#TheWombwellRainbow #PoeticFormsChallenge #haikusonnet was last week’s chosen form.

Haiku sonnet for mid-winter

Winter sun struggles
too thin too pale birds shiver
peck at ice crystals

veil of frozen mist
that filters gold and silver
deposits hoarfrost.

Feathers ruffle in
silence songs saved for next spring
I hear a leaf fall

the only other
sounds sharp as ice-crack twig-snap
hunting dogs’ hot breath

bleak mid-winter’s talon-grip
the shriek of sudden small deaths.

Haiku sonnet for sunset

Sun setting a pause
in the cycle in-taken
breath slowly let out

even the wind is
hushed twilight colours muted
only jays still screech.

Listen to the earth
shift into darkness night feet
patter on dead leaves.

Moon or stars the sky
is alive with light dancing
not sleeping—fox barks

shadows smooth day’s rough edges
soft as warm fur, bright feathers.

How did it go?

I don’t write much haiku, they seem complicated to get just right, but the idea of linking four of them into a sonnet is interesting. I was expecting the form to link four individual haiku, but reading the examples, it seems as though the stanzas are connected by run-ons and not self-contained poems. I decided to write four haiku as I understand the form, with a two line envoi. The first attempt gave a poem of four linked haiku, but without the effect of a sonnet, so I had another go which I think works in a sort of volta.

Jane Dougherty

City Winter

Skies darken early
Frost sparkles in city lights
Gentle sleet falling
Clouds clear, moon peeks through
Air still, cold, hardens the ground
Dresses cars in white
Padding in fresh snow
Footprints stop; keen pink nose sniffs
Cat finds a way home
Hiding in shadow
Sleeping on merciless streets
Wrapped in old newsprint
Stars and planets still revolve
The morning sun can’t wake him

How did it go?

This should have been easy for me. I love haikus and have written loads. However putting this together was an issue because I couldn’t find a subject to hang it on. That is, until I saw a homeless man and his dog outside TK Maxx in Sheffield yesterday. With a nod to Wilfred Owen’s Futility.

Tim Fellows

Kaleidoscope Dreams

Imagine floating
In a kaleidoscope
Where all the colours

Dance around the light
Reflecting patterns of life
That were lost before

In forgotten days
When life was multicoloured,
Wild and exciting.

Find that special place
Inside your mind and hold it still
So you can be there

Any time at all
In kaleidoscope dreams

Amanda Samm

Bios and links:

Amanda Samm

Amanda enjoys the challenge of poetry forms, especially Haiku and sonnets, so this was a great chance to try something new. “Kaleidoscope” and “Dreams” are her two favourite words at the moment so getting them both into this poem was a bonus.

Join me every day this December. #RewildTheMundane and/or #ReMundaneTheWild. Twelfth Day. NOTE: NO WILD THINGS MUST DIE IN THESE SCENARIOS. I look forward to your draft poetry/short fiction/visual images. Go leftfield and imagine a radiator as a wild animal or plant, imagine a wild animal or plant as a radiator, or other domestic object, or task. Email me or add your contribution to this link.

 

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How is a otter like a radiator ?

What mundane task would a living otter do in a home?

How would a radiator be rewilded?

Join me every day this December. #RewildTheMundane and/or #ReMundaneTheWild. Eleventh Day. NOTE: NO WILD THINGS MUST DIE IN THESE SCENARIOS. I look forward to your draft poetry/short fiction/visual images. Go leftfield and imagine a dustpan and brush as a wild animal or plant, imagine a wild animal or plant as a dustpan and brush, or other domestic object, or task. Email me or add your contribution to this link.

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How is a lake like a dustpan and brush?

What mundane task would a living lake do in a home?

How would a dustpan and brush be rewilded?

