Roberta Writes – d’Verse, W3 and Thursday Doors #photography #poetry #London

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Melissa is hosting Tuesday’s d’Verse prompt: Where do we go from here? You can read more about it here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/08/19/where-do-we-go-from-here/

Our Home

Walking through my house

the original farmhouse for this area

purported to be haunted

by the ghosts of outlaws

shot by the authorities

in the early 1930s

I’ve not seen, or felt, any signs

of these vicious murderers

This is the home

TC and I have built together

during our 25-year marriage

each room is a tribute

to our collective and individual

passions and interests

Our lounge is filled

with African artwork

paintings and beadwork

from our local travels

My African doll collection

has expanded to include

a collection of stone animals

reminders of visits to Kenya

a wooden crocodile from Botswana

and clay animals from the Drakensberg

The dining room is the foreign quarter

packed with dolls from all over the world

India, Japan, Hungary, Vienna, Korea,

China, Netherlands, Poland, and Norway

Antique dolls, vintage dolls, cloth dolls,

leather bodied dolls, wooden dolls,

china dolls, a Judy without a Punch,

and, of course, Peter Rabbit

from my Christening,

and a collection of bears

Lastly, the corridor

it’s long and lit with downlighters

to illuminate my paintings

mostly animals, mostly acrylics

some watercolours

a jacaranda tree,

a visual celebration

of my latest obsession

As I walk, I wonder

What will come next?

I mentioned to TC

that I’d like to try sculpture

and he just smiled

Ange’s prompt for W3 this week is to write a poem for a painting. I chose this one:

You can join in W3 here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2025/08/20/w3-prompt-173-weave-written-weekly/

Womanly Chaos

The beauty of the female form

soft and nurturning

reaching its peak during pregnancy

when one life creates another

it’s hard to imagine

the chaos that lies

in the wake of a woman

as she sheds her young girl skin

explosing her more mature self

the physical often

not matching the mental state

adult thoughts and desires

warring with a young girl’s

dreams and emotions

As time passes

the older woman again

shed her skin

new identity emerging

sandwiched between

older teen and young adult kids

trying to detach and spread their wings

and elderly parents with health issues

Hormones transitioning

she slithers into the fresh territory

of a middle aged woman

surrounded by choas

as she balances life changes

with life circumstances

preparing herself for one last makeover

the move into retirement

and perhaps a grandmother

Thursday Doors

You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/08/21/moynihan-train-hall/

This week I am featuring St Thomas Eglin General Hospital in London and the Florence Nightingale Museum which is around the corner from the hospital. Florence Nightingale is considered to be the founder of nursing.

Picture caption: A picture of St Thomas General Hospital from the road
Picture caption: Gate entrance into the hospital and the start of the Covid 19 Memory wall
Picture caption: The Covid 19 memorial outside St Thomas General Hospital. Each heart is for a person who passed.
Picture caption: I enjoyed this painting at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London AND it has a great door in it.
Picture caption: Replica of the carriage used by Florence in the Crimean. The door was a curtain.
Picture caption: A picture of the Nightingale sisters at the museum
Picture caption: This is the medicine chest that Florence took to the Crimean War.
Picture caption: Our hotel in London
Picture caption: The doors/entrance into the hotel in London
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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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103 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – d’Verse, W3 and Thursday Doors #photography #poetry #London”

  1. I like how these two poems balance each other, Robbie. To me, Our Home feels rooted in place and memory, while Womanly Chaos moves through the shifting inner worlds we carry. Together they feel like outer and inner reflections of the same journey…

    Much love,
    David

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  2. What a great post! I loved the poem about the depth and breathe of being a woman. And I am so taken by the COVID memorial. We are still arguing over whether or not it was a hoax! Your home is a monument to lives well lived, Roberta. Thank you for sharing all if this with me today.

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    1. Hi Violet, thank you for your appreciation 🩵🦋. The Covid wall was very sad. I read a lot of the messages. My dad had a pulmonary embolism and TC had a venal spinal thrombosis from the vaccination BUT they didn’t die so I am grateful 🙏🩷

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  5. This is a complex and wonderful post, Robbie. I enjoyed the descriptive walk through of your house, and I loved the poem about women. I don’t know for sure, but I think you captured the emotional journey very well. I love the doors, and I think I would have enjoyed visiting that museum.

    I hope you have a great weekend.

    PS, I’m smiling, too, at the thought of you trying sculpture.

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    1. Hi Dan, thank you. I’m posting less often currently because work is chaos. I’m putting the posts together over a few days and including more in each. It occurred to me last weekend that I might be good at sculpture. TC is a great supporter of my obsessions 😊

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  16. Oh Robbie, your poems are both a glimpse into your home and into your mid-life. Well done! The Covid doorway is heart-wrenching. Thank you for sharing the museum artifacts and paintings.

