The image plus a handful of words prompt is one I like a lot, so I’m doing it again this week. Tell me if it’s getting boring, but I have the feeling it’s a popular idea. First, I found this painting, which made my skin crawl just a little. Is it a dream or a nightmare? Are the birds welcoming or defiant? Is it dusk, dawn, a gloomy day or a moonlit night? Why is her right hand half-raised? You decide.
Then I thought of a few suitable words to go with the image:
indigo, cry, night bird, fleeting, forbidden
and I came up with this poem.
Peacock Garden
The cry of the peacock, his raucous voice warning,
Shaking proud plumes in the indigo night.
She enters regardless, the forbidden night garden,
Fluttering feather heart beating in time
To the ripples of anger, the seething bird fury,
Snatching her courage in hooked beak and claws.
The vision is fleeting, the glitter of starlight,
Falling in cold waves on dark distant shores.
His familiar stride, arms swinging, retreating,
Tossing behind him a handful of blooms.
She knows from the sound as they fall by the wayside,
The brittle, sweet fragments of love she will find,
Scattered like tears on the indigo storm wind,
Useless and vain as a peacock’s gold crown.
Leave the link to your poem, any style, any form, in the comments and I’ll post all the entries next Tuesday as usual. You have one week from now…
Jane Dougherty Writes 
And we’re off to a great start! 🙂
What do you think? Maybe my neurones were acting up still yesterday, but I found this painting…interesting.
It is interesting. I think the more I look at it, the more I’ll see. 🙂
Looking forward to what you find 🙂
Such a romantic image, in every sense of the word. I have gone all lush and late Victorian…https://fmmewritespoems.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/the-night-garden
Beautiful, incisive writing towards a matter.
Every line was unfolding an interesring tale. – Cezane
Interesting* sorry for the typo
Thank you 🙂
A lovely idea and a great image. I find it beautiful rather than haunting. Looking forward to joining in! This is a poem with your great prompt words that really got me thinking! Best wishes! TJ
https://amaviedecoeurentier.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/life-is-fleeting/
A lovely idea and a great image. I find it beautiful rather than haunting. Looking forward to joining in!
I’d love to see what you come up with 🙂
Absolutely stunning poem by the way! Both the rhythm and the flow are perfect.
Thank you! I wanted to get a rhythm but not to rhyme. The hope was it would sound sing-song but disjointed too like a strange dream.
An enticing image. I look forward to engaging with it. And your poem creates a rich scene for a night vision…captures the unsettled feelings you alluded to.
It seems like an image with a lot of backstory. That’s why I chose it, and for the ambiguity. I look forward to seeing what you make of it.
https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/secret-garden/
Hello Everyone
This is my entry for this week, a bit of a variety in haiku form. I started down the road of a shadorma but it was not to be:) A great week to all.
Pat
https://thoughtsandentanglements.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/haiku-compilation/
Thanks Pat 🙂 Enjoyed them.
I enjoyed yours as well. Interesting piece of art…it brought all kinds of emotions 🙂
They make the best prompts 🙂
Here’s mine. I went romantic and ballad-y this time. 🙂
https://merrildsmith.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/dusk-in-the-peacock-garden/
Hi Jane, your poem is wonderful, as always. Here’s a simple and short poem to participate this week. https://rimons33.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/nightbirds-calling/
Before I read your poem, but after the intro, looking at the image i thought all of the peacocks are male, and then i read your poem…the mystery of what propels us toward the fragmented, toward what we know will not fulfill us. Is it merely that is forbidden that some souls must tread forward when the signs say go back?
I think it’s something in the female that wants to try and pick up the pieces even when faced with the defiant, senseless, destruction of maleness, and when they know that even mended, what they have will be not worth the trouble. They are just convenient handles, there are men who have the qualities we tend to think of as feminine, and women who are as aggressive and brutish as any gangsta. I saw the garden as his private preserve, the peacocks (rather than peahens) guarding his back, while he swans off into the sunset.
Twilight Zone
https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/poetry-challenge-30-peacock-garden/
Oops! That’s definitely the twilight Zone when it takes you back here! Try this:
https://rivrvlogr.wordpress.com/2016/05/14/peacock-garden/
I thought it was just me 🙂 I found it anyway.
Hi Jane,here’s a triolet series from me
https://srisudhak.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/once-upon-a-time/
Hi Jane, one more go from my side, here’s my Limerick
https://srisudhak.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/in-search-of-her-prince/