This month I have featured the Nyala antelope for my In Touch With Nature post. It is an interesting antelope as it has the highest sexual dimorphism (difference between males and females) of all antelope.

Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

In Touch With Nature – Nyala antelope #southernAfricanwildlife

Saana‘s challenge: The challenge is to write a poem inspired by the Poet and poem you have chosen. What emotions do they evoke in you?  

You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/03/18/poetics-monopoly-with-a-twist/

***Announcement***  
Please join us at dVerse LIVE on Saturday, March 22, from 10 to 11 AM EST. Google meet link will be provided at d’Verse Open Link Night on Thursday.   

By way of context, I’ve had an idea in my head about writing a modernised version of Dante’s Inferno for some time. My idea is that it will speak to the Sixth Mass Extinction and global warming rather than politics and sins. Anyhow, when I saw Saana’s challenge I knew now was the time for me to make a start on this project. To this end, I bring you the first 60 lines of Canto 1 of my poetic saga as yet untitled.

If you don’t know Dante’s Inferno, he uses a rhyming scheme of A, B, A, B, C, D, E, F, E, F.

CANTO 1

I’d entered the middle part of life, my youth had fled

When I found myself in a desert, enduring brutal heat

The sun beat dreadfully upon my uncovered head

Sand burned harshly beneath my tender bare feet

How barren that desert was, parched and desolate

Terror gripped my heart and filled my mind

I was left wordless in the face of such grimness

Created by man’s endless selfishness and greed

I mourned Earth’s end in this horrifying starkness

From this burning inferno could I ever be freed                                                            10

***

How I arrived in this unfortunate place, an unknown

I’d always tried to fight for human and animal rights

For my love of flora and fauna I was quite renown

I intrinsically knew humanity had caused this blight

Yet, in the distance I could see a patch of dark green

Enticing me to wend my clumsy way in its direction

Slowly, I moved forward across the scorching sand

Verdant colours luring me with nature’s promise

Perhaps there was still hope for this empty land

Possibly I’d find a source of consolation and solace                                                      20

***

Blood dried in my veins; fluid leached from my eyes

I panted, an attempt to rid my body of excess heat

As the devil sun marched across the faded blue sky

The green haze remained, keeping me from defeat

Hope’s finger beckoning: inspiring and motivating

A pledge of fluid to sooth my sunbaked body

Bleached bones created hazardous obstacles

Hosting clumps of discoloured leather-like flesh                                                          

Defeated by devastating climate change battles

Was there any way wildlife could start afresh?                                                30

***

Ghostly outlines slowly took on solid shapes

Large rocks thrusting out from sandy cradles

A girl child appeared, gorging on fat, black grapes

Vanishing as I approached, like a myth or fable

This further disturbance of the natural world

Distressed my mind near to its snapping point

If there was another option, I’d have retreated

But lack of water had left me in a poor state

I could only go on, I was physically defeated

Shoulders straight, I walked towards my fate                                                   40

***

A quivering in my nose – water I could smell

Softening of the dry air, my lungs embraced

Sweet humidity filling each bronchial cell

Then, I saw a fearful sight, my pulse again raced

The white fur of a honey badger behind a bush

Toughest and most aggressive animal in the world

Staggering backward in horror, my gasp escaped

As not one, but two, creatures blocked my path

Pair of tiny cheetah cubs; I laughed at my mistake

Then mom appeared, would I face her wrath?                                                50

***

In a voice, unused to forming words, she spoke

“Here you are, at last. We’ve been waiting hours

There’s a sandstorm brewing. Hurry, or we’ll choke”

We set of at once towards a thick clump of flowers

Mom almost gliding, her five cubs bouncing after

My admiration had no limits for this fastest of cats

Also, the most endangered of the big cat population

What’s happening, I wondered, what does it all mean

The desert had indicated the world’s damnation

Was there a chance salvation could still intervene?                                        60

Wisp by Adele Marie Park

What Amazon says

Edra; a world where magic flourishes and where dark secrets are concealed by those who rule. Secrets which can get the innocent killed without a thought.When the body of an elf is discovered in a treacherous area of the city, Wisp a young Law Enforcer is assigned the case. He soon realises the case is far from simple. As soon as he finds one thread another one leads him to unravel a tapestry woven from lies, secrets, corruption and evil. When friendship turns to love, Wisp`s life, as he knew it will completely change.What started out as a murder case ends in a grisly battle which Wisp and his companions seem to have no chance of winning.

My review

I really enjoyed this entertaining fantasy novel. Set in Edra, a world populated by various mythical creatures as well as humans, the author’s spin on the age old good versus evil tale is interesting and unique.

Wisp is a young marsh fairy who has not get come into his powers. After being orphaned at a young age, Wisp has been brought up by the chief law enforcer of the city, a human, who introduced Wisp to his world. When the body of a young male elf is discovered, Wisp is assigned the investigation. The late elf was the son of a powerful and well-connected female elf and Wisp is fascinated by her when he meets her. He also meets the elf’s boyfriend, Finn, to whom he is attracted. As the details around the elf’s death start to unravel, it becomes apparent that this is a lot more than a simple murder, the future of Edra is at stake. Wisp must choose his love’s path and come into his full powers in order to help save the day.

