d’Verse prompt

Our challenge? Using one of the three types of liminal spaces listed above, let’s give poetic voice to what “doors” it may open to us. You can employ the liminal space as the setting and/or the subject. Write about it as an observer or participant, of how it may prepare, ground, provoke, intrigue you, unexpectedly or not, for better or worse. You may want to use an image (like those above) for inspiration. I just want you to have fun exploring the idea of a liminal space and seeing what you can come up with. To find out more about the challenge, go here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/06/11/poetry-in-liminal-spaces/

Thank you to Dora for the challenge. You can read Dora’s poem here: https://pilgrimdreams.com/2024/06/11/holy-saturday/

The Family on the Plane

Ping! The seatbelt light goes off. I unclip mine and stretch.

I’m lucky, I have three seats all to myself. The whole row.

My chaise longue is soon created. I use all the pillows and blankets.

The plane bounces. There’s a lot of turbulence, but I go with the flow.

Across the aisle is a family of five. A baby and two small children.

What luck! They have two rows to themselves. Dad rearranges everyone.

Children interest me. I watch surreptitiously as mom settles the baby

into a seat nest. I’m happy for the parents. Travelling with children isn’t fun.

Mom fascinates me. She is so calm, her movements slow and measured.

She’s nothing like me. I was a ball of anxiety when my boys were small.

It’s probably why they were so much trouble. The word that comes to mind,

as I watch the mom, is bovine. It certainly works for her; the baby doesn’t bawl.

Lunch is served. I tuck into mine hungrily. The two young children waste theirs.

Afterwards, everyone lies down. Amazing, how the children all sleep so peacefully.

Unfortunately, two hours later, the boy and girl wake up cross. Grumpy little bears.

Mom takes her daughter to the toilet, leaving dad holding the baby. Her son watches.

As soon as she’s out of sight, he starts to wail. “Mommy! Mommy!” With a seat in between

Dad is stuck. I lean towards the child, smiling. “Go to Daddy,” I encourage him, pointing

at the father. The boy stops howling, gazes at me, then shuffles across. A sweet scene.

“Thank you,” says Dad. I smile and settle down comfortably. Time for a spot of reading.

Thursday Doors

My Thursday Doors post tied in beautifully with the d’Verse prompt this week. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/06/13/csc-model-trains/

Thank you to poet and editor of Masticadores USA, Barbara Leonhard, for sharing my two poems and my Into the Light: Hyena A2 watercolour painting. I am very delighted with this painting which was my first of the Into the Light series and my first A2 painting. I really hope you will enjoy it.

Do have a look around Masticadores USA while you are there. Barbara features artworks, poetry and short prose pieces by a number of talented creatives.

“Into the Light: Two Poems about Hyena” by Robbie Cheadle

The Keeping Place by Mae Clair

What Amazon says

In the town of Hornwood, the past is always present . . .

Nicole Seabrooke has been wracked with guilt since the night of her younger sister’s disappearance ten years ago. Her mother, Glory, tasked her with watching over Janie. Instead, Nicole dragged her to a high school party, then failed to keep an eye on her. Police believed she drowned, but her body was never found.

A decade later, her remains are discovered.

Nicole returns to Hornwood when new evidence indicates Janie’s death may have been a homicide. With the help of Detective Vin McCain, her high school boyfriend, Nicole begins to piece together what took place the night her sister disappeared—a task that further complicates her relationship with Glory and places Nicole in the crosshairs of a killer. One who will do whatever it takes to keep the truth about Janie’s death from being revealed.

Even if it means killing again.

My review

The Keeping Place is a murder mystery told on a dual timeline. It is also a family drama which details the impact that egos, deception, and selfishness can have on relationships, both inside and outside a family.

Nicole Seabrooke fled her home town of Hornwood ten years earlier when her younger sister, Janie, drowned on her watch. Janie’s body was never found. In the process of running from her home and town, Nicole turned her back on her mother, boyfriend, and best friend. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape her own guilt by fleeing the scene, and the events of the terrible night have haunted her ever since. Now Janie’s body has been discovered in a most unexpected place and a lot of new questions have been raised about the night Janie died.

I have read other novels by this author, and I enjoy her dual timelines very much. In this case, the happenings in the past were revealed from the point of view of Janie. The present timelines was presented from the point of view of Nicole. It worked very well for me. Another strength of this author are her excellent characterisations.

Nicole has spent ten years carrying around a burden of guilt about her sister’s death. She destroyed her love relationship and gave up on her academic dreams when she fled her home. Perceived rejection by her mother is also a destructive mental belief. Nicole is a mess. Despite all her anguish and inner turmoil, Nicole decides to return home an attend Janie’s funeral. This was a brave thing for her to do and from that decision onwards, Nicole’s character continues to grow as she faces relationships and events from her youth.

