we, us
…
Our photo - we, us
you'll find us in the picture
not the silver frame
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #frame
#value #picture #silver

over an image of spilling ink, this design states: Weekly Prompt: FRAUGHT, SAD, REASON, SOFTEN, GRABBY, DECEPTION use the prompt words, or their evocation in an original write please credit art & photos combo prompts welcome post with the hashtag #inkMine

I've tried to reason,
tried to understand.
Deception is manipulation
& I won't let them go there.
The last few weeks were
fraught, rather than sad.
Children can be quite grabby
if you let them, if you soften.
Parenting can be so hard,
when love isn't enough.
…
#poem #poetry #Weekly #inkMine

Poem: urban waterways the river once ran free according to geography - the settling shape of crowded humanity shapes an urban waterway paired with a photo of the Sandspruit River flowing under the brick bridge in the James and Ethel Gray Park Artwork for contemplation only; a low-res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/04)

The Sandspruit
once a shallow river valley
in reduced natural wetlands,
now channels storm water
bricked & buttressed
or running free
thru greenbelt corridors
flood plains,
Bird sanctuaries & Parks
A safe passage for an
Urban Waterway
…
#poem #poetry #tanka #freeverse #urbanwaterway

the blurry haze
…
behind us yesterday
all our tomorrows a blurry haze -
trampled underfoot
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #blur

unconscious uncoupling
…
jolting up the spine
crackle shivers along the line
fleeting consciousness
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #jolt
#consciousness #fleeting #spine

Spring blooms
…
the trees are greening
smell of rain & mown grass
flower buds in bloom
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #bloom

evocative - wonderful pivot

pivoting immediately sledgehammers the intent,
disturbs the emotional depth,
I'm thinking:
…
all we can offer
when taxes enrich the entitled
Lipstick on a pig
…
has better tension & release,
a better resolution imo.

children's legacy
…
your children's behavior
their mindset and comportment
mirrors who you are
…
#poem #poetry #Weekend #inkMine #comport #haiku
@inkmine.bsky.socia

Lipstick & Taxes
…
Lipstick on a pig
when taxes enrich the entitled
that's all we can offer
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #enrich #taxes #entitled

Poem: James Delaney’s Kudu James Delaney's Kudu migrated from the Wilds raising a family in a re-zoned Urban Savanna along Rosebank's Oxford Road paired with a photo of a purple pink Kudu family in front of the blue glass-fronted Coca Cola building along Oxford Avenue in Rosebank, Johannesburg ~ artwork by James Delaney~(2026) Hollow metalwork sculpture Artwork for contemplation only; a low-res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/04) … I like to think they’ve migrated from the Wilds, having been crowded out by the growing population of Owls and Sable and Giraffes and Monkeys and sundry others. They’ve settled here taken up residence in a newly rezoned part of Rosebank ~ Urban Savanna. We know how Mr. Trump feels about Migrants in general, and African ones in particular, and hope and trust he will keep his ICY crew in the Continental US and not mess with the migratory patterns of our metalwork Kudu families.

James Delaney's Kudu
migrated from the Wilds
raising a family
in a re-zoned Urban Savanna
along Rosebank's Oxford Road

…
ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #tanka #urbansculpture #kudu
#rosebank #jamesdelaney

Poem: Linder Auditorium when silence holds the space there everything is music Linder Auditorium seated audience focusing world compressed into listening paired with a photo of Conductor, Orchestra and Choir readying for another performance at the Linder Auditorium in the grounds of the Parktown Campus of the University of the Witwatersrand – Wits – in Johannesburg. Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/04) Every time I enter the auditorium at concert’s start, the muted sounds of people finding seats and settling in musicians tuning, arranging, choristers entering if they’re to play their part; I feel a familiar enervating anticipation. The conductor and soloists make their way in and accept the audience’s anticipatory adulation. He turns and silence hold the space The music resonates inside my body I am become an instrument of listening feeling the music as much as hearing and will remain in that state for the next hour or three, immersed in the silence of listening, muted coughs and shifting bodies notwithstanding. I owe an unpaid debt of gratitude to all the many musical artists who have brought to life their vision of sound and passed it on to me. We, the audience, participate by being there, by being present our presence makes it possible, not just the money but also the affirmation & validation which fuels the artistic soul. It’s not La Scala, it's not the Met, its The Linder, my musical space.

I don't remember
the first time
first concert
at the Linder Auditorium
that was too long ago

Yet I relive again anew
anticipation ecstasy climax
as music’s power to thrall
resurfaces in the hall,
& the many companions
who've shared it with me
I remember them all

#poetry #poem #tanka #music #linder

ego & greed
…
kept meeting like this
conflating desire and need
inflating ego & greed
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #inflate
#ego #greed #desire #need

Losing each other
…
once collaborative
now cool and transactional
stripped of love & warmth

words while functionally clear
are leading them nowhere
…
#TankaThursday #TankaPoem #micropoetry #cool
#poem #poetry @evecastle.bsky.social

inspired by John Updike's short story "Lifeguard" which was first published in The New Yorker on June 17, 1961

A photo of a tree in Delta Park browning her leaves as they shed in Autumn. It is a Celtis africana (commonly called the White Stinkwood), a widespread deciduous tree on the Highveld and has a smooth pale-grey trunk. It stands in an open field on the route to the Bird park and hides. Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/04)

The White Stinkwood
sheds her leaves
in a swirl of browns & golds
her pale-grey trunk & scaffolding,
smooth & speckled,
no longer dappled.

