A Hearing Chased
By Frank Daub
When Affirmation is sought by pen,
then
Appreciative voices ought
To be accumulated -- by thoughtful
listening.
But approval is hard to come by.
Putting words in the proper space
Eradicates the message
Of the sender’s assumed face.
Once read, appreciated --
then turned leaden.
The sender tries another voice.
Stillness, thoughts depreciated.
Not by sender’s choice.
Watch for the claws – beware
A pause
Of trying.
It would be better --
A silence kept –
A message fading, then dying.
O, Mimi, my sweet sincere late dear friend,
To chase foul pests, on you I did depend,
With soft paws you danced through radiant days,
With whiskers waltzing in such gentle ways.
Your eyes grey blue, sparkled with knowing grace,
In every corner, you sprawled your quick pace,
Rats and mice dreaded your presence, your race,
You chased them away from all nooks and space.
Mimi, former companion calm and true,
With velvet softness of your pat, you knew
How to spin shrines of solace, how to play,
Marking what my heart vastly miss today.
Though on you now resides the earthly veil,
Your spirit softly stretches in the gale,
In every shadow, every spark of light
Your memory sparkles, forever bright.
Rest now, dear Mimi, in tranquillity,
For as, scripted by hands of destiny,
We may cross roads in the span of the sky,
So tender and tenacious was our tie.
I ran through dewy fields
in the flush of morning
playing tag with the breeze ~
heard the sweetest invitation sounding
like chanting from meadow mermaids.
I followed the trail of a hummingbird
and the butterflies just laughed.
They floated gracefully with ease
from one bloom chalice to the other.
Joyfully I danced under the midday sun
I followed the fluttering wings
of some delightfully playful butterflies.
The meadow was a field of dreams.
It sizzled with sunny giddiness,
an exuberance that was contagious.
I’d say I was in hot pursuit
but I was actually frolicking in blissfulness
Lineku: 3 stanzas 5-7-5 of 5 or 7 words per line
AP: 2nd place 2025
the bungee cords are wet
the newspaper is sopping, so we throw it out
six cardboard boxes are saturated
it has been raining for three days
two mosquitos have already dive bombed me
I am doing my best to kill these Kamikaze pilots
these blood eaters will not leave me alone
they finally drive me back into the house
I am such a wimp
in 1966 the UFOs were so plentiful they chased us town to town
Back when our mothers vacuumed in pearls and an evening gown.
We were terrified we would be lifted up and probed unmercifully.
I think I feared UFOs and alien surgeries until about 1973.
pink frog was chased away by the divas of the day
she leapt over toadstools and moss, trying to get away
Don’t ever come back! The prejudiced female frogs yelled in a mean way.
Because she was pink, they had quickly chased her away.
“Chased by the Fire”
the story
bald faced
is in front of us
all around the world, brutal
bridges are being burned
we watch with disbelief,
some of us seem to remember
familiar passages written, though
our experiences are quite unfamiliar
real time we escape
into our fragile dreams,
hallucinating through
perfumed smoke screens
we are comfortably
uncomfortable
ringing the bells
of our own chapters
writing our ethereal
burnt candy interpetations,
while others survive, baptised
in their harsh oceans
treading acrid smoke
across the water
swept away by
terrible rips in time
avoiding fins
heads above
the waterline, deeper
than a tide line
waving not sinking
Lahaina
visciously devoured
by the monster,
totally gone
children
looking for rainbows,
the church on the beach,
lost, looks on
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
“A third of the earth was burned up,
a third of the trees were burned up,
and all the green grass was burned up.”
It seems
no matter the topic
Love's always
periscopic
pushing its little pink
nose
into a heart
purring its way
onto the surface
like sunlight nudging
a tropical sea
on the morning rise
Be them truth
or be them
momentary lies
love is a garden
of starry sighs
how we navigate
our dark
feeling chased
by a glare of day
I chased a girl and I liked it
I chased her to the end
I chased her where she fell to
I chased her for a friend
I asked her where she was
I asked her what she liked
She told me of her past
She told me what is psyched
I said we'd meet again
I said I wish her well
I left her for her end
I left her to see Hell
We went our separate ways
We left for better days
Off to see the world
Off to see new stays
My friend Dawn always trash talks in a mean way
To hear her you would think she is the world’s largest bully.
All of this fierceness is blatant fabrication on speed.
She is one who cannot do confrontation.
Except on the phone in a braggadocio way.
That brother trucker! She says. I should have followed him.
I should have bumped his white Chevy truck with my car.
I should have….
I smile, picturing her contorted ninety-six-year-old face.
I should have…..
I ordered a metal bat, she told me.
It will be here tomorrow.
I smile at this too.
The last twelve things she has ordered on line
She has returned, totally dissatisfied.
Being chased by a cheetah wakes you up fast.
You wonder what you did wrong in your past.
I saw it leap from a tree, and ran off so fast.
But it got me of course, dream was awful, I was aghast!
Chased by a two hundred pound kangaroo
I hid inside an Alaskan igloo
I concocted a wild witch’s brew
And put together a tasty stew
Someone yelled, “Here is a blue kangaroo!”
I knew this was not an ample clue.
Had someone fashion me a new hairdo.
Styled by a beauty school shrew.
Someone stuck their head in and yelled “Boo!”
An odd orange creature from the nearest zoo.
He was not painted the right hue.
Not like the scary red kangaroo.
shadows of the night
cast a spell of breathlessness
something's chasing me
He chased some spirits away
So, they wanted to make him pay
They came back with force
And knocked him off course
After that, he beg them to stay
It's not the fireworks
It's not the starry sky
It's not the staring moonlight
It's the night I chased darkness alone
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