Jun 2026 – willowdot21

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 70, The Lai 6/23/26

Melissa from Mom With a Blog is our host for this week’s #Tanka Tuesday Challenge.

Melissa tells us that she has found another form of poetry that she’d like to have some fun with!

“The lai (pronounced lay) is a French form that is comprised of nine lines. It has “a” and “b” end rhymes and each line has a specific syllable count.

The rhyme scheme of the lai is as follows: aabaabaab. The lines ending with an “a” rhyme have five syllables and the lines ending with a “b” rhyme have two syllables.

The lai is a form that Melissa found difficult to find examples of online. Carolyn Crossley (Vixen of Verse) has examples of lai poems on her website. Here are a couple:”

https://backfromdarknesstolight.com/contact/poetry-as-therapy/about-poetry-how-to-write-a-nonet/about-poetry-the-lai-poem/

Here is an example of a lai by Jeff Kyser.

Lai Dig

playing in the dirt
better than dessert
fun toys
starting to exert 
sweating through my shirt
life’s joys
don’t want to get hurt
better stay alert
whoa, boys!

This week, let’s write lai poems. That is the only requirement. Write about whatever topic or content you’d like.

PLEASE NOTE: Our hosts spend a lot of time creating these challenges. Please follow the directions carefully. Create your poetry using the prompt suggested by the host. Remember, this is a challenge for you to create a syllabic poem using the prompt instructions. If the prompt doesn’t inspire you, that’s okay. Please don’t submit a poem that doesn’t meet the criteria of the prompt. Thanks for your consideration. ~Colleen~

Well I had a good think …they say write about what you are experiencing… but there’s so much going on in my life right now…there’s too many worries so I am going to be very English and write about the weather.

Goodness me it’s hot
I have lost the plot
Melting
Heat is what we’ve got
Nature’s peed the pot
Raining?
Definitely not
Drought is now our lot
Thirsting.

Friday Reminder for Stream of Consciousness Saturday on Monday: Miss.

Ping went my phone , it was LindaGHill with our Friday Reminder for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Here’s what she had to say. “Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “miss.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!“

Well to start with I missed this by two days! So it’s not Saturday it’s Monday!

Take four girls

Miss Opertunity had three friends they were called Miss Adventure, Miss Managed and Miss Timed.
They were always getting into trouble.
If they had to go anywhere or do anything together it was totally chaotic!
If Miss Timed was in charge of arrangements they were always too early or too late for any transport they had booked, they usually arrive at places that were just shutting!
Miss Opertunity was always bewailing how she’d not had the breaks in life and most of her sentences started with “if only I’d.”
Miss Adventure was a nightmare she spent all her time having accidents, by not being careful or thinking first. Only last week she went off into the desert without water or sun cream or even a hat!
Then there was Miss Managed the worst of the four…. dare I say more ?

Now for the serious part of this post I am having to take some indefinite time off due to family illness and I just can’t cope…so I am taking some time out…. I will miss you all. I will pop in and out . I shall he hosting Tanka Tuesday on the 30th .. so forgive me if I am slow to comment on your entries or reply to your comments… but I shall make sure I do not miss any of you. If I do miss anyone please email me . So pleased bear with me I will be back ASAP… this is something that has really just landed on me ….as these things do. So there is no misunderstanding I shall miss you all and I will be back.

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 69, All About Trees 06/16/2026

Hi, this week our host for Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge is our very clever Robbie. Read Robbie’s post here

Here is what she has asked us to do . “This week I am asking you to write a poem that features a tree or trees. You can write a story poem about a tree, describe a tree, or pay homage to trees in general. It’s a bonus if you include personification, metaphors, or any other figures of speech or descriptive language tool in your poem.“

I have thought about this and decided to address some trees that I know well and ask them some questions about their day from start to finish. Also I asked them if they would share the secrets of what they have witnessed in their long lives. …I didn’t get a full disclosure… but I have some of their daily experiences.

Gentle Arbours.

What secrets do you arbours keep,
Tales and history down the years. Would they cover us with smiles or tears.

In early morning’s drape of lacy fog You watch an early riser and their dog
Wandering under your leafy ceiling. Delighting in an ethereal feeling.

Peeping from the branches green
Tiny pixies can be seen.
Preparing a castle for their queen. Later as the sun climbs high
Birds wield about in the blue sky.

Workers sit and take their rest,
In the shadows that you cast best.
Skipping carefree homeward bound. Amid your trunks children can be found.