Janie was the most interesting character for me. I found her quite relatable with her unusual interests and different way of viewing life. These things made her a bit of an outsider with the other kids her age and she is a lonely girl. Her anxieties about her place in the world and curiosity, empathy, and fear over her unexpected acquaintanceship with a woman who purportedly commits suicide, are beautifully described. Janie’s death at the time of its occurrence is a real tragedy to the reader even though it is a known fact at the beginning of the book.

Glory, the mother of Nicole and Janie, is a self absorbed and rather spoiled woman. Very beautiful in her youth and having nearly made it to star status in Hollywood, her disappointments appear to have dominated her whole life. However, as the story unfolds, more of Glory’s motivations and emotions are revealed and she is somewhat redeemed by the end of the book. A lingering irritation at her irresponsibility and selfishness did remain for me, but her depiction is typical, for me, of the type of woman she was.

While I have focused on characterisations in this review, the storyline is interesting and fast paced. I did guess who the killer was as soon as the character was introduced, but I wasn’t completely sure until the end. I have read so many murder mysteries, the subtle hints are fairly obvious to me. Notwithstanding this, I thought this book was an excellent read.

Amazon US purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CVCLX8P4

Mae Clair’s Amazon US Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mae-Clair/author/B009I61ND0

The Room at the End by Harmony Kent

What Amazon says

The Harbor Pointe Inn has loomed on California’s cliffs for generations of Hawthornes. For some, it’s been a blessing. For others, a curse. Travel through two centuries of stories to discover the old inn’s secrets.

When guilt-ridden Mia checks in to a suicide hotel, but can’t go through with the final act, vengeful ghosts gather to torment her.

Set in the near future, the post-war world is in turmoil.

Mia Hawthorne suffers an emotional breakdown, following the death of her wife, and loses everything to a corrupt government.

In an ironic twist of fate, the government suicide department, The Last Sanctuary, allocates a desperate and destitute Mia to the very hotel and family heirloom which she has so recently lost.

On her first day at the Lighthouse Inn, beset with painful memories, doubts, and questions, Mia finds herself coming face to face with angry ghosts, who gather to goad and torment her.

Lost and alone, can Mia find enough strength and purpose to avoid her final, frightful fate?

Possible Trigger Warnings:

This novella contains many references to suicide and suicidal thoughts. It also references off-page bereavement and off-page female to female marriage.

Some references to violence are mentioned, but remain vague and mostly off-page.

No profanity is used.

If any of these are likely to trigger you, please use your discretion when purchasing/reading this book.

My review

The Room at the End is the final novella in the Harbor Pointe Series. It is a dystopian story set in a future world dominated by AI and a ‘Big Brother’ type of government. I thought this futurist setting for the final story was a great choice, and as a big fan of dystopian books, the storyline and setting worked very well for me. The plot also involves a strong paranormal element which is another big plus for me. The ghosts also tied this novella firmly in with the storylines and concepts of its predecessor novellas in the series.

Mai Hawthorne has suffered the loss of her wife to suicide. With no other obvious explanation, Mia blames herself for this death and her life spirals down into depression and an inability to cope or take appropriate action in her business. Mia is the owner of the Harbor Pointe Inn at the time of her partner’s suicide. The novella starts with Mia having lost her business to the greedy, post apocalyptic government of the time which controls surviving humans through AI and robotics. Having elected to end her life, Mia has been sent to Harbor Pointe Inn by the government’s suicide department. There, she is expected to do the deed within a short period and all of her expenses are paid for by the government.

As soon as she arrives, Mia becomes aware of various ghosts, malevolent and benevolent, who haunt the lighthouse keeper’s cottage which has been allocated to her. With the help of an abandoned puppy, Mia must face the various ghosts and uncover the truth about her wife’s death. Will her discoveries change her mind about committing suicide? Is it to late? You’ll have to read this intense and fascinating novella to find out.

Amazon US purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Room-End-Harbor-Pointe-Book-ebook/dp/B0CCSFMC8J

Harmony Kent’s Amazon US Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Harmony-Kent/author/B00CO0AR7U

Thursday Doors

You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/06/06/carnegie-science-center/

Today, I’m sharing some doors from the Munch Museum in Oslo and a few of Edvard Munch’s fabulous expressionist paintings.

Britannica says: Expressionism, In the visual arts, artistic style in which the artist depicts not objective reality but the subjective emotions that objects or events arouse. This aim is accomplished through the distortion and exaggeration of shape and the vivid or violent application of colour.

You can read more about expressionism here: https://www.britannica.com/summary/Expressionism

We were lucky enough to see two of The Scream exhibits (out of three). A testimony to how long I spent in this museum.

A selection of paintings at the Munch Museum. I like the horse best:

A few paintings in the red room at the Munch Museum (creepy!)

