The Gathering

Photography by Al Forbes

Peering in the gaps they could see him, captive behind the red barrier. He had fallen down the abyss. It hadn’t eaten him as they thought it would, he wasn’t the next sacrifice in homage to the flightless bipeds. They tsked and tutted on how their mothers were always warning them to stay away from the edge and now they understood why. So busy in their chattering they had not noticed their buddy had fallen silent – suddenly a panic set in fearing he was dead. They peered into the darkness to nothing. Chaotic wings flapped against the wall to no avail. They didn’t hear the laughter from on the roof, the laughter of a pigeon with pale plumage bedecked with grime and dust.

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: http://kattermonran.com/2013/10/06/photo-fiction-pigeon-pie/

Colours of Life

Dark clouds of pain make it so hard to see

The colours of what is going to be

We dwell and mope in dull and aching grey

With eyes closed: not daring to look ahead

As if in the sadness we want to stay

To leave tomorrow’s beauty far behind

As if the future has nothing to share

But if we dare to look beyond the line

To new horizons but first we must dare

All that wonder is simply waiting there

For us to grasp and hold while running free

So look ahead, on to another day

For life is not here within fear and dread

All that beauty is there for us to find

Over the Hill and Far Away by Martina Furlong

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: http://theboipoet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/mondays-masterpiece-30-september-2013.html

Form: Ivorian Sonnet XCVII - Eabcd

Action! Action! – A Little Poppet

I have often used a binding ritual to mark the close of a relationship whether a personal or working one. I find it gives a sense of finality which in turn allows me to focus on moving forward instead of looking back.

This is the first time I have used a poppet within the ritual, but as it is something I am currently researching I decided to employ my new knowledge. Indeed that is what witches do. Our magic like everything else in life is continually evolving.

So what is a poppet? It is a handmade doll that is used in sympathetic magic such as healing, blessings and protection. I have no doubt it can be used in negative magic too, but I am not going to explore that any time soon. My ritual was to bring closure and wish all parties well. I made mine out of stems of parsley and sage I had been drying as they are both powerful in restoring the sense of well-being and healing the body physically, mentally and emotionally.

Part of a binding ritual for me is the symbolic act of letting go and normally I let something float away on the stream where I do my workings. This poppet was no different and that act in itself sealed it. To be free of the past we have to let it go and not try to own it but leave it where it belongs in yesterday.

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: Action, Action - post about a ritual, working or other experiential moment related to your path that has occurred recently, or that you are planning to do.

A Matter of Honour

The paint of war is barely dry on my skin. The weight of the ancient blade hangs heavy at my side as I grasp my shield close to me. On the field of battle it is my only defence and on the blood-soaked field I am the defence of my lady’s honour. My eyes flare with the courage of the warrior called to duty, a courage that hides the fear in my belly. And my heart asks that question – am I prepared to die? I look once more upon her tearstained cheeks and kiss her extended hand. For my lady’s favour my life is no great sacrifice.

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: http://theboipoet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/muse-to-music-26-september-2013.html

Classical Piece of the Day 12 October

Today in 1872 the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was born. The clip is Williams’ The Lark Ascending performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with David Nolan on violin and under the baton of Vernon Handley

Words at the Weekend – 12-13 October

The idea of the challenge is to use any one or more of the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem.

For the weekend I am going to give four prompts that can be used individually or together depending on how the creative juices flow. There will be a single word with its definition, a word bank, three phrases and a photograph – all are random so may not connect in anyway but as is the way of randomness they may connect in the creative thought – you never can tell!

This week’s prompts are:

Photograph: Curbar Edge by Les Wilcockson

Word: wunderkind
Pronunciation: (VOON-duhr-kind, wun-)
Meaning: noun: 1. A child prodigy. 2. A person who achieves great success early in the career.

Phrases:

• loving the light

• meeting halfway 

• crawl into the future

Word bank: body; Argentina; investigator; box; lighthearted

.

If you create something please link back to here

Black Hunter

Black Panther by Sue Demetriou

He waits inside the silent sound
A meal in prey the panther found
Without words he signals his move
With muscles flowing, sinew smooth
The padded feet barely touch ground
And death comes quickly on the pound




© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: http://theboipoet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/words-at-weekend-28-29-september-2013.html

Mental Warfare

Texte: Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth – Virginia Woolf

Two great forces armed with destruction 

battle within subconscious thought

intimate and intense implosions

of sensory perception

an awareness as nothing remains 

as it first appears on that distant horizon

but mortality rests with the enemy

lagging behind in the past that refuses 

to relinquish its prisoners 

captured in the normality of days gone by

yet truth can only speak

when all else has let go.