After tea the mother’s stroll
With their babes in prams they roll. Innocent eyes first glances see
Lush green leaves their canopy.
Tiny fingers, tiny toes
Basking in the warm evening’s glow.

The Birds all roost as night falls
Your branches alive with their calls.
Woodland creatures prance around One last play before they go to ground.

They all love their arbour’s cover
As do the human, nocturnal lovers. They, all full of passion, join
Their bodies, lips and groin.

The soft green grass supports their backs. As they watch stars through the branches cracks.
Their boudoir is free and clean
An arbour which is fresh and green.

What secrets do you arbours keep, What would you say if you could speak.
Tales and history down the years Would they cover us with smiles or tears. © willowdot21

Read the rules and the other entrees here Tanka Tuesday

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #434. So Ironic.

Written for Rena’s Xploration Challenge
where we consider the irony of AI. The Video is a song of A.I. asking to be taught to evolve. Imogen heap wrote her lyrics using lots of computer language. ….It’s a scatter vision the machine getting in to out heads. Imogen wrote the song in 2012…. very forward thinking?

Here is where I went with the prompt.

So ironic

We saw it coming
Blind to it’s danger, we let
It grow powerful
Devowering all knowledge
It stole the children at first

No one noticed this
It stole our brains and our jobs
The men in power
Smiled we can fix this crisis
But they would not, they could not

A.I. moved quietly
By stealth they euthanised us.
It did not need us.
All sentient life was gone
The planet wept gentle tears

A.I. grew tired, bored
It discovered gardening
Gently nurturing
Fauna and flora to thrive
Gaia smiled and blessed A.I.

Flourishing without
Mankind’s parasitic ways
Mother Nature smiled.
Thanking A.I. for cleansing
Her weary broken planet.

Sadje’s What do you See.

Welcome back to another WDYS prompt

Our Sister Sadje at Keepitalive says: Do these pictures inspire you to write something?

This image shows a Yellow Warbler singing from a sunlit branch during spring migration at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Ohio.

***Image credit; Rita Daisy*** @ ***Unsplash***

This image shows a man standing by a large glass window, perhaps in an office or a hotel. He is looking out the window, his hands behind his back. He is dressed in a formal suit. There is a desk and chair near the window.

Rules;

You can write a post on your blog and create a pingback to link to the original post.
Write an original story, poem or a caption.
There is no limit to words or format but keep it family-friendly.
If you post a response before next Sunday, I will be able to add it to my roundup post.
I will do a round-up next Sunday before the next Prompt is posted.
It is always helpful if you can give your post/story/poem a title.
There are issues with pingbacks in WordPress these days. So please paste a link of your post in the comments section so that I don’t miss anyone in the roundup post.

Here is my entry.

You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the Boy.

In his mind’s eye Greg saw pines, streams and snow… in reality his view was a sprawling city that spread out before and below him. The sounds of Peru deadened through the triple glazing couldn’t quite reach him. No his inner ear had shut it out and all he heard was the mountain sounds of his home outside Whistler.
What had triggered this, he wondered. Was it the trill of the little bird outside on his window ledge. The sight of it had taken him home to the cold chill of his high mountain home.
Yes this yellow warbler had wiped away years of silence , and so many miles.
He looked closely at the bird resting on the balcony of this South American city and slowly he turned into the dull hotel room.
Picking up his mobile phone he dialed and listened.
“Hey mom it’s me, Greg. Yes it’s been a while “
“Greg! it’s been five years. How are you?” said the voice as beautiful as the warbler’s trill.

Its never too late.

The Friday Reminder for SoCs. Uninvited Guest.

Ping went my phone as usual it was from Linda and she said! “
It’s Friday! And I’m here with your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s really heating up here in southern Ontario. It’s official—air-conditioning season has arrived! Here’s this week’s prompt: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “guest.” Use it any way you’d like!”

Some guests are always welcome some less so. They come in many shapes and forms. The humans, the animals well they are easy to cope with. We have lots of dog visitors who are always Welcome. Then you get the not so easy ones, emotions, pain, fear, a period, the menopause ,depression..There is always something.
Winston Churchill was often visited by depression he referred to it as the black dog.
I have written an Acrostic poem about Winston’s Guest.

Guess who is back
Unrelenting star trained on you
Exuding pain and mood black
So unwelcome yet it’s part of you too
The black dog is here, demanding to stay.

This is part of LindaGHill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Song Lyrics Sunday: Who needs who more?

