Tessera

Dave Ashley @daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 2d ago

Jen Thorne@jenthorne.bsky.social · 4d ago

Hello all you lovely #PoetsOfDoom. This week's form was suggested by the excellent @vignettes.bsky.social, who recently discovered, and introduced me to, the #TankaPuente The rules for the structure are in the image below, along with my attempt. So pick your favourite quote and have fun!!

The Tanka Puente:

➡ 1st stanza: separate thought, equal number of lines (5/7/5/7/7)

➡ 2nd stanza: one line quote enclosed in tildes (~) to distinguish itself from the last line of the first stanza and the first line of the third stanza. No syllable count, but keep it brief.

➡ 3rd stanza: separate thought, equal number of lines (5/7/5/7/7)

Opposites work well with this form. The idea is to create a bridge between the two tanka with a quote that brings the two tanka stanzas together impactfully.

Fliddais @fliddais.bsky.social · 2d ago

#BSPP56 #hallwaylight #poetry #prompt #writingcommunity #blueskypoetry

Winter Ives @winterives.bsky.social · 2d ago

Modern Shaman August impressions often incomprehensible Joy and sorrow the way of our world unspoken language felt your gift to us all A noble purpose, curandero Tending to lost souls by painting pictures on the cave walls of our time. #vss365 #tend #WriteSky 💙🖋️ #art #PabloAmaringo

Pablo Amaringo, Unai Shipash, 2006.
The Muses of Time and Space…

A wildly colourful universe brimming with the mythic energy of visionary artist and Peruvian Shaman Pablo Amaringo’s spiritual visions.

Upper sphere: The Muses of Time accompanied by figures representing virtues, such as love and compassion.

Lower sphere: Muses of Space that guard the Earth—from the atmosphere to the ocean depths.

Quill of Mnemosyne @sonnetsmith.bsky.social · 2d ago

A piece to contribute to #PromptCombo #Stand Thank you to @jenthorne.bsky.social for the prompt! I might well write another yet, but this is one I found whilst sorting through an old pile of papers that I hadn't typed up yet. #poetry #blueskypoetry #amwriting

I stand upon a knife edge
A precipice both sides
Each step I slice my feet
But pain is better than a dive

A straight and narrow torture
Between two looming walls
Grimace through the status-quo
Avoid expensive falls

I carry on, I walk the path
As blood runs down the blade
A life that's slowly draining
Through crippling fear of change

I stand upon a knife edge
Each step leads to my grave
Does light await beneath me
Or only bitter flames?

Ash & Ink @bundtkake.bsky.social · 2d ago

Hm. I just assumed all the statements were factually inaccurate. He was talking, correct? #resist #fuckICE #vaccinessavelives

Forbes@forbes.com · 2d ago

During a contentious interview, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made several claims about COVID-19, vaccines and measles. Here are some of the statements that were factually inaccurate.

Ash & Ink @bundtkake.bsky.social · 2d ago

#vss365 #tend #poetry #blueskypoets I said what I said. Here is a #poem...

Happy Hour

I didn't intend to offend.
I normally don't tend to engage
So animatedly on topics of minutiae.
I will admit to overreacting a tad.
Yes yes, no one has the right to
Act as foolishly as I did.
I didn't want to accuse the waitress,
So I felt the kitchen was the best
Platform for my protest.
I understand the civil summons.
I do.
While there is no excuse for my behavior,
My behavior does not excuse their
behavior.
Fried mushrooms come with Marinara sauce.
People who serve them with ranch are psychopaths.

her ghost @justasilvia2.bsky.social · 3d ago

Haunted one. #PoetsOfDoom #TankaPuente @jenthorne.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social @vignettes.bsky.social

We are elements:
two beasts tearing at the dark,
one soul, two vessels.
Blind hunger in the veins eats
spirit as it feeds on flesh.

~ Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same ~

We are a closed cage.
To touch is a slow murder;
to leave is a grave.
You thief, predating my blood
no ghost can outlive their hell.

