π Nancy is a storyteller, music blogger, humorist, poet, curveballer, noir dreamer π
Written for dVerse Poets Prosery β
Paul Laurance Dunbar. Our host, Dora,
asks us to include the line below from Dunbarβs
poem, βSympathyβ in a 144-word piece of prose.
Hereβs where the prompt took me.
βAnd the faint perfume from its chalice stealsββ
Continue reading “What Remains”Written for dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night
hosted by Sanaa. My poem is inspired by the
opening line of Sandburgβs poem, βFogβ.
Hereβs where the inspiration took me.
Written for dVerse Pub Poetics:
Names of the Rose. Our host, Merril,
Β invites us to write a poem of any style,
incorporating the names of at least five
different roses. This is my haibun.
Written for dVerse Poetics β Where does love go?
Our host, Kim, invites us to write a poem, taking
the title from the question, βWhere does love go?β
Hereβs where the prompt took me .
Written for Poetics Tuesday: Comfort Food,
hosted Β by our friend, Punam, who asks us
to write a poem focusing on food. This is
my response, dedicated to my mother.
Written for Poetics Tuesday: βBeginnings Are Endingsβ,
hosted by Punam, who has asked us to write a poem,
taking the opening line of a well-known piece and
using it as the last line of our poem. This is my response.
Written for dVerse MTB: Poems of Questions
hosted by Grace. The challenge is to write a
poem built around questions that remain
unanswered. Here is my response.
Written for dVerse Poetics: βThe Evolution of Loveβ,
hosted this week by Sanaa. We are asked to write
a poem about love as something sacred β not just
roses and hearts, but the small unseen ways
someone stays, This is my response.
Written for dVerse Poetics ββIβd Rather Go Blindβ
hosted this week by Melissa. The focus is to
choose one of the five senses and write a poem
exploring what life experiences might be like
without that sense. This is my response.
Written for dVerse Poetics β βThe Smile In A Simileβ –
hosted this week by Dora. This is my response.
Written dVerse Poetics β
Dream Interpretations –
hosted this week by Sanaa.
This is an interpretation of my dream.
Written for dVerse Quadrille #237 β Zero.
Our host, Melissa, from Mom With A Blog,
invites us to create a poem of exactly 44 words
using the word βzeroβ. This is my quadrille.
Written for dVerse Poetics β Itβs Not That Scary.
Mish invites us to celebrate Halloween by writing
a non-scary poem using one of the movie quotes
provided for our first line. I have chosen the line
βHelp Me. Help me be human.β from The Fly (1986)
with Jeff Goldblum. Hereβs my romantic poem.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Hold Onto Your Head!
Today our host Merril invites us to share our version
of the Headless Horseman. This is my contribution.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Tripping The
October Light Fantastic. Our host, Dora,
asks us to write about what October
means to us. Hereβs my contribution.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Itβs Noisy In Here!
Our host, Mish, is asking us to write a poem
of any style dealing with noise. Hereβs mine.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Letβs Take A Walk
In The Woods, Shall We? Our host Lillian asks us
to write a poem about the woods. This is my poem.
Written for dVerse Poets Quadrille #228. Our host
Mish asks us β just for the halibut β to write a quadrille
using the word βfishβ in any configuration. Recalling
the many stories about my husband and his identical
twin fishing with their Pops, this is my quadrille.
Written for dVerse Poetics: In Other Words.
Our host Melissa Lemay from Mom With A
Blog asks us to dive into the world of color
and detail as we write an ekphrastic poem
inspired by the artwork of Georgia OβKeeffe.
Here is the painting I selected and my poem.
In addition, the words shown in bold are the
artistic terms I chose to include in my poem.
Written for dVerse Poets: Quadrille #220 –
‘Engrave Your Name Across My Heart’.
We are asked to write a quadrille using
the word βengraveβ. This is my quad.
Written for dVerse Poets β Quadrille #219
A Poetic Hootenanny. Our inspiration this week
is βhootβ. This is my hootenanny quadrille.
Written for dVerse Poets Haibun Monday 3-3-25.
Our inspiration this week is βMarch Madnessβ.
This is my haibun.
When my father emigrated to the US
from Sicily, he was given advice that
changed his life. With that in mind,
this is my response to dVerse Poetics:
For the Love of the Broadsheet.
I have chosen a Dectina Refrain.
