This is mainly for Linda G. Hill’s SoCS: Up/Down. I wrote a backwards cherita (stanzas of 3, 2, and 1 line rather than 1, 2, and 3). It also fits with Writing Wednesday: Insanity. I have been feeling less insane lately, but it still applies. 🙂
Ocean
Sailing and Searching
This poem is for FOWC: Search and was partially inspired by this prompt about what provides comfort. It is written in a form that I learned from Abigail Gronway at “Dark Side of the Moon” a long time ago. Go check out her blog; she writes fantastic poetry! I am also linking with DVerse OLN.
Treasure Hunt
This is a décima for Ronovan Writes’s current décima challenge: Gold.
A sailor sets out, brash and bold,
To venture into the unknown
Sea towards where his dreams have shown.
To find a treasure chest of gold.
His map is faded, brittle, old
Yet with great trust he starts to sail,
As nascent dawn makes the sky pale —
Adventure, not only gold, gleams:
Happy to be following dreams
Knowing that courage cannot fail.
Fond yet Melancholy Memory
At DVerse, for Poetics today, it is “Blue Tuesday.” I was inspired by this picture, which I took with an old friend several years ago (the poem says 5, but it turns out it was actually 6 years and 2 months ago):
The blues of the view from the Huntington Beach pier:
Five years ago now, yet current they appear
The current of the ocean waves, greenish-blue,
Above horizon-line’s divide, cloudless sky, a lighter hue.Â
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It is the background of my smartphone screen,
Above which other blues, from icons are seen:
Apps like Facebook and the telephone cannot reach
Into the past, nor reconnect with that friend at the beach.Â
Crown of Joy
This was inspired by Writing Wednesday, for which the prompt word is “master,” and also this prompt about joy. On this 25th day of February, I am loving those days when you are joyful for no particular reason! I did see a butterfly in the afternoon, which is a plus. 🙂 This is just a quatrain, but I am decently happy with it.
Ghazal: Folly
After posting the paint-chip ghazal earlier today, I remembered this one, written about a month ago, on January 16, 2021.
Forgive my folly, veritable wells of it!
Let it be written down, say not farewell to it!
Before its end, all pens would use their ink;
Were I given all time, I could not tell of it.
See how the heart makes passion come in waves —
Behold the ocean deep, the ebb and swell of it!
Even if you are not my Beatrice,
Could you not be my Virgil for the hell of it?
Now all that’s left are roses pressed in books:
One such sweet scent — this writer brings to life the smell of it.
Warm Glow
An almost-late offering for Linda’s ekphrastic paint-chip poetry prompt. She provided several beautiful photos for us to choose from, and I decided to write about this one: 
(c) 2021 L. Kruschke
Along the Island’s Coastline
For JusJoJan day 29, the word is “Beach.” I am linking to a post from last August, about my family’s trip to Hawaii the year before. The post includes a very nice (in my biased opinion) photo of a beach as we took a drive along the coastline.
In This World and That
For the paint-chip poetry prompt this week, we are given the challenge of writing a “chance cinquain,” using the words on the paint chips in order in five-line stanzas. I just realized I didn’t use them in order. Oh, well. I am also sharing with JusJoJan.
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Learning to Sail
For Ronovan’s décima challenge, which this week is FLOAT.
Those who keep going, I admire:
Although we walk, life is a boat.
So hard to keep the ship afloat,
The seas themselves seem to conspire.
Let hope and love be my attire,
To never let the boat capsize,
To skill in sailing realize.
Even when the waves are choppy
May they not break serenity:
Enjoy the ride, sun in my eyes.
