[~ Ron.’s 1st (mirror) Cherita ~]
=======
He repeats himself
and repeats himself
over and over again
He just can’t seem to stop
repeatedly repeating himself
over and over again and again…
Everybody calls him Mr. Repeater
Nobody knows his real name
And nobody cares, either
They just can’t seem to stop
reading his repetitions
They just can’t
Tonight
in some other farmhouse
on some other dark hill
other curtains
pulled back from
other dim-lit windows —
Another face peers out,
eager for company.
Fingertips drum both windowsills.
Smoke curls up from both fireplaces,
mingles with incense, mingles with music,
spills out in search of other private spaces
mingling in the common air.
——[||]——
Sammi Cox Weekender
Prompt #451 – 01.17.26
~DRUM~
Go Ahead. Fill In The Blanks:
.———. . .———. . .———.
.———. . .———. . .———.
You’ll Find More Cool Sixers Here
———[||]———
All the other guys labelled him
a scandalous womanizer,
accusing him of stealing
their girlfriends, their fiancées,
and their wives. But he was just
handsome, charming, and rich.
The only scandalous factor
was how he played the women;
how he managed to get them to
fork over so much cash—
money he inevitably used
to buy a new car every year,
to go on vacation cruises
and to live the highest highlife
with his secret, handsome husband.
——[||]——
Fandango’s One Word Challenge
FOWC 01.16.26
~Scandalous~
On every show she watches
a house gets built or rebuilt,
designed or redesigned, or
bought or sold or demolished.
Usually the owners only show up
to drool and ooh-and-ahh and
“Oh-My-God!” over the changes
but sometimes they stick around
to help with the demolition,
pick out the tiles, the plants,
the paints, the cabinets, and
the patio’s paving and furniture,
but (either way) in the end
—after the big reveal—
she turns off the television
and loves her home sweet home.
——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
OLN – 01.15.26
~Open Link Night~
Written for this week’s challenge from Esther Chilton: A 38-word story incorporating those highlighted below:
——[||]——
It’s all over.
Despite my (PhD) diploma, and even though I’m sipping my (last) glass of champagne in my luxurious tower home, my account’s overdrawn and I can’t even afford to write a story in exactly 38 words.
——[||]——
E.C.’s Story Challenge
01.15.26
~38 Words~
One butterfly cinquain, addressing two prompts:
I’d sailed
to foreign lands
and found myself alone
and treasured all my loneliness
until
the day I stood on empty sands
and found you waiting there
to welcome me
ashore
——[||]——
Ronovanwrites
Cinquain #35 / 01.14.26
~ FOREIGN ~
——[||]——
The Daily Spur
~ SAIL ~
Here’s another (updated) Oldie, dredged up for this week’s Tuesday Poetics at the Pub. I was pretty sure this one was previously published, but my search for it at Eggs Over Tokyo kept coming up blank, so I guess I’m just misremembering.
At any rate…
——[||]——
There is no bottom.
The longer I am here
the more deeply I understand:
‘bottom’ is a myth.
Your meager chains and locks
are nothing to me now;
I surrender to them easily,
remember starlight,
sink into my escape.
——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
Tuesday Poetics – 1/13/26
~Prison Blues~
This week’s Tanka Tuesday Challenge wants us to write a syllabic verse including at least one Oxymoron. I used a Haiku, a Tanka, and a Shadorma to include several.
mid-winter quiet
the loudest silence ever
feels never-ending
the lack of birdsong
harmoniously off-key,
filling empty air
leaves the listener longing,
singing along silently
in silent
snow-filled emptiness:
birds, muted,
refuse song.
Visibly vanished, songbirds
sing nothing, loudly.
——[||]——
Tanka Tuesday Poetry
Challenge #47 – 01/13/26
~ OXYMORON ~
>> It’s Quadrille Monday again at the dVerse Poets Pub; time to create a 44-word poem.
>> This week, we’re asked to create a poem using “SMILE” or some variant thereof.
>> Thanks to De Jackson for hosting and getting us started.
He likes to mispronounce her name.
He’ll say something like, “Kiss me,
San-DARA, High Queen of The
Beauty Babes, Emperess of the
Sunniest of Sandy Beaches.”
She’s known him for almost ever
and she almost always smiles
when he twists his tongue around her.
——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
Quadrille Monday #239
~ SMILE ~
scrambled, not fried 