This was inspired by this prompt about judgment, as well as the current Weekly Scribblings. Click the link to read more. 🙂
Change
A Fault in the Wall, or, A Survivor
This sevenling was inspired not by any particular prompt but by Andrea’s photo in this post yesterday. Her photo reminded me of one of the walls in my house which has a crack in it:
A fault line in the wall:
A scar from an earthquake
Or two or three, still standing —
I stand lost in thought,
Amazed yet wondering if
The next shake will make it fall —
Never quite the same again
We’ll certainly be in trouble if that wall falls down. 
 I’m not actually worried, but it is unsettling if you think about it.
New You
This poem is for FOWC: Overhaul. I haven’t had many ideas today, let lone good ones — the idea-stream is more of a gurgle than anything substantial — so this is what I’ve got. 🙂 This form is called an ottava rima.
“New year, new you” — the advertisements say,
Yet this won’t stick — a massive overhaul.
The trick is making habits that will stay,
Significant they are, although they’re small.
The sense of overwhelm might be allayed
By breaking up the steps, no task too tall.
It’s not one day which causes change to last,
It takes small steps to let go of what’s past.
Overcoming Inertia
A cherita for FOWC: Galvanize and MLMM’s current Tale Weaver: new beginnings. For many of you, it is already 2021, but for me that is still almost 3 hours away.
Only when the present becomes intolerable
Will inertia be overcome, will the soul be
Galvanized, to take steps toward a future
Different from what one is used to:
Despite the possibility of failure, what is
Greater is the fear of going nowhere.
no title seems good for this….
This is a haibun for FFFC #98 and Frank J. Tassone’s haikai challenge about the New Year / Cold Moon. I tried to come up with a good title, but they were all either too silly or too sad. I don’t want to make the reader sad right from the get-go. 😉
She lies awake, waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, for the new year to be ushered in with customary fanfare — or what passes for fanfare (or custom) in these strange times. Times Square is empty, people in their homes, hoping for a fuller year ahead.
silent snowy night:
2021 tiptoes
wolf under cold moon
Insanely Mad and Nervous
I wanted to post more than just a haiku today, but this is for FOWC: Nerve and also Ronovan Writes’ haiku prompt for the week, so that is good enough for me. 😅 The title is kind of a joke.
In a world gone mad,
Nervous we might never get
Back to being sane
Objects in the Mirror….
This is for FOWC: Auspicious and was inspired mostly by MLMM’s photo challenge #345. I think that this might make a good start to a longer piece.
Purple sky:
Sliver of the moon
Silver way up there,
Obsidian in the mirror —
Such a strange sky:
What an auspicious sign,
Sighing I see mystery
Wondering what it means.
Outside of the Box
This is for FOWC: Discover and day 13 of the Christmas challenge, which is about family. Shared with the Writers’ Pantry. For obvious reasons, my family is reconsidering what to do to celebrate Christmas this year, and though I am hoping we can spend some time together in person, it may be necessary to do some kind of Christmas present unboxing over video-chat. I’m also hoping to get to go to Mass and see my church family. Christmas would be very lonely without them.
Maximum Randomness
For SoCS, we are supposed to right about something maxi and/or mini. My first thought was miniskirts vs. maxi skirts (minis are horrible, but maxis are comfortable, and I really like them 🙂 ), but then I thought about the state of the world and about calculus because I am a nerd deep down. I’m more of a “word nerd,” but I like math, too. Anyway, this intro part is getting to be its own stream-of-consciousness, so without further ado, I have something that was supposed to be a haiku, but I messed up the syllables.Â
Maximum and minimum:
Such confusing calculus
Such steep rates of change
We Are Teachers to Our Grandchildren
This is for DVerse Poetics. I was going to write something else to post, but the ideas are not coming, so here’s one that I wrote yesterday. We are responding to titles that Sarah provided for us. I responded to the one that is the title of this post. The form is like a cherita, but in reverse.
Grandma taught me how to bake sugar cookies.
Grandpa taught me that once you turn 80
No one can tell you you can’t eat ice cream nightly.
They taught me family history from past centuries,
And how not to freeze in the snow, a foreign thing
To these California sensibilities — gone crazy.
