I am catching up today and posting poems for two d’Verse prompts.
The first one is OpenLinkNight #377 which offers the following picture as inspiration for a poem:
You can join in this prompt here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/01/30/openlinknight-377/
Mind Map
In her head
Her life
A mind map
It’s two main areas
Enclosed rectangles
Joined by gossamer threads
Fine but strong
To smaller contained squares
Work
Broken down into engagements
Engagements broken down into tasks
Tasks assigned to colleagues
Family
Each member
A different shape
Their problems
As different
As their various forms
Health
An inverted triangle
A reflection of balance
Or not
Between the other areas
It’s threads elastic
That stretch and stretch
Until they start to fray
Around the edges
She sits
Inside a circle
Formed by disconnected dashes
Her hands tightly griping
Those slippery silver threads
The second poem is a quadrille consisting of exactly 44 words and containing the word hint. You can read other poets’ poems here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/01/27/quadrille-216-can-you-take-a-hint/
Mist Warriors
Clothed in mist
The spirits of warriors
Sway and dance
To the beat of the rain
Their presence visible on aloes
Dripping from broad, green leaves
An arrow of light
Thrusts through the clouds
Turning the drops gold
A hint of the coming routing
These are some of the aloes we saw during our recent trip to Babanango Game Reserve. These photographs were taken after a cloudburst followed by drizzle for a few hours.
I hope you enjoyed this tour of the garden at the lodge.
roberta-writes.com 
Mind Map is stunningly brilliant, Robbie, showing all the facets of life a woman has to juggle. Mist Warriors is very visual – especially with the photographs. Love this!
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Thank you, Jan. Yes, I did base Mind Map on how I view my life and the lives of most women with jobs and families. Mist Warriors was a description of a short period in the morning.
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I really like the second poem Robbie and wonderful various cacti!
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HI Brad, that is my favourite of these two poems too. I tried to take pictures of all the different aloes and cacti.
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A nice photo tour!
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Robbie, just finished the first poem. Love this part:
“Family
Each member
A different shape”
And how you hold them all together.
Wonderful photos of aloe and other succulents. Meijer Gardens has an arid garden room with some cool types of succulents, but these take them to the next level in size. Would not like to run through any of those areas at night! lol
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HI LIsa, thank you, this is how I view my life – smile. Kwa-Zulu Natal, the area where these pictures were taken, is very lush and tropical.
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You’re welcome!
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Always beautiful artistry on display
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Thank you, John. I’m so pleased you enjoy my poetry and photographs.
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Robbie, I love your take on the image . Splendid.
I enjoyed your Q and the stunning photos.
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I am very pleased to know this, Punam. Thank you
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You are so welcome.
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Both poems are wonderful, Robbie. The first was fascinating and the perfect description of a human mind map. Wow. Great take on the image too.
The second was visually lucious. Those are giant aloes compared to our little houseplants over here. Beautiful photos.
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Hi Diana, the Mind Map is the reality of my life in my head. I like the second poem best and I loved the aloes and cacti.
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I figured the mind map was of your mind. I thought both poems were lovely, but that one struck a chord. I guess it felt familiar. 🙂
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Having a mind map for a mind is probably a blessing. A maze would be a lot worse – grin!
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Lol
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I, too am enthralled with what you did for the first poem. Fabulous ekphrastic.
The second one is delightful as well and your photos – Wow!
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Hi Dale, thank you. I’m pleased you liked the poems. Strangely, I wasn’t sure about that first poem …
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Goes to show! It was wonderful.
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💗🙏
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Wonderful poems, Robbie, and fabulous pictures! I always enjoy your posts. Have a great weekend.
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Thank you, Tim, that is a lovely compliment. I hope your weekend is also good.
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Those vegetation photos leap off the page, Robbie!
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Thank you, Dave. I’m pleased you like them.
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I love your poems, Robbie, and your first poem describes the dimension of the picture very well. 🙂
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Hi Miriam, thank you. I am sure you can relate to Mind Maps
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You’re welcome, Robbie. Yes, I used Mind Maps in my study and for work.
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“Mind Map” sounds like someone just holding on to hold it together. I love all the green in this series of photos.
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Yes, that is about right. It’s when a new unexpected block gets added like ill health with a family member that the health triangle starts teetering.
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Good health is nothing to be taken for granted, that’s for sure.
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I agree, especially when you are old.
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I love both poems Robbie.Mind Map is my favourite.
Thanks for shating the lovely photographs.
Have a great weekend.
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My pleasure, Maggie. Mind map is probably relatable to most women. I had fun seeing how many different cactus/aloe species I could photograph.
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Hi Robbie
Yes, I agree.
I love your photographs as they remind me of my birth country 💕
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That’s lovely. I was born in the UK.
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Oh really Robbie.
What part?
We should swap places for a day 🤗
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Knightsbridge in London. I have been to the UK quite often. I may come this year, I’m just waiting to see what the doctors say about my day and what treatment is needed for him.
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I have not been to London since the days of my youth.
