Tag: poetry

Roberta Writes about the grey loerie, d’Verse muchness and Thursday Doors: Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels #d’verse #thursdaydoors #peterpaulrubens

If you are interested in seeing my latest artwork, you can see my post on my website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/a-hartebeest-with-texture-robbiecheadleart/

This poem is for Don’t Hold Your Breath’s Bird of the Week challenge. You can join in here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/green-backed-tit-birds-of-the-week-invitation-lxxxiii/

Grey Loerie or the Grey go-away-bird (freestyle)

Picture caption: grey loerie in the tree in my garden

Go-away-bird is back

watching carefully

how well I tend his fruit trees

screeching lovingly

from the top of his tree

“kweh! kweh!”

in a load and nasal tone

the last syllable uttered in

a condescending drawl

Soon, his friends will join him

they’ll all joyfully participate in

a tree-top foraging party

all congratulating me

on my successful peach crop

while they enjoy

the fruits of my labour

When they’ve guzzled enough

and their bellies are stuffed

they will have a dust bathe

on the ground nearby

teasing the cat

as she tries to stake her claim

under the blackberry patch

D’verse Quadrille #231

De Jackson here, aka WhimsyGizmo challenges poets to write a poem about muchness. You can join in and/or find out more here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/09/08/quadrille-231-making-much-of-poems/

The Muchness of Spring (Quadrille)

Spring

the season of muchness

colourful flowers are many

and their pollen

much too much

It combines with much dust

to cause much havoc

with much hayfever

It’s muchness is visible

as it sparkles in the sunshine

entering the nose

and causing much sneezing

The trilogy of pictures below are of my bank’s roses. They are very pretty but they do causes muchly sneezes.

Thursday Doors

Dan Antion hosts a weekly Thursday Doors Challenge. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/09/11/still-mooving-at-osv/

There were three reasons I agreed to fly for 16 hours to London and another 16 hours back again in July. 1. Michael came and I wanted to expand his horizons, 2. to visit Flanders in Brussels 3. to see the Peter Paul Rubens paintings at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. Today, I’m sharing my pictures of the third visit. Spectacular paintings that were worth the travelling.

Picture caption: Front of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts with the decorate door. We didn’t go in here.
Picture caption: This is the back door where we exited the museum
Picture caption: This is the door into one of the galleries in the Old Masters section of the museum
Picture caption: The martyrdom of St Livinus by Peter Paul Rubens. I adore those little fat cherubs.
Picture caption: Pieta with St Francis by Peter Paul Rubens
Picture caption: The Assumption of the Virgin by Peter Paul Rubens
Picture caption: The coronation of the Virgin by Peter Paul Rubens
Picture caption: The ascent to Calvary by Peter Paul Rubens

The is my video of one of Rubens artworks called And Workshop

Roberta Writes – Book reviews: The Rat in the Python Fashion by Alex Craigie and Dewdrops on the Soul: Poetry you will love by Dwight Roth #bookreviews

Today, I have reviews of two delightful books for you.

The Rat in the Python Fashion

Picture caption: Cover of The Rat in the Python Fashion by Alex Craigie featuring a cartoon styled python with people inside a bulge in its belly.

What Amazon says

If you haven’t heard of a liberty bodice, believe that half-a-crown is something to do with impoverished royalty and never had the experience of slapping a television to stop the grainy black and white picture from rolling, then this series might not be for you. Please give it a go, though – I suspect that most of it will still resonate no matter where you were brought up!

Book 3 looks at fashion and how it’s changed since the end of WWII. From utility coats and twinsets, to schoolboys in short trousers with socks and garters. From the swinging sixties with its long, long hair and short, short skirts, to psychedelia and beyond.

The Rat in the Python is about Baby Boomers who, in the stability following the Second World War, formed a statistical bulge in the population python. It is a personal snapshot of a time that is as mystifying to my children as the Jurassic Era – and just as unrecognisable.

My review

I realised when I came to write this review that this is book 3 and I have skipped out book 2. They don’t have to be read in order so it doesn’t matter, but book 2 should not be missed as this is a terrific series.

This fascinating short read covers fashion in the UK from WWII to the current date. It actually even goes a little bit further back in the beginning with some interesting comments about fashion during the Edwardian era and I am very thankful that I never had to wear a corset. Being long waisted, this would have been really awful for me. Edwardian women did, however, look very sophisticated with their gorgeous hats and long skirted, tight waisted dresses.

