February 2024 Poetry Challenge A: 5 in 99

[29wordsforsnow]

As February is the shortest month, this year with a twist, let's make this short: it's a quick revival of the beloved 5 senses challenge thread. Choose a set of 5 senses from the following, one word from each category, list - random picks from the original thread:

Taste: pomegranate / bubble gum / chocolate / salty / breakfast half remembered
Touch: sand / sticky / satin / grass / second base
Scent: sandalwood / coffee / chrysanthemum / bleach / hot and close-pressed humanity
Sight: red / smoke / dancing / birds bathing / souvenir shop knickknacks
Sound: breathe / (door)bell / silence / sirens / power tools

and write a poem consisting of not more than 99 syllables - yes, we've got no time, the month is almost over! Regarding the prompts, the meaning counts not the exact wording.

Since all good things come in threes: You must Break the Rule! Whatever poetry form you choose deliberately flaw it. Whether you make it a 4-7-6-heyku, a free form with hidden rhymes in plain sight, or a trianglet going diagonal, it's up to you to overstep the red line.

For you Overachievers:
Bonus Challenge 1 - "Aaaaaw, you're so...!": Write a poem on Valentine's Day with the set of the least romantic words from the list above.
Bonus Challenge 2 - "Last, but not least": Welcome to the Leap Year, my dear friends! This poem must be written on the 29th of February! Use the same prompts from the last poem published in this challenge thread (the deadline is midnight of the 28th Greenwich Time) and write a poem with all the three rules from the main challenge.

Comments, Criticism, and Cheering go to the official 2024 Poetry Challenge Discussion Thread

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Taste: salty
Touch: second base
Scent: chrysanthemum
Sight: dancing
Sound: breathe

A Sample of Swing

The jazz-buzz of my lungs​

mixed legs, chested hands, your kisses

salty chrysanthemum​

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Taste: pomegranate / bubble gum / chocolate / salty / breakfast half remembered
Touch: sand / sticky / satin / grass / second base
Scent: sandalwood / coffee / chrysanthemum / bleach / hot and close-pressed humanity
Sight: red / smoke / dancing / birds bathing / souvenir shop knickknacks
Sound: breathe / (door)bell / silence / sirens / power tools


I take my coffee

I take my coffee
Wettened with smoke of morning,
Sprinkled with salty sea air,
And warmed by siren fizzes
Of surf kissing sand

 

[Angeline]

Sandalwood Daydream

Chocolate takes us to second base,
sweetness transferred apace from tongue
to tongue, while silence drapes the night,
still young, with curls of incense,
swallows, intense gasps, soft murmurs.

 

[Tzara]

Taste: pomegranate / bubble gum / chocolate / salty / breakfast half remembered
Touch: sand / sticky / satin / grass / second base
Scent: sandalwood / coffee / chrysanthemum / bleach / hot and close-pressed humanity
Sight: red / smoke / dancing / birds bathing / souvenir shop knickknacks
Sound: breathe / (door)bell / silence / sirens / power tools

Hades

Sticky, wet, and red,
these seven pomegranate seeds
bound Persephone
to his solemn bed. Silence,
not chrysanthemums, graced
her loss of maidenhead.

Form: corrupt tanka

 

[Remec]

Persephone (11111, broken tritina)

She sucked each of them dry,
a mere six pomegranate seeds,
and breathed in the stagnant Underworld air;

pondered how her exhaled air
gently stirred the red, dry
sandalwood-scented dust upon the seeds

surrounding her, planting the seeds
of her mother’s disappointment in the very air,
until coating her clothes and body, leaving both sand dry;

Now, that air and those seeds leave the world cold and dry for half of the year.

 

[Remec]

Morning With Murphy (broken tanka, 22222)

The doorbell calls out,
announcing her arrival with a metallic shout;
I dash to rinse a sticky hand,
hoping the smell of fresh coffee will countermand
the lingering smoke in the kitchen, my mouth numb
from nerves overriding the flavor of my bubblegum.

