Landai for the soul

It is not revenge or hate that drives me,
But the love I feel when the sun begins to rise

The life I now lead
Will not dictate how my soul lives

One may look at me and think I am not worth much
But they don't know that I am gold purified by fire

Every inch of me is covered except my eyes
That way I can speak with more than my mouth

I came across this through Grace's post. Kenia's challenge today at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads is to write a bunch of landai. This is a form of poetry used by women in Afghanistan. The poems are only two lines for easy memorization, since only five out of 100 women graduate high school. This goes to show how important poetry and expression are. To read more or join in go here.

Memory Quilt

Memory quilt
I stitch each thought
Each sentiment

Together

Maybe someday
I'll give it to you
Whole

The prompt for this week's Thursday Think Tank is timeworn. Ella introduced us to an amazing artist who creates visual poetry using things from the past. You can visit her blog to view her work here. To read the other contributions, or to join in go here.

On Ending Conversations

It's hard to converse
when your lips are sealed.
Worse still,
when your heart is.

The prompt this week at Theme Thursday is conversations. I don't converse easily with people, and there's only been one exception to that. I chose to write about the end of my conversations with that exception. To read the other contributions, or to join in go here.

Friends

I used to ask myself
What makes up a friend
Until I met you
And definitions
And meanings
Ceased to be important

The prompt this week at Carry On Tuesday is "What is a friend?". To join in or read the other contributions go here.

Thursday Think Tank - Signs of Autumn

image from weheartit

Death has never been more beautiful
Than when I see the leaves
Set themselves on fire
Deciding to go out with
A bang
Instead of
Politely bowing out

OSI - Lopsided

This week at OSI the prompt is lopsided. To read the other contributions or join in go here.

Imperfection is
Beauty shining in your sweet
But lopsided smile

7/01/12

Here is my response to a Carry On Tuesday prompt that I never got around to posting.

I listen to the silence
Because it's better than
Listening to your empty
"I promise"
Or when you say
"I'm sorry"
And I know you don't mean it

Even worse is hearing you say
"I love you"
Because I know
You say it to keep me
Believing
So I listen to the silence
As you do also