© J Farmer 2013

Three on Friday – 11 October 2013

The idea of these challenges is to use the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem

The challenge today offers three quotations to inspire the creative muse, using one, two or all three as a prompt.

The quotations for this week are:

No one ever became great by imitation – Samuel Johnson

I am not the archetypal leading man. This is mainly for one reason: as you may have noticed, I have no hair – Sir Patrick Stewart

All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don't win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold – Anita Brookner

If you take up today’s challenge please leave a link in the comments

Classical Piece of the Day 11 October

Two anniversaries in classical music today.

In 1788 the German composer Simon Sechter was born. The clip is Sechter’s Gute Nacht sung by Ann Murray

Also on this day in 1896 the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner died. The clip is Bruckner’s Allegro from his Symphony No.8 in C Minor

Classical Piece of the Day 10 October

Today in 1813 the Italian composer Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born. The clip is Verdi’s Brindisi from La Traviata performed by the great Luciano Pavarotti

Old Tom (Ivorian Sonnet XCII) in The Poetic Round Forum

Old Tom is sitting on the river bank

His eyes watching the line where the hook sank

While I stumbled in tying the simplest knot

His patient fingers then showed me again

As we talked of things I learned a lot

When we just sat there quiet setting bait

And I’d watch his grace when making a cast

Another tea while in silence we wait

Our eyes fixated on floats bobbing fast

As the willowy trees whispered ‘It’s late

The time for fishing here has long gone past

Now I sit alone on the river bank

To hear the trees repeating Tom’s refrain

My memories here have never forgot

© J Farmer 2013

Old Tom (Ivorian Sonnet XCII) in The Poetic Round Forum

Unbreakable (Ivorian Sonnet XC) in The Poetic Round Forum

Texte: Propping darkness up to the silence – Paul Zimmer

All things must end so they may come again
The moment of sunshine, a dance in rain
In shadows of existence we called love
Caressing dreams, kissing another ghost
Silently watching mortal tears drift off
Before enough time can set our love free
For love is being able to let go
And let memory be what’s left to see
Upon a moonlit night it’s all I know
My voice the forever silenced banshee
The touch of your breath, a haunting riposte
‘Tis the final goodbye and must be so
What is past cannot be forever love
And death must break the unbreakable chain.

© J Farmer 2013

Unbreakable (Ivorian Sonnet XC) in The Poetic Round Forum

Muse to the Music – 10 October 2013

The idea of these challenges is to use the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem.

The prompt for this challenge is a piece of music, the idea being to share where the music takes you.

This week’s piece is: 

Adiemus by Karl Jenkins

If you use this prompt please link back

Haiku

overcast shadows

linger from the night before

all colours are grey

Morning, An Overcast Day, Rouen by Camille Pissarro

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: Bedroom Window

The Rush

Adenosine is looking for a mate
But it won’t lead to love on a hot date
With the drowsy chill zone getting it on
And senses seem dull with thoughts all confused
Unable to wake up enough as one
The poet unable to write his words
Let alone think a line is set out straight
A hissing sound offers hope quite absurd
As liquid drips into a cup we wait
Heated sips, he is away with the birds
Inside the mind stirring thoughts now gyrate
And adenosine feels lost and abused
Causing the caffeine high in morning sun
And in the creative rush nothing’s late



© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: http://theboipoet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/tuesdays-thinking-24-september-2013.html
Form: Ivorian Sonnet XCVI

Imagine

He said ‘Imagine’ and we still fight for creed
Nothing has changed to ease man’s evil greed
Too busy planning life for tomorrow
We miss the truth to embrace the sorrow
Forgetting words will hurt more than a deed
Another child ignored to live in need

The armies of war on the killing field
A brother’s life; a defensive shield
As one more soul dies in ungodly shame
A suicide with no love to its name
While the ruling voices refuse to yield
As they keep their own bigotry concealed

With each day we repeat the words of hate
Impatient for wants unable to wait
But each night we dare to dream a new peace
And pray for the dying to now decrease
Yet peace begins inside the garden gate
Where we begin to control our own fate.

Lennon by Jessica Little

© J Farmer 2013

Notes:

Prompt: http://theboipoet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/mondays-masterpiece-23-september-2013.html

Form: Envelope Couplets

From Invitation (1) by Grace Nichols (1950 - )

I love this poem because it is packed full of positive attitude towards self – something I am not very good at and need the reminder.