I hope your dad will be okay Robbie 🙏 hugs.
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Where in Scotland do you live?
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I live in Musselburgh Robbie.
About 20 mins from Edinburgh.
It is lovely, and quiet 🙏
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I like Edinburgh. That is where I’d chose to live if I ever move to the UK.
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It is a popular tourist destination Robbie, especially during the Festival.
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When I looked at this prompt, nothing came to my mind! I am amazed at your creativity, Robbie. Love your poem.
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HI Balroop, thank you so much. This is actually based on how I see my role in life.
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Beautiful photos as always.
To be the one pulling the strings is a difficult task. (K)
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HI Kerfe, yes, but I think most mothers do this.
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Perhaps. It was not in my skill set.
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💖🫶
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Robbie, I adore how you wrote both poems. My favorite is the first one. ❤️🙏
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Thank you, Michelle. That one is based on how I see my life in reality.
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And that makes it so special and relateable Robbie❤️
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I’m glad to know that.
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Love your mind map interpretation of the painting. Enjoyed the photos from the game reserves. I love the aloes images.
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Thank you, Grace. I loved your painting prompt.
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to both poems… beautifully done, Robbie…🤍
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I love your poems and the great interpretation of the painting. I liked the photos of the amazing plants as well. Some aloas are really enchanting.
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Hi Thomas, thank you, it is a different painting and this is what came – straight away actually. Aloes are even nicer during the winter months when they are in flower.
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We have aloe vera as pot plants. Thanks for showing us their wild cousins.
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My pleasure, Janet. They get very large in the bush.
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Amazing pictures Robbie. Loved both the poems too.
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Thank you, Sadje. I’m pleased to know that.
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You’re most welcome
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The first poem seems a fragile balance, and the second is lovely portrayal of the plants. Lovely photos, too.
Years ago we had a Steeleye Span album with “Misty Moisty Morning” on it. It plays in my head when I see or hear those words. 😊
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Hi Merril, thank you. My life is a fragile balance and I’m sure it’s the same for most people. I’m pleased you liked the plants that inspired the second poem. I don’t know the song but I do know the nursery rhyme.
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You’re welcome, Robbie.
The song is a version of the rhyme. The band was a British folk-rock group
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💝
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I like your poem that goes with the mysterious-feeling photo. And the aloes in your photos are tremendous!
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Thank you, Dave.im pleased to know that 💙
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Nice poems, Robbie. Now I know what the plant is that I have indoors, so thanks for the education on aloes.
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My pleasure 😃
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Fantastic poems, Robbie! And what a cool nature walk! Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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My pleasure, Yvette. It was a fun walk around the lodge gardens. I’m glad you liked the poems.
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Hi, Robbie, your poems are so evocative. Mind Map captures the delicate balance of life’s demands with striking imagery, and Mist Warriors has a mystical energy. I especially like how you weave nature into your verse—beautifully done! ❤
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Hi Donna, I’m delighted you enjoyed these poems and photographs. Mind Map just came to me when I looked at the painting. Sometimes that happens.
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The mind-map really made me think how messed up it all can be… and if you pull on one string you will offset something else.
Love the voice of nature in your quadrille.
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Hi Bjorn, yes, mind maps require balance on the strings fray and can break. I’m pleased you like the quadrille. I’m waiting for today’s challenge to come out. It’s always quite late in the day for me.
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Robbie, I love EVERYTHING! The two response poems and the photos. EVERYTHING!
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Hi Nolcha, I’m delighted to know that. Thank you.
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Mind map was particularly strong. Enjoyed the quadrille. V well done.
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The photos and aloe are very pretty. Your poetry makes me think.
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Hi Jennie, I am pleased to know that. Thank you
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You are welcome, Robbie.
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The surreal ekphrastic is so moving, so fraught with tension and the fragile control we hold over the “slippery silver threads” of life. A beautiful write, Robbie. And I love the lushness of “Mist warriors” and the photography that complements it.
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Hi Dora, thank you for your lovely comment. It is appreciated.
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Your commenters have all stated my thoughts brilliantly. The first poem is so outstanding. I like the term” fragile control.” In the second poem I loved the way you brought in a completely different element. Reading this makes me want to rewrite all my fog poems, but I don’t think in those creative terms combining unlike images to create a new one. It’s magical to me.
“Clothed in mist
The spirits of warriors
Sway and dance”
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HI Marsha, thank you for this lovely comment. I am so delighted you enjoyed these two different poems. I often use personification in my writing. I have always loved it as a writing tool and its one of the reasons Wind in the Willows is a favourite book of mine.
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I like personification, too. One of my favorite poems of mine is from the perspective of a bridge. It takes a little thinking to put on a different hat.
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Yes, I remember that one. I thought it was a great idea.
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🙂 xxx
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Terrific poetry, Robbie, especially Mind Map.
The aloes are glorious. Thank you!
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HI Resa, I am pleased you enjoyed Mind Map, my view on how my world works. The aloes were amazing.
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