With regards to fashion during WWII, this book reinforced a lot of information I had heard from my mother about the lack of buttons, silk stockings and other niceties and how girls found innovative ways of dealing with this problem. To quote: “Women dealt with the latter issue by painting their legs with special product or using gravy browning and getting a friend to draw a line down the back of the leg with an eyebrow pencil to resemble the seam.”

This book takes the reader on a journey through the austerity of the post war continuing rationing fashion scene when people dressed very formally but frugally with shirts that had replaceable collars and cuffs and continues to the modern ‘throw away’ society. The current culture in the UK is actually vastly different from here in South Africa where women still dress fairly conservatively and most certainly do not buy cheap clothing that is thrown away rather than washed. Poverty is still a big issue in Africa, but perhaps this is better than the consumeristic habits of the developed world that add so much to plastic and global warming problems. I found the changing trends in this regard discussed in this book to be thought provoking.

The book includes lots of interesting photographs and pictures to demonstrate the fashion statements made and is really a wonderful undertaking to preserve the history of fashion in the UK. An interesting and worthwhile read.

Purchase The Rat in the Python Fashion by Alex Craigie from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0995696675

Dewdrops on the Soul: Poetry you will love by Dwight Roth

Picture caption: Cover of Dewdrops on the Soul: Poetry you will love by Dwight Roth featuring a red hibiscus flower covered in dewdrops

What Amazon says

Poetry must speak to the soul if it is to be remembered. The poems in this book are written in readable verse that is easily understood by the reader, yet challenging and thought provoking. Along with the poems are beautiful original color photos taken by the author that are used to enhance the poems. In addition to photos there are also original paintings done by the author.
Poems in this collection are inspired by nature, nostalgia, and reflections on the meaning of life.

The author has published a poetry blog on Word Press since 2016 which you can view at. rothpoetry.wordpress.com

This is a great book to spend time getting lost in as you peruse through the many poems included here.

My review

This is the first collection of poetry and flash fiction I’ve read by Dwight Roth and it was a complete delight.

The poet has a wonderfully positive outlook on life and this reflects in every word he writes. The poems and prose pieces in this book made me feel happy and uplifted and you just can’t beat that feeling. The book also includes some wonderful paintings by the poet, photographs from his childhood and adult life, as well as some innovative handmade creations include what he termed to be a Jackleg guitar. Not a term I have heard before but it seems to fit this wonderfully artistic musical instrument.

I really enjoyed all the poems but a few standout ones for me were as follows: A Call for Change, Dad, Pop’s Garden, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Digital Wolly Worm, Night Train, Dandelion Stars, Trigger, Love and Cherry Delight, Family Memories, Where do you Belong? and Proud Vulnerability.

I highly recommend this beautiful collection and will leave you with the poem I loved the best as I also love and appreciate the beauty of dandelions.

Dandelion Stars
“Aging flower wild and free
Sunny yellow color gone
Silver stars cover its head
reflecting sunlight
Beautiful seeds waiting for the breeze
Like Nature’s poetry
Blowin’ in the Wind across our minds
Beauty for some
Weeds for others
Daylight stars waiting
to be appreciated”

You can purchase Dewdrops on the Soul: Poetry you will love by Dwight Roth from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DT86WRW2

Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s writing challenge: Light #poetry

Esther’s challenge this week is light. I wrote several poems about light for inclusion in Sunflower Tanka: An Anthology of Tanka, Tanka Prose, & Experimental Tanka and I decided to share my favourite of these poems for Esther’s challenge.

Painter’s challenge (garland tanka)

Anguish reflected

But not absorbed by water

Which also soaks up

Essence of trees and buildings

For serene contemplation

***

Natures pain entrapped

Within deep, inky waters

No amount of tears

Ruffling its exterior

Can change on-going flow

***

Many lives ended

Sinking into death’s embrace

Silent and secret

Water does not pass judgement

Gleaming countenance unchanged

***

Interplay of light

Old Man River stays focused

Moody sky tantrums

Painter tries to replicate

Scene perfected by nature

***

Black, white and silver

Shot through with green and auburn

Captures canal’s soul

Embalming in acrylic

Turbulent natural conflict

***

Anguish reflected

Within deep, inky waters

Silent and secret

Painter tries to replicate

Turbulent natural conflict

Picture caption: Amsterdam Canal. Acrylic painting by Robbie Cheadle

Picture caption: Cover of Sunflower Tanka designed by Colleen M. Chesebro using my oil pastel artwork. You can find out more about Colleen’s services here: https://colleenchesebro.org/my-services-unicorn-cats-publishing-services/

Sunflower Tanka, edited by Robbie Cheadle & Colleen M. Chesebro, is an annual anthology of contemporary tanka, tanka prose, & experimental tanka from a broad mix of new and established poetic voices from across the world.