If my fat
was too much for me
I would have told you
I would have lost a stone
or two

I would have gone jogging
even when it was fogging
I would have weighed in
sitting the bathroom scale
with my tail tucked in

I would have dieted
more care than a diabetic

But as it is
I’m feeling fine
feel no need
to change my lines
when I move I’m target light

Come up and see me sometime


Grace Nichols

Sticky Chocolate Brownies

Everyone loves the gooey chunk of deliciousness that is the chocolate brownie – a treat that is impossible to resist.

3½oz/100g/generous ⅓ cup unsalted butter

6oz/175g/¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar

2¾oz/75g/½ cup muscovado sugar

4½oz/125g dark chocolate

1 tbsp golden (light corn) syrup

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3½oz/100g/¾ cup plain (all-purpose) flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

½ tsp baking powder

Lightly grease an 8inch/20cm shallow square cake tin (pan) and line the base.

Place the butter, sugars, dark chocolate and golden (light corn) syrup in a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Beat together the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture.

Sieve (strain) together the flour, cocoa and baking powder and fold carefully into the egg and chocolate mixture, using a metal spoon or spatula.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin (pan) and bake in a preheated oven, 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4, for 25 minutes until the top is crisp and the edge of the cake is shrinking away from the tin (pan). The inside of the cake will still be quite stodgy and soft to the touch.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin (pan), and then cut into squares to serve.

Next time: Chocolate Chip Muffins

Passing Out

Slowly making modifications
without attracting glances
hoping nobody notices
or makes a comment

Inch by inch the long tresses of hair
disappear into a crew cut
and dark shades disguise the eyes
where black kohl once made a line

Lipstick and lace fall away
revealing a suit and tie
and they question why denim jeans
paired with Doc Marten boots

Packing feels strange against the flesh
while binding hugs in tight
and she left the building
as he walked in




© J Farmer 2013

Classical Piece of the Day 9 October

Today in 1835 the French composer Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was born

The clip is Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Leopold Stokowski.

Whimsical Wednesday – 09 October 2013

The idea of these challenges is to use the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem.

As a poet I read a lot of poetry and some more on top. I also find one line taken out of context can lead to a whole new dimension of creativity. The idea of this challenge therefore is to create what comes to mind from lines of poetry.

This week’s lines of poetry are:

a thundery sky drunk on its own ozone – Small Comfort by Katha Pollitt

forward along the cliff-edge – The Composer Says This is How We Should Live Our Lives by Patricia Fargnoli

Or ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame – Mother Night by James Weldon Johnson

If you use this prompt please link back

Empty Illusions

Texte: that never fit into the distant waves – Puzzle Dust by Dorianne Laux


An odd piece left in the box
like the scrap of nothingness on a boot
scraped on the doorstep of rejection
while hostile imaginings disguised in affection
offer words of love used as bait
to hook the dejected soul
that flounders in the ocean of heartbreak
still seeking resolution
and bouncing on dry stone walls
taking chances before soothing senses
until time brings realization
some pieces will never fit the picture

© J Farmer 2013


Notes:

Prompt: http://theboipoet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/whimsical-wednesday-25-september-2013.html

Form: Free Verse

Haiku

noisy chatter

as hands grab sandwiches

in plastic boxes

© J Farmer 2013

Tuesday’s Thinking – 08 October 2013

The idea of these challenges is to use the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem

Today’s thinking is:

What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

If you post a write from the prompt, please post a link in comments or pingback

Classical Piece of the Day 8 October

Today in 1585 the German composer Heinrich Schütz  was born

The clip is Schütz’s  Musikalische Exequien performed by La Chapelle Royale

Brainstorm

Thought clouds drift as mentally strange
Enchantments found a crazy dream
Affections swiftly rearrange
Raptures of delirium’s scream
Moonstruck emotion lost in words
It’s passion with all its screws loose
Infatuated; fly like birds
As senses yield in ways obtuse
Fantasies speed around the bend
They’re coming to take me away
It’s too far gone for them to mend
On just another crazy day.

© J Farmer 2013

Notes:

Prompt:  Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen

Form: Alternating rhyme, Tetrameter

Monday’s Masterpiece – 7 October 2013

The idea of these challenges is to use the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem

Today’s challenge is to take inspiration from a work of art and write from it.