Quote from Emily Brontë

Ms. 🅰️Washington M.A. artist | author | activist 🖇️@arwashington.bsky.social · 3d ago

A #SŌLSËËD Joint 🌻 #PoetryCommunity #Prompts “A prompt, a pulse, a purpose of the soul —to water a seed. Join #August #BlackSkyRelay #Monthly #Prompter #Prompt Use word or theme to post: #poetry #art #photography #writing Please Tag: #Solseed + word

MONTHLY PROMPT
#SÕLSËËD| #AUGUST
#PROMPT

AUG 1-5
• ANTHEM
week theme: justice
AUG 5-10
• RALLY
week theme: procrastination
AUG 10-20 • ACCESS
week theme: striving
AUG 20-25 • Deliberately
week theme: assume
AUG 25-31 • Leo
week theme: flamboyant

MS. AWASHINGTON | #ARW-RAW
@ARWASHINGTON A SOLSEED JOINT

Dave Ashley @daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 3d ago

#promptcombo #madrigal #poem #stand #fascism

Jen Thorne@jenthorne.bsky.social · 3d ago

Thank you to @emteepoetry.bsky.social for last weeks #PromptCombo and to everyone who contributed. This week it's my turn and I've picked a word with over 300 definitions, so there's no excuse for not having a go 😂 This week I want you to #Stand with me 🙏 #PromptCombo #Stand #Prompt #Poetry

Pine Hill

The hill lifts a green shoulder
to the beckoning sky,
a place where the wind
slips off its heavy coat
and rests awhile.

A small stand of pines
leans into the hush,
dark needles catching
whatever light the day offers,
roots threading stories
through the soil’s marrow,
as it gathers
every seed that splits.

Grass sways in loose stanzas,
a gentle tide
that never seeks the sea,
only the soft rhythm
of the seasons.

In this place,
the future seems approachable
while the trees still stand.

Raven @ravenbranhard.bsky.social · 2d ago

impress no one but silence #7SyllableSentence #silence #haikufeels #impress #abstractart #acryliconcanvas 🎨mine

Ash & Ink @bundtkake.bsky.social · 2d ago

"The Justice Department maintains its priorities are appropriate, stating that "violence against law enforcement or impeding officers performing their duties" should not be confused with peaceful protest." Unless it's Jan 6. Then you get a fund. #resist #fuckICE www.rawstory.com/ice-proteste...

Trump admin dusts off 'Civil War-era law' to punish protesters and 'scare Americans'

Treasure Thoreson was still in her pajamas, drinking coffee on her Minneapolis couch, when federal agents arrived at her door this June.A special education teacher, she was arrested on charges of cons...

rawstory.com

Winter Ives @winterives.bsky.social · 3d ago

First ✨Tanka Puente✨ Quote: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Thanks to: @jenthorne.bsky.social @vignettes.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social #TankaPuente #poetry #Fitzgerald #VintageKeys #Photoart 💙📷 me

✨Tanka Puente ✨

Immature hearts rage
At what age does friendship die?
Tender mercy fades
What was once golden and green
A withered stock of life's dreams

~ They were careless people..they smashed up things and creatures and then, retreated back into their money or vast carelessness… ~

In Japan's culture,
The flawed are mended with care
By love's golden thread
Age revered by everyone
Under red rays of the sun.

~ Quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald -
The Great Gatsby

©️2026, Gatsby Tanka Puente, Winter Ives—Photograph of vintage keys by WI

imanicv.bsky.social @imanicv.bsky.social · 2d ago

when pen arrives at Its destination I often look back at the journey in wonder #vss365 #arrive

A.C.Juniper @acjuniper.bsky.social · 3d ago

#vss365 #creation

Clare O'Brien @clareobrien.bsky.social · 3d ago

Thanks to @jenthorne.bsky.social for this week's #PromptCombo. It's a prompt with different possibilities, but mine is about taking a #stand against the status quo. Like many women of my generation, I spent far too long letting others define me. This was in the now-defunct litmag Libre last year.

ME TWO
by Clare O'Brien

Because I thought I’d lose my mind
I chickened out and didn’t fight.
I’m leaving all that shit behind.

