We need fury and wonder
to fire our song
But the fire is dim
the spark long gone
So sift through the ashes
for an ember that glows
To tend and to blow
through the wind and the snows
And build from the ashes
a new song, a new light
That burns with new fury
to banish the night
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
The cur
Concurred
That his fur was fine
The Dragon
Entwined, sublime
Around the dog
Agreed
As he preened
Sat on the mat.
The rat
Sneered as he neared
A disagreed
With the lead of the cur
While the rooster sided with the worm
His belief in showmanship firm
White he strutted
The tiger tutted
And purred,
Anticipating
Waiting
His chance
The rabbit
Twitched and hopped
Unsure who
To believe
Whether to leave
Or watch
While the snake
Curled around
The ground
Sniffing out
The way ahead
The monkey
Puzzled
And guzzled his beer
Coming near
Without seeing
While the swine
Less divine
Fed
Its stomach, not its head
And the bull
Forged on
Sure and strong
One way forward
The stallion danced
And when they glanced
Gave a show
While the goat’s
Step
Slow and sure
Kept time
And amidst them all
Nothing
That had a clue
In response to my daily prompt Rabbit
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Eyes
Red and raw
Seen too much
Filled
With work
and bills
and tears
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Monster
Caught in lead and steel
Frozen
In time
Human
Caught in the machine
Enslaved
Forever
Somewhere
An artist smirks
And settles
To eternal sleep
In response to this week’s Photo Challenge Twisted
This was a sculpture spotted during a day trip to Hastings many years ago.
The white wolf’s triumph
Hunt over, hunger sated
No howling tonight
In response to Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 81, DIGNITY & SUCCESS, #SynonymsOnly
A haiku again this week. My brain is too fried for anything more.
#haiku
The list is out
The top dogs preen
While those who put on the show
Count their gains
And the mongrels
Sniff out the scraps
On the ground
In response to the daily prompt Pedigree
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The slight light
Of the dawn
Brings dread
Worry
When it should bring hope
What happened?
When did the light
Seep
In response to the daily prompt Slight
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
When the oppressors
Flaunt
Their power
When they laugh
Not in their sleeves
But in your face
As they take
And cut
And take some more
Chuckling
On their beds of gold
And thrones of power
When their hands are tightest
On the flow
Of information
Disinformation
And lies
They feel the safest
The strongest
That
Is
The time
To strike
In response to the daily prompt Flaunt
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Sleeves
Hide mystery
Sleek and smooth inside
Be that
Skin
Or vinyl
In response to the daily prompt Sleeve
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Come the hiding of the sun
And the rising of the dust
Dark Kings will reign over the land
Seas will bleed
Come the hiding of the moon
Rivers will falter
Weeds will claim the land
Towers will fall
Come the hiding of the stars
The ice bears will rend
Thunder will rule the air
Mountains will weep
Come the dying of the fire
The turning will end
The scattered will fail
Nothing more
In response to my daily prompt Hide
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Dawn spills on the land
Sharing its free, warm bounty
Nurturing the seeds
Feeding the grazers in turn
Then stolen by the hunters
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 90, “Give & Receive,” #SYNONYMSONLY
An attempt at a Tanka
#Tanka
Wandering the shore
Through new lands every day
Ancient fishermen
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
The mallet
Ancient tool
Held by many hands
Down through the ages
Hands of skill and experience
Worn and hardened
By labour and care
Now
Resigned to
Tent pegs and vampires
In response to the daily prompt Mallet
I have to say – what a rubbish word today!
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
What is
Authentic
What is
Truth
In the sea
Of information
Might we drown
Before we find the
Pearl
In response to the daily prompt Authentic
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The arguments go on and on
Side by side
On and on
Both sides sticking
Faithfully
To their course
The problem is
Parallel lines
Never meet
In response to the daily prompt Parallel
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Firewater genie
It lures you with promises
The bottle snaps shut
In response to the daily prompt Genie
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Fingers fly on frets
Sliding, screeching, sighing
And magic emanates
Transporting us
Away
In response to the daily prompt Fret
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Come on you loons
You warrior poets
You insane ranters
Crank it up!
Give us your ideas!
Give us your brains!
Break the mould
Break the world
So it can be remade
Better
In response to the daily prompt Crank
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The heart of the oak
Old and strong, steadfast: yields to
The will of the wind
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #177 Strong&Heart
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Rockets fly
In the face of reason
And humanity
Again
Depleted hope
Is as dangerous
And toxic
As depleted uranium
In response to the daily prompt Deplete
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Listen to all the anger
Hark at all the fury
Just remember that
You no longer own the jury
Humiliate the whistleblower
Make him out a fool
Wielding propaganda
Like an old blunt tool
Don’t you know we’re cynics now
We can see through all the lies
You will have to do much better
Or suffer the surprise.
