At dVerse Kim is hosting Meeting The Bar with an invitation to write an acrostic poem using a name – pet, person, someone you know. For more detail follow the link below:
dVerse Poets – MTB – Tell Me Your Name
Olivia is the name of our granddaughter who at four is a dynamo.
Olivia
Outgoing pocket sized human always
living life to the fullest
inexplicably energised, a
veritable cyclonic force
intermezzo
adorable.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Image by Automatron from Pixabay
Jellyfish
Loll lolling
tidal ghosts
ethereal ballerinas
floating lightly,
bridal train of tendrils
feathered out,
oral arms dangling
in silent aural dance,
such grace
lacking in my
twinge of jealousy
as I count my strokes.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under beach, Free Verse, nature, ocean, poem
At dVerse Li is hosting Poetics with an invitation to take inspiration from any of the resources offered about Irish history, mythology and culture, to see the resource follow the link below:
dVerse Poets – Poetics – Irish Blessings
Photo: Statue of St. Patrick found on pinterest.com
To Myth Or Not To Myth
It’s human to myth out
on everything, besides
we enjoy the sly by line
never resorting to a truth,
which is itself a lie
an expropriation of a fantasy
we wanted to assuage
our mundane lives,
and pints aplenty later we’re
none the wiser truth be told
but hey, what fun we’ve had
facts be hung
it’s the mystery that matters.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under Free Verse, Humour, Mythology, poem
For Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge No. 56, A Mother’s Nonet, Willow has invited us to write a nonet (9 lines 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) about a mother, either our own, or an animal mother, your own experiences as a mother.
Photo: Beelup National Park, Mundaring Autumn 2025.
Trees Of Life
She is clothed in the finest of bark
covered in emerald garlands
crowned with exquisite feathers
washed by clear crystal streams
microbes cohabit
insects grace her
she is life
mother
tree
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
At dVerse Merril is hosting Prosery inviting us to write prose up to 144 words which must include the line “It all belies our existence; we wait, and are still denied.” from D.H. Lawrence’s poem ‘Winter-Lull”
dVerse Poets – Prosery – Winter Lull
Photo: found at crimereads.com
Time To Let Go
Buckets of shibboleths, hollow cliches, and empty platitudes. Maybe you heard these too. “Don’t be so critical” “It will become clearer soon enough” “It’ll never happen” “They wouldn’t say that if they didn’t mean it” “It all worked out okay last time” “Give them the benefit of the doubt” “That’s not what we meant when we said …” “Be patient” If I had a dollar …. Always we eschew cynical responses, naturally we want to believe that we are all wanting the best. Hopes and dreams on a thin thread of gossamer. It all belies our existence , we wait, and are still denied. Will we be like this forever, caught up in the vain false hope for the good of those we place our trust in? I think the lines are clearer now, but it will take us time let go our learned, habitual, hollow niceness.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
her form objective
my taste purely subjective
I watch my watching
looking for deep below soul
eschewing the outward signs
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Photo: formlabs.com
Fragile
His recoil surprised me
as if I’d struck him,
though not immediately
it leaked
over days
in splintered cryptics,
once heavily rendered
now uneven shards,
tracing his jaw line
I discovered his
antipathy for
repeated questions.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under Free Verse, poem
Photo: found at betterup.com
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
primordial sludge
disturbances agitate silt
the old darkness rises
feelings held by inward breath
my heart is clear once again
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under life, meditation, mindfulness, poem, reflection, Tanka
At dVerse Sanaa is hosting Open Link Night (with live edition) – the night we choose a poem to post.
Image/quote: found at quotefancy.com
Endless Possibility Creed
I believe in humanity
the possibility of love
I believe in community
the possibility of connection
I believe in gathering
the possibility of belonging
I believe in listening
the possibility of hearing
I believe in attending
the possibility of caring
I believe in silence
the possibility of presence
I believe in others
the possibility of meaning
I believe in myself
the possibility of purpose
I believe in you
the possibility of being
I believe
the possibility of good.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under Free Verse, Good, hope, life, mindfulness, poem
For Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge No. 55, Ekphrastic Poetry, Colleen has invited us to source a work of art and to write a syllabic poem using a syllabic form from the forms list HERE. Select a piece of art as your inspiration! You can either use the painting I shared, OR… Find a piece of art and write your syllabic poem! Don’t describe what is in your painting; instead, let the colours and brush strokes inspire your words. If you write a freestyle poem, you must include a syllabic form with it.
Art work: I painted this in 2014 ‘Easter Lillies’ acrylic on canvas.
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
luscious acrylic
bold blends of nature’s colour
reds ever green blue
palette knife describes a scene
brush strokes carefully refine
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved
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