When those around me were unkind
I learned to smile instead of bite,
because I thought I’d lose my mind.

Too scared to let the dark unwind,
I cowered in the alien light.
I’m leaving all that shit behind.

I let our lives be intertwined,
I shut my mouth, kept things polite,
because I thought I’d lose my mind.

Fuck your idea of womankind.
I want my own kind of delight.
Because I know I’d lose my mind,
I’m leaving all that shit behind.

Dave Ashley @daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 3d ago

#AugustAnarchy Time for any damn poetry!!! Since I'm off to see spiderman today. Your art prompt is

Dave Ashley @daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 3d ago

Standard Standard lamp stands resolute in good standing and understanding that in illumination stakes it stands alone, far above candles wax encrusted waving its flame a standard against the dark. But the standing lamp stands resolute. #freeverse #propmtcombo #stand #wordplay #poem

Matthias (watering thoughts) 🦄🧚‍♂️🐉@ignorantfairy.bsky.social · 2d ago

For #promptcombo #stand my first contribution haven't written love #poetry in a while and thought I'd give it a go. Inspired by and thanks to @jenthorne.bsky.social

a peaceful copse

your eyes
standing out
in a crowd of hundreds

warm green and hazel
a peaceful copse
where my worries
wither like tall grass
in the summer sun

let me pluck
that sparkle from
magnificent irises
bask in its glory

standing in
your long shadow
my forehead resting
on a strong shoulder
warmth spreads
and I find solace again
— in your peaceful copse

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 3d ago

Thank you to @emteepoetry.bsky.social for last weeks #PromptCombo and to everyone who contributed. This week it's my turn and I've picked a word with over 300 definitions, so there's no excuse for not having a go 😂 This week I want you to #Stand with me 🙏 #PromptCombo #Stand #Prompt #Poetry

A stand of pine trees on a hill somewhere in Shropshire that I can't remember.

David Thorne @darthorne.bsky.social · 2d ago

#PromptCombo #Stand #Prompt #Poetry @jenthorne.bsky.social

The Stand

Against the world we take our stand
Battered, bruised, we hold the line.
The guardians of a dying land.

Our kin may fall to avaricious hands
Who corrupt the just, who redefine.
Against the world we take our stand.

We neither break nor yield to their command.
We thwart attempts to undermine.
The guardians of a dying land.

They tell us we don't understand.
They exhaust, confuse, malign.
Against the world we take our stand.

Then step by step we grow, expand.
With strength in numbers we combine.
The guardians of a dying land.

To force the tyrants to disband,
Our solitary goals entwine.
Against the world we take our stand.
The guardians of a dying land.

Quill of Mnemosyne @sonnetsmith.bsky.social · 2d ago

Entry number two for #PoetsOfDoom Retaining the greatest film in the history of cinema as the theme and subject... @jenthorne.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social

All hope abandoned,
Love long lost to fortune's sword
Yet there he stands, bold.
He who caused her misery
"You can die for all I care!"

"As You Wish!" - Dread Pirate Roberts

Spark of hope revived,
Love reforged to fight once more.
Sadness made her blind,
Forgetting one vital fact,
That death can not stop true love

Ash & Ink @bundtkake.bsky.social · 2d ago

#AmpersandAfterDark #poetry @madp03t.bsky.social An important detail must be overlooked. I will admit it is more of a vibe based on the #prompt. More of an anxiety over having maybe forgotten a detail. Here is a #poem...

Malaise

A feeling-
Malaise undefined,
An internal nagging
Thought.

We are so far from home.
We are so far from family.
We are so far from help.

A feeling-
An internal nagging
Thought.

What if we do not have what we need?
What if we have made a mistake?
What if we are wrong?

An internal nagging,
Thoughts of absence,
Thoughts of being ill prepared,
Defined malaise.

We are so far from home.
What if we don't have what we need?
What if we are wrong?

But
What if we are not?

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 2d ago

I decided to do another #TankaPuente for @zoomburst.substack.com #OddChallenge so I can use it for my #PoetsOfDoom prompt as well. And thanks to @ignorantfairy.bsky.social for inspiring me to also have a go at a #lovepoem #poetry

Billet Doux

all I ever sought
was love returned as I give
to be seen as me
but only absence lingered
lost letters fading with hope

~ "If I know what love is, it is because of you.” ~

be careful you say
hand reaching out to steady
small but everything
in your eyes futures open
my name written in their light

~ Hermann Hesse ~

Mike O’Brien@zoomburst.substack.com · 3d ago

After the success of the first Odd Challenge on poems in the future tense, here is a second one - John Keats did it with "La Belle Dame sans Merci", as did Wilfred Owen with "Dulce et Decorum Est". Can you write a poem with a title in another language? Tag them #OddChallenge, and share the prompt.

Two phrenology heads in conversation, one speaking in English, the other in French - it can only herald an Odd Challenge

Ash & Ink @bundtkake.bsky.social · 2d ago

#PoetsOfDoom #TankaPuente #poetry #blueskypoets @jenthorne.bsky.social Very interesting form! This is one of my favorite song lyrics so that was an easy choice, making the form fit my voice is always a challenge. I think I did ok. Here is a #TankaPuente #poem... (in theory)

Mirror Image

So turn on a light
And splash some water on your
Face, find the center
And know, if the ghost is you,
You already know its name

Quote from the song "Top Notch" by Manchester Orchestra

Ms. 🅰️Washington M.A. artist | author | activist 🖇️@arwashington.bsky.social · 3d ago

#Poetry #ARW-RAW #Solseed

Dust To Dust

You think yourself special?
Stars died violent deaths to forge your
carbon backbone.

Your points of courage: tigers,
lions, bears witches, warlocks
hunters and heroes-
as if the universe; the sun needed your hurried
-human stories-

The earth shall recycle your catastrophe-regurgitated conscious formation.

Ms. Washington 2025 (c)

@pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 3d ago

The power of light and shadows

Matthias (watering thoughts) 🦄🧚‍♂️🐉@ignorantfairy.bsky.social · 3d ago

For #Ampersandafterdark 49 some #poetry about forgetting an important detail @madp03t.bsky.social

keys, wallet, cell phone

leaving the house
patting each pocket

once, twice
for good measure

keys, wallet, cell phone
all accounted for
breathing steadies
in the rhythm of
a brisk walk

keys, wallet, cell phone
everything is fine yet
why are people staring?

keys, wallet, cell phone
glass shards cutting
into bare feet

it's my shoes
that have been left
at home

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 3d ago

@madp03t.bsky.social forgive me for the tardiness, this one took a while to get right. #AmpersandAfterDark #poetry

Running on Empty

I move through turns
cut from darkness.
Every junction
my decision
alone.

I don’t turn right,
but still,
I can’t be wrong either.

There is no plan
only the thirst to slip
beyond the day.

In the dark I am free,
a figure drifting
through grainy film,
while the soundtrack
to escape sings
from the radio.

I know I have to stop.
I know it can’t last.
Even the longest night
blanches.

Dawn washes
over another day.
I plot the route home,
choices gone.

Eric Montgomery@madp03t.bsky.social · last wk.

#AmpersandAfterDark #prompt for 07-29-2026: "another night without a plan" Be sure to tag @madp03t.bsky.social and use the hashtag so I can find your post. #prompt #poetry #blueskypoetry #writesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #fictionwriters #poets #creativewriting

Dave Ashley @daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 4d ago

#AugustAnarchy Write any type of poem. Your prompt is

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 4d ago

Hello all you lovely #PoetsOfDoom. This week's form was suggested by the excellent @vignettes.bsky.social, who recently discovered, and introduced me to, the #TankaPuente The rules for the structure are in the image below, along with my attempt. So pick your favourite quote and have fun!!

Tanka Puente

a syllable count
restricts vocabulary
tight rein to contain
wilder imaginations
freeform swirls whipped into shape

~ “Art consists of limitation.” ~

structure gives guidance
use the rules to craft your voice
chisel thoughts from mind
style now filters through from form
the words spilling out of choice

~ G. K. Chesterton ~