Down by the pond

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAyr

down by the pond we used to swim
not a care in the world – us kids
in our youth we were full of vim
tried to catch some fish and squids

not a care in the world – us kids
swam with our dog and carabao
tried to catch some fish and squids
then we went home for some cacao

swam with our dog and carabao
now we’ve all grown up and apart
then we went home for some cacao
and they’re all still part of my heart

now we’ve all grown up and apart
in our youth we were full of vim
and they’re all still part of my heart
down by the pond we used to swim*

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

* The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.

The design is simple:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza

For: Friday Fictioneers by Rochelle

The Ultimate Blogging Challenge: Day 2

This is going to be based on things that make you happy. It could be something as simple as making a list of your favourite things, or perhaps you could write a poem. It could even be about a certain special person in your life, a close friend maybe. You could write about a memory you share, or just what they mean to you.

it’s all in the mind
simple things make me happy
pure heart, no worries

living with nature
happiness is within our hearts
together with love

sunshine, flowers bloom
birds singing, feeling of content
life is wonderful

Memories of youth
My happiness
When Sabel was young
Naive in the world
I wanted simple things
Ate ice – cream
Played hide-and-seek
Played catch , marbles , yoyo
Rented a bike
Strolled in town
Bathed in a creek
Along with carabao
Memories of youth
My happiness

being with you is magic
magic as in worth living
living a dream forever
forever we grow old and ageing

love is happiness
happiness shared with you
you and I together
together we stick like glue

why is the sky so blue?
blue as the wavy sea
sea breeze and summer dream
dream as my love for thee

the world’s our oyster, the future in our hands
with just a wave of my hard to make out wand

it’s how we look at it, be it a challenge or a setback
if I’m not careful, I’ll find myself sitting on a yak

will we accept the challenge, or will we stop at the first fall?
and shot up all the rest with caffeine, happiness, life and all?

life is not always smooth sailing; there’ll be some setbacks
oh my God, do I feel a knife in my back?

we shouldn’t stop at plan A, there should always be a plan B
I have to take things breezy, gladly and calmly

and if they still don’t work, go on until the last letter plan
though I seem to have misplaced my recipe for flan

Let’s not give up just easily; it’s all a test on our determination
I think it is easy; it’s not thermodynamics or nuclear fusion

For: The Ultimate Blogging Challenge: Day 2

Companion – Daily Prompt

Thomas was so unlike Jessica in all aspects – his eyes narrowed to crinkled slits to her big brown eyes; his bushy eyebrows merging into one and sometimes his eyes crossed in exasperation because of his long eye lashes to her “pretty as a picture” face; his being so mischievous that he was punished on his first day of school for biting a boy’s ear to her quietness. She never really needed to talk because he’s always there, telling them he wants an ice-cream and can they give one to her, too? And while he easily mocked and taunted the others, he seemed to be afraid of making fun of her especially when her big brown eyes gave him a “don’t you dare” look. Their being dissimilar cannot keep them apart. They were the best of friends. Where one went, the other one followed. She whispered to him the answer when the teacher asked him something and he didn’t have a clue of what it was about. He illustrated 2 sketches because she could not draw. She shared her sandwich with him and they ate it together with their drinks. And he walked her home every single day, even though his house was on the opposite side of town.

For: Companion

SL-WEEK 49 : VINTAGE

Photographs and memories
Of many moons ago
When ancestors were still here
Telling us stories of what they had
Of histories and struggles
Of freedom and hope
My parents when they were 18
Young love, of faiths and dreams
Our family on our grandparents’ day
Celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary
With all the children and grandchildren
A photo with my siblings and our Mom
The youngest not even born yet
And me when I was five, as a queen
One dancing the Hawaiian dance
And one with my Dad pinning my medal

For: SL-WEEK 49 : VINTAGE by Sylvain LANDRY. Also for: OBW 152 ~ Old

Love and Saying Goodbye

(5) Words: | CHILD | TALK | HOME | TIME | PLAY |

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard,” Winnie the Pooh said that. As a child, I remembered reading about Pooh and his friends by A.A. Milne at home.  Talking of childhood memories, I remembered playing with my siblings and cousins in the street of Dapitan – hide-and-seek, cycling, patinteros and running a lot. Those were the times when we didn’t worry about things like poverty, politics, safety and other day-to-day problems. We just enjoyed playing, having lots of fun and doing our own adventures together. Then we all grew up and soon leaving our nests one by one. But one thing for sure, we’ll always be there for each other and we all know that we’re lucky to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

For: Writing Prompt #159 “Collage 23” and Weekly Writing Prompt #37

Generation – Daily Prompt

Good day everyone! I loved my grandparents. My granddad or Tatay as I called him, was a very clever and educated man. He read a lot and that was were I got this habit of reading. When I visited him, there would always be some books that he was reading or had read and he wanted to share some parts or quotes to me. I could also borrow them later. When I had some awards in school and needed to say a speech, he wrote it for me. We also did some crossword puzzles together. And as for my Granny or Nanay, I learned a lot from her – how to be strong and independent. She gave all her grandchildren (girls, mostly) the same piece of material and we ended up wearing the same dress, but with different designs. She had a small store at the end of her life and when we were there for a holiday, we helped her. She gave us some sweets or small present afterwards. She was an interesting cook, she would mix one weird ingredient to another and voila! a meal (not to everyone’s taste, but bless her soul, we tried to eat it).