The masterpiece choice for today is

Rum Dusk by Belinda A Pearce

View more of Belinda’s work at: https://www.artfinder.com/artist/belinda-adams-pearce/

Please leave a link in comments or pingback if you join in the challenge

Haiku

one needs more

as the earth dies slowly

and we all pay

© J Farmer 2013

Classical Piece of the Day 7 October

Today in 1802 the German composer Wilhelm Bernhardt Molique was born

The clip is Molique’s Violin Concerto No.6 in E-minor, Op.30 

Succubae Touch

Emotions drained from veins like crimson blood
Then leave the soul to drown in poisoned mud
Old feelings of hunger, the sensual want
And cravings yearn for the succubae touch
Inscribed like ink stains in emptiness’ font
As flowing silk concealed the pain of love
With sedated thoughts refusing to feel
Her twisted blades flailing cutting it rough
Inside – broken-heart unable to heal
The heat of passion declared not enough
As gentle touches clad in carbon- steel
Absorbed the love in her vampyric clutch
The end is lost in pain’s resounding thud
And passed in a fashion most nonchalant

(Lure)_Enticing_Succubus - Shuichi Wada

© J Farmer 2013

Notes:

Prompt: Succubus

Form: Ivorian Sonnet XCV 

Classical Piece of the Day 6 October

Today in 1786 the Italian composer Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini died.

The clip is from Sacchini’s Dardanus

Classical Piece of the Day 5 October

Today in 1880 the German composer Jacques Offenbach died

The clips are both Offenbach’s Can Can, the first performed by Vanessa Mae and the second a more traditional interpretation 

Words at the Weekend – 05-06 October 2013

The idea of the challenge is to use any one or more of the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem. For the weekend I am going to give four prompts that can be used individually or together depending on how the creative juices flow. There will be a single word with its definition, a word bank, three phrases and a photograph – all are random so may not connect in anyway but as is the way of randomness they may connect in the creative thought – you never can tell!

This week’s prompts are:

Photograph: Glamping by MaryAD Art

Word: cautelous
Pronunciation: (KOT-uh-luhs)
Meaning: adjective: 1. Cautious. 2. Crafty.

Phrases:

• path to bliss

• small gestures

• truths of the heart

Word bank: rite; supervisor; dubbed; housing; nervous.

.

If you create something please link back to here

Haiku

harvest moon 

adorns the dead roses

in fancy dress

© J Farmer 2013

Prompts: October; Ghost of a Rose - Blackmore's Night

Musical Musings – The Witches’ Tree

Song: The Witches Tree
Artist: Cernunnos Rising
Album: Urban Druid

I sit beneath the witches tree
The elder mother talks to me
A journey to the other side
The fragrance takes me there

Old lady standing, wise and bent
With summers night,
I breath your scent
The other world, so near so far

So will you lift the veil?

I sleep beneath the witches tree
The rurite stones watch over me
The fae, they dance by full moon light
I watch them as they shine

We even drink wine

Queen of herbs, good fortune bring
Your mystic healing ways I sing
For you, I'll need the faery folk
All dancing in a ring

Old girl, give up thy secret world
And staff and wand, to me you should
For I will give you some of mine
When I become a tree

I sleep beneath the witches tree
The rurite stones watch over me
The fae, they dance by full moon light
I watch them as they shine

We even drink wine

You'll give me thy fruit and flower
The winely essence and the power
See ahead more clearly now
The pathway in the mist

Old lady standing, wise and bent
With summer's night, I breath your scent
You'll do well, so near so far
I see beyond the veil

I sleep beneath the witches tree
The rurite stones watch over me
The fae they dance by full moon light
I watch them as they shine

We even drink wine

By the Clock

Photography by Al Forbes

‘By the clock’ she said, so I waited for the girl with saffron hair. I waited for the girl carrying a newspaper while listening to the chatter of the passers-by. The scowling mothers dragging howling toddlers through old London town and lovers on their way to a show. The minutes passed and I watched the pigeons swooping down to grasp a crumb. The minutes passed until it was too late and I sat drinking coffee before going home. Drinking coffee and listening to the girl on my mobile phone repeating the night’s events at the Rovers. Mother had got caught up watching reruns of Coronation Street again.

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: http://alastairsphotofiction.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/photo-fiction-september-29th-2013/

Three on Friday – 4 October 2013

The challenge today offers three quotations to inspire the creative muse, using one, two or all three as a prompt.