Join me every day this December. #RewildTheMundane and/or #ReMundaneTheWild. Tenth Day. NOTE: NO WILD THINGS MUST DIE IN THESE SCENARIOS. I look forward to your draft poetry/short fiction/visual images. Go leftfield and imagine a cleaning the windows as a wild animal or plant, imagine a wild animal or plant cleaning the windows, or other domestic object, or task. Email me or add your contribution to this link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How are earthworms like cleaning windows?

What mundane task would a living earthworm do in a home?

How would cleaning the windows be rewilded?

Review of ‘Muckle Anima’ by Paul Waring

Nigel Kent's avatarNigel Kent - Poet and Reviewer

I can think of no better way to end this year of drop ins and reviews than by sharing with you my response to Paul Waring’s exceptional, Muckle Anima (Hybriddreich, 2022). I have had the privilege of reviewing a number of wonderful collections this year, but this is equal to the very best and I have been bursting at the seams to write about it!

I believe that ‘anima’ means in layman’s terms ‘the inner or true self’. Whilst some say that all poetry, and indeed art, regardless of the subject matter is ultimately an expression of the artist, I believe that this choice of title reminds us of this viewpoint and signals to the reader that we can expect insights into the world and experiences that has made the man behind the writing. Adding the vernacular ‘muckle’, meaning ‘much’, to the formal noun ‘anima’, indicates, perhaps, that the…

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The end of it by Andy MacGregor (I AM STILL WAITING Series)

silverbirchpress's avatarSilver Birch Press

to-the-morning-star-1968.jpg!LargeThe end of it
by Andy MacGregor

Nothing in the end of it
prepared me for the beginning:

not the fire in the street
or the unexpected calm

as your last reproachful glance
sent me back to that first time

on the bus going north
when you laid your head

on my shoulder and I felt
that thrill, a vibration,

not knowing if it was you
or me, or just the miles

vanishing beneath us
into the unseen distance.

Then there was that night
when, out of nowhere,

you went on and on
obscurely about the past

being always present—
how every moment

is that one original
instant of creation

still unfolding endlessly,
but showing a different face.

I listened dutifully of course
while my tea grew cold

and the evening yawned
blackly outside the window.

No doubt it’s as true now
as it was all that time ago:

there…

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Re-mundaning the wild day 9

Jane Dougherty's avatarJane Dougherty Writes

For Paul Brookes’ challenge, still thinking in iambs. A sonnet with erratic rhyme (non)scheme.

Bee-dreaming

When winter settles cold across the fields,
and even roses fail to open buds,
when petals pink and blue are long since brown
and damp-dead, jays hop now where once they bloomed.
When sky is hid behind grey mists of cloud
and falling rain, its patter dull on leaves,
a sodden carpet specked with acorn cups,
the house seems sad despite the glowing stove,
and even mouse scratch, ash sigh echo loud,
I watch the pheasants in their gaudy plumes,
uncaring of the rain, the lack of light,
knowing only that the cage was sprung,
the broad day full of life and dark the night.
I listen for the ghosts of summer done,
bee-hum that fills these rooms with scents of sun.

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Join me every day this December. #RewildTheMundane and/or #ReMundaneTheWild. Ninth Day. NOTE: NO WILD THINGS MUST DIE IN THESE SCENARIOS. I look forward to your draft poetry/short fiction/visual images. Go leftfield and imagine a coffee table as a wild animal or plant, imagine a wild animal or plant as a coffee table, or other domestic object, or task. Email me or add your contribution to this link.

 

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How is a bumblebee like a  coffee table?

What mundane task would a living bumblebee do in a home?

How would a coffee table be rewilded?

Re-mundaning the wild day 8

Jane Dougherty's avatarJane Dougherty Writes

Today’s daft WP question is ‘Do you ever see wild animals?’ I’m imagining a Philomena Cunk voice. If you don’t know her incisive style of interviewing have a look at this. But put your coffee cup down first.

And this is today’s poem for day 8 of Paul Brookes’ December challenge.

