Heatwave – 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.

One-Liner Wednesday. 31c plus in the United Kingdom. It’s seriously hot!

At the moment it’s hot…. Really hot .

It’s barely been a week since the first UK heatwave of 2025, ( the end of June) but heat health alerts have come into force across most of England as the country braces for a second summer heatwave with temperatures expected to climb above 30C this weekend.

We’re still only in the first month of summer, and generally our hottest weather usually occurs during July and August.

However, the statistics show that June heatwaves are becoming increasingly common and intense.

While some love the warmth, heatwaves can have huge consequences for us as a society, from adverse health impacts, to transport disruption and increasing the threat of wildfires.

June in the UK is typically the coolest of the three summer months, with average maximum temperatures of around 18C – that’s around 2C below what we expect for July.

Things are changing though and a recent Met Office blog post points to “a clear upward trend” in the number of June days above 30C, external.

The increase varies for different parts of the UK, but according to the post “England consistently leads in the number of 30°C+ recordings, particularly in the south-east”.

So to all climate change and global warming deniers I quote! ⬇️⬇️

ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS WAKE UP AND CHANGE.

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#Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge No. 19, Nonet, 7/ 1/ 25

This week, I welcomed you all to Tanka Tuesday. I thought we could do a Nonet and use synonyms for :The state of the world/ or our lives. This is according to your interpretation.

There are four types of Nonet to choose from. You can see them all here.

I did put a new example on that post of a mirror double Nonet but I thought I would enter another…this one is a double Nonet and it could easily be about me, my life now or the state of the planet. The words I am not using are Heatwave, Drought, climate change, and heat.

Listless and drained of all energy
I am parched and dried up, proonlike
Drooping like the sad flowers
The lush verdant green gone
Root systems draining
The lifegiving
Moisture drips
Away
I think you have left it all too late
As death spreads across my surface
I shed tears bringing you floods
Yes it’s feast or famine
Too late you see
My message
To you
Fools.

******

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One-Liner Wednesday: Heatwave?

Alexa says “Today you can expect a high of 22c.” When ? Fingers white and numb with cold, wearing vest, jumper, gillet, leggings and socks! Come on Alexa I am waiting!

THIS IS PART OF LINDAGHILL’S ONE LINER WEDNESDAY

Think Tuesday

Tuesday Haiku

Tuesday time to think

It’so uncommonly hot

In the shade cool drink

Today Tuesday is the hottest day of year so far for us here in the UK. It is 32 degrees Celsius but it feels a lot hotter. The there is a breeze but it is hot!

I took the dog for her morning walk at 6.45am and it was warm even then. She is suffering as like the rest of us she is not accustomed to this heat and even worse she is wearing a double for coat!

So far the dog, hubby and I have drunk enough water to sink a battle ship!

Talking of which ( Battle Ships) Henry VIII’s flag ship the Mary Rose has finally been put on permanent show, in all her glory behind a glass wall for all to see.