By Scott Bailey © 2018
The things that we hoard
Entrance us and enslave us
A lifetime of toil
To sit on an empty throne
Why not take the easy road

The things that we hoard
Entrance us and enslave us
A lifetime of toil
To sit on an empty throne
Why not take the easy road
Forest
Verdant, alive
Roots reaching out and down
Branches stretching up to the sky
Spellbound
#Cinquain
Hobbit
Brave Brandybuck
Bringing sense to his friends
Finding honour in Rohan’s ranks
Small knight
#cinquain
Passion
Wanes while years pass
Becomes something finer
Matured, refined, rich with wisdom
Mellowed
Do not be fooled by its calmness
Maturity and depth
Do not weaken
Passion
#Cinquain #Butterfly-Cinquain
All
That I
Survey is
Under my sway
That is what they say
The evidence is slim
So I start to understand
How perfidious is the world
And the darkness begins to seep in
The entropy of hope, and dream slayer
So I must strive to remember the truth
My eyes are my window to the world
What dwells behind them in my world
My kingdom and my domain
So here I shall remain
That is what I say
Under my sway
In my eye
That is
All
In response to COLLEEN’S 2019 WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 132 #SYNONYMSONLY
Influence & Perception
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A double Etheree
#Etheree
When the fire goes out
The heat is dissipated
Darkness falls again
Only then do the creatures
Of the night find their solace
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 112, “COLD & SAFE,” #SYNONYMSONLY
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A tanka this week.
#tanka
Life is engaging
Creatures decipher the truth
They peruse it all
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 110, “PLEASANT & READ,” #SYNONYMSONLY
Check the link for the guidelines and rules
A haiku this week. Keeping it simple.
#haiku
Gone
The sound
The thunder
No silence reigns
And the poppies bloom
Nodding respectfully
To the brave that lay beneath
The swathe of red that remembers
The blood that was shed here for freedom
And the folly of man to his brother
So we may never forget all that pain
To ensure it will not come again
We respect them with silent thoughts
Resist any violent trends
Talk, build bridges, not walls
While the poppies bloom
While silence reigns
Honour those
That are
Gone
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 109, HAPPY NOVEMBER – “POETS CHOICE OF WORDS”
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A double mirrored Etheree that is fitting for the time of year – particularly this year.
#Etheree
This is serious
The future makes me tremble
These frightening days
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 108, “AFRAID & GRAVE,” #SYNONYMSONLY
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A senryu (sort of) this week. Very late and a little hurried
#senryu
For a sweet moment
This green forest was all mine
My own secret realm
Now, it is fenced off, private
Playground of the privileged
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 107, “HAUNT & SPELL,” #SYNONYMSONLY
Check the link for the guidelines and rules
A tanka this week.
#tanka
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”
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And if you are feeling in the mood to get creepy – check out this
#CINQUAIN
Water
Drops from the sky
Yearning to reach the sea
It’s path always heading downwards
Tumbling
Humans
Are not water
Humans yearn for the sky
They strive and climb up and up
Struggling
Sliding
Down from the heights
Steps faltering and weak
Bringing us down into the deep
Failing
Thinking
Measure the path
Assaying obstacles
Planning with forethought and wisdom
Reason
Rising
Against the rain
Climbing the steep ascent
Aiming for the sky, for the stars!
Soaring
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 103, “FALL & TRY,” #SYNONYMSONLY
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Had a go at a crown cinquain this week
#crown-cinquain
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
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A quick senryu this week
#senryu
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”
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A cinquain this week
#cinquain
Screaming at the storm
The words lost in the thunder
Storm undeflected
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 99, “CHANGE & DEFY,” #SYNONYMSONLY
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Another senryu – I have taken the opposite of one of the words this time so a bit of a cheat.
#senryu
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
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I think this qualifies as a senryu?
#senryu
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
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
Basking in the sun
The snake saw lunch in his mind
Movement brought him back
In response to Colleen’s 2018 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 82 – BELONG & DREAM #SynonymsOnly
A haiku this week. I have inferred the given words rather than use synonyms so breaking the rules a bit. This post was also prompted by the fact that on a country walk yesterday my eldest nearly stood on one of these – an adder – the only venomous snake on these isles. I think it was a juvenile as it was small but definitely a viper rather than a grass snake.
#haiku
Swansong
All clap along
As the end approaches
And the triumph lifts us all high
Cheering
In response to Colleen’s 2018 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 82 – The May Day Edition: SING & CELEBRATE #SynonymsOnly
A cinquain this week
#cinquain
In exultation
Shoots arise, reaching skyward
Until sharp blades sweep
In response to COLLEEN’S 2018 #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 78, GROW & HONOR, #SNYNONYMSONLY
Tenuous synonyms for my haiku – again
#haiku
Arise
To the thunder
The raging of the skies
Rain, that splits the drought asunder
Rejoice
Tremble
Beneath the aweful majesty
Of natures 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
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
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
If only I knew
What I know now years ago
My time would have been
Spent in a much better way
Less effort on silly things
In response to COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE, NO. 73: ENERGY & KNOWLEDGE, #SNYONYMSONLY
#Tanka