1319 - Marrakesh

 

The Sunday Whirl presents twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

This weeks words are:

Sing, trembling, zigzag, connected, mind, silk, dreams, moon, prayers, crow, road, prophets

Marrakesh

Forget Rome.

Here, at sunset,

All roads 

Lead to the market.

An explosion

Of light and noise.

The smells,

Spices, warm,

Rich, beguiling.

Perfumes hint 

Of the harem.

Leathers and silks,

Food, aromatic,

Sweet, luscious.

Brassware. Stoneware.

Everywhere.

The noise,

Oh, the noise.

The call to prayers,

The call to buy.

Different gods.

The people,

Connected 

But disconnected.

Someone sings,

Some tout dreams,

Promise the moon.

Some are prophets,

Trembling in fervor,

The curious wander,

Zig-zag in wonder.

Crowds flow 

Or not.  Mesmerised.

No-one minds.

Time is not important.

It is an assault

On the senses,

While

On the roofs

Pied Crows watch,

Silent prophets,

Bemused.

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1318 - An Electrician named Roy

 

There was an electrician named Roy
Who was clearly a girl, not a boy.
There was some distrust
About the size of her bust
But her skills were the real McCoy.

◊

Written following a discussion about the possible gender 

of an electrician named Roy, coming to certify some work in my home.

The photo is AI generated.  No electricians were harmed

in the writing of this limerick.

1317 - Travelling Flat Out

 

The Sunday Whirl presents twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

This weeks words are:

air, embraced, pearls, perfection, turtle, altar, garlands, reveries, vanish, name, built, mist

Travelling Flat Out

The place where the story happened was a world on the back 

of four elephants perched on the shell of a giant turtle. 

– Terry Pratchett

From their expressions, you’d never have guessed

But the elephants were far from impressed.

While their air was of calmness and grace

As they surfboarded their turtle through space.

Their inner thoughts were contained and not spilt

About the awkward lifestyle they’d built.

But on the flat earth that balanced above 

The occupants showerd them with love.

They built sacred altars to adore them

Made flower garlands and then actually wore them,

And then danced naked in the light of the moon

Such reveries usually finished at noon.

They viewed the elephants with loving affection

And, with the turtle, considered perfection

To be clearly outlined, for everyone to see.

The universe was defined by what needed to be:

Celestial transport, willingly embraced—

A beast, twenty limbed and five faced.

But the reason for being of this craft

Vanished in the far mists of time, probably graft.

Someone received pearls, gold and myrrh,

To win a contract, lucrative you can infer,

To provide a cheap spacial transport

And the fine print didn’t name the sort.

So, this menagerie sails on through space—

Two creatures not known for their grace

And the flat earth above them, so supported,

Is right royally, and galactically, transported,

No matter what the physicists implore

Existence is nine tenths of the law.

◊

1316 - The Galaxy

 

The Sunday Whirl presents twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

This weeks words are:

jerk, void, breath, gap, vast, blinked, curling, sky, wish, wrap, edge, ever

The Galaxy

"The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. 

We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

-- Carl Sagan

The Milky Way.

Four billion stars.

As you lie on the grass,

Looking up at the sky,

Consider just how vast

Our curling, swirling galaxy is.

You can, if you wish, ponder why

Our curling, swirling galaxy is.

The answer is elusive if you try.

No answer satisfies.

To wrap your mind around

A problem that has no edge,

No sensible beginning.

Be it found in a Big Bang

Or a diety’s breath,

A blink of creation

A jerk of the time-space fabric,

Filling the void—

Both have a credibility gap.

Will we ever know?

Does it really matter?

Theoretical physics 

Is trumped by physical theories.

Live local.  Hold what you know.

Hugs are real.

◊

1315 - The Consequence

 

The Sunday Whirl presents twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

This weeks words are:

riddle, hunt, barren, bits, ominous, thud, grave, keys, box, drop, temper, secrets

They took me down a dark rabbit hole.

The Consequence

“How much more grievous 

are the consequences of anger 

than the causes of it.”

– Marcus Aurelius

The consequences of anger

Are so disproportionate to the causes.

That ominous rush of blood,

That fatal burst of temper.

He looked at the city before him

Hardly worthy of the name.

Burnt, broken, barren.

Scared, furtive animals hunt for food,

Finding bits here and there 

And defending them from the jealous.

Snarl.  Teeth bared.  The new world.

He walked slowly through the wreckage

A city that was no more.  A grave.

The drop saw to that.  Dropped in anger.

It did not fall with a thud. 

It did not even fall really. Delivered.

It delivered light.  

And wind. 

And heat.

And death.

How many died? he wondered.

Pointless speculation really.

That is the secret of the drop.

He knew it had dropped.  The riddle—

The riddle was why.  

Why was the genii released from the box?

Did it solve anything? he pondered.

The keys to the city

Have little value now.

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