Before squirrel-sleep

Winter creeps through tree boughs,
with wind-fingers plucks loosened leaves,
tosses them in irrelevant showers.

Gold rains, turning,
giving up the ghost, settling
in layers upon oak mast.

It needs a squirrel
to order the mess,
to brush away the curling debris,

to spiral along the boughs,
panache swirling russet-red,
in a frenzy of cleaning.

Winter is never spick and span,
until the frost grips in a frozen frame
and squirrel-sleep,

and beneath the guardian trees,
acorns, nested in leaf mould,
dream their small dreams of greatness.

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Review of Jeff Flesch’s book “Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow” by Spriha Kant

 

“Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow” is the debut poetry book by Jeff Flesch. This book is published by the publishing house “Experiments in Fiction” owned and edited by Ingrid Wilson. This book is a beautiful and deeply heartfelt collection of poetries. The beauty with which poetries twinkle with serenity in this book is reminiscent of the words of the sagacious poetess “Gabriela Marie Milton” in her poetry “Exiled” from her book “Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: Love Poems and Poetic Prose” which said “stars in your unbraided hair spread over still waters like lily pads.”
The poet has concocted each poem by combining imagery personifications, similes, and metaphors flowing in parallel to the feelings out of which a few even flows into the subconscious world a glimpse of which can be read in the following few words from the poetry “Neutral Stances”:

“dreams supplanted
by neutral stances

always awake me in the night
while anxieties are up, have taken flight

into the heart
of the mysteries, they call to me
when time is not in sight”

The ingredients used in concocting the poems in this book are influential to make readers scuba-dive in the vicarious experiences.

The poet has painted all his poetries with the beautiful tinges of nature in which the serenity of the countryside is felt. The poet’s intent in painting so is to make the readers embrace the beauty of nature as evidenced in the following words from his poetry “Cosmic Arts”:

“have you ever tried to catch a glance of heaven?

look around you now, and watch

as the sun comes up inside your heart
shining on everything within range of the cosmic
arts”

The beauty of nature and the serenity of the countryside have somewhat now gone out of the range from the spaces of the hearts and minds of the people due to additions of hectic schedules and cut-throat competitions in the lifestyles of people so reading these poems is like feeling a cool breeze in a scorching heat. The poet should thus be highly admired for reviving the beauty of nature and serenity of the countryside amidst the generation living in the rush, busyness, and hustle and bustle of urban life.

While painting all his poems with the beautiful tinges of nature and the serenity of the countryside, the poet has not skipped blending any poem with the essence of its own. This peculiarity of this book forged by the poet is highly commendable.

Each poem perfuming with its essence recites its own story and whereabouts.
Some poems are filled with nostalgic essence, shedding light on a few words of one of such poems “Limbs and Leaves”:

“running my fingers over our names”

“the sun inside our hearts
for the remainder of our days”
The essence in some poems is illuminating with ambitions that can be read in the following words from the poem “Dream Sky”:

“continuing
to run free

a dream the size of the sky, within me”
And many other essences are perfuming the poems. Thus, reading the poems in this book will be like sucking nectar from different flowers like a bee.

-Spriha Kant

Bios:

-Jeff Flesch (Poet):

Jeff Flesch lives in Corvallis, Oregon, and was voted the 2022 Spillwords Press Author of the Month for January and February. He is also the Author of #1 Amazon New Release Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, is a Co-Author of #1 Amazon Bestseller, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, and is also a monthly contributor to two online publications, MasticadoresIndia and MasticadoresUSA. His poetry is widely published both online and in print and has received international recognition. You can read more of Jeff’s poetry at Develop. Inspire. Transform, and on Twitter.

