Creation

I am not sure I can stay awake when outside reality scares me

I hide behind Alice, hot chocolate in my hands

In my home - my safe place - one that I created for myself -

One that can’t let the bad people in

In my home I savour looking over words and pictures -

Whatever, whenever I try to turn away my fears by looking 

I sing and other people sing too

I smile and other people smile too 

I hope that in time I can move into the truth -

Occupy it with an eye-smile (blue and steady)

I feel this connection like a fire inside

Growing and hoping

Despite the pain and work to be done 

I feel reassured that you are always with me

I want you - 

After all I bought you into existence

Touch

https://dversepoets.com/2026/02/10/id-rather-go-blind/ 

I reach out for your hand

Try and place it in my palm -

I know that your touch is real

I feel it -inside me

Knock three times, and enter

That makes her giggle

Even in the dark, with my eyes scrunched up tight

I can sense you are with me

A little light - one which I will find as long as I continue to let it burn 

It is strange - how anyone else would not be allowed to touch me

My body is mine, my thoughts are mine

I harvest my survival treasures

They feel cool and smooth

I can feel them - perhaps I don’t need to see them 

They are tiny pebbles in my pocket

Just touching them - making them smooth makes me smile -

I can carry something no one else will see.    

PS I'm having trouble commenting on other's posts - I have been reading and enjoying the prompts 

Flowers

 https://dversepoets.com/2026/02/09/quadrille-241-swearing-by-all-flowers/

I hold up a buttercup underneath her chin

Do you like butter - She giggles  -

I trust our love 

I smell lavender wrapped in a cloth underneath my pillow

I hope there will always be flowers

Gentle, glowing, earth stars -

A daisy bed of home. 

  

 

Opposites

https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2026/02/friday-writings-213-pick-pair.html

I wiggle my fingers and toes, gentle movements

Which I thought I might not be able to do again

My flesh has been stolen (the thief was me)

But my spirit feels stronger

A flickering candle light always burning inside 

Which has no doubt carried me through my life 

Exactly as it does right now

I see the rowan tree, the owls and glowing moon 

Shining in the treacle-dark sky

Winter is fading and soon there will be brighter, longer days

As spring comes to us and offers us wishes and happiness -

Her face a bright yellow and white daisy 

Maybe if she comes to me again I can weave her a daisy chain 

I am beginning to make lists - tiny gambles

Learning to love things - simple things like the wind on my cheeks

Before I was largely full of indifference 

It didn’t matter if I lived or died

And so my fingers and toes tap a beat 

And I welcome it in and allow myself to smile. 

 

Heart Shaped Box

https://newwhatsgoingon.blogspot.com/2026/02/shelter.html

If I build a box around my heart will I feel safe

I imagine the box as dark brown wood with intricate carvings - patterns

Warm to the touch and readable

A substance that breathes and moves 

At times to swell and make room for love

At times to toughen up and protect me from dangers 

It takes work, building a shelter

One huff and a puff and it all falls down

I do not want that to happen (again) 

Sometimes - in the walls outside my body - I can find comfort

I find myself in my chair, quietly reading, looking at the sky outside the window 

Other times it feels like fight-flight-freeze - 

The world is too loud, too busy but also empty to me

Mostly I find comfort within myself (when I can) -

Inside is my true home and shelter

It has always kept me safe - alive

I trust it will continue to keep me safe

Perhaps even grow like the strongest, shiny acorn 

Tumbling onto a carpet of green ready for another to retrieve -

To find their own heart-shaped box and grow it into a sanctuary fit for a queen.  

 

Apple

https://dversepoets.com/2026/02/03/poetics-the-smile-in-a-simile/ 

“A light rain, as tranquil as an apple.” (Anne Sexton)

I rub my stomach, take a deep breath and begin to think

The thoughts drift by like clouds now, not fire

I am not sure that happiness is a destination - rather, a feeling 

One that gathers momentum like tumbleweed floating down an empty road

Soft as pillows, exciting and wild -

Following a pattern of building - getting stronger and more certain

Like me, I think and allow myself to smile 

I gather up ideas and problems but they remain both a flow and comfort -

Like living, it gives me a rush of presence and happiness

The soft brush of wheat jumps and dances - like a ballet dancer high on their toes

Gliding as easily as a candle gently glowing until it burns itself out

It is evening and the dark approaches 

But, there is a light rain, as tranquil as an apple. 

 

Candle

 https://dversepoets.com/2026/02/02/haibun-monday-2-2-26-groundhog-day-redux/

I look out of the window and feel the coming spring. Inside I light a white candle. Watch the flame flicker on the table top. I like the contrast between colours. The orange flame, the melting white wax. It reminds me of winter -  lighting candles in oranges with red ribbons tied around their girth. I have hopes for this spring. There will be crisp, blue sky walks. Foaming sea and clouds. Magpies flying. The tree outside re-blooming. Perhaps outside feels better because I have found the sense of renewal inside. And I walk towards it looking up at the sky.

Birds in flight

Clear blue skies above

Sun inside