Category: Poetry
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2 Sept: dVerse Haibun

The Holding Breath To the 204 men and boys of the 1862 Hartley Colliery disaster — their breath drifts still, coal-dust caught in morning’s blacklung frost. They crawled into the narrow seams where lanterns barely held back the dark, where the air strangled itself thin. We remember the steel-to-stone rhythm of their pickaxes, the hunger-click…
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2 Sept: Mirebright – The Liturgy

18 of 27 Mirebright – The Poem – The Unaccounted-For I. The GlintNot a star —but a false dawn where hope dies,a light that clings to an unrepentant cheeklike a child’s kiss on a rusted blade.You hope anyway.You love despite. Mirebright is whispered even when no one’s listening. II. The Hollow ChestCompassion aches here —not…
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The Old Woman With No Cat

The Cat’s Singing Lessons (An Ode to Avian-Aided Ambition) The robin starts with scales,light as dandelion fluff —“Try trilling deeper,” she chirps.“Like you mean it.Like you own the fence.And the worm beneath it.” The cat responds in C major,with a hint of threat:Mee-YOWL-ooooww… Is that art or a cry for help?The line is thin. The…
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31 Aug: MicroDosing 90µg

Passing Days The days bled together,like watercolour sagging in the rain.She tried to tack them down —a mug’s steam,the slant of three o’clock light —but they wriggled free,slippery as minnows. What lingered was only sensation:a Tuesday’s ghosted-warmth,a Thursday’s pale chill.And the uneasy thoughtthat time was being smuggled forward,hand to hand,like contraband in plain sight —precious,…
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29 Aug: II. The Painter

II. The Painter (A Six Sentence Poem) Into the paint —the brush, blind-eyed.His shoulder tenses:a memoryof a burdennot yet carried. The bristles sweep —a long, aching curve of roadbeneath a skyhe’s never seen. It is longing.It is goodbyeto someonehe has not yet met. He steps back, opens his eyes —there it is: his future, peggedand…
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28 Aug: A Thursday Door

velvet chairswhisper in cornershide a shadow’s breath. the doors don’t speak,nor do porcelain moonsbetween two lovers’ hush. Bushboy (Brian Dodd) shares photos of doors, but not just any doors. Spectacular doors from his journeys. Dan’s Thursday Doors opened the door on this. I love doors of all sorts. I’ve trawled through my photos and found a few…
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27 Aug: Where You From, Then?

Where Are You From Then? Aura — Episode One (A Six Sentence Story) Päiviö Clartz had lived above the Co-op for three winters, long enough for most people to forget he wasn’t from here — except when he spoke, or cooked fish in the mornings, or wore that thick Nordic jumper with snowflake shoulders and…
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26 Aug: dVerse Quadrille

Tumultus Mus Musculus (44-Word Quadrille) The mice throw a rumpus —wearing tiny top hats,and drinking whiskey from thimbles.They’re spinning a walnut, and waltzing on tables. But —are those cat’s eyesgleaming like diamondsthrough keyholes? Dance on, my darlings.Dawn wants to steal your shoes. Kim invites us at dVerse Poets to write a Quadrille #230 about a “rumpus” Some…
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26 Aug: Aura’s Introduction

Introducing Aura A new Six Sentence Story series told through the wind’s own voice starts tomorrow. Aura is the breeze that stirs laundry on the line and slips beneath doors — a watcher, a whisperer, and the memory that lingers when the moment is gone. Set in a small English village, Aura follows Päiviö (a…
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25 Aug: Ruinlit – The Liturgy
17 of 27: The Liturgy for Ruinlit – Courage Mistaken for Recklessness I. The EdgeNot chaos—but its twin:the flicker at the blaze’s hem,where air whispers nowand earth hisses no. Ruinlit is the step takenwhen the choice is burn or run.You will blister.But you will not bend. II. The GlintThey call it madness—this fire in your…