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Let Us

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 dVerse Poetics: "Let Them" Write Poetry   "Write a repetitive poem beginning each line with “Let them”. The topics can be trivial or more emotionally charged. If you like, you could follow each line with a response beginning with “Let me”, continuing the pattern throughout the poem." I was reading a post on Instagram a few days ago.  The man, who is a wonderful person and supportive of others, took a break over the U.S. long holiday weekend.  While he is usually able to ignore the hateful words (including wished for his baby daughter's death), he needed some time off from it.   Anonymity  online makes it all too easy to post what you wouldn't say in person.  That was my inspiration for this prompt.  Let them point, and laugh. Let them take their pics for social media. Let them spread their hate for clicks and likes. Let us ignore, and walk on by. Let us fail to engage, which will enrage. Let us take the higher road, ...
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Venom and Ice Warning

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 Poets and Storytellers United  Friday Writings #227  ...be inspired by one of the following quotes (or any quote) from The Princess Bride ... I chose two quotes, shown in italics. Detail of a postcard showing a Diamond Back Rattlesnake VENOM Why waste your venom on me ​? I'm much to o large to eat, too full of fat. ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹  ✹ ICE WARNING Not so very long ago, we kept our distance from those unmasked. Now, the world's been   flipped, tur ned upside down. Words to the wise in these unwise times, People in masks cannot be trusted. ©2026   Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  
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My Summer Song

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dVerse Poetics : Names of the Rose  Please choose at least FIVE rose names from the list below. Or choose  your own FIVE words or more from this huge list. If the rose name is more than one word, you must use both words.  There is one stipulation, you can NOT use the word, “rose” in your  poem! I chose the following words, which I have underlined in the poem: Restless Seafoam Tangles Golden Gate Windrush Summer Song Peace I’m restless . I walk the tideline on Baker Beach, kicking tangles of kelp and seafoam . The fog is heavy, nearly concealing the Golden Gate Bridge. A windrush gusts; my hair briefly covers my vision. I sit on the cliffs hidden from the commuters above. The sound of waves and gulls, my summer s ong. The damp fog and incoming tide, my peace . ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  
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The Iris: A Quadrille

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Bloom is the prompt word for today's dVerse quadrille.  Write a quadrille (a poem of EXACTLY 44 words, not including the title) AND include the word “bloom” or a form of the word within the body of the poem. A synonym for bloom does not fulfill the prompt. It must be the word “bloom”, or a form of the word, for example “bloomed, or blooming or bloomin’”. The bearded iris started blooming last week. Purples first, then the orange. “Mango Passion” it’s called. Fancy! My purples were free off a curb. They are the nameless mutts of the garden. Beautiful none the less, like the proverbial rose by any other name. ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   Mango Passion
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Z - Zappai (almost!): It's a Zoo Out There!

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A Z appai is often referred to as a "pseudo-haiku," and haiku societies dismiss the from as having little literary value.  A  Z appai follows the 5-7-5 syllable lines of haiku, but never has seasonal references.  What I have written isn't even a proper Z appai!  I have laid it out as one sentence of 17 syllables, which is an American Sentence.    It's a Z oo Out There was bought at Goodwill for $2.69.  How could I resist!  There must be a story behind this trio of Washington D.C. powerhouses!  The title is one I used for the Challenge, I usually call it Animals in D.C .   This isn't the first time I've featured this artwork in a poem.  Here's the other .  If I say they act like animals, that gives animals a bad name. ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved     Thanks to all who dropped in this month for the A to Z Challenge!  It was fun!  
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Y - Alphabet Haiku with a Twist: Yang Jian

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Alphabet haiku using the letter Y .  Alphabet haiku is an invented form created by Beatrice Evans. Invented forms are new poetic structures that do not necessarily follow traditional or established "rules."  Alphabet haiku follows the traditional haiku syllable count of 5/7/5.  The only change required is each word begins with the same letter.  My twist? Only the first word of each line begins with the same letter. After all, it’s an invented form, and they do not necessarily follow established “rules”!  Y ang Jian is a figure in Chinese mythology.  I found this mid-century half-tone print of Y ang Jian in an Italian frame in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  It's not unusual for his third eye to be missing, as exports (the print isn't Italian, only the frame) "softened" the supernatural elements for the Western markets. Also, his celestial dog is often left out of these small prints, the focus is on the central figure.    yang jian, warrior ...
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X - X

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X is always the hardest letter, especially for a poetic form.  So, this artwork was chosen not for an X as a title or subject of the artwork, but for the red X I see across the image.  It may not have been the artist's intent, although it would fit his theme.  So, no specific poetry form, some lines free verse, some rhymed, it's just a poem based on the red X .  This is a print of Franz Marc's   Fate of the Animals , painted in 1913, here renamed by the publisher, for an American market, as   Animals at Bay .  The artist wrote on the back of the original canvas, " And all being is flaming, suffering ," or " And all being is flaming sorrow ."  Marc had a feeling of foreboding, a premonition of society's apocalyptic shattering.  He sensed the coming World War, and his painting depicts the price of human conflict on nature, the animals as innocent victims.  The dark portion of the painting was damaged a few years later, after the...
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