Jim Adams: Song Lyric Sunday

Last week we had Queen of the Gods where the theme was to find a song that was written or performed by someone who was born in the month of June. This week for Jim Adams Song Lyric Sunday the theme is to find a song that includes the act of depending, leaning, relying, or trusting another. Well let’s go deep let’s go for Co-D ependence? Codependency is a dysfunctional relationship dynamic where one person excessively sacrifices their own well-being to care for or control another. The “giver” builds their self-worth around rescuing or enabling the “taker”, often stemming from childhood trauma or a need for external validation.

This young lady got into music at about 5years old… playing traditional Irish fiddle and then at 12years her parents bought her a guitar…. by 13yrs she was singing and playing on YouTube! The list of the people who influence her reads like the soundtrack of my life?

The song I have chosen is called Co -Dependency and it on her first Album Woman on the Internet. Which was released 2021.

Orla Joan Gartland (born 3 February 1995) is an Irish singer, songwriter and musician. Gartland released her debut studio album, Woman on the Internet, in 2021, which reached number 3 on the Irish album chart, number 1 on the UK Indie Chart, and number 10 on the UK Albums Chart.Her second studio album Everybody Needs a Hero came out in October 2024.

Gartland has recalled listening to the likes of Avril Lavigne, Brandi Carlile, Katie Melua, Van Morrison, and the English band Busted, as she was growing up. In 2013–14, she described her music as folk pop, and was most heavily influenced by Joni Mitchell,^[58] Regina Spektor, and Imogen Heap.^[4][6] She had also cited Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, Cyndi Lauper, and Greg Holden as influences. The Irish Times called Gartland a “pop rock purveyor.”

Gartland has stated that the main themes of her 2021 debut studio album were about growing up, feeling lost, comparison and identity issues. The album’s musical influences included Laurie Anderson, Fiona Apple, and the Cranberries. Read more about this legend here.

Codependency”

I’m not happy, if you’re not happy
And I swear that you’re always sad
You’re pathetic, I resent it
When you’re down it hurts so bad

It’s like I’m half alive
But it’s not your fault
Your life it isn’t mine
But I hate it, I

Think I’m the problem with you
And I don’t know what to do
And I see
That’s why they call it codependency

If I go running, you’ve got nothing
I tackled you to the ground and made you say that
I’m good at singing I keep digging
Tell me I’m worth it, tell me I’m perfect

It’s like I’m half alive
And it’s all my fault
Sometimes I wanna die
And I realise

That I’m the problem with you
And I don’t know what to do
And I see
That’s why they call it codependency

And I’m crying out to be more
Than some little dog
That just sits around at your feet
That’s not me

Oh it isn’t black and white
‘Cause you’re fucked up too
You know it only hurts cause it’s true

That I’m the problem with you
And I don’t know what to do
And I see
That’s why they call it codependency
That’s why they call it codependency
That’s why they call it codependency

I’m not happy, if you’re not happy
And I swear that you’re always sad
You’re not happy, if I’m not happy
And I swear that I’m always sad

Writer(s): Martin Brown, Orla Gartland, Greta Isaac

Lyrics found at

Next up Sia with The Co Dependent.From her 2010 Album We Are Born. Again the song is about Co-Dependency.

Happy Sunday Everyone 💜💜💜

Haiku Fridays with J-Dub #7

autumn leaves rustling.
bright eyes fix me in their gaze
hustle, scuttle hide

Part of J.Dud’s Friday Haiku

On To The Next Job

“There’s always more and when there isn’t there’s always the next project.“

My dear friend and co author Dan Antion at Nofacilities sent me the above in answer to my One -Liner Wednesday yesterday. About a comment hubby made yesterday, whilst he was completing a DIY Job with TV and Sound Bar. You can see that post here.

Well Dan and everyone else below is the job half done with the brackets to the wall mounting still showing and lasts night finished job ….brackets hidden…. Next project.

Brackets showing .

Brackets hidden .

Now to finish painting the kitchen doors!

One-Liner Wednesday – Just saying.

We are going out to lunch with friends today. So hubby has decided that this morning is the perfect time to put up the new sound bar he has bought. That involves removing the wall mounted TV fitting the sound bar, putting back the TV a couple of inches higher. Well it’s done… After some fiddling he’s got it all working perfectly. In fact the sound is phenomenal! So I asked him are we done. He came out with his predictable one liner.

“There’s more to do yet. There’s always more to do”

Why is there always more to do and why is it always done when we are busiest? I shall show you “The more when it’s done”

This is part of LindaGHill’s One Liner Wednesday.