Roberta Writes – d’Verse: Haibun Monday & Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge

#CFFC, #d'Verse, Esther Chilton's Word Prompt, photography 2 Minutes

d’Verse: Monday Haibun

Frank’s haibun challenge is to write about silence. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/04/27/haibun-monday-4-27-26-silence/

I’ll Take It – haibun

I cherish the near silence of the early mornings, suffering the rasping cough of the kettle just long enough to make a welcome cup of tea. Outside the window, a garden bird twitters and the hadedas screech their ode to the dawn. In a world that worships noise, my love of silence is just another characteristic that differentiates me from my family and colleagues. I’ll take it.

office hum

enhanced by white noise

my ears ring

Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge

Esther’s challenge word for this week is Mobile. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2026/04/22/writing-prompts-112/

What a Feeling – haibun

When I was a girl, children had a lot more freedom than they do now. My little sister, Cath, and I used to go out and about on our own. We both had bicycles so we had the option of riding or we walked, depending on where we were going. When I was in Grade 3 at primary school, roller skates came into fashion. The roller skates then took the form of a boot with four wheels on the bottom. The wheels were spaced out more like the wheels on a vehicle and were attached to a chassis-styled frame on the bottom of the boot, unlike the modern roller skates which are more like ice skates with wheels.

Cath and I both received a pair of roller skates for Christmas that year and I spent the rest of the December / January school holiday learning how to skate. I soon go the hang of swinging my legs correctly to enable forward motion and quickly learned to add arm movement to go faster. I learned to do spins and turns and how to skate backwards. It was an obsession for me and I spent hours practicing. As time passed, I started creating dances on skates to music. I’d set my small cassette recorder up on my bedroom windowsill and practice skating to my favourite soundtracks. The theme song to Flashdance was the track I liked the best and remember practicing my skating dance over and over to that song on repeat. Thankfully, Dad was out working during the day when I practiced so he didn’t complain about the endless refrain of ‘What a feeling’.

Skate dancing to Flashdance is one of my best memories and it was this process of mastering motion on roller skates that taught me I could learn to do anything if I set my mind to it.

freedom in movement

flowing like a waterfall

my spirit flying

CFFC – Something that took you higher

You can join in Dan’s CFFC challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/04/27/view-from-something-that-took-you-higher-cffc/

Through the window of the airplane at Dubai Airport
The Eiffel Tower which has a lift to take you up
Crane to lift up people and building materials – Paris
Tokyo Tower which has a lift to take you up
London Eye
Staircase in the Tate Modern, London
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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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91 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – d’Verse: Haibun Monday & Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge”

  2. I’m with you about silence, Robbie. I also love early mornings with birdsong. I don’t like noisy places or white noise. I start to hear voices in it.

    I’m imagining you roller dancing to “What a feeling.” 😊 One of my daughter’s high school boyfriends did some sort of roller skating competitions. He used to get up very early to go train before school started.

    Great photos, too!

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      1. When I was a kid, there were lots of parties and school events at the local roller rink. I could skate, but not very well. I only went ice skating once–as an adult with borrowed skates on a pond behind a neighbor’s house. My kids took ice skating lessons for a brief time.

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  7. I can relate to your affinity for silence, Roberta.

    As for freedom of movement, yes, we enjoyed loads of it when we were young and I had the very same type of roller skates 🙂 I loved them and they lasted a very long time, stretching as my feeet grew 🙂

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  15. The first, yes I take it too..!
    The second, I could never skate well, but went round and round at roller disco – I learnt accepting I would never be as good as the others but I could enjoy to my best ability … oh what a feeling – loved that! 💞

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  21. A terrific post, Robbie. I adore your haibuns. I loved skating, too (in the old skates), and the Flashdance song sounds like a natural for your most fun memory. Love it!

    Your shots for Dan’s challenge are super. I sent in some doors, for the one annual challenge I do participate in. Think I’ll check out his blog. Thanks!!!

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          1. Ahh, my Grammy taught me to read at 4!
            She said – learn this and you will be smart. Then she taught me the alphabet.

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  24. I love your childhood reminiscence! When I was a child, roller-skates were stuck onto the outside of your shoe and were tightened with a key so they wouldn’t fall off! hehehehe

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  25. I love both haibuns, Robbie. I can see how the little girl who danced on her skates to “What a Feeling” would gain the kind of confidence to take on the world as it were. It’s these small beginnings that make for greater ends. 🙂💖

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  27. I spent a lot of time in roller skating rinks as a child – I’d had a cast on one leg for several months and dragged it – so the roller skating was in part PT. This was before Flashdance but that would have been a fun one to skate to for sure!

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  28. I love both your meditation on morning and your memories of learning to skate-dance which made me smile. I too like the way the birds punctuate the beginning of the day. (K)

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  30. Not many people get the chance to enjoy real silence, being an early riser is perfect as you convey.

    I loved my roller skates, they were a fashion and ours were just the metal plates, adjustable in length with a toe cap to lace and ankle straps. We could ride our bikes with them on then slip down and let the bike speed up our skates.

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  32. Flashdance, that is interesting. I remember that song and they made a movie called Flashdance. It sounds like you got really good at roller skates. I have not done much roller skating. I did more ice skating. It was a fun story read and beautiful meditations/haibuns and photos from around the world.

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    1. Hi Thomas, I’m so pleased you enjoyed this post. I also did ice skating and became good at speed skating. I would have done ice hockey but the ice rink was to far away and I couldn’t get to the practices. The ice skating was later, when I was a teenager.

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