Our theme, “Into the Light,” draws inspiration from the way a young sunflower bud constantly turns to face the sun. Poets delved into the realms of death, love, and the natural world, capturing their human experiences in the timeless form of syllabic poetry.

Contributors to the first edition of the Sunflower Tanka: Suzanne Brace, Yvette Calleiro, Kay Castenada, Luanne Castle, Robbie Cheadle, Colleen M. Chesebro, E.A. Colquitt, Melissa Davilio, Destiny, Tamiko Dooley, Lisa Fox, Cindy Georgakas, Chris Hall, Franci Hoffman, Marsha Ingrao, Jude Itakali, JulesPaige, Kenneth, MJ Mallon, Brenda Marie, Selma Martin, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Lisa Nelson, D. Wallace Peach, Freya Pickard, Dawn Pisturino, Gwen M. Plano, Jennifer Russo, Aishwarya Saby, Reena Saxena, Merril D. Smith, Nicole Smith, Ivor Steven, Ben Tonkin, Trilce Marsh Vazquez, Cheryl Wood.

Roberta Writes – d’Verse: Poetics: Personifying The Abstract #dVerse #poetry #photography

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am currently undertaking a modernised rewrite of Dante’s Inferno. I now have a working title for this poem – Gaia’s Redemption. Anyhow, Mish’s Tuesday prompt was to write a poem including personification. This prompt was perfect for the first twenty lines of my re-write. In Canto II, I have agreed to undertake a journey through the nine levels of the Sixth Mass Extinction with my spirit elephant guide. I have entered the cave that takes us down into the bowels of the spirit world. If you are interested, you can read an analysis of Canto 2 of Dante’s Inferno here: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/inferno/canto-2

I missed the deadline for Mish’s prompt here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/03/25/poetics-personifying-the-abstract/ so I’m sharing it for Open Link Night here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/03/27/open-link-night-381/

CANTO II

A living, breathing creature, this Precambrian era cave

It’s 2.8-billion-year-old skin wrinkled by wear and time

Access defended by minions; entry limited to the brave

Their glowing forms a marriage of dolomite and lime

The monster silently screamed its uncertainty and rage

Spirit elephant paid it no heed, gliding past unchallenged

I drew in a great breath, plunged forward, ducking under

Wall of spear like stalactites from which moisture dripped

Somewhere deep below, a gong sounded like thunder

Death’s hand upon me, I ventured into the stone crypt                                               10

***

“Guide, I am concerned your trust in me is misplaced

I don’t know how to achieve your lofty expectations

What if I disappoint you? It will be a humiliating disgrace

I don’t want to face the environmentalists’ accusations”

My Guide did not pause or speak, just shone a soft light

Which illuminated two formations beneath the Hand of God

Symbolising the visual, the first’s gazed through dark eyes

The other gripped a pen between slender white fingers

Understanding came, pictures held power and told no lies

The written word facilitates communication with thinkers                                          20

My cave is based on the Sudwala Caves in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Here are some photographs from my recent visit to these caves.

Picture caption: Wall of the Sudwala Cave. This is a very ancient cave system, the oldest in the world, and is formed in dolomite
Picture caption: The Screaming Monster
Picture caption: This formation (the two small stalactites), is called Lot and his Wife – I thought the formation above looked like the Hand of God.
Picture caption: This formation is called Kentucky Fried Chicken. It hangs down from the ceiling of the cave

Below is my YouTube short of Somcuba’s Gong inside the Sudwala Caves

Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s writing prompt: Funny Moments #poetry

Esther’s writing challenge for this week is Funny Moments. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/03/19/writing-prompts-57/

