like his eyes
Two years as if yesterday
The memories of watching
Blue fading to darkness
Unlike his eyes
My memories will never fade
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Youth
By Scott Bailey © 2018
The passion of youth
Fires the body to action
After a lay in
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 102, “VIGOR & ENERGY,” #SYNONYMSONLY
Check the link for the guidelines and rules
A quick senryu this week
#senryu
Neutral
By Scott Bailey © 2018
In neutral gear
Idling
Sitting on the fence
Not taking sides
Until pushed
Off
In response to my daily prompt Neutral
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Family Life
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Berry
Suet
Logs
Have become
Something
To get
Excited about
In my life
How did that happen
In response to my daily prompt Berry
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Follow
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Starting
Taking small steps
Closely follow the guide
Take every instruction to heart
Ending
In response to COLLEEN’S #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE RECAP NO. 100, “POET’S CHOICE OF WORDS”
Check the link for the guidelines and rules
A cinquain this week
#cinquain
Good
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Good
Good enough
Goodnight
In response to my daily prompt Good
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Steam
By Scott Bailey © 2018
The steam arises
Covers the trees and valleys
Verdant green below
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #218 Steam&Cover
#amwriting, #postaday
Grimace
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Grimace
And bear it
It’s got to be
More honest
Than an empty
Grin
In response to my daily prompt Grimace
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Legacy
By Scott Bailey © 2018
When present is past
All the poison will still seep
Deadly legacy
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #217 Poison&Past
#amwriting, #postaday
Origin
By Scott Bailey © 2018
So the soldier walks alone
The origin
Of the species
Is
Competition
Survival of the fittest
The strongest
The smartest
The origin
Of our success
Is cooperation
Working together
Against a goal
If
For a few measly coins
We forget the latter
And embrace the former
The species
Will find
Its end
In response to my daily prompt Origin
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
We
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Heroes are silent
Cowards protest loud and fierce
We are in between
In response to RonovanWrites RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #216 Hero&Coward
#amwriting, #postaday
Declaration
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Declaration
Protestation
Exclamation
Consternation
No explanation
No realisation
Just expectation
This small nation
Done
In response to my daily prompt Declaration
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Dying Dreams
By Scott Bailey © 2018
My pen to paper
The dream I just cannot grasp
Er, except for now
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 98, “SAD & WRITE,” #SYNONYMSONLY
Check the link for the guidelines and rules
I think this qualifies as a senryu?
#senryu
Lace
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Lace
Disparate resonances
Delicate dowagers, making doilies
And fine trim for prim and proper ladies
And
Lacy underwear
Designed to be divested
In fast passion
And
Purity
White and bright
Smiling bride
Lead to the groom
Leading to the room
And back to the
Lacy underwear
In response to my daily prompt Lace
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Committed
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Decisions taken
Gateways opened, paths chosen
Following hope’s trail
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
The Strangulation of the Great
By Scott Bailey
So I was daydreaming in the bath – thinking about a book I read long ago – a biography of a famous 19th-century explorer and how he could be seen as representing men as a whole – but that’s a whole other post that will be coming soon.
Anyway – in the wandering way of my mind this lead me to thinking about how men have become demonised in the media generally. We are seen as stupid or beasts or slovenly – I could go on. But then, I thought women get it just as bad and then there’s ethnic minorities, the poor, immigrants – the list goes on. And on.
Maybe it’s just rich white people who get off lightly – but even as you read this what are you thinking? Of those Etonian brothers who keep their friend rich via nepotism and corruption while sneering at the poor? The rich wives from Chelsea with their lap dogs and expensive handbags and no clue about the real world?
See even they are demonised.
Why?
Who by – that’s an easier question. The media. And we all know that the media is run by those in power. I am no conspiracy theory nut – I don’t believe that there’s a tightly organised elite pulling the strings. Rather I think it’s like a self-sustaining system which lifts the people it needs to maintain its stability into positions of power. But whatever the reason – the media is the tool of that system.
So again why? Why demonise every single sector of society?
Control. If you cannot be proud of where you came from how can you rise to greatness? Great people can threaten the order of things, they can lead people out of their everyday drudgery and tedium. Out of wage slavery and obedience.
So greatness is stifled. In the modern garden of the world, the land is left to weeds and overgrowth. Anything that rises above the weed line is quickly cut down or sprayed with toxins until it wilts.
In such a barren and ill-tended garden, how can we expect flowers? How can we have anything more than poor harvests?
We should tend our garden better.
In response to my daily prompt Conspiracy
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Lush
By Scott Bailey 2017
“That’s proper lush, that is”
And you are in a time and place
While the grammar nazis squirm
Layer upon layer of meaning is conveyed
Language
Being used
For its intended purpose
In response to my daily prompt Language
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Tourist
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Some of us are tourists
Some of us are peddlers
Some just love the night
Some just have the feeling
That all of this is just inside our head
How can we control it?
How do we define it?
Is it in our head?
What if we just follow where we’re led?
