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[dove]

A little excercise for the muse. 
Can you step up to the challenge?

Criteria:

READ MORE INSIDE!

GOODLUCK!

[dove]

Criteria:

Insert into your piece the following phrases (in no particular order):

the leaves of starved trees
blank and silent lamps
pocket change
pebble

*Also use "quoation" marks somewhere in your piece.


The entries can be any length, any topic, any style and any form. You can post as many different entries as you want.

Deadline:

3 weeks from today. (Septemeber 21, midnight)

Goodluck!

[Akela]

SURVIVOR


The metallic clink of pocket change pleased the urchin to no end.

It had been a rough time so far. Sleeping under the bridge with just the blank and silent lamps witness to her abject loneliness. Destitute, hungry, without love, lost. Not very different to the leaves of starved trees that fell silently on the ground all around her.

"I will survive" she screamed enthusiastically as she tossed a pebble into the lake before her.

She watched as each ripple it caused come rolling back to her like the dreams she treasured and hoped to fulfil someday...

Someday, when the metallic clink of pocket change morphed into the rustle of paper money...bundles of it...hidden out there beyond the skyline, out there in the future, out there where every penny she saved would most certainly take her!

AKELA

[Akela]

BLACK NIGHT!

"Mommaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaa!"

My shrill voice echoed
In the silent void.
Screeching past blank and silent lamps
Uncompromising sentinels
In the dark and fearsome night!

The leaves of starved trees
Fluttering to the earth
Like errant bats
Out on a family outing.

"Take this...
and this...
and this!"
I cried.
With each coin I threw
Fighting the Depression
that haunted me!
Tormented me!


Vagabond trail
Pocked-marked with the sheen
Sheen, of pocket change
Strewn callously
Out of sheer helplessness.
The only evidence
To the insurmountable fear
That kept rising, higher.
 
Rising up from my belly
Out through my throat
Till finally...

Till finally
I puked...!

Spewing the glossy pebble
Of HATE
and ANGER
at the pitch black night!

Be gone!
Be gone!

AKELA

[Akela]

Dove

aaahh ... a bit late but when you say poetry challenge ... anys tyle and all the freedom .... u gettin me?

Or is it just use the phrases and build around them??? so it could be a story too...im a trifle confused....

AKELA

[dove]

any form i meant like structured, non-structured poetry (you know sestina's, pantoums or none)

any style i meant unrhyming, rhyming poetry, and etc.

any length and any topic...kinda obvious there.

sorry confused you. i was hoping it wasn't confusing since i didnt put the word "prose" anywhere.

I hope this clears it up.

[dove]

Static

The leaves of starved trees
mix with pocket change, pebbles
and empty soda cans.

Fat and swollen flies
mate in clumps of dead, brown grass.
Blank and silent lamps

make love with blank eyes
to bent power lines, which speak
"Yo...u... are break......ing up".

[supasalt]

Autumn

Autumn falls and the leaves of starved trees
Turn ginger and gold, leaving a summer of love behind
Memories of walkers and talkers,
Leaner's and lovers, held as silent secrets never to be told

Romantic picnics with strawberries and bubbles
Caught up in a kaleidoscope of loving glances
Loose pocket change lost from the amorous advances of couples in play
The tender touch of fingers in hands
The electricity of a kiss
 
The colours of an ending, thrown all over the floor
As numerous as and as varied as pebbles on a beach
Without the crashing of waves
Just the wind brushing and rustling the leaves

Late night dog owners strolling along
Illuminated by the emotional blank, and silent lamps
The light encapsulating the tattoos of Carved words on the trees
A warm innocence and inspiration for us all
Surrounded by a heart, and written from within
“I love you”

[kimmyjean]

Fear

A lonely moon shimmered hauntingly
Upon the leaves of starved trees
Bowing in esteem and reverie
As I travel along
Its luminescent shine below

Blank and silent lamps swayed
In gloomy shadows
As a solitary wind
Builds upon…
 An hour of midnight

A boy appears upon an eerie road
Jingling pocket change in his hand
Hearing his voice in a waft
“I am dark, I am light,
Haunting you within your fright”

Closer and closer he comes
Reaching through a hazy mist
Picking up a pebble
Chucking it into his form
…He fades away
As I am welcomed
To my darkest fear…

[Akela]

SURVIVOR


The metallic clink
of pocket change
pleased the urchin
to no end.

It had been a rough time so far.
Sleeping under the bridge
with just the blank and silent lamps
stoic witnesses
to her
abject loneliness.
Destitute,
hungry,
without love,
lost,
alone.

Not very different
to the leaves of starved trees
that fell silently
on the ground
all around her.
Like shattered dreams.

"I will survive"
she screamed enthusiastically
as she tossed a pebble
into the lake
before her.

She watched
as each ripple it caused
came rolling back to her
like dreams
she treasured
deep inside her heart
and hoped to fulfil

someday...

Someday,
when the metallic clink
of pocket change
morphed
into the rustle of paper money
...bundles of it...
hidden out there
beyond the skyline,
out there in the future,
out there
where every penny she saved
would most certainly take her!

Soon!!

AKELA

POETRY CHALLENGE NOW WHY DID I THINK PROSE?

[Sound]

The Brains of the Underachieved

See their glossy stares
The leaves of starved trees
Minds unused, wasted
Blank and silent lamps
The potential for light
A millionaire's pocket change
Judged worthless,
Often dismissed
A roadside pebble
Viewed as unworthy
Hiding a "diamond in the rough"
Brilliant, shining, priceless