unlike another
individuality
standing tall and proud
Tag: flowers
Fragrant
flowers adorn sea
winds carrying their fresh scent
inhaling sweet air
Cheryl Wood
Neighbors
Neighbors seem a friendly lot
Talk about what they’ve got
Talk about themselves a lot
But neighbors? I’d rather not.
Wild Roses
Petals peeking
Perfume pleasing
Pistils pearly
Highway
Pavement drumming
Tires humming
Lines overrunning
Looping exits
Please no texting
Speeders vexing
~~~
Cheryl Wood is a mom and grandmother who enjoys scribbling some words, hopefully with humor. She started writing in 2015 after a second bout of cancer to keep busy while recuperating. Cheryl was featured in 2020 and in 2022. You can find her work HERE. Selected pieces of her work were published in The Short of It – Volume 1 & Volume 2. This is her second feature this year.
If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.
#TheShortofIt – Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon
Bright
vivid poppy shines
with glaring intensity
unfolds its grandeur
Soul Sister
thoughtful, her trademark
when the hurting got too much
she brought me flowers
John Grey
GREENHOUSE
The greenhouse is artificial tropics.
Orchids grow here
like it’s the heart of Africa
or deep in the Amazon Basin.
Outside, a flake of snow
flutters groundward,
skis down the glass roof.
In the jungle below,
a Venus flytrap
slams its mouth shut
instinctively.
SINGULAR FLOWER
All night, snow fell on snow,
like the footfall of small animals.
By morning, under clear sky,
the world wore
its white cloak of homologous mesh
through which some crocus
saw its chance and took it.
A WALK AT DUSK
Sun reduced to small favors here and there,
streetlamps dull and glassy,
but the moon, already up and about,
crosses the field of your eyes,
your mouth, your cheeks.
I take your hand,
stroll into a world
that treasures its moonlight
more than any other shine.
IN THIS PICTURE I HAVE OF YOU
You stand at the blackboard,
before a labyrinth of equations,
wonder who could possibly understand
what you have written –
for all you might have been,
teaching is where you ended up –
you have the look of someone
who’d rather I wasn’t looking at you.
HANDOFF
Together
for the first time
since the divorce,
a child handoff –
she’s looking well,
he’s looking well –
the kid’s just looking,
mostly at his shoes.
ONE JULY DAY IN NEW YORK CITY
I passed by
Paul Shaffer
on Seventh Avenue.
He gave one of those
“Yes, it’s me” looks.
Unlike Paul,
I don’t have
a look like that
in reserve.
TO BE ALIVE
It’s good to be alive.
To not be dead.
Or dying.
Or sick even.
And it’s good to hear yourself say,
“It’s good to be alive.”
Remember,
life is always
in your best interest.
~~~
John Grey is an Australian poet and US resident, recently published in Stand, Washington Square Review, and Sheepshead Review. Latest books – Between Two Fires, Covert, and Memory Outside the Head are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the
McNeese Review, Santa Fe Literary Review, and California Quarterly. John was first featured in 2020 and then again in 2022. You can click HERE to review them. Selected pieces of his work were published in The Short of It – Volume 1 – The Sound of Brilliance and Volume 2 – Reflections & Revelations.
If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.
Katey Sutherland
Bloomin Awake
With each passing minute
I unfurl and greet the day.
I am here.
Blessings as I expose myself fully.
My open stature beckons examination
As the beauty within is revealed.
Loves Me/Loves Me Not
Oh, ox-eye daisy! Tell me of fortune today!
With sorrow, I destroy your beauty revealing my fate.
Forgive me.
But I must know – does he love me?
In Netherlands
From the buried bulbs
Appear dizzying rainbow fields
Happy recipient
~~~
Poetry and nature are the only things that make sense for Katey. This is Katey Sutherland’s first feature on The Short of It.
Submissions are now closed but if you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submissions guidelines.
Mon Amour
Inspired by Sadje’s What do you see #127
this gift
like you, beautiful
is so precious
this offering
like you, cut
won’t last long
this bounty
like you, overflowing
touches our hearts eternally
*NOTE – Anyone who recognizes the song below, you’re dating yourself. ;)
Here’s one for the younger crowd. lol
P.J. Reed
The Wedding Dress
fuzzy empty clouds
dandelion skeletons
of half-blown wishes
and breezes blow
grey flowers sway underfoot
cow parsley shadows
trickling storm streams
carry specks of stolen light
into sunless earth
~~
soft leaves are bouncing
stems sway with flutters of green
swollen raindrops fall
~~
dipolar sunshine
lane lies clothed in lace shadows
footsteps of light and shade
~~
sea thistle towers
bees bumble through barbed flowers
wearing pollen shoes
~~~
P.J. Reed is an award-winning, multi-genre author with books ranging from high fantasy, horror, to haiku. She writes the Richard Radcliffe Paranormal Investigations series and the Bad Decisions series. Reed lives in Devon, England with her two daughters, two rescue dogs, and one feral cat called Sammy.
For more information visit: PJ Reed Writing
If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It, click here for the submissions guidelines.
Fresh Beauty
Gazing upon you,
I’m feeling your gorgeousness.
It’s love at first sight.
I Write Her 