On the tourist trail
In response to my daily prompt Tourist
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The Following
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Time to take
The initiative
Maybe
Or perhaps
Tomorrow
Already too late
It’s gone
When I wasn’t looking
While I thought
And fought
With doubts and fears
Follow on
Follow on
In response to my daily prompt Initiative
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Hunger
By Scott Bailey © 2018
The rumbling of the belly
Is the trap
The bait
Led us down a one-way path
No turning back
And keeps us here
In response to my daily prompt Belly
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Winter
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Winter brooks no fool
Or those lacking hunters fire
The cold teeth are sharp
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #214 Lack&Fool
#amwriting, #postaday
Gaping
By Scott Bailey © 2015
Always open, ever weeping
The wound of inequality
But still they slash, cut down their crop
And with contempt they fill their boots
Screaming sights and flashing sounds
Headlines tinged with hate
Keep us poor and keep us scared
Or else eliminate
In response to my daily prompt Boot
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
No Safety
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Child lacking safety
Will grow to fear the wide world
And narrow their mind
In response to my daily prompt Narrow
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Platform
By Scott Bailey © 2018
This is my platform
And the train is leaving
Without me
Never got to say
What I had to say
Ticket in hand
In response to my daily prompt Platform
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Mobius
By Scott Bailey © 2018
My life is thin
Shallow
Two dimensional
No point
No end
Twisted
Mobius
In response to my daily prompt Thin
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Econobox
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Econobox
What a strange, strained word
A small, efficient, no thrills car
Feels like a word
Trying to hard
Like the marketing department
That came up with it
In response to my daily prompt Econobox
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Squat
By Scott Bailey 2017
Diddly Squat
Zilch
Nadda
The amount your beloved
Leaders
Think about your needs
They will bleed us dry
And squeeze us flat
As the weight of their greed
Bears down on us
In response to my daily prompt Flat
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Market
By Scott Bailey © 2014
The free market
It pervades every part of our lives
Every fabric of our society
Why
Why did we choose
To put all the power
Into the hands of the few
Greedy individuals
Powerful because of their greed
Who’s great idea was that?
In response to my daily prompt Market
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
No Return
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Upturned trolleys
And wasted lives
Stilted rivers
Fish choked
Earth poked
To the point
Of submission
We cannot leave
Without causing worse
Now our only hope
Is to turn the tools
To better use
In response to my daily prompt Trolley
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Stressed
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Supposed to relax
From the endless stress of work
The phone doesn’t stop
In response to my daily prompt Work
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Dividend
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Your flesh is the price
Your blood sweat and tears
The dividend you pay
To no one you know
For reasons unknown
But still, you pay it
On and on and on
Until you have nothing left
No legacy
No remembrance
And still
It will not be enough
In response to my daily prompt Dividend
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Behind Again
Struggling again to find time to write or do anything at all that is not for someone else.
I am close to giving up for good – there doesn’t seem much point, snatching titbits of time to chase dreams that are ever less likely to come to any fruition.
So back to recycling for now.
Catching up with Blogging
Life has been so busy! I am so behind with blogging now! Even missing my own Daily Prompts
Thankfully a few people have been keeping them going so they are at least not going to waste. And it’s prompting a few discussions.
I will try and go back and do the ones I have missed though.
Quote of the weekend – from my youngest – at 5 years old. Jumping into a dodgem at the fair, grabbing the wheel and putting his hand on my hand.
“Don’t worry dad. I’ve got this!”
Coming Home
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Unite behind them
And maybe they have a chance
So, come on England!
Sorry – couldn’t resist – so well timed!
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #208 Chance&Unite
#amwriting, #postaday
Criticize
By Scott Bailey © 2017
I can’t criticize
I am too little
Too belittled
I probably can’t
Even spell it
In response to my daily prompt Criticism
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Parachute
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Life
Where every step
Is a leap
Without a parachute
Forget that
At your peril
In response to my daily prompt Parachute
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Deport
By Scott Bailey © 2018
A simple solution
Deport the deporters
Problem solved
In response to my daily prompt Deport
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Common Perception
By Scott Bailey © 2018
We all see it
All perceive the truth
Children in cages
We know what it means
Here come the memes
The outraged status
Rules the day
Governments
ISSUE STATEMENTS
Then
We turn away
Muttering
Up next?
Ovens
Prepare your placards!
Or is all as it appears?
Where is the truth in what we see?
If we cannot believe what we see – we will give up belief.
And there’s the point.
In response to my daily prompt Perceive
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Dawn – #writephoto
For Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo prompt
Another bit of fiction – another continuation of previous entries that I have decided to collate in one place – here. Very late this week – it’s not been easy in our lives lately. Hopefully not too late but if it is – hey – I need to keep it going for my sake.
Here Sue’s photo for this week.
Dawn
By Scott Bailey © 2018
All night she had waited. Watching that dark cave. She knew it was occupied – there had been a fire lit there.
Yet something has held her back. Fear – of what?
Well, for one thing, she did not know how many people were in there. Or what their reception to a stranger might be.
But she was in just as much danger hanging around out here. There were too many wild beasts that would finish her easily.
And she was cold and hungry and alone.
She had nothing left to lose – she told herself. But though she was young, she had lived long enough to know exactly what else she could lose. He life was the least of it.
All night this battle had raged in her, fear of the night, fear of the cave and that fire.
And beneath it all, grief boiled and churned. Tears flowed silently for the family she had lost to that treacherous wave.
Was there a family up there? Huddled in warmth and safety around that fire. She could recall many such scenes with keen sharpness and pain.
Then a thought struck her – if her family had been there they would have posted lookouts. Maybe there were not so many occupants in that shelter.
As she thought over that the sun rose, burst over the cliff top and spilled light like new hope onto the plains.
She stood. Her decision made. She started to climb to towards the cave.
#writephoto
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