This #haiku smells like #Poe fanservice. Unless perhaps, I'm flexing my Hammer. In neither case, I #sunk no small amount of time #writing this tarn #poem. If you #read it closely, you might find one or two #literary devices buried... inside. I apologise for the smell. #vss365 #poetry #prose

Like Usher's House sank, in swamp the kitchen did #sink. Still lingers its stink. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem ##verse #prose #emoetry #vss365 #writing #horror #poe #literature #gothic

This #poem: a tale tooled together without toil, not #sung, but intoned. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #haiku #HaikuSky #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem ##verse #prose #emoetry #vss365 #writing

I never developed a taste for swan. In fact, I have no swan-tasting skills whatsoever. I doubt St. Peter is #blind to my unswanly dispositions, but neither did I claim to be the patron saint of silent swans, roasted or otherwise. #vss365 #prose #writing #Dorset #England

It was ever rewarding to receive a cheque in the mail. Better still when that cheque was cash. Banknotes saved me a trip to Hoare's—preventing me from saving money that was better off spent. Long, hushed #bank lines left me spent, too tired to spend the money I wished not to save. #vss365 #prose

Lo, an inner tube ambling down the River Ewe, withdrawn from its #bank. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem ##verse #prose #emoetry #vss365 #writing

The southpaw adjusts the sheet accordingly, lest they trail the freshly-laid #ink — an occupational negotiation familiar to any left-handed #writer of letters. #vss365 #prose #poem #poetry #verse #writing

I repeat: there was no finer #writing potion than Stephens' Blue-Black. Yet the blue, the black—and the black-blue—were all of equal #inkly merit. *I am not, nor shall I be again, affiliated with the inky proprietor of 191 Aldersgate Street. I swear it on my own Stephens' crimson. #vss365 #prose

An #ink could stain a reputation as readily as a page. But when you spotted Stephens' Scarlet or Diamine upon your copy, you knew the business was as serious as their #writing fluid. #vss365 #prose #poetry

The woman emerged in a dripping jacket, #arms carried damp to the elbow. The legend on her sopping tee-shirt read I LOVE CANALS, though not in its entirety. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem ##verse #prose #emoetry #vss365 #writing

If you're visiting #Mars, start with Olympus Mons. Then head north along the Vas Deferens to where red #sands bridge the Omar Shaw Reef. Skip the Matt Damon crater—it's much smaller in person. Basically a shallow pit. #vss365 #scifi #writing #poetry #prose #sciencefiction

Robin Williams recited a Martian #haiku about red #sand, although the regolithic #poetry concerned his summer vacation in outer space. I can't totally recall, but it was at least twenty Mars years ago. #writing #poem #prose #sciencefiction #vss365 #scifi #scifisat

Red #sand 'tween my toes barefoot stroll on Martian soil up Olympus Mons #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #blueskypoetry #vss365

There are no #poems about for #poemsabout. I'm prone to compose a #prose, but I have doubts about what I should #write about. If my #pen bleeds out—not knowing what I'm supposed to be #writing about—will it bear the same notes I would've #written had I known what the poem was to be about? #vss365

Stephens' blue-black has never failed me. The #pen has, when the nib was not equal to the fluid. The paper has, when it bled or feathered under good ink honestly applied. The order of blame is always the same, or never the same, if I'm #writing in blood, or pencil. #vss365

Reminds me of my good friend, Annette, a risk-taker; a RISK player—always pushing the boundaries. One had to pretend not to notice when she discreetly slid her wooden, yellow armies into Yakutsk. Annette played on the edge—without a net—which made retrieving footballs complete bollocks. #vss365

If the wine is talking, then the wine is also sitting in the garage smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana, drinking, and posting into the void. Listen #man, at some point someone needs to sit the wine down and have a quiet word about what it's drinking. #vss365 #prompt #prose #writing

That #pen was expensive, I recalled, #pensively. So too were the linen shirts the ink stained, leaving its mark on both the fabric and my fountain #pen #writing memories. The #pen was originally a gift from my tailor, Mark Taylor. #vss365 #emoetry #prose #poem

I remember my first fountain #pen, though I doubt it remembers me—despite the amount of personal information I committed to its care. That said, I also remember the smudges produced when my left hand dragged behind the nib and swept across the wet ink. So, I can scarcely blame the #pen. #vss365

Last New Year's Eve, Adam and I went to Applebee's for their rib special, and, #man, they tasted like paradise. We'd planned on Olive Garden, but Adam said he wasn't allowed back there due to an issue with the manager. #vss365 #writing #reading #storytelling

Haikus are far out. They're groovy bitchin' poems. Can you dig that, #man? #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #vss365

"Destroy that planet!" #Exalted Emperor sneers, wringing his evil hands. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #vss365

Fionnbharr, an #exalted fairy king of western Irish folklore, was one example, but also more examples, because he was also Finvarra, Fin Beara, and Finnegan the Fair, the finest, fairest king the Otherworld e'er saw or is likely to—and fock anyone who says otherwise. #vss365 #folklore #prose #poem

