THE CHILDLIKE SPIRIT OF AN IMPERFECT MAN: d’Verse Poetics Prompt (In father’s name)

1. Dance with my father: Luther Vandross

2. Song for dad: Keith Urban

3. My father’s eyes: Eric Clapton

4. Papa don’t preach: Madonna

5. Daddy lessons: Beyonce and Dixie Chicks

6. Color him father: The Winstons

7. Daddy could swear, I declare: Gladys Knight and the Pips

8. Baby father: Sade

9. My old man: Mac Demarco

10. Father to son: Queen

11. Papa, can you hear me?: Barbara Streisand

12. Daddy’s hands: Holly Dunn

13. My father’s house: Bruce Springsteen

14. Papa don’t take no mess: James Brown

15. Your daddy loves you: Gil Scot-Heron

This week, over at d’Verse Poetics, Punam from @paeansunplugged has encouraged us to reflect upon our fathers using some of the song tiltes above as guidelines. Below lies my contribution to the prompt, hope ye enjoy the read! 🙏🤞😁📖

THE CHILDLIKE SPIRIT OF AN IMPERFECT MAN

My father’s eyes,
They glinted,
With a type of mischief
And inate curiosity
That belied his years
Broad; wide-eyed smile
Stretched across his face.
The spirit of a young man
Inhabiting the body of an old

Father to son
He spoke to me,
Atop a barstool,
(It was where i got to know
My Old Man)
Of times gone by
When he was a lad
Reminiscing
About losing his mum
In childbirth,
Of walking to school
In bare; muddied feet.
Of running away from home
And cycling miles to work.

Colour him father
Of two families under the sun
Amalgamated;
Together into one
Beautiful; blended
Imperfect clan
With whom
He found no greater joy
Than having them around
At my father’s house
Delighting in the chat;
Laughter & sounds
Of children & grandchildren
Gathered together

For this is a…
Song for dad
A lyrical pause
For a good man
With some flaws
About the long life
That he had
Packing more in there
Than most
Now all I have left
Is a photographed ghost
A kind one at that

Should you wish to participate in the prompt then you can access it through the following link below: 👇👇😁😁

https://dversepoets.com/2023/03/21/poetics-in-fathers-name/

CALMNESS BESEECHES; WAITING FOR WORDS TO DROP d’Verse Poetics Prompt

For this week’s d’Verse Poetics Prompt, Ingrid (In her final d’Verse Prompt 🙁) has encouraged us to reflect on place & space, what/where our favourite one is, and compose a poem in response in: Poetry of Place & Space. Below lies my contribution to the prompt, hope ye enjoy the read! 🤞🙏😁📖

CALMNESS BESEECHES; WAITING FOR WORDS TO DROP

My favourite place/space is…

The corner seat of a coffee shop
Is just grand.
Sipping on a mocha, hot
Pen in hand,
Waiting for some words to drop

Running down an empty street
Under moonlight
With my always restless feet.
It’s where I fight
My demons… untill I defeat

Reclining on the leather couch
Observing them interact.
As they play; squeal & shout
I find contentment that
Scatters my worries south.

Long walks on sandy beaches
Listening to sea waves crash
Soothing the farthest reaches
Of your mind, becoming unattached
From the world. Calmness beseeches

Should you wish to participate in the prompt then you can access it through the following link below: 👇👇😁😁

https://dversepoets.com/2023/03/14/poetics-poetry-of-place-and-space/

SUNDAY BLOG RECAP

Hey folks! It’s long overdue but welcome back to my Sunday Blog Recap with links to all the blogs I posted during the previous week. Especially designed for those of you who have busy lives outside of the WordPress blogosphere. So without further ado, let’s get cracking! 👍😁

On Monday; Wednesday; Friday & Saturday morning I shared 4 motivational running quotes with ye. You’ll find the links to them below: 👇

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/06/running-owning-the-road/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/08/running-lets-go/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/10/running-seeking-out-new-sights-under-your-own-power/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/11/running-for-those-who-keep-going/?preview=true

Also on Monday, I posted my 1st poetic offering of the week titled: “Furry Fashion Accessory” written in response to Sadje’s latest #WhatDoYouSee #WDYS Poetry Image Prompt. Here’s the link to it:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/06/furry-fashion-accesory-sadjes-whatdoyousee-wdys-poetry-image-prompt-176/?preview=true