New Blood

What a hoot

There is new blood

In fourth year at Uni

Competition

In the form of a young man

From an opposition university

This youngster and my son

Both chose challenging

Research projects

Both have double supervisors

One of Greg’s

If from Milan, Italy

He thinks this gives him

An edge

Over a double local package

But

The competition

Has four subjects for both

The first and second blocks

Greg had four and three

So, he’s signed up for

An additional course

Naturally the most difficult

On the list of electives

There is nothing like a little

Competition

To stir the blood

And make a young man work

“Well, Mom,” he said

In response to my enquiry

“I’m not going to be upstaged

by a usurper from Pretoria”

Reviews for Sunflower Tanka

Thank you to Barbara Harris Leonhard for this insightful review of Sunflower Tanka: https://extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog/2025/03/24/barbs-wordy-blurbs-sunflower-tanka-by-robbie-cheadle-colleen-m-chesebro/

Thank you to contributor, Chris Hall, for her lovely review of Sunflower Tanka on Facebook here:

Sunflower Tanka: An Anthology Tanka, Tanka Prose, & Experimental Tanka – edited by Robbie Cheadle & Colleen M. Chesebro

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What a gorgeous collection with so many poets who I know, including myself. It is such a beautiful book (well done, Robbie) and I am glad that I got the paperback, as well as the Kindle.

There are almost 140 poems in this wonderful collection. The 36 poets are from all around the globe: from the USA, UK, Mexico, South Africa, Uganda, Guyana, Portugal, Japan, Philippines, India, Australia and Italy. Isn’t it interesting, and even more so the way the various styles are incorporated. The different forms are the well-known 5-line tanka form, the tanka-prose and the rensaku, but also the less known are the experimental tanka, the garland tanka, and the tanka Puente, all good though.

I have read from cover to cover and picked around as well. Now, just to say, this has been a lovely experience – it’s ‘In the Light’!

Roberta Writes – d’Verse: sep-a-rate, a song parody #songparody #dverse

Melissa‘s challenge is slightly complex this week. She proposed a few artworks by the same artist as picture prompts and asked poets to write a poem expressing the thoughts the picture of their choice evoked. After writing the poem, she suggested we read up about the artist and see if it changed our feelings in respect of our chosen artwork. You can read about the artworks and join the prompt here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/02/18/sep%c2%b7a%c2%b7rate/

I chose this artwork:

My song parody below is intended to be humorous and take the ‘mick’ out of some of the pretentiousness and snobbishness in some art circles. It doesn’t necessary reflect my views on art as I do produce some non-realistic, surrealist work myself.

Why can’t artists choose to create objects of beauty?

Why can’t artists choose to create objects of beauty?

Still life paintings so realistic they almost smell fruity

Why add to the ugliness in this world?

Depicting on paper the endless hatred that unfurls

***

Just look at it

Misery articulated in every line

Flying in the face of all teachings of the Divine

***

You might say I picked a poor example

But did I?

What’s the purpose of a banana taped to a board? Note 1

An over privileged buys it for a price few could afford

How pretentious to call that mockery art

***

I wouldn’t pay a single cent for that

In fact, if it was a gift, I’d send it back

I’d view it as an insult to my sensibilities

Why can’t artists focus on depicting happiness and joy?

***

You’d think purchasers would want to view art with pleasure

Something delightful to brighten up their day

But no, they prefer to wallow in the hideous

Or even worse the clearly sad and piteous

***

Of the banana, I’m not a fan

But it’s better than a painted beer can Note 2

Really, what has art come to?

I’d much rather look at artworks produced by kindergarteners

***

Squiggly line drawings – I ask you what sort of art is that?

It’s this sort of mediocracy that allows AI to compete

AI artworks easily as good as those of modern art elite

Why can’t artists focus on depicting happiness and joy?

***

The attributes of a good piece of art should be well-known

You shouldn’t have to look at splodges and try to guess

Exactly what the intent was behind the colourful mess

An artwork’s content should clearly show what it is

***

As soon as an artist picks up his pencil and starts to work

Viewers should gasp in wonder at the work in progress

That rarely happens with much of the art that does the rounds

Looking at it turns the viewers smiles to frowns

***

A good example is modern surrealist art

What on earth is its purpose to a viewer

It makes me want to poke out my eyes with a skewer

There are even times when art completely disappears

***

Disappears … What is non-art? Why use the word art

In connection with an object that is something else entirely

I can see a photograph is a photograph without any enquiry

Surely everyone can see a stone’s a stone

***

Artists go to school to learn techniques and styles

Just as clothes designers must learn all about textiles

Why do they throw everything they learned away?

