Prompt 31: Fleeting

Nancy Bea Miller of Genre Cookshop offers us this week's post of fleeting along with this poem, this tender and wonderful photo, a haiku by Basho, and a thought on the nature of haiku and creativity! Thanks, friend!

The baby's warm foot,
dangling free: round, fragrant, soft-
next spring running hard.

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Old Pond
by Matsuo Basho
Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto.

Old pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of water.

k k k

"Every moment of life should remind us, and death clearly does remind us, that the fleeting moments we seek to capture in haiku are impermanent. Yet, as Bob [Robert Spiess] also wrote, "that impermanence allows us to be creatively free: if the universe were fixed, true creativity would not be possible." (Michael Dylan Welch, Modern Haiku)

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How to Participate in One Single Impression

• Post your poetry on your blog. This does not need to be today. You can post any time during the week.
  
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• Enjoy the beautiful poems of the other bloggers.
  
• There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one. Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you are participating in One Single Impression.
  
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Thank you and enjoy!

Prompt 30: Autumn

Teri of Teri's Mandalas back for an encore with this week's prompt, autumn. Thanks to her for the poems and the images.

These beautiful leaves,
Their colors are so gorgeous.
They brighten our day

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Red and yellow leaves
This their last dance of color
Soon a memory

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I just love these leaves
So much personality
Beauty before death

k k k k k k k

How to Participate in One Single Impression

• Post your poetry on your blog. This does not need to be today. You can post any time during the week.
  
• Come here and enter your link into Mr. Linky. Other participants can easily find you by clicking your name in Mr. Linky.
• Enjoy the beautiful poems of the other bloggers.
  
• There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one. Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you are participating in One Single Impression.
  
• Mr. Linky will remain here forever. A list of past themes is on the sidebar. You can check back at any time for information on a past theme.

Thank you and enjoy!

Prompt 29: Seeds

Thanks to Teri of Teri's Mandalas for this week's prompt of seeds.

It is an old bridge in North Dakota with an unused one-room school house in the background. When I saw what a survivor this sunflower was I was inpsired to paint it and write the haiku.

The sunflower bridge
Seeds were planted by the birds
To brighten our day

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How to Participate in One Single Impression

• Post your poetry on your blog. This does not need to be today. You can post any time during the week.
  
• Come here and enter your link into Mr. Linky. Other participants can easily find you by clicking your name in Mr. Linky.
• Enjoy the beautiful poems of the other bloggers.
  
• There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one. Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you are participating in One Single Impression.
  
• Mr. Linky will remain here forever. A list of past themes is on the sidebar. You can check back at any time for information on a past theme.

Thank you and enjoy!

Prompt 28: Defenses Down

Thanks to Nicole Nicholson of Raven's Wing Poetry for this week's prompt, defenses down and for this wonderful poem:

WALLS

I drank to soften nerves that were
cutting me like unseen knives

at that party, amidst strangers
scared of the face in the mirror

the goody two-shoes, the freak
encased in stone

the stranger

I drank to plow down walls
constructed by a suspicious
upbringing and moral lessons
pounded into a mind

that grabbed onto concepts, oughts,
and shoulds with iron teeth
and pounded them into my flesh

until metal facades were
indistinguishable from my own skin

I tried to drown my walls
in a sea of beer, peach Schnapps,
something faintly tasting like blackberries,
and whatever else I could get
my hands on that night

and my walls, oh my walls

they melted until my eyes
couldn't see straight
and I watched the party ensue
through alcoholic glasses

then she came

she charged into my garden
and stole my fruit

the gate would have stopped her

but it had been washed away
in the stinky fermented tide
of the last beer I downed
before my head began to swim

this is not how walls
should tumble down
a gate washed out to sea
can never be searched and found
in time to stop invading armies
from stealing your treasure

and I guarded mine
for years after that party
behind iron gates harder
than diamonds

and I still hesitate sometimes
to give it away
to the one who deserves it the most

Image: Deviant Art

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How to Participate in One Single Impression

• Post your poetry on your blog. This does not need to be today. You can post any time during the week.
  
• Come here and enter your link into Mr. Linky. Other participants can easily find you by clicking your name in Mr. Linky.
• Enjoy the beautiful poems of the other bloggers.
  
• There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one. Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you are participating in One Single Impression.
  
• Mr. Linky will remain here forever. A list of past themes is on the sidebar. You can check back at any time for information on a past theme.

Thank you and enjoy!

Update: A Couple of Schedule Changes

The list of future prompts has changed a tiny bit (our thanks to Geraldine of My Poetic Path) so that they would be more timely. The changes are for September 21, October 5, December 21, January 18, January 25 and February 22. Here is the new schedule:




Date	Prompt	Contributing Blog
September 7 - 13	Defenses Down	Raven's Wing Poetry
September 14 - 20	Seeds	Teri's Mandalas
September 21 - 27	Autumn	Teri's Mandalas
September 28 -October 4	Fleeting	Genre Cookshop
October 5 - 11	Serendipity	Barb's Haiku
October 12 - 18	Gold	Greyscale Territory
October 19 - 25	Never Ending	Rooted
October 26 -November 1	Gift	My Bellavia
November 2 - 8	Disguise	Don't Take My Wings
November 9 - 15	Paradox	Forest River Journal
November 16 - 22	Courage	Barb's Haiku
November 23 - 29	Childhood Memories	My Poetic Path
November 30 -December 6	Welcoming	Genre Cookshop
December 7 - 13	Doodles	Teri's Mandalas
December 14 - 20	Distractions	Don't Take My Wings
December 21 - 27	A Winter's Day	My Poetic Path
December 28 -January 3, 2009	Stardust	Words That Sing
January 4 - 10	Skin	Don't Take My Wings
January 11 - 17	A Summer's Day	My Poetic Path
January 18 - 24	Fading Memories	My Poetic Path
January 25 - 31	If Only I Had Time	Greyscale Territory
February 1 - 7	Slowly	Genre Cookshop
February 8 - 14	Movement	Don't Take My Wings
February 15 - 21	Spectral	Rooted
February 22 - 28	Twilight	Rooted
March 1 - 7	Circles (OSI 1st Anniversary)	Forest River Journal
March 8 - 14	Fork in the Road	My Poetic Path
March 15 - 21	Farewells	Genre Cookshop




Thank you to all of our contributors!