A large oil on canvas painting called The Researchers

Other than The Scream, my three favourite Munch paintings in order of my admiration.

d’Verse poetry prompt by Lillian

New to dVerse?  Need to be refreshed on the rules? Here’s what to do:

• Choose one of the images above (they are the only images we have permission to use) and write a poem that either describes the image or is in some way motivated by/connected to the image.

You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/06/04/feeling-a-bit-nostalgic-today/

Yesterday my poem was a bit dismal so I’m giving you something fun and imaginative today.

Mr Moon Helps Out

With a last hurrah of lavish red splendor, the sun sinks below the horizon.

The insects are preparing for the ball. There’s a great sense of anticipation.

At the venue, the coordinator, Miss Spider, throws her hands up in despair.

The glow worm is sick, her light pale and dim. Miss Spider cries: “It’s so unfair!

I’ve been planning this party for months and now the lighting system has failed.

I need to think of a substitute quickly or our autumn celebration will be derailed.”

“Mr Moon can help us,” suggested young Dave Earthworm. “He has a lovely light.”

“Your right,” said Jack Centipede. “Even his current half-face is wonderfully bright.”

“Brilliant boys,” said Miss Spider. “Mr Moon is the perfect solution to our complication.

Go with Miss Dragonfly in her courier basket and see if he’ll light up our celebration.”

The entire support band set off, with Miss Dragonfly setting a rapid flying pace.

By the time they reached Mr Moon, she felt like she’d run a long and hilly race.

The question was posed and Mr Moon was agreeable: “I’m delighted to be of service.”

“We’ll have to transport you on your side, tied with silken strings, so don’t be nervous.”

Jack said: “Jemima Silkworm has spun several silken strings to help us transport you.

Don’t worry about a thing, Miss Dragonfly’s a great flyer and we’re a competent crew.”

The youngsters set about their work with hearty good will and the job was soon done.

Dave said: “Now it’s time to get back to the ballroom and kick off the evening’s fun.”

The group got back from their adventures just before the first guests started to arrive.

Mr Moon’s light highlighted their colourful outfits as the insects started to dance and jive.

II. Deanna’s prompt guidelines

The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, …

This sequence gives the Golden Ratio, or divine proportion, seen in nature, art, and architecture.

• FORM: Compose a ‘Fib’ poem(created by Gregory K. Pincus), which is a six-line poem of 1,1,2,3,5,8 syllables).
  • VARIATIONS:
    1. Write as few or as many lines as you wish, as long as your syllable count is based upon the Fibonacci Sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc.).
    2. You may write more than one stanza, repeating the amount of lines of your first stanza.
• THEME: Write about a spiral; spiral shapes in nature or art, or perhaps a more figurative or metaphorical spiral.

Deanna’s most recent poem: https://shiftnshake.wordpress.com/2024/06/02/w3-prompt-109-unrequited-love-again/

Downward spiral by Robbie Cheadle

Down

Down

It swirls

All the hope

Of broken people

Spiralling down into drains dark

Joining grey water interspersed with freedom’s debris

Washing tunnel sides smooth, no hand or feet grips to aid escape from the ocean of lies

Where it sinks, choking on manmade plastic waste, bandied about by random currents, until it finds a discarded hermit crab shell – curls up; dies

This poem is about the recent election process in South Africa which doesn’t seem to have made anyone happy. The country is now in a state of limbo while coalition negotiations take place.

Thank you to Björn for the prompt:

Today I want you to use Onomatopoeia in your poem, to strengthen the imagery through its sound (read it aloud, and maybe even include a recording. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/05/30/meet-bar-soundly-with-onomatopoeia/

Sounds of African Night

African dark embraces me

So thick and black I cannot see

Predators stalking in the black night

Lurking just outside my line of sight

Trained to take care when camping in the wild

So undefiled

I keep the fire burning

***

Twin lights glow like burning coal

Sending a shudder through my soul

Outside the light I hear heavy breathing

My stomach lurches and starts heaving

Heheheherrh, heheheherrh, my ears do hear

Hyena – I fear!

Add wood, keep fire burning

***

Downwind movement rustles leaves

Calm stillness herd of buck deceives

Waterbuck rest just beyond the trees

Lead hyena leaps – calf does seize

Coppery smell of blood fills the surrounding air

It’s a nightmare

Fire crackles – it’s burning

***

Hyena pack devours its meal

Being this close quite unreal

Soon the members begin to snap and fight

A few are bitten – running off into the night

The din dies down to a soft murmur

Except some crunching on a femur

***

Lying near the fire feeling awed

My faith in nature is restored

The cycle of life so fascinating

Predator and prey quite captivating

***

One must die to enable life for another

Humanity from greed must refrain

Let the natural world remain

Or we’ll all implode in the burning

About this poem

The poem is a parody of The Sound of Silence. My favourite version of this song is by Disturbed.

