I’ll see you on Wednesday for In Touch with Nature.

This week’s W3 prompt is as follows:

THEME: Write a poem to encourage someone not to give up—urging them to persevere, try again, or push forward for just one more time or day;

STRUCTURE: Use no more than 11 lines;

Choose any form or rhyme scheme you prefer;

You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2025/02/12/w3-prompt-146-weave-written-weekly/

The ladder

You are climbing the final rungs on the high school ladder

It seemed to have no top, but now you can see

A new world of adulthood nearly within your reach

Your ladder has been a long and difficult clamber

Rungs were stretched apart, and you had to jump

Some parts were oiled, and you slipped back some way

Obstacles blocked your climb, and you used picks and ropes

Some rungs were weak and broke when you stood on them

You got splinters in your hands and fingers from holding on

But you have prevailed, and climbed your extended ladder

I’m right here behind you, pushing you upwards

I am a little late for this challenge even though I had my poem written on Saturday. Thank you to David from Skeptics Kaddish for this great prompt. You can see what other poets have written here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2025/02/05/w3-prompt-145-weave-written-weekly/

Expectation Gap

People frequently let me down in life

Strife

becoming the name of the game

Blame

heaped like coals on my head

Dread

filling my heart and soul like lead

Bread

cannot always be broken to mend

Friend –

ships that dissolve into disillustionment

Disappointment

has occurred in every corner of my world

Curled

into tight bands around my heart

Darts

of anguish at kindness thrown back in my face

Grace

and courage no longer general life skills

On a happier note that this poem, I found this interesting flower in my cactus garden:

Thank you to the supportive Barbara Leonhard for sharing my poem, The Crimson Rose, and my cake art on MasticadoresUSA.

Menagerie by Joan Hall

What Amazon says

King’s. The Tower of London. Glass. What do these have in common?

Each is a famous menagerie.

While this Menagerie doesn’t focus on exotic animals, it does contain a collection of stories that explore various trials people face and how their reactions shape their worlds.

Survivors of a haunted bridge. Women who wait while their husbands fight a war. Former partners reuniting to solve a cold-case murder.

These are just three of the thirteen stories in this compendium, encompassing past and present, natural and supernatural, legend and reality. The genres and timelines are varied, but there’s a little something for everyone who enjoys reading about simpler times and small-town life.

My review

I am a fan of short stories as I like their concise use of words and fast pace. Of course, short stories still need to have a proper story line, and the reader needs to be grounded in the setting and engaged with the characters. This is not always easy to achieve in a short story format, but Joan Hall has managed to do it well in this interesting and well written collection of short stories.

This collection is varied and explores a number of topics and situations with the common thread of all being set in small towns in North America. The descriptions of life and relationships in small towns in the USA were fascinating for me as I have always lived in a big city. There was just enough detail to steep me in the setting without it bogging down the stories.

I enjoyed the large variety of characters, some of which are strong and enterprising women which I always value in a book. The characterisations demonstrate the author’s deep understanding of the type of people populating her stories and their thought patterns, way of life, and anxieties.

It is difficult to choose favourite stories from this collection as they are all engaging, but the following three stand out in my mind:

A Moment in Time: A dual timeline story set approximately 100 years apart and featuring two wars, two men fighting in the wars, and two young women waiting anxiously for the return of their men. I am partial to dual timeline stories and plots involving war, so this was right up my street.

Lone Wolf – A wonderful story of friendship between a wolf and a man and how they are able to help and care for each other.

Without a Trace – This story was filled with mystery and angst as the tale of a family that disappeared without a trace unfolds. As a person who moved continuously as a child, I related strongly to the main character, Rick, and his struggle to fit into a new school environment and manage the continuous changes to his life.

If you enjoy short stories with interesting and varied storylines and great characterisations, you will love this collection.

Purchase Menagerie from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BRL4Y5NL

Slivers of Life by Beem Weeks

What Amazon says

These twenty short stories are a peek into individual lives caught up in spectacular moments in time. Children, teens, mothers, and the elderly each have stories to share. Readers witness tragedy and fulfillment, love and hate, loss and renewal. Historical events become backdrops in the lives of ordinary people, those souls forgotten with the passage of time. Beem Weeks tackles diverse issues running the gamut from Alzheimer’s disease to civil rights, abandonment to abuse, from young love to the death of a child. Long-hidden secrets and notions of revenge unfold at the promptings of rich and realistic characters; plot lines often lead readers into strange and dark corners. Within Slivers of Life, Weeks proves that everybody has a story to tell-and no two are ever exactly alike.

My review

Slivers of Life is an apt title for this collection of short stories that cover a wide variety of topics and colourful characters of different ages, occupations, and intentions. Despite the short length of the stories, the author has created compelling characters whose behaviours, although not always exemplary, are very relatable.

I find the best way I can review a short story collection is by sharing insights into a few of the stories that have stayed with me the longest. My most memorable stories are as follows;

A Match Met – an intriguing peep into betrayal and revenge that will have your wondering whether the end justifies the means.

Lost Boy – a truly compelling read about a grumpy old man who finds fault with the noise generated by the little boy next door. Mr Spellman does everything he can, internally and externally to stop the irritation, but sometimes what we think we want turns out to be the opposite.

Night Flight – a poignant look at life for young boys being raised by a single parent and the pressure it puts on both the parent and the child. The story delves into the ease with which rejected and/or neglected youngsters can slip into crime and drug taking. There is a supernatural element which leaves you wondering if it actually happened or not. Was the narrator reliable?

And a little child shall lead them – this story talks to the invisibility of homeless and unfortunate people and the judgement that more successful people immediately pass on them due to their circumstances. A poignant story of caring.

