Memory from a Fruit

This is for DVerse Poetics’s prompt, “Always in Season.” It turns out that, a few months ago, I wrote a different poem about an orange, which is interesting because I don’t like oranges that much. Nevertheless, they are evidently full of juicy inspiration!

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I peeled an orange and found
Joy, inside that rough exterior peel,
Bordering on obnoxious with that summery citrus scent,
Joy in the juice which covered my fingers,
In the pulp which found its way
Under each one of my fingernails —

I peeled an orange and grabbed
Happiness, full of ripeness, because I wasn’t
Looking overly intently for it.

Photo by Delphine Hourlay on Pexels.com

Ode to the Air-Conditioner

For FOWC: Sustain and the prompt at My Vivid Blog, “tops.” I am also sharing with DVerse’s open-link night.

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Hard to sustain this August heat:
I hope the temperature will not beat
100 degrees, wish it would stop
At 90 tops — but thankfully
The air-conditioning runs breezily,
A saving grace from summer sun,
It’s glorious and helpful hum.

A Whisper on the Breeze

For this prompt about autumn. It was nice to write about that season before we’re in it, kind of a fun idea. 🙂

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“I am coming soon,” September whispers
From inside a relief-filled breeze
One August evening: She takes her time,
Letting the last days of summer languish,
Preparing to arrive on the scene
Wearing a dress of red and yellow leaves.

Photo by Mitch Kesler on Pexels.com

August

I am taking part in First Line Friday at MLMM today. As I wrote a poem rather than a story, the given first line is actually the first 2 lines of my poem.

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August approached,
In a golden, sweltering haze —
August approached,
As fears of the future encroached:
What will come after summer days?
Yet in multifaceted ways,
August approached.

Summer Villanelle

It was a real challenge to finish any poems halfway decently, although I started about 7 of them today. However, at last I have finished Linda’s paint-chip poetry challenge, which was to write a villanelle this week, using at least three of the phrases on the paint chips below. I like villanelles and writing them, but it was hard to write a whole one in a single day. I still appreciate the prompt because I don’t often write villanelles on my own. Most of my poems are much shorter.

Leaping Into Safe Arms

For Ronovan Writes’s current décima challenge, LEAP in the D rhyme spot. This brought back happy memories of summers when I was a kid, and my brothers and I would go to the pool a lot. I could still can barely swim, but I loved playing in the pool. 

Sweltering Heat: A Tanka

This tanka is for Frank’s haikai challenge trifecta and also for this prompt about windows.

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at the end of June
looking out on summer lawn
sun scorches dry grass

from behind glass window pane
chilly air blows through the house

Fruits of Our Labor

A haibun alluding to the solstice for DVerse’s Haibun Monday.

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Sweet, ripe strawberries convey the taste of summer. Store-bought may be bigger, but nothing can beat the beauty of garden-grown. The sun from my own back yard reddens the fruits, which have grown from hand-planted seeds, just as this daylight has grown from the seeds of winter nights. Teeth sink gratefully into the fruits of our labor.

This moment stands still
Reaching the peak of ripeness —
Sweet strawberry juice

Thirst-Quenching

I have a whole bunch of partly-written poems today. Here’s my haiku for Frank J. Tassone’s challenge about clear water.

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in the midday heat
welcome life-restoring sips:
at last comes relief

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How It Was, Before the Rain

This poem was written for Linda Kruschke’s paint-chip poetry prompt this week. We can write in any form yet are supposed to use at least 10 of the 15 given words. Also for Writing Wednesday: Dehydrated.

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I saw sunshine in your eyes,
A heavenly zest for life,
You were summertime,
Like watermelon eaten poolside,
Quenching the thirst of
My dehydrated mind.

I thought you saw
Clear skies, then
Out of the blue, what must
Have been a total eclipse,
Sudden, of your beautiful life.