The quotations for this week are:

Marriage is the miracle that transforms a kiss from a pleasure to a duty – Helen Rowland

So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it but I couldn’t find honest employment – Mark Twain

Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence – Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

If you take up today’s challenge please leave a link in the comments

Classical Piece of the Day 4 October

Today in 1749 the French composer Jean-Louis Duport was born.

The clip is Duport’s Etude for Cello No.8 in D major performed by Anner Byismer

Classical Piece of the Day – 3 October

Today in 1713 the French composer Antoine Dauvergne was born

The clip is Dauvergne’s Chaconne performed by the Concerto Köln

Haiku

vibrant shades
flitter on the wind
but boots lie empty

© J Farmer 2013

Prompt: Forever Autumn by Justin Hayward

Well-fitted Glove

Texte: God knows I got to make it on my own – I Want to Break Free, Queen


Where does real love begin if not with self
When others speak of their fortune and wealth
In flashing cash and denying nature
To buy emotions and then call it love
And degradation becomes their rapture
For love is not a thing money can buy
Nor can love be paid by a credit card
The heart cannot be used without a why
When it is left shattered to its last shard
Love is the freedom in a gentle sigh
It is not easy; in fact it is hard
It is wildness without chance of capture
And to the soul it’s a well-fitted glove
That can only be found once we love self.

© J Farmer 2013

Notes: Ivorian Sonnet XCIV
 

Muse to the Music – 03 October 2013

The prompt for this challenge is a piece of music, the idea being to share where the music takes you.

This week’s piece is: Now We Are Free by Hans Zimmer

If you use this prompt please link back

Classical Piece of the Day 02 October

Today in 1704 the Czech composer, Frantisek Ignac Antonin Tuma, was born

The clip is Tuma’s Partita a Quattro in D Minor - Mov. 1-3/5 performed by Concerto Italiano under the baton of Rinaldo Alessandrini

Whimsical Wednesday – 02 October 2013

As a poet I read a lot of poetry and some more on top. I also find one line taken out of context can lead to a whole new dimension of creativity. The idea of this challenge therefore is to create what comes to mind from lines of poetry.

This week’s lines of poetry are:

The short night weary with their fretting song – Summer Evening by John Clare

Play it at the end of the service – Request by Lawrence Raab

With face more pallid than a daylit star – Rouen  Place dle la Pucelle by Maria White Lowell

If you use this prompt please link back

Will Not Come Back (after Becquer) by Robert Lowell (1917 – 1977)

Dark swallows will doubtless come back killing
the injudicious nightflies with a clack of the beak;
but these that stopped full flight to see your beauty
and my good fortune… as if they knew our names –
they’ll not come back.  The thick lemony honeysuckle,
climbing from the earthroot to your window,
will open more beautiful blossoms to the evening:
but these… like dewdrops, trembling, shining, falling,
the tears of day – they’ll not come back…
Some other love will sound his fireword for you
and wake your heart, perhaps, from its cool sleep;
but silent, absorbed, and on his knees,
as men adore God at the altar, as I love you –
don’t blind yourself, you’ll not be loved like that


Robert Lowell

Tuesday’s Thinking – 01 October 2013

The idea of these challenges is to use the given prompts to create a piece of flash fiction (100-500 words) or a poem

Today’s thinking is:

How do you see yourself?

If you post a write from the prompt, please post a link in comments or pingback

Classical Piece of the Day 1 October

Today in 1908 the Danish composer Herman David Koppel was born.

The clip is Koppel’s Cello Concerto – Part II performed by Odense Symphony Orchestra with Michaela Fukačová on the cello

No Bake Chocolate Squares

Handy chocolate treats to keep in the refrigerator and so easy to make.

9½oz/275g dark chocolate

6oz/175g/ butter

4 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp dark rum

6oz/175g plain biscuits such as shortbread

1oz/25g toasted rice cereal

1¾oz/50g chopped walnuts

3½oz/100g glacé cherries

1oz/25g white chocolate, to decorate

Place the dark chocolate in a large mixing bowl with the butter, syrup, and rum. Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted, stirring until blended.

Break the biscuits into small pieces and stir into the chocolate mixture along with the rice cereal, nuts and cherries.

Line a 7inch/18cm square cake tin with baking parchment. Pour the mixture into the tin and level the top, pressing down well with the back of a spoon. Chill for 2 hours.

To decorate, melt the white chocolate and drizzle over the cake in a random pattern. Leave to set. 

To serve, carefully turn out from the tin and remove the parchment. Cut into 16 squares.

Next time: Sticky Chocolate Brownies