On Tuesday I published 2 new poems titled: “A STILTED INHALE OF AIR” & “MAGICAL HIDEAWAY; TRICK OF REFLECTION written in response to d’Verse’s latest Quadrille Prompt & Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge respectively. The links to them are below: 👇👇👇

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/07/a-stilted-inhale-of-air-dverse-quadrille-171-gasp/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/07/magical-hideaway-trick-of-reflection-tanka-tuesday-poetrychallenge-310/?preview=true

Then on Wednesday I composed a poem in honour of INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY titled Woman (More To You Than Meets The Eye). You’ll find the link to it here:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/08/woman-more-to-you-than-meets-the-eye-international-womens-day/?preview=true

On Thursday I published my 5th & 6th poems of the week titled: SERIOUS PLAY OR SILLY REDISCOVERY: d’Verse Poetics Prompt (Playtime) & STAINED CERAMICS; CAFFEINATED BURN: Weave Written Weekly: w3 Prompt #45 respectively. You’ll find the links to them below:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/09/serious-play-or-silly-rediscovery-dverse-poetics-prompt-playtime/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/09/stained-ceramics-caffeinated-burn-weave-written-weekly-w3-prompt-45/?preview=true

Lastly but by no means the least I published my final poem of the week titled: “A Timorous Type of Equity” written in response to Reena’s latest Xploration Challenge. Here’s the link to it:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/03/11/a-timorous-type-of-equity-ragtag-daily-prompt-friday-reenas-xploration-challenge-271/?preview=true

Well, that’s all for this week folks! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my blog. 🙏😁 Sincerely hope ye enjoyed the catch up! 🤞🤞🙏🙏 Until next Sunday, mind yourselves; stay creative and take care!

SERIOUS PLAY OR SILLY REDISCOVERY: d’Verse Poetics Prompt (Playtime)

For this week’s d’Verse Poetics Prompt, Lisa aka msjadeli has encouraged us to get in touch with or rather rediscover our playful side now that springtime is almost upon us. Below lies the result to my poetic response to the game! 👇👇 Hope ye enjoy the read! 🙏🙏🤞🤞📖📖

SERIOUS PLAY OR SILLY REDISCOVERY

Kicking football down the streets
With no shoes
On your feet
Playing chase with your crew
Or some hide & seek
Staying up all hours downing booze
Dancing to the pulsing beats
In the hazy days of youth
Now you’re stuck on tv repeats
Playing fast & loose with the truth
About who you’ve become
My two girls
You could teach me a thing or 2
About not being too
Serious!
Why so serious?
The Joker inquires
As we’re putting out fires.
Or checking off lists
Of jobs to do. Chances we miss
To play, to have fun
To build blocks
Be silly. Go for a run
Need to learn how to play again
Rediscover it before the pain
Gets too much
And you lose touch
With you inner child
Go on & have some fun.
Go a little wild.

Should you wish to participate in the prompt then you can access it through the following link below: 👇👇👇

https://dversepoets.com/2023/03/07/dverse-poetics-playtime/

PATIENT LOYALTY OF A FRIEND: d’Verse Poetics Prompt (Friends in Blogosphere)

For this week’s d’Verse Poetics Prompt, Punam from over @paeansunplugged encouraged us write a poem on friendship in whatever form it comes: in person; online or penpals etc.

But with a proviso: use a starting line from 1 of our fellow blogger’s poems and build a friendship themed poem around it. We have to ask permission of course with Britta Benson kindly letting me use the title line from one of her most recent offerings.

The line is: “When All Else Fails”. You can read it here at this link: https://oddsends707138946.wordpress.com/2023/03/01/when-all-else-fails-by-britta-benson/
Below lies my contribution: 👇👇👇 hope that ye enjoy the read! 🤞🙏😁📖

PATIENT LOYALTY OF A FRIEND

I don’t have many friends
As I have a tend-
ancy to keep myself
To myself.
Perhaps it’s due
To a lack of trust
Or maybe it’s because
I’m not all that fussed
At the work that’s required
To keep the flames of friendship
Burning; on fire.
But I know that
“When all else fails,
When I’ve exhausted
My fiercely independent approach,
When I’ve nowhere left to turn
I can count on you
Loyal;
Consistent
Enduring
Friend.
To be there for me
When I haven’t always
Been there for you.
Despite my unfulfilled promises
Of meeting up,
Your texts…
Unreplied
To listen without judgement
Over a walk down the street
Or long overdue conversations
In my favourite coffee shop,
As I relay my dilemmas
And struggles
To keep my feet grounded
When I get a bit ahead of myself.
To make me laugh
When I get too serious
With silly Facebook memes
To make me cringe
With your outgoing nature.
Chatting to everyone you meet
My worries take a back seat
And I smile in silent gratitude
At the patient loyalty of a friend.

