'The Paintless Artist', poem by Jalaal Patel

Intriguing title, fabulous imagery and a sense of prose poem within a free verse structure ... lovely! 

Jalaal accompanied his original blog with an absolutely gorgeous image - but I don't have access to it. Jalaal, please insert the image in a comment on this blog so that I can publish it with your work.

The canvas is the environment in which she plays

The earth is her table gravity cradle

This stops her from falling into the devious pit of blue recollection like a mother who lost her child

The arms are gliding through the atmosphere just like wings of a Unicorn set forth to Eden

Her paint brush fibres are her hands hurdling towards your visual pleasure

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle as she manoeuvres smoothly across the ground from point to point

The force which is powering her activeness is beginning to reach its climax

As the tempo raises to the brightest of spectrum

Where the colouration takes you to a cognitive status of lasting delight

The shade of lumination becomes unknown to mankind

As your eyes transfix on this cosmic power it is crying out to be named

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle as she enters the final stage of creation

Only then do you realise she is at one with this mystic force

It is not long before you fall thud on to your knees begging for more

Hence why she has completed you

As you yield in front of the masterpiece

By Jalaal-Ud-Deen Patel

'Friendship', poem by Lisa Sharpe

I particularly liked the visuals of this poem and the fact that Lisa had mixed poetry forms - acrostic with what could be a miniature prose poem. Experimentation creating interesting results.

Lisa's chosen image - in her original blog the image formed the background to her poem

Friendship

Friendship is all around us as far as we can see.

Rising above all challenges together we will succeed.

Inspiring and encouraging each other through the sad and happy times.

Everlasting trust is truly what we’ve found.

Never will our friendship break, we will never be apart.

Disaster stoke when our friendship broke.

Sadness looms like a cloud of doom.

Hope is all forgiven for this friendship to re-grow.

Important is our friendship for that we shall show.

Planning the future, with our friendship by our side, it’s sure to be complete with the strength we have inside.

There will always be a special one close to your heart who is always with you when things fall apart, this very special someone will never leave your heart.

'Lost', short story by Darren Tyler

I loved the sense of the surreal and the sinister in this tale.

Image chosen by Darren as part of his original blog creation

Darren Tyler

Lost

I was lost. I had been in this forest many times before, but today I cannot find a way out. It has swallowed me whole, like a beast devouring its prey. I want to scream but I know the forest will not hear my cry. I scream anyway just to let the emotion consume my anger at this price I must pay for doing business.

The forest has quieted. The sounds and ambience of the forest have retracted into the womb of Mother Nature.  The silence, the silence. For it is this that my mind cannot control or comprehend, but yet I know this silence. It forebodes my whole sense yet I let it with no subjective thought to why.  The darkness is setting in. the light is receding from my view. To a place that is unreachable. I want to reach out and touch, to feel, to make it real. The forest has started to wake from its slumber now the blanket of darkness is smothering the green with the colour of my life. I laugh to myself, I do not know if it is a chuckle of defeat or a laugh to remind myself that the battle is ahead. I have felt this irrational fear before, o so many. It has incapacitated my being. I know if I buckle from the weight the stone will be cast.

The smell of the pines engulfs my senses. I am distracted for a moment in time that slows to a pace that is comfortable. For it is the smell of life that suddenly I see a small light in the horizon, it is a chink in the armoury of this veil. I gaze at this light and my hope is renewed like the first flower of spring. The awakening of a better life.

I am awake, I think. I am no longer in the forest. I find myself in a room that is so white the brightness blinds me for a second. A big steel door is the only object that takes my eye, I am alone again. I hear a sound in the distance, the repetitive tap of a train nearing its destination.  I feel a wave of euphoria start to rise from my legs and it encapsulates my whole body, I like this feeling, it makes me feel.  The door is unlocked and I see a face I do not recognise but seems familiar. She is dressed in white and for a moment she warps into the wall as if one organism. She is pushing a steel trolley but my eye catches the kaleidoscope of tablets protruding from the top of the trolley. I am captivated and fixated. I laugh to myself and then I remember where I will go to today.                                                                                                                                              

Blog-It Challenge Favourites

Lisa and Darren

The next three posts will comprise the three pieces or writing that were my chosen winners of the Blog-It Challenge, which was set by my mate Josie to a group of learner creative-writers (see my previous posting on this).

Above is a photograph of Lisa and Darren, two of the writers.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading their work. I hope you enjoy it too. Let me know which one you like best and why?