vox poetica
prompts
Because we all need a creative push from time to time and amazing things happen when great pictures inspire great words! Art will be posted here for your inspiration, so look, write the poem you're spurred to write, and submit it here: prompts@voxpoetica.com (please include your name and the city where you write). Selected submissions will be posted here and the art will change from time to time (timing will depend on how much prompt writing you talented people can tolerate) so check in often to see what's been written and what the next picture looks like. Here's the first poem inspired by this photograph. Write your own and add another dimension.
Photo: Neptune's Court, by Annmarie Lockhart, 2010
Maybe in Ithaca
By Annmarie Lockhart
You leave tomorrow.
And so begin my pilgrimages,
daily, to sea-edge temple.
I will bring sand-specked gifts,
whispered adorations, devout
requests, for I am weak.
I fear this stony god
of the deep will stand mild
aside and let the storms ride
for envy and want of the
fine man's legs that carry you
off to fight another king's battle.
Fear Not
By Ray Sharp
You know I'd rather
salt-sow the rocky fields
of this island of proud men
Than be tide-tugged
by solemn vows and
maelstroms of gods' caprices,
But do not doubt
your down-shore supplications
will be borne to me when
That kelp-clad tyrant
blusters briny winds, as daily
my longing for you increases.
Neptune
By Jeanette Cheezum
Neptune was chosen, not his brothers, Apollo or Zeus;
to guard the harbor and command the sea. Ancient warriors
attempted to trick him, but none could. His job was to calm the
waters while mariners prepared to feed their families, and stop
the dragons that roared and pillaged. The emerald seas were filled
with treasure not to be squandered on mere monsters.
Sunlight shone on Neptune's crown, brought seafarers home
with bounty to nurture. Mermaids relaxed with pleasure, knowing
he'd protect them and not allow mere mortals to steal them for
questionable fantasies.
Humans continue to worship him and carry on his legacy. Myth or not
his image is majestic.
Legends
By Mark Gooch
Era of Gods and their brutal control
Bold Travelers
Searching for lands,
Distant shores with perils unknown
Raging seas,
Howling winds
Sea monsters turn you to stone
No rest
No peace
Mermaids sing their seduction song
Life was hard
Love was rare
Dangers abound
Only the brave would dare
Conquer the life of the sea.
Rise and Fall of Neptune
By Clarissa McFairy
Some fig leaf you are wearing,
Neptune!
Is this quilted covering
your quest for quietude
after a night of bliss
on the heaving ocean bed?
Look as thunderous as you like,
God of Storms,
and Earthquakes too?
You are not god of Me,
but a man, who trembles
at each ripple and satin touch
of my sapphire negligee.
I am the Sea,
who swishes and sways
and sweeps you into the deep
where waves of passion
rock you to your sleep.
So quit grandstanding there,
granite-faced "god."
I have seen you and your trident
tumble from your rocky reef,
and know that you are human
under the fancy fig leaf.
I Swim With Fishes
By Nick Hawkins
Ascend into the light, free yourself from the constraints of your mind ...
I see you swim with fishes.
Indulge me with tides of nature, help me finally let go ...
Follow wishes and touch light on moments that close your eyes ...
then smile.
Dive deep and long into waves of pleasure until you can sleep.
Awake only to the ripples of fulfilling thoughts floating into serenity ...
Babylon sings only from the depths of these linear waters.
Search skies in reminiscing tranquility of what might have or may be.
Influence your roads and miles with the infectious aromas you emit ...
only stopping to say hello and goodbye to the few deemed suitable.
Civility costs nothing and beauty is given to those humble enough to embrace it.
I come into the light and sit here to see you from a faraway place ...
Can I swim with fishes?
Indulging within boundaries you dance around gives rise to being watched, but also attended.
My needs were never these and my footsteps are in strange sand and yet I breathe with the ease of being free.
Your tides of nature have swamped my incompetencies and given me hope to understand what I never have.
Lying still I ascend into the light and travel home from where I am now ...
and then I smile.
It's not about rhythm, soul, rhyme, or song, it's about life.
Your strength has given what I wanted you to have and your kindness breeds ...
until the time we say goodbye.