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  18. Fabulous post, I love the doll collection and art hallway. I’ve imagined what you wrote, Robbie.

    Womanly Chaos inspired by Blue Woman is special.

    Florence Nightingale is a piece of woman’s history and yes, the first nurse. Thank you for sharing the pics of the museum. Great doors! Great post!

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    1. Hi Resa, I deliberately didn’t include pictures for the first poem 😉. I wanted readers to visualise the words. Womanly Chaos is how I think of all the hormonal rollercoasters women ride in their lives. I enjoyed the museum. I’ve always been interested in Florence Nightingale 🦋

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      1. Ha! I’m in hormonal chaos right now, so I found the poem physically vivid.

        I call it “Mental Paws”, and see a cat scribbling around a ball of yarn, snagging, unravelling.
        Excellent poem! ❦🌟

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  21. Your home sounds wonderful. It was a beautiful and intriguing description and the poem womanly chaos was interesting and beautiful. As usual your photos are great. You are a great artist and I think you should try sculpting as well.

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    1. Hi Thomas, my home is a reflection of us and our interests. TC and I often travel together as you know. He is going to Japan again to Osaka this time. I can’t go because it’s in October and both my sons are writing exams. These are both their finals for high school (Michael) and honours (Greg). I must be here to encourage and support them.

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  22. It’s good to be surrounded by things you love. And you have turned Matisse’s work into a meditation on the different roles we play, the people we become, as we add on years.
    The Covid memorial is quite touching. (K)

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    1. Hi Kerfe, thank you for your lovely comment. This is how I am seeing my own path currently. Michael’s finishing school in a few weeks’ time has sent me down a reflective path. The Covid memorial was very sad. I read a lot of the messages.

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  23. Robbie, this made me think of my grandmother who told me she didn’t see herself as 80 but as 16 living in a foreign body… I think women always carry a part of their former ages with them – it is how we cope with the chaos and changes that happen over a lifetime! Wonderful poem!!

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    1. Hi Val, aging is very hard. You start having to give up everything you enjoy. My mother has had to give up gardening and knitting. She is getting very fragile now at 87. I’m glad you found this poem relatable. It’s how I’m feeling now with Michael finishing high school in a few weeks.

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      1. You are still very young! My boys are 38 & 37… I noticed there are a few gray hairs on their heads!! That will really make you feel old… Best wishes for the new graduate!

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  26. Oh Robbie such a glimpse into your home and your feelings as you plan the next chapter in life two poems entwinned…I’m sure if you take up sculpture your cake decorating skills will come to the fore as your artistic genes take on another challenge…Methinks your garden may be the best background for your sculptures…Oh to take a tour…a lovely post and images xoxo

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  28. So much in this post, Robbie! I enjoyed reading about your home, and there’s much to think about in your second poem. We saw several Matisse paintings yesterday.

    The Covid memorial is very moving, and the Florence Nightingale museum looks fascinating.

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  29. Robbie a great post – and I love the title of your poem ‘Womanly Chaos’ and how in your poem we see the visual and internal transformation of that woman – beautifully executed 🙌

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  31. Wow. You’ve given us a lot to take in! This post seems like a mini-museum, the first exhibit being your home, then the woman’s life, then a medical history with COVID and Florence Nightingale. There’s a personal evolution here, even with the medical history, I think. Maybe all of us should look at our lives this way. Very thought-provoking.

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  32. I enjoyed your verses. My home is hodge podge mostly of my collections. Thought there are a few things related to hubby 😉

    Women go through many stages. I am enjoying retirement years…

    Covid was very real. Though there are still those who believe the earth is flat!

    Nice doors.

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      1. While not a result of Covid… just soon after starting my BIL went in the hospital (due to smoking his whole life) and passed within a couple of weeks. Because of Covid BIL wouldn’t even let his wife visit (though no one else even could) until near the very end.

        Some folks don’t believe that some very tragic wars and thus the results of them didn’t happen. Unsure of how to convince them otherwise.

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  34. Fun post robbie and my top takeaway was the opening prose – and feeling your house, doll collection, and “latest obsession” with your art! And of course sculpture is next – but in the meantime, hope the painting is doing well.

    xxxx

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  35. I was captivated by your poems, Robbie. The first because it’s full of creativity and art. I want to walk through your home and admire it all. And sculpture? Yes, I have no doubt you can do it and do it well.

    The second poem was a breathtaking journey. The image of women shedding their skins as they transform through the stages of life was perfect. It feels that way, doesn’t it? Beautiful and heartfelt.

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  38. “purported to be haunted

    by the ghosts of outlaws

    shot by the authorities

    in the early 1930s

    I’ve not seen, or felt, any sign”

    I suppose this is a good thing? Though do let us know if it changes.😅

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