I am back from my short trip to Europe. I left on Wednesday evening and arrived at the Oslo Sentralstasjon at 2.30pm on Thursday. The flight to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was 11,5 hours and then it was another 1,5 hours to Oslo Airport.

I caught the train from the airport to Oslo Sentralstasjon:

Contrast (shadorma)

Tall column

Of writhing bodies

Contorted

Beseeching

Pitiful degradation

Contrasting with light

You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/05/30/on-board-the-delta-pearl/

My In Touch With Nature post this month discusses the differences between hyenas and wild dogs. They are two entirely different species of animals. Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

I am travelling to Norway tonight, so I’ll only be able to attend to later comments after 2pm tomorrow. It is a long journey from South Africa with a flight change in Amsterdam. I won’t be around much until mid-next week.

In Touch With Nature – The difference between hyenas and wild dogs #hyena #wilddogs #Intouchwithnature

This week a wrote a trio of poems for d’Verse challenges but I didn’t post any of them because I was engrossed in Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors Writing Challenge. I am posting them all together with some photographs.

Poetry Form Magic 9

Thank you to Grace for this Magic 9 poetry prompt described as follows:

The elements of the Magic 9 are:

a poem in 9 lines
*meter and line-length at discretion of poet
*rhyme, a b a c a d a b a, with c and d=unrhymed

Lone Elephant

Rainwater puddled in a shallow basin

Glistening – to the light addicted

Surrounded by luscious vegetation

It attracts a single, male elephant

Trumpeting, he delights in the sensation

Of droplets splattering his muddy back

Dissipating the heat induced irritation

Trunk dipping, he sucks up the liquid

Expelling it loudly, in joyous celebration

You can join in this prompt here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/05/16/poetry-form-magic-9/

Poems of Place

Thank you to Whimsyzigizmo for this prompt:

Pen a poem of exactly 44 words (not counting the title), including some literal form of the word place. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/05/13/quadrille-201-poems-of-place/

My Resting Place

Beyond the city

With its decrepit buildings

Smoky hazes

And stifling negativity

There lies another world

One of open, grassy expanses

Dotted with herds

Of buck, buffalo, and zebra

Predators rest by day

Coming out at night

To demonstrate their dominance

My resting place

Left in the Lurch

Thank you to Dorahak for the challenge as follows:

Now we have arrived at your challenge, if you’re up for it. Using the above poems as examples, write your own in the voice of one who has been stood up in no uncertain terms on a meaningful occasion. You can find out more about this challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/05/14/poetics-left-in-the-lurch/

Rejection

Friends

Can be

Unworthy

Their needs their first

Consideration

No compassion for me

Seen as a composed coper

We all have endurance limits

Appreciate a kind listener

Selfish choices a form of rejection

When I saw this collage of Teagan’s, it brought to mind a computer game my sons played years ago that featured old fashioned caravans. That thought led to how lovely Teagan’s collages are, so much more beautiful than what I’ve seen in the way of AI generated art. I also thought about the recent strikes in LA relating to the use of AI in the movie and animation industries. These thoughts all culminated in the song parody below.

Teagan has also written a few fantastic stories for the writing challenge. You can find her latest story here: https://teagansbooks.com/2024/05/15/whatnot-wednesday-tdwc-the-rabbit-hole/.

You can join in Dan’s challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/thursday-doors-writing-challenge-2024/

AI’s Killing the Movie Star

When I was pint-sized back in 1982

Watching animation was the best thing I could do

Moving, talking pictures so thrilling and new

Oh-a oh-a

Artificial intelligence has the industry in a stew

The work of many being replaced by just a few

Makes me wonder where our world is moving too

***

Oh-a oh-a

My sons both love it

Oh-a oh-a

Think it’s a great fit

***

AI’s killing the movie star

AI’s killing the TV star

Machine generated images holds sway

Oh-a-a-a-oh

***

And now the youth sit glued to computer screens

Parents scratch their heads and wonder what it means

From the box comes gunfire and screams

***

Oh-a oh-a

The world is upside down

Oh-a oh-a

It makes me groan and frown

***

AI’s killing the movie star

AI’s killing the TV star

It’s far too late to close that door

Impossible now to even the score

Oh-a-a-a-oh

Oh-a-a-a-oh

***
AI’s killing the movie star

AI’s killing the TV star

It’s far too late to close that door

Impossible now to even the score

The kids sit playing and begging for more

Learning how to conduct virtual war

***

No more movie star

No more TV star

AI’s killing the movie star

AI’s killing the TV star

AI’s killing the movie star

AI’s killing the TV star

AI is killing the movie star

AI’s killing the TV star

This is my last song parody for Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors Writing Challenge. It is based on Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles which you can watch here: