Zombie Flamingos

Welcome to my April 2026 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…maybe even with pictures), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, H is for Hell, this should have been for I is for Insomnia…sigh.

The assignment today was to write a pantoum, so I did and here it is.

Insomnia

I lie awake in bed at night,
thoughts of work run through my brain
chastise me over things I did
amid chattering reminders of those I didn’t.

Thoughts of work run through my brain,
plans I made changed out of my hands
amid chattering reminders of those I didn’t
inform of altered expectations.

Plans I made, changed out of my hands
call out in endless echos. They
inform of altered expectations,
to tell me to let go and move on,

call out in endless echos. They
bounce into a black hole of chaos,
tell me to let go and move on
or lose my mind in insomnia. So I

bounce into a black hole of chaos,
chastise myself over things I did
or lose my mind in insomnia, So
I lie awake in bed at night.

Thanks for visiting my 2026 A to Z Challenge – Letter H.

Welcome to my April 2026 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…maybe even with pictures), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, G is for … Gymnopédie

Gymnopédie (after Eric Satie, Gymnopédie #1)

My boat sways
over gentle ripples
of waves across a wide lake
so wide, I can’t see
the other side.

Sunrise shoots shafts
of pink, orange, yellow;
a kaleidoscope twisting
through clouds,
the light breaking
into tendrils that sink
breathlessly into the water.

On the nearby shore, willows
stroke the lake surface
like a lazy lover.

I lean back, face to sky
basking in silent dawn
as geese drift by, a hazy
V on the horizon.

Thanks for visiting my 2026 A to Z Challenge – Letter G.

Welcome to my April 2026 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…maybe even with pictures), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, F is for … Fudge I was late with this post.

(No coffee makers were harmed in the writing  of this post)

The world ended when the coffee maker broke,

stopped working, we don’t know why.
It’s death followed closely
by the toaster oven’s demise…
No toast for you! Or bagels, or pizza pops.
Fridge – fried; oven — over;
will dishwasher wash dishes?
We’ll never know…we have no dirty plates
or mugs. Finally: end of electricity heralds
end of days, nothing to do now but join
zombies in pursuit of human brains.

Thanks for visiting my 2026 A to Z Challenge – Letter F.

Welcome to my April 2026 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…maybe even with pictures), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, E is for … Eternity.

This poem was supposed to be about healing, but due to the process ended up being about something else…perhaps living for eternity!

No Death for You!

Avoid decay, call now!
No funeral waits for you.
Wake up, open
the obituary page;

Your name will not appear:
Our promise to you.

Look down on white
chalk outlines, uncover gurneys
in coroner offices —
you don’t fit.

Unlike Scrooge, you need
Not fear Christmas Future
pointing out headstones
in dimly lit cemeteries.

Thanks for visiting my 2026 A to Z Challenge – Letter E.

Welcome to my April 2026 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…maybe even with pictures), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, D is for … Dreams

Or do I mean nightmares?

Night Terrors

I woke this morning and tried to stand
my feet were water, slipping, flooding the hard wood floor.
I tried to push myself onto my knees
but knees flamed, sparks flying across the room.
My hands were bright balls of light
blinding my eyes, that were grapes, peeled
like ones we feel in a Hallowe’en vat
next to spaghetti brains and potato fingers.
I fell on my back, but it melted into the floor
back to sleep, and I hoped soon I would wake
from this nightmare, as I had so many times before.

Thanks for visiting my 2026 A to Z Challenge – Letter D.

Welcome to my April 2026 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…maybe even with pictures), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, C is for … Can’t help but go dark. I don’t know why, but this poem went to a more horror place than I was expecting. The prompt was a “Ghost Line” where you use a given line from a poem as your first line, then write your poem jumping off that line and go back and delete the line you started with. And this is what happened today:

Listen

We all do it, we can’t help
walking on bones, creaking
over skulls crushed
into earth’s soil, enriching loam.

Thousands lie buried beneath
cities, towns, streets, houses,
mouths open in silent screams
help us rest, yet we stride above

heedless among unmarked graves,
pulling life from death to feed wiggling
worms, stroking roots in a passion
of ghostly ardor. We pause,

in the silence, tilt ear to ground,
strain to hear the slithering
spirits whisper, we are here;
We will wait.

Thanks for visiting my 2026 A to Z Challenge – Letter C.