#Writephoto ~ Deeper ~ #Poetry

February 15, 2021 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 2 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Deeper #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a sheer drop from old stone… a bridge, perhaps, or the battlements of a castle… there is no way to tell… Below is deep, dark water, swirling, fringed by autumnal trees…

Don’t stand and stare,
The dark water may drag you deeper
to a place you do not want to go
Throw your coin, make a wish, do not linger.
The autumn tree to your right,
Never moves into summer.
If you want to see another sun filled day,
Move on swiftly.
This stretch of dark water has a reputation
For calling sad souls to let go of life
To enter the world below
Those that have slipped below the water,
Lie in wait, lonely, needing new heartache
To feed their dark world
Let your wish be, to bless the water.
Send those sad souls on their way…

#Writephoto ~ Guarded ~ #Poetry

January 29, 2021 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 31 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Guarded #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a pathway through the bracken of the moors towards a distant horizon crowned by a hill. The path is flanked by a huge rock…

∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼

You don’t walk across the moors.
So much as wear them,
like your favourite Sloppy Joe’s
an old armchair that’s a perfect fit.
where the horizon is always in the distance
beckoning you on,
the bracken a familiar carpet
your mind remembers.
huge rocks, boulders echo
their secrets as you pass.
here, the land is guarded.
by an outpouring of love,
food for the soul
should you walk this path
at a certain time of the morning
find that drag mark on the dust.
the arrow headed stone
like a pointing finger.
would you dare to stand on it?
hear the secrets of the universe?

#Writephoto ~ Returning ~ #Poetry

January 22, 2021 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 11 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Returning #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a solitary figure on a rocky ledge, holding a staff and silhouetted against a pale sky.

I stand still under dusky twilight sky
That in-between moment
The breeze is soft, slow
There is magic in the air.
I feel the rocks beneath my boots
I cannot remember how long I have been walking.
I have lost track of the part or me that made me tick.
This walk, I hope,
will help me find the part that we call life, hope.
This will not be my last journey.
As I wander, I talk to myself.
It helps to smooth the sharp edges of my mind.
It prevents me from disappearing.
I wonder where she is now, my better half.
She has left footprints across each heart she touched.
A badge of friendship that time cannot erase.
When death comes softly, hold up your hand
against the moisture it leaves on the air
Let it not touch your lips to speak of ill begotten fate.
Life is a giant puzzle, some pieces slip away
Yet the beauty of time spent together remains…

#WritephotoTribute ~ Murmur #Poetry

December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 18 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Murmur #writephoto

*For visually challenged writers, the* *image shows dark clouds and bare trees against a fiery sunset, with a murmration of starlings creating a cloud of their own.*

Red sky, flames from a hidden fire

Illuminates the dark barren land

Black clouds tendrils reaching

Searching the darkness for something lost

The sheer weight of it pushing me down

Slowing my footsteps

I longed for the murmur of waves along the shore

Where I paddled as a child

Somehow, I have been dropped into this wasteland

An unwanted morsel of humanity

No sign of life save for the starlings

Swaying, painting their patterns across the dark grey

Their sky murmur, a last dance before sleep

Reminding me of many a last dance

Played out over time

Do those lost lovers touch in sweet refrain?

Does our world echo a continuous murmur of love?

Do we feed from this almost silent murmur?

Like hungry children

I think it must be so, for we are still here

Swaying, dancing our own murmur in silence…

©Anita Dawes

This post is our tribute to Sue Vincent, for all the lovely prompts she has given us with #Writephoto over the years. To cheer her up on these dark days… GET WELL SOON, Sue…

#Writephoto ~ Serenity ~ #Poetry

September 5, 2020September 5, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 9 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Serenity #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a blue-lit landscape, land and calm water mirroring the cloudy, silver-lit sky.

Was it like this in the beginning?
When God said let there be light
And the light was good
So smooth, so full of wonder
As above so below
Let the magic keep flowing
Let the world be bathed
In beauty, peace, and harmony
Let each living thing rejoice
In its own way
Let serenity be the air
That we breathe…

©anitadawes 2020

Anita should be coming home from the hospital today… Yay!