It was explained to me—repeatedly—by an Irish folklore expert, that the Tuatha Dé Danann, royal Irish fairy folk, were often depicted as kings, queens, and other high-status super dupernatural beings connected with this, that, and the Otherworld. #vss365 exalted #writing #folklore #Irish

"#Exalted spirits, I beseech thee pallid wisps— the mists heed me not." #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #blueskypoetry #vss365

While air #buds blossom, my dog skips winn-dixily through the free willies. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #blueskypoetry

Already finished, yet I’m just getting started. Okay, now I’m done. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry

“My Hero, #Zero,” sum of the math students sang— believe it or naught. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry

Tilling, and toiling. All that reaping... and sowing! (Not in that order.) #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #yield

I was becoming rather friendly with the society members, that is, until the afternoon of my disqualification, for #conduct, unbecoming. And a severe lack of becoming on top of that, no less. This is why I remain wary of organizations whose cloaks are made of rabbit fur and crushed velvet. #vss365

These odd fellows were peculiar indeed. But only in #conduct, appearance, and behaviour. They had their solemn rituals. They wore full regalia, carried revered insignia of office—except for that one fellow with an enormous studded paddle. I believe he was a volunteer. #vss365 #prose #poetry

I knew a beauty pageant contestant named Ms. #Conduct — twas written on her sash. Speaking of pageants, a fraternal lodge, an ancient order, honoured me with a sash—which I promptly dishonoured with my disorderly conduct—using the sash as a serviette. I certainly won no awards that night. #vss365

I believe the whole a-musing enterprise arose from a clerical error—a Newcastle publisher mistook Ernest Rhys for John Rhys, a Celtic professor at Oxford. Ernie earned the title retroactively, once Yeats had finished the volume—absent the word #sprite. #vss365 #prose #writing #folklore

The #sprites, the crooked shapes of Terror, the damned grotesques— making arabesques. They came from his phantasmagoria. They lived in his wallpaper. #vss365 #writing #prose #reading #poetry #english

An honest eye will distinguish gold from gilt: illusory splendour. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry #vss365 #illusive

Insect on approach. "Dragonfly, you're cleared to land. Touch LILY PAD SIX." #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry

Nan were #resolved on gettin' kisses off her grandchildren. Aye, she were reet set on it. Gave 'em slices of her sugar-free apple pie, she did. Washed it down with dandelion and burdock. "Eh, look at you lot. Come on then, my lambs—lips all puckered up lovely. Nan's earned a kiss now." #vss365

Penny did whistle. Trilling and phweeting on her new penny whistle. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry

I always thought Granny Smith was a little tart. I mean, of course, the apple namesake. #poemsabout #inbloom #writing #prose #poetry #darkfairytales #poem #emoetry #inkmine #vss #apples

Woodwinds and willows, wistful, weepin' lullabies— warblin' with our dreams. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry

What #fascinated me? How my #poet friends woke at noon, devoted their afternoons to party-prepping, caroused all night, let carriage drivers haul their drunken arses home at dawn, fumbled twenty minutes with the latchkey, scrawled a few incoherent lines of sodden verse, and called it a day. #vss365

#Fascinate? But there's so much more #Tempest content to share! Like when the Merton Chair assigned me to a senior for tutoring, but the boy hadn't read Ovid and knew nothing of Prospero's debt to Medea. When I saw him clutching Golding's translation, I realized I was the tutor. #vss365

Frank Benson, yes, the Greek-queen-from-the-Oxford-Agamemnon Benson, studied for The #Tempest at the Zoological Gardens—"The cocoanuts," they wrote. "Another monkey in the Baboon House." Monkey House? In either house, one questions the method. My only monkey business was with The Marx Bros. #vss365

Thomas Hardy distilled in thirteen words? It is no trifling labour to force such breadth of feeling and place into such a scant measure. One might as well attempt to gather sea-wind, woodland shade, and the weight of rising into the hollow of one's hand as press it into a #haiku. #prose #poetry

One of the first essays set by the English School was on The #Tempest. I still had my composition from grammar school. Taking the Paddington to see it performed at Stratford was, I felt, academic preparation, though as it turned out, the stage machinery was better rehearsed than the actors. #vss365

I wake, and I rise from under the greenwood tree; Weymouth #coast awaits. #HaikuFeels #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry

Those were the moments the universe—and my physician—were telling me to take a break. Rest the hands. Purge the #frustration. Listen to The Happy Gang, Amos 'n' Andy, and Fibber McGee & Molly on the wireless, though not all at the same time. If I could turn the bloody knobs! #vss365 #prose #writing

And most #frustrating of all? Well, certainly the flaying. But after that? A casual sentence risked becoming a social document. And social documents had the brattish habit of becoming real ones. The coarsely choleric Marquess of Queensberry managed it with a visiting card and a howler. #vss365

Class etiquette, a #frustrating exercise at every turn. One could not merely speak—not without being baulked, corrected, or verbally flayed with one's own words. One was bounden to speak upward, downward, laterally, deferentially, guardedly, or with the correct shade of indifference. #vss365 #prose

Skinless banana— It had the right to a peel. The jury was split. #HaikuFeels #appeal #verse #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #writing #poem #reading #verse #prose #inkmine #emoetry