Should you wish to participate in the prompt then you can access it through the following link below: 👇👇😁😁

https://dversepoets.com/2023/02/28/poetics-friends-in-blogosphere/

SUNDAY BLOG RECAP

Hey folks! Welcome back to my Sunday Blog Recap with links to all the blogs I posted during the previous week. Especially designed for those of you who have busy lives outside of the WordPress blogosphere! 🙏😁 Hope ye’re all having a wonderful weekend! 🤞🙏😊 So without further ado we’ll get cracking with it!

On Monday; Wednesday; Friday & Saturday morning I shared 4 motivational running quotes with ye that, hopefully inspired ye! Here’s the links to them:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/20/running-easy-to-quit-hard-to-keep-going-remind-yourself-why-you-do-it/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/22/running-escape-peace-freedom/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/running-melting-away-your-worries-with-timeless-beauty/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/25/running-embracing-who-you-are-its-in-your-dna/?preview=true

On Tuesday I published 2 new poems written in response to Sadje’s latest #WhatDoYouSee #WDYS Poetry Image Prompt & d’Verse’s latest Quadrille Prompt respectively. You’ll find the links to them below:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/21/setting-our-words-on-fire-sadjes-whatdoyousee-wdys-poetry-image-prompt-174/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/21/spinning-around-our-world-dverse-quadrille-music-is-my-refuge/?preview=true

Then on Wednesday I published my 3rd poetic offering of the week with my response to d’Verse’s latest Poetics Prompt encouraging us to compose a poem on the theme of kisses & kissing. Here’s the link to it:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/22/a-tender-kiss-of-intimate-desire-dverse-poetics-prompt-prelude-to-a-kiss/?preview=true

On Thursday we made a welcome return to my Throwback Thursday series of Poetry Readings which this week featured a recitation of “Paint Me A Picture (With Words).” This was followed up later in the day by last poem of the week titled: “The Ultimate Question” written in response to a picture prompt at Reena’s Xploration Challenge #268. You’ll find the links to them below:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/23/throwback-thursday-poetry-readings-painting-pictures-with-words/?preview=true

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/23/the-ultimate-question-reenas-xploration-challenge-268/?preview=true

We finished off the week’s blog posts with a blog on my favourite poetry quotes that provoked much thought & debate which is exactly the point of it all. It’s titled: “Poetry: A Withheld Form of Clarity or Misunderstood Communication”. The link to it is here:

https://kenhume31.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/poetry-a-withheld-form-of-clarity-or-misunderstood-communication/?preview=true

So folks, that’s it for the catch up this week. Thanks very much for stopping by & reading the post. Hope ye all enjoyed the Recap, tell your friends about my blog and tune back in next week for more of the same. 😁🙏😊🤞

A TENDER KISS OF INTIMATE DESIRE: d’Verse Poetics Prompt (Prelude To A Kiss)

Hey folks! For this week’s d’Verse Poetics Prompt, Kim over at writing@northnorfolk.com has invited us to think about the word “Kiss” it’s different types & intimacies. Below lies my contribution to the prompt 👇👇👇 Hope you all enjoy the read! 🙏🤞😁📖

A TENDER KISS OF INTIMATE DESIRE

A kiss on the forehead
A kiss on the lips
One smacks of intimacy
The other of tenderness
A kiss on the hands
On the nape of your neck
One smells of desire
A prelude to undress
A kiss from a lover
A kiss from a friend
A peck on the cheeks
A kiss that transcends
The pain & the mess
Of the world around us
Lonlinesss & despair
Of a life without love
A kiss we long for
A kiss we regret
A kiss that stops time
And helps us forget

Should you wish to participate in the prompt then you can access it through the following link below: 👇👇👇

https://dversepoets.com/2023/02/21/poetics-prelude-to-a-kiss/

BLOG GOALS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Hey folks! Hope ye all had a lovely weekend! 🤞🙏 Welcome back to my weekly Blog Goals for the Week Ahead where I set out my blog schedule and creative goals for the coming week. Hope it helps inspire & motivate ye as much as it does me! 🤞🙏😁

I’ve already posted my 1st motivational running quote of the week for ye earlier and there’ll be 3 more where they came from on Wednesday; Friday & Saturday mornings. So please tune in for them! 🙏😁

Tomorrow, with it being Valentine’s Day and all that, will be all about the love. Will be doing a special reblog of my popular “Love Is…” poem featuring my own reflections on love. Hope ye will enjoy reading that again or perhaps for the 1st time!

