Solstice in a Velvet Hush
Written September 10, 2026 for Your Personal Poetry Wheel Challenge
Challenge Dates: September 7, 2026 - September 12, 2026.
Verified by HMS.COM / 8 - 8 - 5 - 5 - 8
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Relationships bloom in the hush,
Where solstice stomps its purple flush.
No anger, no storm,
Just calmness in form,
A feather of love in the crush.
Written September 10, 2026 for Your Personal Poetry Wheel Challenge
Challenge Dates: September 7, 2026 - September 12, 2026.
Verified by HMS.COM / 8 - 8 - 5 - 5 - 8
***************
Relationships bloom in the hush,
Where solstice stomps its purple flush.
No anger, no storm,
Just calmness in form,
A feather of love in the crush.
Written: August 28, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Brian Strand
Note: Creating a clerihew suite (a connected series) allows to convey a hilarious biographical narrative or analyze a historical event from several perspectives. Because clerihews are so brief, connecting three or four of them creates a lighthearted narrative arc.
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The teenage William Shakespeare
found himself steered by sudden fear
When 'Anne Hathaway' said 'We are to be wed'
he packed up his quills & to London he fled
When writing tragedies at 'The Globe'
he wore a truly fancy velvet robe
However it caught fire during 'Henry VIII'
burning the theater right down to the gate
The aging wordsmith William Shakespeare
felt the English language was so austere
So he invented the words eyeball and swagger
just to find a rhyme for a bloody dagger
When it came time to bury William Shakespeare
his lawyer shed a real dubious tear
For he left his wife no money or bread
only his clearly favorite second-best bed
Stroke of twelve banter down lanes,
madrigal of quaint shroud dark mystery,
lull between that veiled velvet lullaby,
crescent moon peep oe’r urban slumber,
boisterous beep beep car quiet piercing,
deep indigo curtain wrapped pine trees,
nightjar sky dive whilst emits eerie pitch,
oblivious to midnight’s terse timeline
Whispers in tears of velvet squares apposed to yellow sunshine.
I can only sense in shades of the most prominent colours of the rainbows
I sit watching the crowds of people walking faster than he knows
You are untracable in waterfalls cascading trumpets playing all goes
We walk hand in hand to keep the demons aways from the scarecrows
Look at the diamond how prescoius it looks with all the colours of universe in rose
Sorry if this doesn,t catch your imagination but my time flies faster as time flows
Persist my friend because one day the arch of your back will bend and tomorrow you will be smaller and you will dose
Relinquish your arms and follow the sound of the tambourine bouncing in your head once it will say how it bows
Polite people follow me because I have dared to dream about the way that sorrow shows
Into your anguish tainted by members of the elite to watch you try once again in tatters as she grows
I feel complete in actions and intent while my dog snoozes for teztimecwill pose
Yes the whispering tears of velvet squares apose to yellow sunshine butvreme ber the white light alwaysxand forever glows.
We marvel at the evanescent lilac dusk;
A captivating midnight ambiance to get lost in.
'Tis a cool night that brims with quiet peace
And touches our spirit like a silken shadow.
We're completely engulfed in this black umbra
One in a million, this wondrous feeling!
The twilight air gently rests against your skin
As soft whispers of nature fade around us.
Contest: Through Aesthetica
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Date: 22.07.2026
He clothed the midnight in velvet,
With twinkling stars it is beset,
In Cimmerian lack of light,
The moon shines not in ebon night,
Sable gloom cloaks the earth in sleep,
Stygian stillness does slow creep,
In umbral silence shadows grow,
The velvet veil shrouds in dark glow.
The cloak of night gently unfolds,
A hush descends far, wide and deep.
The velvet midnight spins its holds
Supple secrets surely it keeps.
With quiet breath, I lie to rest
As silent shadows softly creep,
My tired soul feeling blessed,
While half the world dreams in sweet sleep.
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Contest: THROUGH AESTHETICA
Date: 21July 2026
Night mantled every copse in velvet's umbrage,
Till silence gathered plicatures of air;
The moon distilled its argent effluence through leaves,
And darkness mastered the susurrant art of prayer.
A solitary moth unseamed the cerulean hush;
The brook rehearsed forgotten silver speech.
Earth wore an almost sacramental nap of shade,
While dawn arrived too reverent to breach.
Moonlight trickles soft light
Pouring from Milky Way
Illuminating gold silent night
Save for fireflies dancing away
Honeysuckle breeze enticing
Blue butterfly sleeps in red rose
Vision of brown owl exciting
Hunting with razor sharp toes
Header
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Contest: THROUGH AESTHETICA
Date:July 18, 2026
MIDNIGHT IN VELVET
In blue midnight she wore deep purple velvet, a crown of thorns in silk,
To meet her love where moonlight cut the dark like broken glass.
Love whispered in the ocean of fear, a tide that pulled and broke,
Two shadows danced while the night held its breath, alas.
Soulmates split by a black hole of sorrow, stars swallowed whole,
Tears fell like rain on velvet, drowning every silent vow.
A single shoe left lost behind, a fit that cruel time stole,
Before we turned to golden ashes, we sang our last song now.
The black cat traversed the alley
when the pavement kept the rain.
The houses gave no answer.
No one looked out from the windows.
It walked across
the broken concrete.
It stood near the wall of bricks
until the rain
tapped the metal above its head.
It passed those corners
as before.
It let out one low cry.
The alley heard it alone.
The storm stayed over the alley.
The alley then grew silent.
Daylight came over the roofs.
The old bricks kept their place
but no shadow crossed them.
Your lips, like the hues of a rainbow light,
Your white skin, stained in a milky glow,
Your dazzling hair, swaying upon the meadow bright,
Your skin, softer than the softest falling snow.
The rainbow light, beholding your lips of grace,
Fades away, leaving only a scarlet dye,
While the milky glow is buried in your skin's embrace.
Your dazzling hair shines brighter at the meadow’s silent greeting,
And the winter snow, touched by your beauty, turns to a gentle flurry.
In a midsummer night’s dream,
I met you and became a flower.
Offering all my scent to you,
A petal's kiss, like our very first hour.
Your lips, like a blossom of scarlet hue,
Your skin, stained in a milky glow,
Your eyes, like the falling flakes of snow.
Since all of this is but a passing dream,
Kiss not my petals, I pray,
But pluck me by the roots away,
And plant me in the pot within your room.
For I shall offer all my sweet perfume
Unto you, and you alone—
So cast away all other scents you’ve known!
Beneath the manor's shadow
crest,
Where gargoyles weep and
ravens rest,
Old Rumple Stein began to
speak,
To make the bravest children
weak.
He told a tale of ancient
dread,
A shadow from a velvet bed.
The vampire glides on silent
wings,
While midnight's eerie cricket
sings.
He creeps through windows
left unpinned,
A freezing, foul, and wicked
wind.
He hunts for children fast
asleep,
Into their nursery rooms to
creep.
His skin is pale as candle wax,
His pointed teeth leave
deadly tracks.
He bends above the small
and sweet,
To steal their warmth and
drink his treat.
"So close your shutters tight
tonight,"
Old Rumple laughed and giggled
with deep delight.
A calling from the velvet sky
A bright light of white fluffy cloud
In transit bird fluttering.
While wild in nature loud
Jettison birds fly
Gathering children summer playing
Under affirment gentle summer guise
6/7/26
Written by James Edward Lee Sr 2026
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