Written for dVerse Poetics β βArt In Natureβ
where the challenge is to write a poem in
response to one of the featured photos.
I have chosen to write a Dectina Refrain
for the photo which appears below.
Written for dVerse Poetics where the theme is
βDespite and Stillβ. My inspiration is the poem seen below
written by John N. Morris. Here is my haibun.
Written for dβVerse Poets where our inspiration
today is βreflectionβ. Here is my haibun.
Written for dVerse Poets β Quadrille Monday 209 β Plucking Strings
Our host Lisa asks us to include the word “string(s)” in our piece.
This is my free verse poem based on a true story as told by my mother.
My fatherβs mother hated my mother for marrying her son.
Returning from their honeymoon, my parents visited her mother, then his mother.
When his mother opened the door, she pushed my mother down the stairs, breaking the string of pearls around my motherβs neck.
NARΒ©2024
44 Words
This is βA String of Pearlsβ by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantβs Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NARΒ©2017-present.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Fall (in) Love,
this is my Dectina Refrain.
I
met him
in the fall,
tanned from summer.
He was a bronzed god,
hair as gold as the sun,
eyes like burnished copper glowed.
He warmed the chill from out my bones,
thawed the late Autumn frost in my heart.
I met him in the fall tanned from summer.
NARΒ©2024
Happy Birthday to my husband Bill. We met in the fall of 1968. π€
This is βBillβ from Showboat performed by the Rebecca Trehearn
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantβs Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NARΒ©2017-present.
Written for dVerse Poetsβ theme:
Poetics: Dreaming up a Poem.
This is my Ovi based on a dream.
We were in the car
Hadnβt gone very far
Not a cloud the sky to mar
It was a glorious day
We went to the casino
Hoping to win lots of dough
Trying not our money to blow
The slots were on our side
The sun was bright in the sky
We were happy, spirits high
The road was clear, I could fly
Where should we go for lunch?
Suddenly a huge traffic jam
On my brakes I did slam
Fishtailing, I felt the ram
Some guy hit me really hard
No way could I stop it
Roll roll roll flip into a pit
All we could do was sit
Gravel poured through the cracked sunroof
Police and ambulance appear
Anyone in there? Can you hear?
Iβm in shock, feel no fear
Weβre rushed to the hospital
Iβm ok but my husbandβs hurt
Thereβs so much blood on his shirt
Heβs dazed and confused, not alert
God, please let him be ok
Dream ends and I wake up
I reach for my water cup
Heart is racing, thump thump thump
This is a true story
NARΒ©2024
This ovi poem is based on a horrible rollover accident from 2001 in which my husband and I were involved. The photo above is what was left of my car. I believe in God and I’m sure he was watching over us. It’s been 23 years but I still have dreams of that day.
This is βDazed and Confusedβ by Led Zeppelin
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantβs Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NARΒ©2017-present.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Picking Up The Pieces
where today we are sharing grief. This is my haibun.
Tomorrow will be 4 months since my husbandβs identical twin brother died suddenly. His wife returned home from a walk and found him on the bedroom floor; she said he was still warm. The news felt like an arrow ripped through our hearts. Jim was dead. How was my sister-in-law ever again going to walk into her bedroom without picturing her husbandβs body? How was my husband Bill going to face the rest of his life as the lone twin? At one time there were three brothers; now there is only Bill. This is the most difficult trial for him. My husband lost a piece of himself that day. We are numb, disbelieving, questioning, dazed, numb, numb, so unbelievably numb.
You know how people say that time flies? Not when it comes to Jim; time has stopped for us. Logically we know heβs dead but our hearts cannot accept it. Itβs unbelievable, inconceivable for us. It doesnβt feel possible. We function normally every day, do the same old crap, talk and eat and laugh. We watch movies, go shopping, pay bills, gab on the phone, babysit. We live the same lives we lived before Jim died except heβs not here to share them and we cannot wrap our heads around that. It just doesn’t feel like he’s dead. He should be here. It’s not right that heβs not here. It’s like someone has played the cruelest joke on us.
Now, when my sister-in-law looks at Bill, itβs Jimβs face she sees. And sometimes when I look at my husband, I see Jim and I find myself pondering why Jim was the twin who was taken.
I am Bill’s wife but Jim was his other half.
save them in your heart
golden summer memories
for when winter comes
NARΒ©2024
This is βComfortably Numbβ by Pink Floyd
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantβs Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NARΒ©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 