Purple Dreams (for Prince)

Lie down beneath the shadow of the stars
the summer night is lonely, full of haze
the sea reflects the silent air so dark
and good things never last, or so they say

But open up your heart, release your mind
and see the sun despite the purple sky
the waters laugh and sparkle, move and shine
the world goes round and round as echoes fly

And if the heavens give us pearls and dreams
and if a blue moon showers us with words
and if a shining diamond fills the seas
why can’t the starfish transform into birds?

Imagine that these clouds hold hands with love
and rain the stars from eyes to skies above

For some reason, the photo in Jane Dougherty’s meter poetry challenge this week (above) immediately made me think of Prince.  I decided to use snippets from his lyrics, along with Jane’s words suggestions of “stars, night and water”, in my poem.  I thought about a ballad, but in the end trying another sonnet seemed to fit the best.  This second sonnet attempt was definitely easier than the first.

These Rorschach paintings are also going interesting places.

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Of Water She Speaks

The Oracle keeps her eye on the weather.

I took the title from a proverb, no doubt also the work of the Oracle:

“The moon, her face be red,
Of water she speaks.”

Must light have storms?

Goddess of purple mist
dreams the sky away
with rain

Ask the sun
about blue wind and red seas,
the enormous moon and the thousand ships
that go from here to there
from delirious to mad

 

A Strange Beauty

I consulted the Oracle with Colleen’s #Tanka Tuesday words–creepy and color.

The Oracle is definitely tuned into World Weather.  The poetic form is etheree.

This
eerie
sky moans in
shadow music–
purple languages
of dreams drunk on black blues–
stormmist spraying chanted screams
on mad frantic whispering winds–
unrisen suns sleepwalking beneath
a moonless sea crying beauty and blood.

The art shows the underpainting on the left, and the finished painting photographed in two different lights, middle and right.

This one is photographed with overhead light.

When and If

When

Has all the time gone mad?
Did chanting bring this light?
As dreams shine diamond storms,
drunk forest screams alive.

Red gardens dress the rain,
blue shadows sing and soar.
Moon swims through purple sky–
why sleep when you can roar?

I’m not sure where this came from, any of it.  Perhaps The Oracle had dinner with Timothy Leary this week…

If

Bird is lonely
Earth asks to play
green grass strolls wildly
trees uproot and wander
flowers climb light
world walking through
happy

“When” uses the dVerse Trimeter prompt.  “If” just is.  And the junk mail art collage…?

“People have to go out of their mind before they can come to their senses.”
–Timothy Leary

Mad Symphony: a collaboration

Despite the bugginess of the Magnetic Poetry website, Nina and I had a wonderful time composing this poem, sending it back and forth for addition and revision many times.  I did one illustration, and Nina did two.

to stop shadows from moaning
whisper to the sky like a rainstorm
petals sing to my dreams

some say music is like a watching wind
mad symphony like a summer moon
red and frantic blowing delirious screams
over a thousand purple seas

still   life soars as love urges us
and together we shine by day

For the Elusive Trope’s Magnetic Poetry Saturday Challenge.  Join in!  It’s fun.

 

Water Sky Sea

azure purple white moving lines
rhythmic rolling surf blurring time
slowly curls rise melancholy
echo clouds in water sky sea

hover shadows keep sounding gulls
transparent foam white indigo
layered closely blending grey green
echo clouds in water sky sea

moving towards retreating under
breaking colors shattered tendered
patterns cover pause sigh reveal
echo clouds in water sky sea

dreams becoming tangled with light
days saturating into night
voices rise now surrounding me
echo clouds in water sky sea

gold aureola prideful moon
pulls silence into thundered dune
footprints wait where I used to be
echo clouds in water sky sea

I took my pen and colored pencils down to the beach, and once again attempted to draw the waves.  But mostly I sat, hypnotized in reverie.

The poem uses the secret keeper’s words for the week
 | PRIDE | KEEP | CLOSE | SLOW | TENDER |
and, yet again, repetition.  I think I’m still caught in the rhythm of the ocean.  And there will be more because Jane has a sea and sky prompt this week too.