Summer On! Clunker Challenge

 Clunker Challenge from  Linda Mitchell

Last week, Linda offered her clunker lines in exchange for a quick poem and a clunker line from each writer. I eagerly scrolled through the clunker lines and found two that looked appealing:

found a bit of sunflower  &  trees turned so orange the road looked blue

With these, I decided to write a pandemic poem since many bans were altered and the thought of summer travel seems so uplifting. 

A ban lifts,

lives change,

travel surges.

Summer 2021 opens

for roads untraveled and

newfound destinations sought.

Adventures await so find the why of

breathing in freshness, basking in sunshine,

feeling the tingling sensation of salted seafoamed oceans,

and the pure pleasure of tousled hair and loud music on open highways.

Walk, drive, ride, fly, or dream of places where trees turned so orange

the road looked blue or places where a bit of sunflower carries a

memory. If travel is not an option, create a fantasy trip to a 

secret garden with no boundaries. Be free.

Options are limitless. Find open spaces

Lve without fear of disruptors.

Gather nature's gifts.

Bring them indoors.

Honor the road

for it holds

your 

©CV, 2021

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While I sent Linda this clunker, summer dressed itself in ..., I decided to use the prompt.

Summer's Fashion Statement

Summer dressed itself

in robes of golden sunrise.

Skyblue hopes

billowed in the breeze as

summer washed the woods

in dew-drenched sparkles.

Daylight-glow puddled

on delicate leaves.

A parade of stilled daylilies posed

in gardens rich with chocolate mulch.

At day's end, summer dressed night

in indigo dreams as serenity pillowed

 under a moonlit canopy.

©CV, 2021

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Yesterday and today, I offered The Spiritual Journey Thursday community and guests an opportunity to celebrate summer with the topic, "Nurturing Our Summer Souls". As the host, I designed an advertisement with photos and artwork from Jan Annino, Donna Smith, Fran Haley, and myself to publicize the event. Please stop by to read my post and link up to other responders. 

Then, visit the Poetry Friday Roundup at author poet Laura Shovan's blog. She shares her poem, "Millicent Patrick Speaks of Monsters," which won honorable mention in the Baltimore Science Fiction Society’s annual poetry contest. Look further to find more poetic goodness from other poets.

Clunker Line Poem

There are three questions that I have been reflecting upon lately. I throw these questions out to everyone to hear how you feel.

1. Do you feel that your "Quarantine Life" is in overdrive? 
2. Is there tension in the air in your household? 
3. Do you need a reminder to stay positive?

I created a poem, Tension in the Air,  from a list of clunker lines that my librarian-poet friend, Linda Mitchell provided at her blog site, A Word Edgewise. I chose #13, Sounds of the pandemic and #15, a script we know by heart. 

Tension in the Air 

   screams of quarantine boredom
   slice through a silent house
   cabin fever woes rise
   too-hot-to-handle heat sizzles
   drenching drip-drops rain down
   pandemic sounds RAGE-
   as a script many now know by heart
         How can we end the maddening sounds?

                                                                                                 ©CVarsalona, 2020

Then, I transformed my poem into a Lumen 5 video poem using the title from the music the site provided that fit well as a title, Tension in the Air.

Now, it is my pleasure to give Linda a couple of unfinished lines to play with: "relentless seeker of life", "golden beam of luminous light" and "rainsoaked blossoms".

Since it is a hot summer day, I decided to bring an ice cream float to surprise my poet friend, Jan Godown Annino who is hosting Poetry Friday at Bookseed Studio. Check out her original poem Float as she reminisces about her mother.

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I am adding the link to Spiritual Journey Thursday where I am hosting. You will find more poetic goodness written by Poetry Friday friends there. Feel free to write a post on balancing your days or the word balance.