I think their attempts to be different lead them astray

***

There is nothing better than a beautiful landscape

There is no need the natural world to reshape

But create a realistic picture and you’re criticised

Why can’t artist focus on depicting happiness and joy?

Note 1: The banana line is based on this article https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/that-viral-banana-duct-taped-to-a-wall-it-just-sold-for-6-2-million-180985523/

Note 2: The beer can line refers to this article: https://abcnews.go.com/International/beer-artwork-accidentally-trashed-museum-worker/story?id=114588747#:~:text=A%20museum%20in%20the%20Netherlands%20has%20recovered%20an,of%20them%20during%20his%20shift%2C%20museum%20officials%20said.

Reading up about the artist didn’t change my dislike of his work, although in saying that I did find this face painting compelling in a dark way. In fact, it made me wonder even more why he is famous. So, my song above remains unchanged. Do you recognise the rhythm and flow? I’ll give you a hint – I went to see My Fair Lady on Sunday evening and the music is still stuck in my head.

Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s writing prompt and DL Finn’s Creative Perspective Challenge #poetry

Esther Chilton’s writing prompt for this week is team. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/02/12/writing-prompts-52/.

I am not much of a team player. I have had some very bad experiences where my hard work and creative solutions have been accredited to more senior people on my so called team. I’ve also had situations where the team doesn’t listen and a crisis results. These situations have left a bad taste in my mouth and now I prefer to run my own processes with as little involvement from other people as possible.

No Team

There is no I in teamwork, so they say

My experience defies this simplistic view

There is always an I who leads the way

The one who takes control

Does most of the hard work

Burns the midnight oil

This is the same one who gets

To share the recognition and rewards

With the rest of the team

There is no team in

Taking the initiative

Or getting things done

But there are numerous I’s

***

The next poem is not new, but it fitted how I absorbed Denise’s picture prompt. You can read what other writers have created here: https://dlfinnauthor.com/2025/02/18/creative-perspective-challenge-two-links-and-haibun-writingcommunity-flashfiction-poetry-haibun-creativeperspectivechallenge/

Picture caption: A desolate scene in black and grey with a large building with towers and a bridge across a ravine

The Corporate Giant

It rears upwards

into the blue sky

a monstrosity

of reflective glass and

shiny stainless steel

towering over

the ant-sized people

who scurry about

in its imposing shadow

***

An emotionless giant

it is bereft of a soul

it feeds on small businesses,

corner cafes, fruit and nut shops,

independent butcheries, bakeries,

confectionaries and cake shops

even book sellers and

small stationers

are swallowed whole

disappearing into the gaping maw

of the corporate giant

***

It shreds and ingests

taking the sustenance it seeks

spitting out the bones

independence and individuality

creativity and uniqueness

mere entrails, unwanted and discarded

it stamps on difference

in its pursuit of profits

imperfections and belmishes

an unacceptable blight

on a perfect track record

***

What remains will finally

emerge as a mirror

reflecting the sameness

uniformity and consistency

it holds so dear

providing its market

with the conformity

and rigidity

that has taken over

and turned the world grey

Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday: Silver Linings #poetry #TankaTuesday

Yvette’s Tanka Tuesday challenge is to write a syllabic poem about a silver lining. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/11/26/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-silver-linings-11-26-2024-syllabicpoetry. I am sharing two poems today. One is an older poem that is rhyming verse and the other is a new poem that is a tanka.

The Silver Lining

Clad in dirty shoes and shorts

his face streaked with dirt,

he swoops past like a bird in flight

thrilled with disaster to flirt.

***

Like nothing you’ve ever seen before

the skateboard on which he rides,

a platform piled high with recyclables

no one his wild recklessness chides.

***

A pair of dark eyes, wild and bright

glow beneath his unkempt crop,

he takes a sharp corner rather wide

there is no-one to make him stop.

***

We find our pleasures in different ways

it’s human nature to laugh and enjoy,

he’s found a way to make the most of life

treating his load like a favourite toy.

Positives (tanka)

Finding positives

Of silver or otherwise

Essential to health

Holding on to pain and grief

Eats holes in our minds and souls

My latest watercolour painting of a lighthouse seemed to go well with this topic: