#Thursdaydoors

d’Verse

Melissa’s prompt is to write about a pivotal moment. I have [tried] to make my poem humorous. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/11/11/pivot/

No More Freeloading

Lefty’s

been a freeloader

all its life

ever since

Sister Ruth

hit my left-hand knuckles

with a ruler

aimed at redirecting

the Devil’s hand

“We write with the right”

her fierce declaration

from then on

righty did all the work

except for knifework

I never could cut with the right

left retained cutting

it’s one claim to usefulness

and then, righty got injured

an overuse pain

developed and stayed

So, I, the determined

took lefty out of retirement

“No, more loafing”

I said sternly

“It’s time to earn your keep

in this body”

Now, lefty is the mouse hand

takes its share of the work

and the overuse pain

leaving righty free

to do the drawing

and the painting

on demand

Bird of the Week

This poem is for Don’t Hold Your Breath’s Bird of the Week challenge: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/himalayan-swiftlet-birds-of-the-week-invitation-cxli/

Flamingo Pair (shadorma prose)

South Africa is home to two species of flamingos: the Lesser and Greater Flamingo. The key breeding site for Lesser Flamingos at Kamfers Dam in Kimberley has been destroyed due to poor infrastructure management by local government. The dam has become toxic, and the flamingo population has been forced to leave, leaving this species near threatened in South Africa. Greater flamingos shared the Kamfers Dam habitat with the Lesser Flamingos but in far fewer numbers. The Greater Flamingo in South Africa is also listed as Near Threatened regionally due to habitat loss from pollution, encroachment and disturbances at breeding sites.

morning

two young flamingos

greet the day

brief respite

before survival dictates

ongoing foraging