Look at this black and white photo
Golden anniversary of our grandparents
We were all there, some not even born
Most of them were not with us anymore
And so with this in mind, my homage

Tatay was my idol, a great reader
Died of Parkinson’s disease, still reading
He put the meanings of the difficult words
Wrote them in pencils at the side of books

Nanay, still beautiful in her old age
Long wavy hair, deaf as a post
Her cooking, shall we say, creative
Mixing things we normally don’t mixed

Tia Carol and Tio Fred, both in heaven
Both doctors, humble as pies
Good storytellers, took life leisurely
Spoke the dialect I cannot understand

Tio Alex, bless his soul, only brother
Worked in Customs, good looking
Tia Ludy, still with us, still elegant
Brought the kids on her own

My Mum, my darling mother
Pregnant with our youngest brother
My Dad, I still miss him, now gone
Memories in our hearts and souls

All siblings and cousins
Now all with own families
We used to play together
Our own family portrait

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

my family, my flesh and blood
for that I can sing a ballad
we all take it in great humour
all different but similar

my father’s a chef, mum’s teacher
brother’s nurse, sister a babbler
our dog woofs, of course, our cat purrs
all different but similar

we are there when one’s in trouble
and we are rich in wise counsel
we like food, crackers and cheddar
all different but similar

my family, my flesh and blood
all different but similar

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: Generation

Jolly Fun

THIS WEEK’S WORDS come from “Weather” by Linda Pastan: menace, father, black, childhood, blocking, light, speak, throwing, window, plain, dazzling, after

Imagine something wonderful happening to you in this house.
What is it?

my childhood memories
dazzling, fun so to speak
us children making a mess
always a menace, plain to see
throwing and kicking ball
tackling, blocking, catching
one time hit the window
boy, my father was mad
after that we were grounded
we didn’t mind, things to do
played games, listened to music
dyed my hair black
that was my Goth era
my siblings bursting with light
full of beans before breakfast
friends came over, jolly fun

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: The Sandbox Writing Challenge 38 — Something Wonderful and Whirligig 57 by Magical Mystical Teacher

Y is for Yoyo

A poetic form created by Lencio Dominic Rodrigues, the Lento is named after it’s creator, taken from his first name Lencio and rhymed to Cento, an existing form of poetry.

A Lento consists of two quatrains with a fixed rhyme scheme of abcb, defe as the second and forth lines of each stanza must rhyme. To take it a step further, but not required, try rhyming the first and third lines as well as the second and forth lines of each stanza in this rhyming pattern: abab, cdcd. The fun part of this poem is thrown in here as all the FIRST words of each verse should rhyme. There is no fixed syllable structure to the Lento, but keeping a good, flowing rhythm is recommended.

like a yoyo, you play with it, make it spin
suchlike it, there’s always a string attached
bike and roller-skate and other games, such fun
hike, climb, run, hide-and-seek and some match

back to yoyo and games we used to play
track and field, football and volleyball
knack for it or not, doesn’t really matter
jack of all trades, depending on the call

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: Just one day left in NaPoWriMo and Y – You, Your, You’re and You Are “AWESOME”

Venus on Earth

I’ve known Venus since she was born. She’s so beautiful and the youngest in their family and they used to live two doors away from us. We used to call her Nono when we were kids, you know how each one has some sort of nicknames. Anyway, Venus is my cousin, her father was my father’s brother (in spirit, because they grew up together). Venus and her siblings (4 of them) and us (also, 4 of us) were really, really close, as in best mates in everything. We played together, went on holidays together, did all the usual teen-ager fun, parties, secrets, messing around, experiments, and on and on. We shared a lot of experience and memories. Now we are all in different parts of the world with our own families, but we still keep contact with each other and through social media, have seen each other’s photos and have known each other’s news. Last year, Venus and her husband went to Europe for their holidays and my brother and mother saw them in the UK. And every time I fly back to the Philippines, I see them. So she’s our gorgeous Venus on earth.

For: It’s All In The Title – #Writespiration 86 by Sacha Black

 

Family Portrait

Look at this black and white photo
Golden anniversary of our grandparents
We were all there, some not even born
Most of them were not with us anymore
And so with this in mind, my homage

Tatay was my idol, a great reader
Died of Parkinson’s disease, still reading
He put the meanings of the difficult words
Wrote them in pencils at the side of books

Nanay, still beautiful in her old age
Long wavy hair, deaf as a post
Her cooking, shall we say, creative
Mixing things we normally don’t mixed

Tia Carol and Tio Fred, both in heaven
Both doctors, humble as pies
Good storytellers, took life leisurely
Spoke the dialect I cannot understand

Tio Alex, bless his soul, only brother
Worked in Customs, good looking
Tia Ludy, still with us, still elegant
Brought the kids on her own

My Mum, my darling mother
Pregnant with our youngest brother
My Dad, I still miss him, now gone
Memories in our hearts and souls

All siblings and cousins
Now all with own families
We used to play together
Our own family portrait

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: fourth day of NaPoWriMo 2016