Meanwhile, dark and malevolent creatures are stalking the city and killing at will. Wisp, Finn, and a goblin assistant must try and stop the murders as well as discovering a way to end the gradual takeover of the city by evil forces.

I enjoyed the author’s vivid depictions of the various mythical creatures and their different natures, powers and general looks. In particular, Wisp is beautiful, and the depictions of marsh fairies are lovely. There are a few scenes of love making in this story, but they are necessary to move the story forward.

Overall, this is an entertaining novel including excellent world building and vivid writing.

Purchase Wisp from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1541084837

A Christmas Homecoming: A Short Story by Yvette M. Calleiro

This is a delightful short story about an eighteen-year-old girl finding and being accepted by her natural parents.

Mary’s adoptive parents died when she was seventeen and she has spent the past year up until her eighteenth birthday in the care of her disinterested and indifferent grandmother. Her parents had never hidden the facts of her adoption as a baby and your mother had given instruction to the family lawyer to provide the details of her natural parents to her daughter when she turned eighteen.

On receipt of these details, Mary decides to seek out her natural parents. She is anxious about their accepting her, but determination and curiosity give her the strength she needs to undertake a search for them.

Mary is a lovely young woman who has suffered loss with the death of both her parents. Even though this story is short, I warmed to Mary and wished the best possible outcome for her.

A wonderful short Christmas story to make the reader smile.

Purchase A Christmas Homecoming from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DQK23BT8

Observations about postal services, blog posts and posters

Esther’s challenge for this week is to write about post. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/03/12/writing-prompts-56/. She meant post in the context of mail received through a postal service. This brought to mind the demise of South Africa’s postal service through corruption, theft, and mismanagement. It started with the theft of parcels which resulted in the establishment of private services for sending parcels. Amazon UK and US would no longer send parcels to South Africa via the government postal service and the services of private couriers had to be utilised for any orders from Amazon. This increased the cost of Amazon deliveries significantly and now I only purchase a few paperbacks in bulk orders and mainly read ebooks. Poor service soon resulted in the expansion of these private services to include the posting of letters and cards which just went missing or took three to four months to arrive at their destinations.

I didn’t want to write a poem about the sad disintegration of our postal service, but I thought I’d share it as an introduction to my poem about a poster so that my author readers understand why I generally purchase ebook copies of your books.

My next port of call was blog posts. I love reading interesting blog posts and I thought about writing a poem about posts but then I read a post by Rebecca Budd about her visit to the theatre and inspiration struck. You can read Rebecca’s post here: https://rebeccasreadingroom.ca/2025/03/16/and-then-there-were-none/

The Poster

The poster attracted my eye

“My Fair Lady’ splashed across its shiny surface

A black umbrella boldly silhouetted

Against a bright floral background

Childhood memories flooded my mind

Catherine and I singing ‘The Rain In Spain’

Me dressed in Mom’s bottle green theatre dress

Cath attired in a scarf dress in different shades of pink

Both of us sporting velvet theatre hats

One black, one dark blue

There was another, in brown tweed

That one languished, it was to masculine

For two giggling girls playing dress up

Who’d not yet reached double digit birthdays

Of course we had to go

Tickets were booked

The day awaited with eager anticipation

What a marvelous performance

Elize was magnificent

Henry Higgins perfect

With slouched shoulders

And a typical English cardigan in beige

The actor, another childhood memory

The lead in all my high school plays

It was a little shocking to see him

Sporting greying hair

But it worked, he was perfect for this role

We sang along with the songs

Clapped until our hands hurt

And laughed uproariously at the funny parts

In the basement, on the way to the car

We girls danced the can-can

While singing ‘Just You Wait’ at the top of our voices

Our menfolk lagged behind

Pretending they did not know

These two crazy women

Immersed in happy memories

Easter is coming so I’m taking the opportunity to remind you that Michael and I have a Sir Chocolate Easter story. A book is so much better than more chocolate. Sir Chocolate and the Valentine Toffee Cupid is available from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Valentine-Toffee-Cupid-holidays-ebook/dp/B0BT9GBNHL

This is my YouTube video which still makes me smile!

Dora is hosting this challenge which I’ve summarised as follows: Give us your take on the romance of the open window through your poetry.

You can read other contributions here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/03/11/the-romance-of-the-open-window/

Beyond the Window

An alien and eerie landscape

Fills my limited view

Through the oval window

Of the double decker airplane

That drags me forward in time

An eight hour journey

Pulling long and thin

Into a fourteen hour time difference

Clouds, lumpy and thick,

Like cooked oats porridge

Not what I expected

They look smooth from ‘down below’

I look for the cloud men

Of Roald Dahl’s vivid imagination

In this surreal place and time

Anything is possible

Wispy men rolling chunks of cloud

Into soft, floaty snowflakes

To shower upon a sleeping world

Seems quite reasonable

The sun creeps highter

Throwing shards of golden joy

Turning the soft cloud peaks

Into mango ice-cream

And deepening the shadows

I’m trapped behind

Three layers of transparent stretched acrylic

I pull down the shutter

Close my eyes and

Step into the enticing white world

This is De Jackson’s prompt:

New to the Q? Here’s what to do: 
Give a hoot about the rules and write us a poem of exactly 44 words (not counting the title), including some semblance of the word hoot.