 

[AlinaX]

I sculpted Aphrodite from darkest chocolate
lithe and voluptuous, her kisses bitter
but lips of sticky caramel

I detest the crush of lovers seeking the divine
Amidst slaughtered roses and meaningless cards
With packaged spontaneity

I'd sooner buy knickers, or some souvenir knickknack
From a brothel to adorn my goddess
To adore my goddess
In silence

ETA: Well, sort-of.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Taste: salty
Touch: grass
Scent: hot and close-pressed humanity
Sight: red
Sound: sirens

The Army of Mothers boils in anger
when the sirens' song reads escalation
roses in hand - blood-red - bed the grass
wool-lined tear-stops against the cold
detention danger in an old badass nation

 

[goldytheGoldfish]

Cheating on Valentine's Day

Hurts more than a lecture from dear old mom herself.

Everyone knew she was mean

Especially when she'd been drinking.

Reflective moments perfect themselves in an

Introvert's mind in a way that makes you wonder if they're ever going to run

Out of

Space

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Taste: breakfast half remembered
Touch: sand
Scent: bleach
Sight: smoke
Sound: power tools

V's-Day Special

in blankets, we sit, watch
breath embraced by bleach
as smoke hugs our house
motors and engines screech
our lives at close distance
was it something like peach
I had this very morning
is now completely out of reach
but deep inside your pocket
sand remembers that beach
I found the words last year
You...you are my rock

 

[Tzara]

Taste: salty
Touch: satin
Scent: coffee
Sight: red
Sound: power tools

Sunday Morning, Closing in on Noon

The French press,
half-empty on the dresser
still wafts the scent

of Sumatran roast
throughout the bedroom.
I stroke the red satin

of her négligée,
idly lick at the slight
salt rime left on her skin

from our earlier play,
and switch on her favorite toy.
Time to get back to work.

 

[Remec]

taste: chocolate
touch: satin
scent: chrysanthemum
sight: dancing
sound: silence

A Break-Up (freeform, 33333)

Over;
Not something I expected,
especially on Valentine’s Day,
She was on the dance floor
until she noticed me in the
shadowed hallway,
then it was like being swept up
in a cloud of satin and fresh
chrysanthemums, having her
try and smother me in
chocolate flavored kisses,
whispering, “Sorry, I’ll always love
you, but I just can’t any more.”
And she danced away, leaving me in
Silence.

 

[Angeline]

Not a Double Dactyl (not even trying)

Higgledy Piggledy
Barbie the fashion doll
wears bubblegum pink,
plastic toes in the sand
while Ken's at the bleach house
dancing to silence:
he may be Kenough
but he's not a real man.

 

[XShadynzX]

Taste: Breakfast half remembered
Touch: Sticky
Scent; Coffee
Sight: Red
Sound: Silence



I remember that day
The day we spoke about what we liked

Breakfast half remembered in my mouth
Toast cold, sticky with honey

The scent of coffee filling the air
The red of your shirt seemed to glow brighter in the new light of day

Even as we talked, I could sense the end
that short pause before you spoke

and then
Silence

 

[29wordsforsnow]

So, the official 29th Special Prompts:

Taste: Breakfast half remembered
Touch: Sticky
Scent; Coffee
Sight: Red
Sound: Silence

between pencils, paper and the alluring nose-tease of a dark roast
it's the quiet moment, the dried tears stopping fingers across my cheek
all we needed to feast on, sunrise kisses now zombies on my lips
watching your lunch, the red mouth that isn't mine

 

[XShadynzX]

So, the official 29th Special Prompts:


between pencils, paper and the alluring nose-tease of a dark roast
it's the quiet moment, the dried tears stopping fingers across my cheek
all we needed to feast on, sunrise kisses now zombies on my lips
watching your lunch, the red mouth that isn't mine

In silence I sit and watch that old movie
You know the one,
The one that brings back memories of a breakfast only half remembered now
Sticky cinnamon rolls on white plates before us
Our laughter ringing out and birds singing their morning song
Our red cups, bright and shiny
Sit on my shelf gathering dust
I can still smell the coffee, rich and dark (mine with milk and sugar)
Yours as dark as you liked it

I switch off the projector and sit, once more,
In silence