#Writephoto ~ Tokens

August 28, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 7 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Tokens #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a feather, an autumn leaf and two bright red berries or beads, left amongst the stones and plants by a stone that looks like a head with jewelled eyes…

There’s a kind of déjà vu
a message going on here
First Jaye calls me into the office
to see one of our followers
Beautiful pictures of an eagle
Who while flying above his head?
dropped a flight feather

Image by Tofino Photography. WordPress.com

Next day, Jaye noticed a feather
Had dropped into one of her bonsai trees
During the high wind we were having
To me, it looked like an arrow or a dart

Now, this prompt from Sue, making it the third time
Which is said to be a meaningful coincidence
I don’t understand the message here
Or what it might mean
But I digress. Back to the third feather
It could mean all sorts
Icarus could have flown over
Mercury too, may have lost a feather from his boot
This seems to be a different meaning
The head with the dark eyes looks like an owl
Yet behind that, I see a tiny face in the leaves
Whose tiny turned down mouth
and dark sad eyes, gives him a perplexed look
Could be the message is one of sadness
The summer is over, berries, autumn leaves have fallen
his sadness is not for the loss of summer
I think the meaning more dire, a warning
The kind that most of us ignore,
brush aside as superstition
This kind of thing drives me mad
I need to know, to understand
There is so much I never find the answer to
I guess I’m not the only one…

©anitadawes 2020

#Writephoto ~ Crescent ~ #Poetry

August 21, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 11 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Crescent #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows the dark silhouette of a tree against a cloudy sky. The horizon is lit by the gold of dawn, while a crescent moon hangs above the tree.

The threat of darkness
Snapped away by the light of dawn
The gold blush kissing the black shadow below
In between the pale horizon sits waiting
For the crescent moon to swell with magic
While the dark trees stand silent
All but a few, hear the whisper
Of wind through their leaves
A hint of things yet to come
Would you want to hear
the kind of future
they whisper about?

#Writephoto ~ Fantasy ~ #Poetry

August 8, 2020August 8, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 10 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Fantasy #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a green landscape of rolling hills and an island in a bay. In the foreground, pastel-painted buildings and a tall clock tower are surrounded by summer trees.

Flipping through the pages
Of someone’s imagination is one thing
Here, you get to walk through fantasy
made real. You can become more
than the number of your parts
The colours, the cool Italian marble
Dazzle the senses
Transporting you to parts of your mind
That suddenly come alive
Come visit, stay awhile
Marvel at the tall clock tower
Standing sentinel, guarding the bay
Does the island, the green hills
Contain more mystery?
Time to go find out
Before I go, I’d like to say
I am a man, not a number…

#Writephoto ~ Darkness ~ #poetry

July 24, 2020July 24, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 19 Comments

Thursday Photo Prompt- Darkness # WritePhoto

This week’s prompt ~ Darkness

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a bank of dark clouds rolling in across a sunny moor, casting its shadow on the hills of the horizon.

For some, the moors can be a lonely place
Where old dreams go to hide
Waiting the right footsteps to re awaken
Under dark clouds, magic can be heard
Living shadows run across the hills
Who are they, what chases them?
What stories hide withing their dark folds
Do the ancient ones continue dreaming?
As they run through the dark hills
Remembering youth
Do they leave a breath of hope?
For you to walk through
To hold their stories, tell them anew
The moors, with their welcoming arms
Of old and new
Like walking through a pick and mix store
With something for everyone…

#Writephoto ~ Glisten

July 17, 2020July 17, 2020 / Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 6 Comments

Thursday photo prompt: Glisten #writephoto

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a twilit beach, the sea shimmering in the low light. There are rocky islets silhouetted against the water and what might be a figure, running towards…or away from the waves.

Once you cross the silver strip of light
You are lost, your soul stolen.
You belong to the light
Strap in, hold on tight
The speed of things to come
may need to be remembered
before you run for home.
Ask yourself, is this enchantment
A spell of shimmering magic
to hold me captive
Sweeping mind and soul
into a snow globe
With ever changing time and space
From ancient to modern
Some of which I have no knowledge
Yet each feels a part of me.
I have walked these streets
Spoken to these people
I know their faces, their language.
I have swum beneath these bright waters
With the light now blinding me
I run, straight into myself…