-Spriha Kant (Poetess and Book Reviewer):

Spriha Kant is a poetess and a book reviewer. Her poetries have been published in anthologies including “Sing, Do the birds of Spring”, “A Whisper Of Your Love”, “Hard Rain Poetry: Forever Dylan” and “Bare Bones Writing Issue 1: Fevers of the Mind”. Her work has been featured in “SYNERGY: CALLING ALL WRITERS WHO ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS” on thewombwellrainbow.com. She has been featured in the “Quick-9 interview” on feversofthemind.com. She has reviewed poetry books including “Silence From The Shadows” by Stuart Matthews “Spaces” by Clive Gresswell, and “Washed Away- a collection of fragments” by Shiksha Dheda. She has been a part of the celebrations for the launches of the debut poetry book of Jeff Flesch “Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow” and the poetry book of Paul Brookes “As Folktaleteller.” She has also collaborated with David L O’ Nan on the poetry “The Doorsteps Series” in the anthology “The Empath Dies in the End.”
The poetries, book reviews, and interview feature of Spriha Kant can be read at the following links:

https://www.imaginarylandstories.com/contest/the-seashell/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/09/13/a-fevers-of-the-mind-quick-9-interview-with-poetess-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/10/24/poetry-collaboration-with-spriha-kant-and-david-l-onan-the-doorsteps-series/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/10/06/a-book-review-of-spaces-by-clive-gresswell-reviewed-by-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/09/14/a-book-review-of-silence-from-the-shadows-by-stuart-matthews-review-from-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/10/12/a-book-review-for-washed-away-a-collection-of-fragments-by-shiksha-dheda-review-by-spriha-kant/

NEW FEATURE: SYNERGY: CALLING ALL WRITERS WHO ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS I will feature your work photos and writing individually on the Wombwell Rainbow. A special feature for you alone. Please DM/message me if you’re interested. Photo essays are great, poems should accompany one of your images that inspired them. Poems within the photos are also great, such a haiku, and so forth. Any theme you choose, at the moment. May get more specific as time goes by. Experimental work most welcome. Our seventh Synergy is from Spriha Kant.

Every day we should mark a #WorldSuicidePreventionDay. Please join Spriha Kant, Sue Watling and myself.

Celebrate #WorldSmileDay I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about smiling, or that features a smile. Please include a short third person bio in your email to me.

Mark #WorldMenopauseDay2022 I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about the menopause. Please include a short third person bio.

https://jeffflesch.com/2022/10/11/naturespeaks-30-poems-in-30-days-day-18-stay-away-by-spriha-kant/

#TheWombwellRainbow #PoeticFormChallenge #ACROSTIC was last week’s chosen form. Robert Frede Kenter, Alice Stainer, Tim Fellows, Jane Dougherty, Spriha Kant, Samantha Terrell and myself

#TheWombwellRainbow #PoeticFormChallenge #Alphabetpoem was last week’s chosen form. Robert Frede Kenter, Jane Dougherty, Tim Fellows, Jane Dougherty, Spriha Kant, Sheryl Lynch, and myself.

Celebrate #NationalPoetryDay today October 6th. Join Neal Zetter, Samantha Terrell, Spriha Kant, Francis Powell, Peter Gaskell, Kevin Sealby, and I. I will feature the best environmental poems that you feel you have written. Please email them to me, including a short third person bio. You may need to follow me first so I can DM you details . Will feature more throughout the day, but be absent from 14:30-20:30 on my supermarket shift.

Spriha Kant can be contacted at kants987@gmail.com.

-Ingrid Wilson (Owner and Editor of the publishing house Experiments in Fiction):

Ingrid is the owner and editor of the publishing house Experiments in Fiction. As a featured contributor at MasticadoresUSA and bartender at dVerse Poets’ Pub, Ingrid has published her writing in many online and print journals. In July 2021, she published ‘The Anthropocene Hymnal,’ a poetry anthology representing a response to the climate and ecological crisis. She published her first solo poetry collection, 40 Poems at 40, via EIF in February 2022.
Ingrid can be seen on Twitter @Experimentsinfc and Instagram @Experimentsinfiction.