This week, for the Meet The Bar Challenge at dVerse Poets, Laura wants us to acknowledge the year’s end by using some closing lines of previous poems.

Because it’s December 1st, I’ve used closing lines from whatever poems I posted on the 1st day (or thereabouts) for the past 12 months…

———[||]———

L’hermitage

Don’t even ask about Deadcember,
the promise of impending Winter.

He blames it on Wal-Mart:
she starts the car and is gone.

Outside becomes inside.

He owns the planet.
He feels the empty,
forgets his name.
He goes back to sleep. Waits.

Nobody stood in solidarity
or cared that he was naked.
Thank God.

—————[|||]—————
dVerse Poets Pub
Meet The Bar / Critique & Craft
~ My End Is My Beginning ~
———[||]———

Nose News Flash

Outside the workshop,
frozen in solidarity,
185 underpaid elves
carrying “Strike” signs
flipped off the geezer.

Across the square,
Rudolph and friends  
stood in solidarity.

—————[|||]—————
Fandango’s One Word Challenge
FOWC 12.01.22 – Workshop
———[||]———

Closing out the month, The Bunny says:

“Write a small piece about a small thing worth more than its monetary value.”

———[||]———

unwritten haiku
each page more blank than the last
–accolades await–

——————–[|||]—————
Miz Quickly’s November
11.30.22 – Last one
———[||]———

I must admit: I’m pretty sure I didn’t have it in me to meet The Bunny’s ghazal-ish prompt parameters today [Tuesday], so I wrote this instead.

(If you’d like to see what a real Ghazal looks like, you might read my award-winner HERE)

Meanwhile…

———[||]———

Pre-Mid-Week

“Tuesday is as Tuesday does,” they tried to tell him;
but it was Tuesday so he wasn’t listening.

Nothing made sense to him anymore, anyway;
especially today, the new week just begun.

He was hoping for another long weekend, but
this early in the week, ‘weekend’ was meaningless.

Maybe tomorrow he would see things more clearly.
“After all, it’s only Tuesday,” he told himself.

—————[|||]—————
Miz Quickly’s November
11.29.22 ~ Foxy Gazelleria
———[||]———

On The Bright Side

Even though starvation was likely
there were still a few things
the castaway couldn’t eat:
fishbones; seagull feathers;
lizard eyes.
…………………….The fishbones and
seagull feathers were inedible
but the lizard eyes were just gross.

And besides: he’d noticed that
the lizard’s eyeballs, baked
in the inescapable sunshine,
hardened into gemlike pebbles
and could be woven together by
strands of dried-out seaweed.

Ages and ages later, sailors
rediscovering the tiny island
stood gaping at the skeleton,
admiring its bejeweled wrists
and sparkly decorated neckbones.

—————[|||]—————
Tuesday Twiglet
Twiglet #307
~ lizard eyes ~
———[||]———

It’s Quadrille Monday again at the dVerse Poets Pub; time to create a 44-word poem.

This week, even though temps are dropping here in Vermont (USA), we’re asked to create a poem using the word “Warm” or some word that incorporates it.

I’ve opted for a shadorma / tanka combo

Thanks to Lisa for hosting and getting us started.

———[||]———

The Truth Will Out

He knew she
wanted to tell him
he was a
real hottie
but she didn’t have the nerve
so she zipped her lip.

Things really warmed up
when they tumbled into bed.
The message was sent.
Passion always speaks its mind;
no interpreter needed.

—————[|||]—————
dVerse Poets Pub
Quadrille Monday #165
~ Warmly ~
———[||]———

I used to pull punches for a living;
used to cloak my dagger, even though
all I ever really wanted to do was to
un-bury my hatchet, give myself a
nice close shave, roll myself in dough,
and make her short hair stand on end.

I could have been a rocket man, like
Elton used to sing about, or maybe
I could have been an Elton, too;
could have blasted myself off into
totally improvised lyrical spaces,
leaving the earthlings nothing to see
but the receding seat of my pants.

I’d settle for being either this or that.

—————[|||]—————
Fandango’s One Word Challenge
FOWC 11.28.22
~ Work ~
———[||]———

This morning, The Bunny gives us 5 words and asks us to use each one as the springboard for a batch of TITLES. For me, FIVE’S TOO MANY, and I believe that three constitutes “a batch”, so…

BANYAN
TURNIP
JINX
SCATTER
ENVELOPE

———[||]———

3 Out Of 5 Times Three

Banyan
1. Banyans I Have Known, Seen, or Been
2. Ben Bans Banyans
3. Banyanas Misspelled

Jinx
1. Yesterday’s Jinx Stunk, And Today’s…
2. Unlucky Gen-Xers
3. Jay Signs On

Scatter
1. Stool Pigeon
2. Giving Up On Lyrics
3. How To Become Dust

—————[|||]—————
Miz Quickly’s November
11.28.22 – Titular
———[||]———

Ya Gotta Eat, Right?

She was extremely late, as usual. They were her friends; complete strangers to me. We’d already finished our impromptu dinner. Everyone, reasonably satiated, had helped with the dishes, retired to the living room for another joint and some wine when she finally walked in the front door, unapologetic, carrying insufficient groceries. Her eyes widened. She shouted “You couldn’t wait for me? What did you cook instead? And where the hell’s the cat?”

—————[|||]—————
Sammi Cox Weekend Writing Prompt
11.26.22 Prompt #278
Revenge (72 Words)
——[|]——
Stream Of Consciousness Saturday
SoCS 11.26.22
~ On Our Plates ~
———[||]———

Inedibility 

The day after the uber-holiday
she feeds everyone ten new words
but he doesn’t taste any of them;
stays busy feasting on leftovers:

Obfuscationally speaking, he
prattles off a veritable plethora of
incomprehensible verbiage
without even the tiniest hint of
either ague or torpor, without
a trace of his standard sublingual
sibilance, thus providing any reader
with even a modicum of chutzpah
the opportunity to deeply recogitate,
to ergotize, and then sum.

—————[|||]—————
Miz Quickly’s November
11.25.22 – Writer’s Choice
———[||]———