The Devil You Know

A mouse snuffles through
A bag of bread crumbs.
It seeks grain to chew
And sate its hunger.
What does my stomach
Crave to digest and
Break down? I covet
Some form of rapture,
Like dogs with a bone
Or birds with a worm.
With this ache grown
To its final form,
I turn deep inside.
Will I starve before
I forsake my pride?
Of course not.
I cling, tenacious,
To my misery.

What goes better with poetry than a touch of depression and faking it ’til you make it?

Maybe some cake. Or things that will happen in about 4.5 hours following this post.

Either way, this was written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #192, Tenacious. You should all just be thankful I resisted the urge to write about Tenacious D. Also I didn’t know what picture to choose, so I just slapped some nonsense I liked on there.

Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com

Stained – #Shadorma #TankaTuesday

Detailed stains
Glove her dainty hands.
Celebrate
A wedding,
Engagement, or fun with friends-
Let joy stain your soul.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #161, a photo prompt. Henna tattoos interest me in that it’s a tattoo without needles.

Rains of March – #Etheree

Drops
Drip down
Paths routed
With the first rain.
Pitter-patter sounds
Knock on leaf-littered ground
Waking seeds from earth-tucked sleep.
Sprouts pop out and reach for the sun,
From instinct observing nature’s wish
To praise the sky for bringing heaven’s gift. 

***

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #127, follow and lead.  The synonyms I used are in bold.  

For this one, I must admit that I chose to think of the ‘ed’ on a lot of past tense verbs as not a syllable (‘tucked’ is, I believe, pronounced like ‘tukt’).  So I might be off in your count, but I’m still fine with the way I counted it.  Thought I’d explain.  🙂

Photo by David Alberto Carmona Coto on Pexels.com

New Car – #Haiku

Carcinogenic
Built of oil, steel, and exploits
Yet smells like success

***

I wrote this while sitting in the service center, getting the ‘free’ oil change on the car I got last July.  The first Tuesday of the month is poet’s choice of words at Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday, so I wanted to steep myself into an environment for a haiku.

Also, my photos at the shop were garbage, sooo…

Photo by Albin Berlin on Pexels.com

Immobile

The messenger hopped into the trench just after a shell hit.  He face chittered, ghostly pale after the brush with death.

“How long until we get backup?” a grizzled twenty-one year old asked.

“It’s not coming,” the fresh young messenger said.  “The shelling’s too hard.  No one’s moving from the redoubts.”

The professional soldier rubbed his aching feet.  “I’m not sure we can hold them off this time.  We don’t have enough men in this line.”  Upon seeing the fear on the messenger’s face, he comforted.  “Don’t worry, mate.  I suppose they feed their prisoners!”

The young man gulped.

***

This was written for the Carrot Ranch February 28 prompt, Backup.  This is one of those rare times that I have nothing else to say about what I’ve written, so… woohoo!