She'll hibernate in plain eyesight
and I'll be there to see.

...
alt=deets
#poem #poetry #whitestinkwood #stinkwood
#deltapark

to love is not to save
…
to desire a woman
is a desire to save her
no reward remains
…
Who can I save?
Only myself.
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #remain #desire #reward #save

Poem: Autumn’s flowers Summer fades to Autumn and color bleeds from fields pavements and gardens. Every season has its own genesis Rising up through grass with spindly stems you might mistakenly think "its a funny time for weeds". Bursting out of the tops of every spindle soft pinks & whites & purples spray the field in a delicate dance orchestrated by Highveld breezes. Autumn's flowers fill open fields and parks and roadside verges, the resilience of Nature reminding me we are temporary, knowing Gaia will prevail despite our worst efforts. paired with photos of open fields cosmos at Delta Park in Johannesburg Artwork for contemplation only; a low-res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/04)

Picture of a wild pink Cosmos in the Delta Park in Johannesburg. Artwork for contemplation only; a low-res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/04

The colors of Autumn
are the colors of withdrawal.

Here on the Highveld
the late Summer rains
awaken the dormant
Cosmos seeds to flower
in early Autumn in
Pinks & Purples & Whites.

…
ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #cosmos #autumn #highveld

Arcadia
…
open spaces, quiet trails
civilization suspended
momentarily
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #open

Today's Headline And then one day, while I read aloud to my husband the news and felt the widening hole in my heart, he raised his hand to quiet me. I followed his gaze out the window to see in the yard a small fluffy thing with black and white eyespots on its head. A northern pygmy owl beside our door, stout body slightly smaller than my fist. It turned its neck a full half circle to look at me with bright yellow eyes. In an instant, I shifted from disgust with the world to awe. Awe for this fierce bespeckled miracle, this wonder of feather and beak and claw, this small being in the grass looking back at me as if to say, Here is also the news. How surprising the world can be. How quickly, when I let it, amazement overwrites my fear and makes of the hole in my heart a home. -Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

#poetry #writingcommunity
#nationalpoetrymonth #poem

Lovely,
makes me realize that,
when the news from the real world
feels overwhelming, to remember,
its not the world that really counts.
That world is a glance away,
asking only that I look for it,
and when I find it to share it.

over an image of spilling ink, this design states: Weekly Prompt: NIFTY, UPBEAT, OPTIMISTIC, CAUTION, TIRED, MANIPULATE use the prompt words, or their evocation in an original write please credit art & photos combo prompts welcome post with the hashtag #inkMine

Peter stood in the dark of the street
listening to the upbeat club sound,
his optimistic mood now a tired
cautionary.

He watched her manipulate her lover
in his nifty grey suit as she had done
him. The manila envelope felt heavy
in his hands.
…
#poem #poetry #Weekly #inkMine

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I personally think it's a good idea, not to fight AI but to clearly label, same as we do with composition on clothes or ingredients on food

Donald Hall, in his poem
To grow old is to lose everything, wrote

"Let us stifle under mud at the pond's edge
and affirm that it is fitting
and delicious to lose everything"

moved me to pen
…
unstifled by anything
we affirm that it is fitting
& right to grow old

#poetry #poem #haikufeels #affirm

haiku: Stolen Privacy
…
the drip dripping sting
negating not affirming
exploited privacy
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #qffirm

as an fyi aside, the custom of wishing "Good Health" after a sneeze is noted in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History" (Book 28, Section 5 for pedants!) because Tiberius insisted on it, so it was widespread by then. It was a well established custom which Gregory used to good effect ;-)

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haiku: Urban Rivers
…
urban rivers flow
spooling tween homes & commerce
channeling city to sea
…
#poem #poetry #haiku #haikufeels #channel
#urbanrivers #citytosee

Francesca Albanese,
special Rapporteur on the
situation of Human Rights
in Palestine, warning the
UN Human Rights Council:
"What Is Lost in Palestine
Will Be Lost to Us All”

while delivering her 8th address on the situation there.
#palestine #gaza

"Francesca Albanese Warns UN Human Rights Council: "What Is Lost in Palestine Will Be Lost to Us All" “On 23 March 2026, addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Francesca Albanese said she stood before the Council with a deep sense of both injustice and resolve: “I have served this council with...

Hatred is taught
empathy’s enemy
compassion’s stranglehold
it breeds criminality
it elects corrupt leaders

#poem #poetry #tanka #haiga
#hatred #corruption #criminality
#thewest #humanrights

substack.com/@teeashby/no...