It felt like Autumn
on this morning’s run
I want it to be fall
with its syllabus of vibes
I’m signaling a stance
I’m autumn’s undoubted champion
wearing my choice like gangland colours
- I could give my all to fall -
summer only ever had my subdivided attention
Summer’s just too needy: it demands relaxation,
bare legs, sun block, beach plans, hydration,
barbecue, and relentless fun, with scant variations
I want the visual promise of leaves falling
the flattering autumnal colour palette
my whole devotion crowns shortening days
fall always serves as a competent stylist
complete with venti pumpkin lattes
and mornings with a costume of frost
Unbind the theatrical heats of midsummer nights
and let the season's advance revive us
show us falls slanting golden afternoon light
let crisper darknesses harbour counterfeit witches
and lengthening dusks warrant winter wishes
Let fall assume her russet throne
and give us autumn’s cool agenda
without the influenza
.
.
Songs for this:
Ping Pong by Dimie Cat
Messy by Lola Young
or filth that blocks the current
down our town
of elongated streams
The color of clouds and milk
condensed in pipes
is not for drinking
The crows can fly
to cleaner outlets
I let the faucet run its rivers
down the drains and porcelain bowls
When I swim
in salt water of sustainable dreams
I feel effervescent and close
to lighter things
The sound of rhythmic crashing
is more than foam on sand
so is sucking for hydration,
like a mermaid beached on land
I know that I am mostly water
Water is always most of me
I love an august shower.
All of nature thirsts for soothing hydration.
Summer draws to a close.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 3rd place 2026
I started to clap, but no-one joined in.
Do people not do that here? I asked.
But at least my applause was genuine,
Unlike a round with which one is tasked --
Pressure to buy several pints, feeling casked,
Pegged to a keg of expectation
When all you want is icy hydration.
Not feeling awkward as the odd one out
Is one of my social aspirations
When silence distorts one sound as a shout.
Dusk dips, game over.
Hide and seek. Kick ball.
That Slip n’ Slide hurt,
wipeouts were worth it.
Beat the streetlights home.
All day outside,
who needed food?
Nutrient rich,
the old hose worked.
Hydration,
pass it left
share a sip.
Look back,
we were
gold.
A beauteous new born day - Whoa is me!
Now seeing a precious opportunity in my head
The stars no longer shining glow- dawn broke
The crescent moon to rest indeed - instead
Tepid the sunshine might then enter my fragile soul
Those radiant, alluring hues bleed warmth thru my skin
Gracious the inner beauty within crept upon me - whoa is me!
Voiced too now are the chirping of birds-
Songs begin
Mountains the peak is climbed standing tall
The air to breathe - it's vivid true of imagination
Distraught !! The inevitable . A treacherous rain
Nurtured nature - Breath becoming through hydration
Bridges they say are over troubled waters
Hurting inside- turmoil of memorable reflections
Caps roll in top of the waves redundantly
The seagull, flies. Wind on the face - coming attractions
Bewildered the paths and the rocks formed with strength
The light as said to the deepened turmoil - See!
The concaves in my mind indeed I view - stay tuned
It's still all in my head . Whoa is me!
Cokesation
Bite full of vibrations
as the nectar fills my tongue with juices that soak
hydration.
smile on my lips
as I wiped my lips on my cloak
and hips.
summer’s day,
I sit on oak
… May
of different sensations
biting peach and sipping on Coke –
tion.
Thirst does not have to remain suppressed
A continuous flow of fulfilling hydration
Faithful concrete promises
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts"
Reminder for days where my mind attacks
However, what is true is that I was made by You
Detailed in creation, carpentry beyond worldly comprehension
Empathy combines with intention
Realizing the similarities the Father places within us
Spirit flows and speaks freely
Jesus also has empathy
I’m not whom
You may think
I am
But am the who
That I am
And the coming
To being more
As the belly
Of my soul
Craves
In hunger
For divine
Wisdom
And guidance
Poured from
God’s overflowing
Cistern spilling
Out onto
The dry sponge
Of my soul
Awaiting hydration
Of awareness
And inspiration
To be likewise
Squeezed out
Onto other
Dehydrated sponges
Of spiritual souls
Needing
Flowing prose
And wetting rhymes
Saturating healing grace
During all needed times:
Grief and despair
We’re not to harbor
For to do so
Is to jam-jar horror
Always remember
On the way
We go
Spiritually bound sailors
Sailing waves
To the shores of life
Frothing away failed
Behaviors
So in keloid memory
Of this little prose
Flowing rhyme
From me
In every moment of
A trying time
Keep this little flow
In mind
And enjoy from
The Cistern above
Healing peace and love:-
Water, transparent
Pure, precious
Gold in the presence of the sun
It jumps over pebbles,
Eroding its path
Mustn’t we preserve
This precious treasure?