You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/03/10/quadrille-219-a-poetic-hootenanny/

It’s a Hoot

The man hooted with raucous laughter

when the owl made its entrance onto the stage.

It hooted loudly.

The rest of the audience didn’t give a hoot

except the man was drunk as a hoot owl.

Collectively, they hooted him out of the theatre.

Thank you to Frank for the inspiration to use a selection of idioms. You can read Frank’s post on words here: https://beachwalkreflections.wordpress.com/2025/03/08/283-words-v3/

Esther Chilton’s prompt for this week is Villains and Heroes. My poetic response also includes a hoot. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/03/05/writing-prompts-55/

Nagloper*

When the night is at its darkest, he comes

Slinking stealthily through the velvet blackness, unencumber by clothes

If you listen carefully, you will hear him approaching

His headdress rattles, the human toe and finger bones dancing and jigging

A baboon’s wa-hoo and an owl’s hoot betray his familiars

Carefully walking backwards, footprints intended to confuse

He approaches the huts, ready to infect the children with foul diseases

He also has his way with the female sleepers, leaving them weak and powerless

A fearsome creature, the Nagloper*

***

Doctored knobkerrie# at the hut door

This symbol of defense, authority, and leadership

Will stop this sorceror in his tracks

Binding him fast until the head of the kraal releases him

Deciding on a suitable punishment for the nefarious villain

***

Wisdom is required

To attain hero status

Leaders born not made

*Nagloper means Night Walker in Afrikaans. The Nagloper is a myth of the Khoikhoi people of South Africa (previously called Hottentots).

#Knobkerrie is a mace.

Melissa’s prompt is “Without further ado, today we write about cycles of transformation. Anything will do, but your poem needs to have a beginning, middle, and end.” You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/03/04/metamorphosis-of-sorts/

And Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge is to write a syllabic poem using synonyms for bright and create. You can join in Tanka Tuesday here: https://tankatuesday.com/2025/03/04/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-2-synonyms-only-3-4-2025/. My poem is a rensaku.

Red Wine

Juicy purple grapes

Still warm from the sun soaked vines

Skins dark and shiny

Filled with anthocyanin

Perfect for making red wine

***

In the winery

The stems are removed, or not

An important choice

Leaving adds astringency

But helps minimize sourness

***

Sulfur dioxide

Stops bacterial spoilage

Fermentation starts

Sugar-eating yeasts consume

Fructose and make alcohol

***

Stir fermenting juice

To submerge the skins – they float

Punch down floating caps

Or pump wine over the top

Do you want subtle or strong?

***

After completion

Of fermentation process

Drain free running wine

And press the remaining skins

Before settling in a tank

***

A little microbe

Converts malic acid to

Rich lactic acid

Tastes milky like chocolate

Or delicious Greek yogurt

***

Age in wooden tank

Producing vanilla smell

Or unlined concrete

For a softening effect

Time most important factor

***

Lastly comes blending

Biggest challenge of them all

Palette texture rules

Do not rely on your nose

Then, bravo, a perfect wine

My mom has been very sick. I admitted her into hospital for a fractured rib and bronchi-pneumonia yesterday. She is on an intravenous antibiotic and is doing better this morning. It seems a bit relentless with sickness and ill health in my family lately, but onwards and upwards.

This poem is for Esther Chilton’s prompt ‘beach’. It’s a bit of a cheat but I really liked this idea. You can read other contributions here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/02/26/writing-prompts-54/

On the false beach

Sloth like

The Sand River

Meanders sluggishly

Streams and rivulets trickling

Through mounds

***

False beach

Animals sleep

Contentedly in sun

Dreamily digesting last night’s

Success

***

Long night

Mama’s worn out

But not tiny girl cubs

Who play fight and practice stalking

Life skills

***

Still cool

Cubs full of life

Mama’s tail a great toy

Tearing around to exhaustion

Great fun

***

Heat rises

Little one flops

Spread eagle on her back

Sister follows good example

Nap time

***

Sloth like

Animals sleep

But not tiny girl cubs

Tearing around to exhaustion

Nap time

Kim‘s prompt was to choose one of the basic four elements and explore it. You can read other entries here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/02/25/tuesday-poetics-the-four-elements-2/

I was away in the bush with limited wifi access this week. I did manage to read this prompt, and I wrote this American cinquain (2/4/6/8/2) while bouncing around in the back of the safari vehicle.

Marvelous earth

Shared earth

Inhabited

By numerous creatures

Each with unique adaptions to

Survive

This is a sneak peek at one of the sightings we had:

This is a video of the two lionesses and the two cubs. Look at the one cub playing with mom’s tail (it was windy so that is the sound you can hear).