Remaining Ruth – a peep into depression, teenage angst and cutting. Very scary for any parent who struggles to reach and understand their teenage child.

On the whole, an intriguing and well written collection of short stories that I really enjoyed reading.

Purchase Slivers of Life from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936442205

When I visited Japan in December last year, we went to see the art shop fronts on Ginza Street. I shared about this visit here: https://roberta-writes.com/2024/12/21/roberta-writes-thursday-doors-tokyo-store-front-scenes-tokyo-christmas-thursdaydoors/

On Ginza Street, I came across some lovely street art and took pictures of it for blogging friend, Resa, who loves street art. You can find Resa’s most recent street art post here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2025/01/26/muhammad-ali/

I am sharing that street art today and also using it as a jumping off point for my contribution to Dora’s Reimagining d’Verse poetry challenge which you can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/02/04/poetics-reimagining-the-familiar/

You can read Dora’s poem here: https://pilgrimdreams.com/2025/02/04/washdays/

When I appear on Ginza Street

I am a male Cape buffalo

I roam the plains of southern Africa

Endlessly seeking fodder

Which I consume faster than most African herbivores

Due to my wide row of incisor teeth

And deft tongue

My coat is dark brown, and

I have a set of majestic horns

Called a ‘boss’

They come together in front

To form a protective shield

My temper is unpredictable

And I cannot be tamed

Except when I appear on Ginza Street

Here, I assimilate

Becoming one with the local culture

I evolve into a showpiece

Wearing Joseph’s coat of many colours

My heavy front and wide hooves reduce

My boss erodes, shrinking as I conform

With bowed head and downcast eyes

There is no need to fear me

When I appear on Ginza Street

***

I am a male bush elephant

I wander the savannahs of Africa

Relentlessly grazing

The world’s largest land mammal

I uproot massive trees

Stripping them of their leaves and bark

Leaving behind much devastation

I use my large, curved incisors

Known as tusks

To dig, communicate, and for defense

My thick hide is grey

But I cover it with mud

The colour of the surrounding earth

I am dangerous when provoked

Except when I appear on Ginza Street

When I’m on Ginza Street

I must blend in with my surroundings

And acquire an arty look and feel

My skin becomes dappled

Resplendent in a variety

Of colours and shapes

My tusks diminish

Choosing obscurity

Along with my honey coloured eyes

There is no need to stand back

When I make my appearance

On Ginza Street

This was some other street art we saw on Ginza Street:

d’Verse – Celebrating groundhog day

Frank is d’Verse’s host for today and this is his prompt: Had enough Arctic cold? Buried under unseasonable snow? Or, for those living south of the equator, are you enjoying an arid summer? Well, whatever your situation, you might have heard about a certain rodent prognostication. Frank Tassone, here, & honored to be your host for another Haibun Monday, where we blend prose and haiku together. Today, let’s celebrate an American, weather-predicting tradition with Northern European roots: Groundhog’s Day.

You can join in the d’Verse challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/02/03/haibun-monday-2-3-25-celebrating-groundhog-day/

You can find Frank’s poem here: https://frankjtassone.com/2025/02/03/groundhog-night/

As I live in southern Africa and it is summer here and we don’t have Groundhog’s Day, I have Africanised the prompt and incorporated two Zulu mythological creatures that bring the rain, thunder and lightening. In South Africa we get rain during late spring and summer and nothing at all during late autumn and winter. We can go up to eight months in a normal year without rain so by the time it arrives, we are desperate for relief from the heat and dryness.

The Forsaken

The angry sun savaged the land. Pouring its heat down onto the earth that cracked and broke under the relentless assault. The cattle grew thin, sharp ribs poking through their scraggy hides, while clouds of flies buzzed around their dry eyes and mouths. The crops withered in the fields and the people lay lethargic and parched inside their thatched huts. The milk in the breasts of the young mothers dried up and the babies cried themselves into early graves.

Unkulunkulu — “The One Who Carries Heavy Blows”, also called Rainbull, kept his mighty horns pointed at the sky, forcing the clouds to withhold their rain. He watched the daily passage of the boiling sun across the sky and dreamed about the cloudless nights when the bright stars performed undisturbed against a velvety blackness.

One scorching day, he shook his massive head and his horns accidently pointed towards the land below. The opportunistic rain seized the moment and flooded down in sheets accompanied by Impundulu, Lightening Bird, who summonsed thunder and lightening through the force of its wings and sharp talons.

The parched earth, unable to absorb the deluge, regurgitated the water creating flash floods across the land. People, animals, trees, and bushes all disappeared into the swirling brown whirlpool while Unkulunkulu, faced with his gross neglect, stamped his great hooves and cried pools of tears.

Unkulunkulu

Why have you forsaken us?

Direct your horns well

If you are interested in the Zuly Rainbull myth, you can read it here: https://medium.com/mythology-journal/the-spectacular-story-of-zenzele-and-the-rain-bull-0732de860a33

Last August, TC and I visited Jaci’s Treehouse Lodge in Madikwe Game Reserve. These pictures demonstrate how dry and dead everything looks at that time of your in this part of the world:

Story Chat

Talented writer, Marsha Ingrao, is the brain behind the innovative Story Chat series of blog posts. Story Chat involves the submission of a story or a poem which is published on Marsha’s blog, Always Write, and open to constructive discussion by her blog supporters. It is a most informative and interesting process and well worth considering for all poets and writers. You can find out more about Story Chat and find the schedule and submission process here: https://alwayswrite.blog/2024/11/22/story-chat-2025-schedule/

Marsha was kind enough to publish my poem, Invisible People, as part of her Poetry Day for Story Chat Digest 2025.