The magical potion that quenches thirst
With only a portion fresh
Mustn’t we conserve
This golden treasure?
As it drips down,
It converts itself
A soothing sound that begs for help
Mustn’t we save
This great treasure?
It plunges down the falls,
Dashing along the river
Stops at the lovely green lake,
Meets the vast sea at the coast
Freezes at the glacier,
Sprays at the geyser
Mustn’t we retain
This priceless treasure?
A part underground,
The others brimming with salt
A part polluted,
Of plastic partly
Mustn’t we protect
This delicate treasure?
Provides pearls
In its depth
Offers hydration
That makes us glow
Mustn’t we guard
This boon of a treasure?
Without the elixir of life,
The day disaster rains
Droughts and deserts pave their way!
Should the day not arrive,
Mustn’t we help retrieve
This shimmering treasure?
We stand a few feet from the battering, foaming waves,
they can foretell if hail or rain is coming to scatter us...
as we run for cover to the beach house color rust;
should we wait for those swollen clouds to bust?
To get frightened is to imagine an immediate evacuation,
or even an illusional mirage from deadly hydration;
peacefulness is the narration of unrealistic writers,
not of the cautious fishermen securing their rocking boats!
Any other day along this crowded and vibrant bay all comes alive
with this sweet song, " Be mindful of today, tomorrow is unknown. "
How true it sounds to our ears when notes and voices thrive;
we look beyond this small island: so endless seems the clear horizon!
Storms may come and go, but the scenery remains intact;
people who were born here and built their homes, stay here:
unless they are forced by dire reasons, they'll unwillingly leave:
someone says," My grandad built this house with excessive sweat! "
Manifestations of your Gauzy Fantasies
Unravelling Bonds of Tangled, Mangled Destinies
Sun of Man Set His Right Eye on Me
Tenaciously Searing, Calculating
To Entrap Me, A Prisoner to His Needs
Inspired A Premedimated Deed did He
With Intent To Plant a Seed!
Stormed Wrecked and Invaded My Archipelago
Pirate Prowess, Sophomoric,
He Stared, I Jeered, Blotted Proviso Smeared
Drenched In Salted Sweet, Freshly Spring Showered Awhile Ago
Armpits Crying, Young Sun, I've Done No Wrong
No Shade to Evade the Soundless Seranade
As The Father, Not the Sun, Pearched In a Chariot
Cascaded, Paraded Crusade
Blazing Rays, No Mercy, No Refrain
Solar Purgatory, Solicited by the Solar Nova Hovering above Port-of Spain
Evaporated Senses, Smothered Disdain, Budding Foliage Scorched and Drained
Organically Syphoning Hydration Reserved for Lack of Rain
Heat Rashes, Depleted Cortizone Stashes
Senses Assunder, Lost in Wander
Drifting Sun Stroked, Begging Pardon, Parched and Punished In Port of Spain!
As the Cup Runneth Over
thirst
dire, immediate
pleading, despairing, compelling
newborns, world, pneuma, rivers
living, assuaging, redeeming
quenched, blessed
wellspring
(c) sally young eslinger 11/8/2023
From glacial mountain tops and peaks
Sunlight wakes me from my sleep
No way of telling how long I slept
Or way of knowing what time is left
Gravity takes me where I go
Often times it’s just the flow
Downward till death lets me go
Ever traveling I do not know
Waters they go where the force is leading
The shallows and the deeps competing
The secrets and gold I hide
I feed and carry sources of life
Flooding a place where stops my aim
My being is both loss and gain
And often called god or goddess
Drying unto death stops my progress
I sometimes quench the dying thirst
Or being too much I slowly curse
Dissolving structures when floods take hold
Sweep away foundations the new and old
Feed the flocks that feed a nation
Filling the swamps or leaving hydration
Douse the fires that would destroy
Bathe the unclean that would annoy
Joining the ocean the ultimate goal
No more am I when salt takes hold
From there rebirth gives me meaning
Over and over always repeating
Where is the moon,
Where is the sun,
My sky is dark and overrun-
When I look for the Stars
I’m blinded by sun,
When I look for the light
I’m lost by night,
Oh gratitude where art thou,
In my search for your hydration
All I find is drought-
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