Until then, I swim with your fishes.
the flight of Aeneas
By Joanna Lee
I sing of arms and the man
born to bear them 'gainst
the wrath of wild horses and
the terror of a tortured earth
chained to a bed of storm,
for where Poseidon shakes
his salt-licked mane and pounds
his three-pronged tempest stave, there
no man nor beast nor sea herself
can rest unwearied through the night
and refugees from fire and death
find no respite; strong shoulders
must carry not only the burden
of aging feet but also the wrath
of aging gods
Mid-marriage, high tide
By Cassie Premo Steele
his gray Atlantic swells,
his sad wife sits at a table,
waiting to be served.
there are mockingbirds
and martins and seagulls.
you can't hear them
over the way he yells
at his wife. there is anger
like split seashells
under our steps.
everything ends.
so much we can't
remember. and yet,
we keep walking
along the shore.
we keep getting wet.
sometimes we can
forget. we go swimming.
Waist Deep
By Nathaniel Spears
Waist deep in this sea of life
All I have is my staff
I ponder as I choose my path
Atlantic or Pacific
Which way is terrific?
Swallowed up in this sea, I begin to be
Waist deep, water over my knees
Surrounded by millions of fish
Which one do I pick
I need a keeper
In this ocean I seek her
My staff in hand
I'm a leader
Drowning in this sea I'm in.
Neptune
By Mildred Speidel
For centuries I lay at the
bottom of the ocean floor
waiting to be found
My powers gone, yet I
longed for someone to
find my likeness, to
bring it ashore
Would the masses know
me now? Would they
bring sacrifices anymore?
Will I be made a fool of
in the pages of history?
Remember my deeds
I stirred the oceans
I caused the earth to
shake, I ruled the seas
Storms, came on demand
I am Neptune!! Son of
Saturn and Ops
Never forget that
Never!
Our Poseidon Adventure
By Marla Deschenes
We shall shiver before Poseidon on our knees for what we have done.
We have forgotten that we, like the Sea, are but water
And that our mother sustains us with silent loving care
That sometimes is nothing but silent pain.
Poseidon has watched our decline in what we have done to the Sea.
His angry eyes, flashing deep, are those possessed only by a god.
He has watched his companions die.
His waters blackened with the oil stolen from the Earth's breast.
Who will stand up for the humans and the misled invincibility?
Who will, with wringing hands, face our demise with fearless beating heart?
The only explanations of our pain inflicted are greed and luxury
And the carelessness of thinking we are in control.
The Sea will whisper her words of forgiveness in Poseidon's ear
But this, with gentle wave, will be the last time she cares for us.
She is beaten and battered from our neglect
And Poseidon lies in wait to enact his revenge for what we have wrought.
Without a Trace
By Lisa Nielsen
I tried to moisten those indelible pecs
with warm wet kisses
but your stony resolve
would have none of it
It was an exercise in futility, really
did I think it was possible
to buff up those rough edges
like some crazy sander
on a mission to smooth out the world?
Instead I am clawing my way out
of a synapse of seaweed and salty tears
the taste of you stinging my lips
on the familiar highway home
Creative Detonation
By Sara Fryd
Exotic photographs of images
Of landscapes
Taken by alternates shock me awake
Yet, again ...
My brain ceases to comprehend
The meanings of their creative forces
Until ...
Appearing as visual jolts of images
That trigger words in patterns
Of fabric, of caramel signs in earth
Of blue sounds in air thru Aspen leaves
Turning gold, then red on arms of
Black striped white bark
Reaching for the sky with empty hands
French lace colored shallow waves
Sweeping in from the calm cashmere ocean
At dusk ...
A gold cotton candy sky
Filled with sugary blush clouds
Of photographers souls
Taken another time, another place
Touch my heart, my soul, my mind
Then seep through my fingers
On to paper, then into thin air
Through the Eye of the Fish
By Bobbie Troy
majesty is calmed
might is made human
swells are tamed
rocks are softened
when seen
through the eye of the fish
Poseidon
By Meg Harris
The stars fly
from your fingertips;
the little children
of your netting.
You stoop under
the tender branch
of the sun,
as any father might;
stepping carefully
over treetops,
across canyons,
until you cross the desert,
and leap into the
depths of sea.