It’s also, strangely enough, the 4th anniversary of my mum’s passing. So I’ll also be reposting a poem called “Freeze Time” reflecting on my then wish to stop time and prevent her death from ever happening. And showing some poetic love to ye guys and gals for all the support

On Wednesday, I hope to respond to Sadje’s latest #WhatDoYouSee #WDYS Poetry Image Prompt and d’Verse’s latest Poetics Prompt respectively. Should you wish to participate in Sadje’s prompt then you can access it through the following link: https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/02/13/what-do-you-see-173-13th-february-2023/

From Thursday onwards, I’ve nothing planned as kids will be off school so difficult to plan stuff. However, I’ll still be responding to various poetry prompts from Moonwashed Weekly Prompt to Ragtag Daily Prompts to Reena’s Xploration Challenge & WeaveWrittenWeekly etc whenever the opportunity & inspiration arises.

On Sunday, I’ll be rounding it all up with my regular Sunday Blog Recap with links to all the blogs I posted during the previous week. I trust you’ll all join me for that & keep following for regular updates. Thanks again for your support; encouragement and feedback.

UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT; GIFT OF NEW LIFE: d’Verse Poetics PROMPT/Reena’s Xploration Challenge #267

For this week’s Reena’s Xploration Challenge, Reena’s given us the following phrase as a prompt for our creative inspiration: “in that one moment”.

And for this week’s d’Verse Poetics Prompt, Ingrid has invited us to open up those hidden; unrecognised gifts in our lives and write a poem on the subject of Hidden Gifts. Hope ye enjoy the read! 🙏🤞😁📖 Below lies my contribution to the prompts: 👇👇👇

UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT; GIFT OF NEW LIFE

Pacing up and down the hospital corridor, I waited nervously for the doctor to call me in to the theatre.
My wife was about to give birth but the doctors had to prepare her for her cesarean section.
After what seemed like an age, a doctor finally came out and beckoned me in.
A screen had been erected between me and the section to allow for some dignity for my wife but I got to hold her hand through the procedure
And then they lifted Grace up so we could see her.
Calm as you like
Covered in nothing but amniotic fluid
Words failed me, failed us both
And I welled up with tears
In that one moment, I knew
My life would never be the same
The most special gift
I’d ever received
Came, not wrapped in paper,
Bought with money
Or packed in a box
But carved out of your mother’s womb.

Should you wish to participate in the prompts then you can access it through the following links below: 👇👇👇

https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2023/02/09/reenas-xploration-challenge-267/

https://dversepoets.com/

BLOG GOALS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Morning folks! Hope ye all had a lovely weekend! 🤞🙏😁 Welcome back to my weekly Blog Goals for the Week Ahead where I set out my blog schedule and creative goals for the coming week. So, without further ado.

First up today, after this blog of course, will be my 1st motivational running quote of the week followed by 3 more on Wednesday; Friday & Saturday morning. Hope they will inspire you all in some way. 🤞🙏🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️😁

Then tomorrow, I plan to publish 2 poems for ye’re enjoyment. The first one of which will be titled AFFECTIONATELY HEADSTRONG inspired by my youngest girl: Ava! 😁 This will be followed by my response to Sadje’s latest #WhatDoYouSee #WDYS Poetry Image Prompt. If you want to participate in the prompt then you can access it through the following link:

https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/02/06/what-do-you-see-14/

On Wednesday, I hope to publish another poem which will be written in response to d’Verse’s latest Quadrille Prompt.

Then on Thursday, I plan to recite the poem I wrote around this time last year titled LOVE IS… for my Throwback Thursday series of Poetry Readings which for the next 3 weeks is going to feature readings on the subject of love & loss. Then later in the day I’ll be posting my response to d’Verse’s latest Poetics Prompt

On Friday I hope to respond to some of the other prompts on here such as Moonwashed Weekly Prompt; Reena’s Xploration Challenge &/or WeaveWrittenWeekly over at the Skeptic’s Kaddish. And maybe return to my Poetry Quotes reflection blog?!

On Saturday, we’ll have one more poem for the Week which will be followed up by my regular Blog Recap on Sunday with links to all the blogs I posted during the previous week. Hope you enjoyed the read and come back next Monday for more of the same. 🤞🙏😁📖