The Bag Lady

lightning streaks show shapes

thunder raps on shutters tied

cracks in blinds distort

whispering winds speak horrors

storming all on Hallows Eve

***

smoke

foggy

frightening

unfamiliar

surrounding my form

eerie feelings hover

nightmare now reality

drifting across the bedroom floor

my feet never touching the surface

“Smoke, foggy, frightening unfamiliar”.

***

A tanka, 5,7,5,7,7, and a dectina refrain, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 syllables. Line ten is a combination of the first four lines in quote form.

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Wea’ve Written Weekly – a poetry prompt!

Three blind mice or holiday kings

Whoever dressed them needs a lesson

Costumes are meant as children‘s things

Humor on dogs heeds to lessen

The evil scary part of the night.

Funny dogs dressed as ghosts

Never cause anyone a fright

Licking your hands, the friendly milquetoasts

A nice try for the costume tests

While tired pups lay down and rest.

What’s that you hear?

A witch’s scream?

She’s falling off her broomstick beam?

Now there’s a sight I’d like to see

Finally a fright on Hallow’s Eve!

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Monday Poetry Prompt: Halloween

Only one

Counts for the many

Peace in time

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#Easy Peasy Writes – 10/29/25

He thinks it’s only a trick. I think I’ll teach him a lesson.

“Wanna see me pull a rabbit out of my hat?” The magician tiredly reveals the empty hat. The rabbit is not in the secret box, he left the stage.

What goes around comes around.

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Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

ML:
clumsy error
we broke the tiny saw blade
pumpkin carving blues
resolute autumn fervor
pumpkin finger painting instead

***

CW:

a slip of the knife

turned a frown to a huge smile

Halloween goblins

***

ML:
ripening gourds
seeds ready for roasting
plentiful harvest
last-minute costume ideas
warts for witches’ noses

***

CW:

crunchy salty treats

pumpkin seeds at the ready

cleaning, washing done

***

ML:
fireside marshmallows
melting onto graham crackers
season of the s’more
cheery trick-or-treaters
like king-size candy bars best

***

CW:

gooey extra sweet

toothbrushes before their bed

this night treats abound

***

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 36, Tan-Ku, 10/28/25

School Shooting

This is no trick or treat

that is not what’s moving these small feet,

it’s grief, it’s thinking hard

on all of the friends they’ve lost in the schoolyard.

The faces are solemn,

their hearts cry out.

They cannot even imagine what this is all about.

Even the parents look subdued

gathering, in protests they never act rude,

the sidewalk regulars stay out-of-the-way

because maybe they didn’t have a child there that day.

A shock to these parents and children alike.

They do not realize the government’s spite.

To make new laws that prevent guns

In the presence of all of these little ones,

we plead, we vote, we protest and march

but all of this doesn’t move the oligarch

he cares not what happens in small towns or schools

While he secretly makes up new laws and rules.

***

https://wordpress.com/reader/feeds/100129212/posts/5849344692

She pulled out her old white fur and soon found out the perfect look had succumbed to pressure. The soft bands of fox fur were compressed so badly they no longer held their shape that made the entire coat stylish. What was she to wear now on their trip to the aisle of Iceland.?

***

MLMM Monday Wordle #448

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“We all go a little mad sometimes” – Norman Bates, Psycho (1960)

–

It’s easy to say you’re not afraid

Even though mistakes will be made

The drum beats slowly in your head

Walking by the stones you dread

Walk or run, the beat continues

Cemeteries all hold the lives

Of evil people, now demised

Only you can hear the venue

Why, I ask, is that true?

Have evil in your heart – you?

Oh I see it, it’s through and through

The day will come, you’ll show that brew.

***

Autumn

autumn rendering

undone acorns fall

to ground where other

unearthed treasures hid

myriad colors of brown bracken

now are feeding foragers

Acrostic poem using kigo words, highlighted – the first letter of each line combines to make a word related to the poem.

-—

Colors of Autumn

persimmon hued leaves

contrast the tree born mushrooms

each culinary offer

crimson colors bound to fade

while pale contestants shrivel

—-

tanka with kigo words highlighted, poem’s syllable count, 5,7,5,7,7.

***

#TankaTuesday Challenge Rules

Number six, ladies and gentlemen – what should I do more often? Or in my case, do at all? Embarrassing as it is, the word exercise floats above me in a cartoon bubble. I need strength training for my arms and legs that have grown weak lately. One of my docs said I need cardiac rehabilitation. Sounds good to me because I do well in a group of peers trying my hardest. In fact, I’ll admit I felt great in my first rehab for a broken bone in my hip. It was 2015 and I was the youngest person there, on a rapid recovery stint. Ten years of good health and then March 2024 broke my left leg and the s—- hit the fan. All of a sudden I was weak, and scared of falling but I did rehab and came out swinging. December 6, 2024 I fell getting into a car I’ve done hundreds of times and broke my right femur and it’s taking its time healing. There’s more but I’m sure you’re bored by now. It is sufficient to say my body is saying “enough already, we’re taking a break”. I need a new rehab to motivate me.

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This Week’s Writer’s Workshop Prompts: October 30, 2025