Hannibal’s Night Out

The little guy’s here in the pot
and the Leprechaun stew’s getting hot.
I cranked up the heat
‘cuz I can’t wait to eat
(You might think he’s dessert, but he’s not).

Leprechaun stew is a treat.
The meat is so tender and sweet.
It won’t make you sick
and it fills you up quick
with a flavor that just can’t be beat.

So sit down and join me, my queen.
We’ll eat, then we’ll dye our hair green.
Having feasted on stew
there’s not much to do…
Let’s have drinks at the pub and be seen!

——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
Tuesday Poetics – 03.17.26
~Irish Blessings~

>>> A couple days ago (3/15) they celebrated Mothers’ Day in the UK, and today our friend Willow is hosting Tanka Tuesday and asks us to create a Mothers’ Day Nonet to share in the festivities.
>>> I’ve also taken the opportunity to include Fandango’s Word-of-the-Day: “MUFFLE”.

——[||]——
Naptime

You’ve got to close the door; let her sleep.
You’re her mother. Just let her sleep.
She’ll be cranky if you don’t.
(You know you don’t want that.)
So just close her door,
tip-toe around
silently.
Muffle.
Shh…

——[||]——
TankaTuesday
Challenge #56
~ A Mother’s Nonet ~
——[||]——
Fandango’s One-Word Challenge
FOWC 03.17.26
~ MUFFLE ~

“Two-ish,” she says, but
it comes out “twish”
and he’s thinking she’s
speaking a foreign tongue.

“Twish?” he asks.
“Two-ish,” she says again.

“Gotcha. Two”
“Two-ish.”
“Twish. Twish. Gotcha.”

**************

She talks about breakfast, says
“If I have something one day,
I usually don’t want it the next.”
(Not what any fiancé wants to hear).

****************

He asks,
“Could you repeat that?”
and she says “Yes.”
He waits.
“Go ahead,” he says.
“Go ahead what?” she asks.
“Say it again.”
“I said I could,” she replied,
“Not that I would.”

Twenty years later
they celebrated
another anniversary.

The Honesty Lesson

“You’re a friggin’ asshole,” she said
and I didn’t slap her because
she was young (only six years old)
and I admired her accurate assessment.

——[||]——
Sammi Cox
Weekend Writing Prompt #459
~ YOUNG (25 Words) ~
——[||]——
The Daily Spur
03.14.2026
~ HONEST ~

One Way Out

They can try to soothe you
with sitcoms and alcohol or
reefer and video games;
keep you cool by keeping
the gas prices low or by
raising the minimum wage
a couple of pennies per hour,
but we all know by now
none of that shit works;
that the solution’s within:
no matter what they do or
what they tell you to believe,
the fact is the fact:
the world is burning.

The world is burning, but
We’ve all got an extinguisher.
Let’s not look the other way;
Let’s put the fucking fire out.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (LYRICS) – The Beatles – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGPtrhW5Ncw

——[||]——
Poets and Storytellers United
Friday Writings #218 – 03/13/26
~The World Is Burning, But…~

I wrote this in exactly SIX MINUTES in response to Christine Bialczak’s STINE WRITING PROMPT, then spent another 6 minutes editing typos, fidgeting with punctuation, and adding line/stanza breaks…

(Body paint imagery by Jessica Dahl)
——[||]——

CHAMELEON

No one knows
what she looks like
anymore.

She changes it every day
or she lets other people
change it for her.

Sometimes
she doesn’t even look like a person;
looks like a broken toy,
a cherished or neglected pet,
or an embryo,
waiting to make her debut.

The last time I saw her
I said hello,
but she just stared
like she had no idea who I was.

——[||]——
Stine Writing
03.12.26
~Simply Six Minutes~

——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
Open Link Night #403
~OLN 03.12.2026~

Addressing two prompts simultaneously (with my fingers crossed)…

——[||]——

Let’s hope
the sanes rebel
and doors reopen wide
and glum moods lift, and love returns
at last!
At least
it looks like suns might still come up
(and brotherhood survive)
if we just try.
Let’s try.

——[||]——
Ronovan’s Weekly Cinquain
Prompt #43 / 03.11.2026
~ REBEL ~
——[||]——
Esther Chilton’s Weekly
3.11.2026
~ MOOD ~

YUMAGAIN

Since what I had for breakfast was the unfinished panini I brought home yesterday from the East Side Diner (and only enjoyed couple small bites of for last night’s bedtime snack), does that mean I’ve started my day with a mouthful of leftover leftovers?

——[||]——
Fandango’s One-Word Challenge
FOWC 03.11.26
~ LEFTOVERS ~
——[||]——
Linda Hill’s
One-Liner Wednesday
~ A Burning Question ~

Almost Not Home

I could have died there
—and I almost did—
about half a century ago
out there in the Jagger Woods
on one of my stupid, stupid,
stupid midwinter avalanche
see-if-you-can-survive
snowshoe hiking challenges
when halfway down from
the Icefish Mountain peak
(where I’d spent three frozen
days and four icy nights)
the tip of my left snowshoe
snagged, shooting my leg
straight down into a soft
four-foot-deep drift, but
held tight by buried ditchweed
and my right leg straight out
in front of me, its shoe
pointing to Heaven, where
(considering the circumstance)
I hoped I’d end up.

I did. It wasn’t much fun
but I’m still here.

——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
Tuesday Poetics 03.10.26
~Embodying A Landscape~

>>> It’s Quadrille Monday again at the dVerse Poets Pub; time to create a 44-word poem.
>>> This week, we’re asked to create a poem using “Bird” or some derivative thereof.
>>> Thanks to De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) for hosting and getting us started.

——[||]——
Hands Off, Please

It’s not true, what they say
about the bird in the hand;
bushbirds are far more valuable
than most folks give them credit for.

So if it’s okay with you
I’m gonna stay where I’m at,
inhabiting my birdhouse
out here in the sticks.

——[||]——
dVerse Poets Pub
Quadrille Monday #243
~ Bird’s the Word ~