Thank you!

Thank you😊

Ballerinas in embrace

#vss365 #poetry #surrealism

I single you out
tread lightly, fool the moon
make shadows my bosom friend

And you, a fever for the #wolves
a constant dream, blood-soaked
passion, a boiling sea of opium

I tread lightly
single you out, kiss the moon
sink into the belly of your skin

I love the images you're using. They're amazing!

A mostly monochromatic gray, black, and white illustration of the god Odin and two wolves (one white and one gray) and a raven. Odin has flowing hair and a flowing beard, an eyepatch, and a single blue eye.

It's April 22, 2026, and today's mythology-inspired #vss365 #prompt: #wolves! As in the wolves of Odin, Geri and Freki.

The Allfather of Norse mythology, Odin is a complex and extremely cool god after whom Wednesday (Odin's day) is named!

Jove Decadent, by Ramon Casas 1899

#vss365 #poetry #surrealism #mentalhealth

a shade of pain
delivered when no-one
understands you

fates sealed in #jade
eyes drift to the next show
the list of ever-growing cries

we could sing
try to water the sorrow
to turn royal blue to gold

The main characters of Journey to the West: the Monkey King, the Jade Dragon, the pig demon, the sand demon, and the Longevity Monk.

It's April 21, 2026, and today's mythology-inspired #vss365 #prompt is #jade! Like the Jade dragon from Journey to the West.

This culturally defining Ancient Chinese epic features a wonderfully colorful main cast, helmed by the wonderfully rebellious Monkey King!

This is great 😊

The dragon god Ryujin, a king of the ocean, overlooking green waters in a robed, long-haired human form. The sea reflects his dragon form.

The April 20, 2026 folklore-inspired #vss365 #prompt: #undersea! As in the coral palace of the Japanese sea god, the dragon Ryūjin (龍神).

A tumultuous and powerful god, Ryūjin can take human form and can be as helpful and benevolent as he can be formidable.

A “Grandiloquent Word of the Day” meme featuring the word “Fustilugs,” with its pronunciation and definitions describing an ill-natured, foul-smelling, or slovenly person. Below, a humorous, barbed example sentence is written in ornate script. To the right, a detailed black-and-white Victorian-style illustration shows a rotund, disheveled man in old-fashioned clothing, gesturing dismissively with one arm raised.

Fustilugs [FUSS-tee-lugz]
(n.)
-An ill-natured, foul-smelling, corpulent person.
-A gross, or frowzy person.

Used in a sentence:
“That loathesome, feculence-steeped, self-aggrandizing fustilugs, offensive to both sense and sensibility, presumes the mantle of a slovenly potentate.”

Oh wow, thank you! That means a great deal to me. I loved the prompt and the image, thank you.

The Ekphrastic Challenges Dear Ekphrastic Writers, A huge thanks to all of you for your magical, moving, masterly writings to Belinda Scott's sculpture. Below you will find a fair selection, but it goes without saying that...

So pleased to be accepted on the wonderful @ekphrasticreview.bsky.social challenge website. Excellent poetry, brilliant prompts. #poetry #ekphrastic
www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrast...

A still from The Postman Always Rings Twice

#vss365 #poetry #surrealism #mentalhealth

I think like rain,
droplets of information
like rolling waves,
dancing snow, perhaps foam

I touch your arm
sounds like crashing
a boat lashed with #seafoam
needing to boil the pain

did we lose ourselves to the sea?
Are we already gone, over the horizon?

Aphrodite or Venus with rosy gold hair riding a white swan with doves and roses around.

The April 17, 2026 mythology-inspired #vss365 #prompt: #seafoam!

In reference to the birth of the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and fertility, Aphrodite.🦢

Friday is associated with her, and with other goddesses associated with her. A day of love and beauty!

Thor in a red furred cloak with long red hair and lightning in the background.

It’s April 16, 2026, and today’s mythology-inspired #vss365 #prompt is #hammer! As in hammer of the gods.

The prompt feels appropriate for today, because it's Thursday; a day of the week named after the Norse god Thor!

The hardback version of Meastra, by LS Hilton

Just finished. #booksky 📚💙

Excellent read. Erotic, dangerous and totally enthralling.

Part one of three. Need to find the others now.

Black and White Linda Thorson as Tara King tied to a chair in The Avengers

#vss365 #poetry #surrealism

my feet stumble
pain tumbles from my lips
as they ache for some acceptance

I can see them fall
each final #word lost in noise
consumed by the pallor of your eyes

hold still while it whirs
our souls caught in monochrome
to haunt the remaining years of curiosity

Really enjoyed these prompts, and your teachings of Afrikaans, thank you.

My run as host ends with another false cognate, which has the same spelling but different meanings. In Afrikaans, this one is to become, but it's a unit of language in English. Many people want the last one, making it apt for today. The #vss365 #prompt for April 15, 2026 is #word

Not Wanting To Be Here: Navigating Passive Suicidal Ideation Suicidal thoughts are well understood. But what's less well known is passive suicidal ideation, and that needs to change, as it poses a risk

Not Wanting To Be Here: Navigating Passive Suicidal Ideation

Suicidal thoughts are well understood. But what's less well known is passive suicidal ideation, and that needs to change as it poses a risk

#Unalive #Depression #Depressed #MentalHealth #Suicide #Mind #Wellbeing #Coping #therapy #Self

A still from La Dolce Vita

#vss365 #poetry #surrealism #mentalhealth

I’m always expected
to keep you in the #loop
and bridge chasms of doubt

to take action when
the crowds have fled
and you remain to dine alone

and you give me
a violent grin, a spike
while we sip gently on our g&t’s

For my penultimate prompt, I'm changing course. A false cognate (or false friend!) has the same spelling in English and Afrikaans, but different meanings. Today's means walk in Afrikaans, but it's a circle or cycle in English. The #vss365 #prompt for April 14, 2026 is #loop

Woman with letters. From Pixabay by Moshehar

#vss365 #poetry #surrealism #mentalhealth

it was the last dispatch
and from then on you
would be free, of cold
of ice veins, of noise mind

I can carry those #letters
treasure them for you
and fold them into my skin
while your voice slips into
the sea, into a soft horizon

In English, it's a retro way of corresponding. In English and Afrikaans, it's a cognate word for the characters, symbols or script in which we read and write. There are about 150 to 300 such systems globally, some no longer used. The #vss365 #prompt for April 13, 2026 is #letters

My time as #vss365 host is nearing its end. Although I genuinely could do this forever - all of you have been so kind and have made it so much fun for me - it gives me great pleasure to introduce our next host, @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social Please go and give her a follow. 😊

Our bodies and the earth mostly consist of it. Some fear it, but we need it to live - or to drown. It separates us and keeps us apart. But we can cross it to explore, escape and reunite. It's a cognate in English and Afrikaans. The #vss365 #prompt for April 12, 2026 is #water

Absolutely.

#BookSky

The Ultimate Avengers, by Dave Rogers. Not a Marvel superhero series, but a much better British surreal TV series.

Bought this yesterday, from World of Books, and it's marvellous.

#booksky 📚💙

Watercolour evening sky with an oil moon

#vss365 #poetry #mentalhealth #surrealism

It hurts
When your words echo
And my dungeon mind
Stirs with barren contempt

My soul falls
Hurtles towards infinity dark
#sink into imprisoned oblivion

In English, it's another word for a washbasin. In Afrikaans, it's a type of metal. In both languages, it's a cognate word meaning to go under, to submerge, to descend, to plunge. The #vss365 #prompt for April 11, 2026 is #sink