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
A glimmer of hope
Magically holds our eye
While life passes by
In response to the daily prompt Glimmer
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
In the shallows
Small fish dart
Disturbing the sand
Splashing
In the deep
Sharks swim silent
Passing
Unseen
In response to the daily prompt Disrupt
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Life is a haul
Not a journey
Or a mystery
No heaven to aim for
No rules but survival
Just a haul
Knowing
Is enlightenment
Pull where you need to
Concentrate your energy
Focus
Be keen
In response to the daily prompt Haul
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
We brave explorers together
Wearing imitation leather
And as silent as a feather
We toiled through the darkest weather onto our prize
Through mountains and valleys, we walked
By tigers and lions were stalked
And as brave as we always talked
There came a time when we just baulked against the size
Of the hunger in our bellies
Off with our explorer wellies
Broke out the ice cream and jellies
And retreated to the telly’s noisy comfort
In response to the daily prompt Explore
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Radiance
Shining across the galaxy
Shimmering
Around the darkest of places
From darkness
Light is born
To darkness
Returns
In response to the daily prompt Radiant
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Stars
Magic
Fathers dance
Under dark trees
Dream
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Bright flakes of light in dappled leaves
that float on down
where saplings grow
and settle low
And earthy scents rise in the air
As underfoot
leaves crunch and fold
red-brown and gold
The rusty fence that holds it in
it holds us too
back from that time
when we roamed free
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
I am conversant
In…
Um
Well, I am quite good at….
Hey
What the hell
Why does it matter?
Who am I trying to
Impress
In response to the daily prompt Conversant
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Permit me to speak
Permit me to say
The truth of our lives
Maybe if we shared
The healing could begin
We could escape
The electronic cage
If we listened
If we did
In response to the daily prompt Permit
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The fox prowls the woods
Hot on the scent of dinner
The body is close
In response to the daily prompt Creature
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The dominant theme
Of the modern movement
Is just that
To dominate
To be the best
No second place
No room for losers
Crush them
Squeeze them dry
That is the song
Of our age
We seem to sing it
With joy
In response to the daily prompt Dominant
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Sunny
She was
And the shadows she cast were long
We long for her
Now the winter is here
And the long long night descends
Bright was her smile
White and bright her smile
Deep and black her skin
And we wanted in
From afar
Memories of sun
In the dusk
In response to the daily prompt Sunny
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting
The pie chart tells all
How our future is planned out
While dreams turn to dust
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #107 Pie&Dust
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Sometimes the things we are due
do not arrive
Sometimes that precious parcel
is lost
Sometimes the blows
are more than we think
we can survive
But we do
It is the ancient sadness
of humanity
Happiness has such
frailty
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Arise
To the thunder
The raging of the skies
Rain, that splits the drought asunder
Rejoice
Tremble
Beneath the aweful majesty
Of nature’s might roar
Making your heart
Thunder
In response to Colleen’s 2018 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 76: JOY & FURY, #SnyonymnsOnly
Had a go at a reverse cinquain this time.
#Cinquain #reverse-cinquain #CinquainPoetry
Shouting into the hole that is the whole
Nothing back.
Raging against the system that is all
Nothing changed.
Staring at the box with the box.
Nothing gained.
Justifying every move you make
Not explained.
Time to change.
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
See the sky blush with
Golden fire heaven sent
And then the darkness
In response to the daily prompt Blush
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
There are empty spaces
left as people move on,
of the spaces of places long gone,
of times gone by
There is a link between present and past
an energy, a potential,
strung between the memories gone
and the living yet to roll on
The link hums with the tension
and the empty spaces echo back the thrum
deep rich reverberation
layered on the past, the present, the future
Such is the music of life.
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Nature
Claws back its realm
Over many ages
Verdant fingers prying apart
Even
The strongest of our creations
With persistence of growth
Old and fertile
Mother
In response to the daily prompt Patience
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
See the argent moon
Chasing the brightest sunbeams
Moments slip away
Dreaming
Alone
Is not enough
Dreaming together
Greatly to be desired
But
Giving dreams substance
That is what’s required
Nature
Claws back its realm
Over many ages
Verdant fingers prying apart
Even
The strongest of our creations
With persistence of growth
Old and fertile
Mother
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 75: “PATIENCE & GREEN” #SNYNONYMSONLY
Had a go at a butterfly cinquain this time – and I had the perfect picture to go with it – one I took myself for a change.
#Cinquain #butterfly-cinquain
COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 75: “PATIENCE & GREEN” #SNYNONYMSONLY
Be yourself
Be true
Be uncompromising
We are told
Be open-minded
Listen to others
Find the common ground
We are told
Find the path
Through those
And you will be sorted
Or go mad
Trying
Simple
In response to the daily prompt Uncompromising
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
I watch the snow melt
The green shoots of grass rise up
To greet the new dawn
Taking a bracing shower
In glistening morning dew
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE, NO. 74: “RENEW & FRESH,” #SNYONYMSONLY
#Tanka
Bird on a branch
Are you resting
Are you watching
The world below
The people rushing here
And there
Along their crowded roads
With all their forks and cul de sacs
Fly on little bird
Fly on
In response to the daily prompt Branch
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Oh
For a restart button
A ctrl-alt-del
For some days
Some situations
Sometimes
For life
Must be the geek in me
I want to switch it all off
And back on again
In response to the daily prompt Restart
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Astral light guides
Cold and passionless
Cargos through the ages
Wood and steel
Fruit and bread
Flesh
To be sold
Along with the souls
Of the seller
In response to the daily prompt Astral
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Plainsong
Rolling, chanting
Granting the air a form
Bestow shadow and light purpose
Singing
The crafting of ancient wisdom
To bear us something new
Brightly shining
Lyric
In response to my daily prompt Craft
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Tempting like a tart
Sweet nectar awaits inside
So the dance begins
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #190 Tart&Sweet
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 
