Prunella preferred pugs
As a matter of fact
Not cats
All whiskers and fur and sitting on laps
Not for her.
Prunella preferred pugs
Snug as a bug in a rug
with her dog in a shrug
By the fireside.
In the winter.
©Alison Jean Hankinson.
The image is from pixabay and is free to use.
It was a beautiful Saturday up on the Solway Firth with my dad, there was a slight hint of “autumn” in the early morning and early evening, but a lovely sense of sun and summer still in the air. I drove up to spend the day with dad and we played around with telescopes and binoculars on the estuary, watching herons and swans and other local bird life.
Driving home, still keen to squeeze the last moments out of a beautiful late summer day I came off the motorway a couple of junctions early at Crooklands so I could drive down the A6 to see if the deer were close to the river at Dallam Park. A perfect time of day to see the sun shining through the branches along the riverbank. I wasn’t able to stop to take pictures so have had to use one I took up in Scotland on August Bank Holiday weekend. It felt like the last of the summer sun and by the time I had got home there was a chill in the air.
Twilight sun shimmer
Deer grazing by the river
Sense of Autumn chill.
©Alison Jean Hankinson.
Today the prompt for dVerse Haibun Monday is komorebi which means sun that shines through the branches.
The feature image was taken at Threave just over a week ago, the other picture is of Dallam park, the deer shed is very near the river and the deer often congregate here. The image was labelled for reuse under creative commons- © Copyright Karl and Ali and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Perseus pursued the mortal Gorgon
Elusive Medusa with her head full of snakes
Reticent to cast a glance like others before him
Into her petrifying eyes with their stone-cold stare
Winged sandals gifted by Hermes to fly him to the lair
Immortal Athena supplied a shield his gaze to spare.
Nightfall invisible in his cap he approached
Killing her brutally with his magical sword as she slept
Life extinguished her blood spilled forth from which
Emerged Pegasus the winged horse and his sibling Chrysaor.
Brave and bold as he returned home
Love blossomed with Andromeda.
Uplifted from her sacrificial rock, he gazed upon her
Eyes the colour of periwinkle blue.
©Alison Jean Hankinson
This is a second contribution for d’Verse– Frank’s acrostic.
All images available in public domain-
Perseus with the head of Medusa- Cellini. Perseus en Andromeda. Potter
Pegasus
GhostWorks Texture Competition #50-Texture with thanks to Skeletal Mess
white horse with thanks to venomxbaby.deviantart.com/
angel wings thanks to grannysatticstock.deviantart.com/#/d4gjjl7
Lazy Sunday.
Somewhere between the sea and the sky,
my dreams fly free.
They rise and fall
on the gentle breeze
beyond the heat haze on the horizon.
My spirit with the seagull
soaring and then stalls suddenly,
shattered upon the rocks of reason.
©Alison Jean Hankinson.
This is my quadrille for d’Verse based on “dream”. The images were from our lazy Sunday afternoon walk yesterday. The sky was endless, the birds were amazing. In the distance you can see the sea windmills, they looked like they were dancing just above the horizon.
Darkest hours
Patiently pacing
Dim-lit dawn
Life-embracing.
Bald cry echoes
Through the walls
First born child’s
Entrance call.
This is for Jillys challenge
Where we complete the beginning of a poem and see if someone else can complete it. So this is my beginning bit.
The image was for reuse in the public domain from max pixel.
Alison Jean Hankinson
Lady loved the plants’ light green
With flowers brightly red.
Her face angelically serene
Had leaves to shade her head.
She sat upon the mantelpiece
Amidst the Christmas cheer
Overshadowed by the nativity
And the radiant poinsettia.

This was to add to Frank’s (Frank Hubeny) poem, he wrote the first stanza and the second I wrote. Linked to Jilly’s Casting Bricks August Challenge as the second part of a cooperative poem.
© Alison Jean Hankinson.
The power of a smile is totally underestimated by most people. It is a simple gesture that means so much and it is used both consciously and subconsciously on a daily basis by most of us. There have been times in my life where it was a smile that made the difference.
A smile says “I accept you.”
A smile says “I get it, I understand”
A smile says “I love you.”
A smile says “It’s okay.”
A smile says “Hallo- I missed you.”
A smile says “Thanks for your support.”
A smile says “I will walk alongside you through your pain.”
A smile says “I am proud of you.”
A smile says “I value you.”
When you light up my life with a smile,
you make the moment and my existence more worthwhile.
©Alison Jean Hankinson.
“Are you serious? ” Alice said
“Stone cold He’s dead”
Shot in the head
Whilst sat in bed.
He was a malevolent man
From evil clan
Drug run thriller
Gangland killer
Prohibition mafia man
Irish dance-man
Legs Diamond
The Clay pigeon.
©Alison Jean Hankinson
Playing with a new form- the minute for d’Verse. This is about Jack the legs Diamond, who was perhaps related to Lily and Fairground Fay.
He was a real gangster and his wife was Alice Kenny Diamond. The image is a prohibition image and is creative commons.
I want to serve it back
With a wooden cricket bat
Just one great big thwack
Sends you reeling in the rain
I Paddle in your blood stain
“That’ll learn you” I feel no disdain
Bat in hand and now it is done
You are forever silenced and gone
Only vile memories of you linger on.
There is no post murder remorse
You broke me and ridiculed my flaws
No grief just justice in this final vengeful divorce.
Alison Jean Hankinson
This was an accidental poem and I suspect Lily is a distant relative of Fairground Fay. However as I searched for a suitable image of Lily….I came across the beautiful Lillian Gish. She was movie star in the silent movie era, and although she never married, she did have several love affairs, one notorious one with a director called D W Griffith. There were some who declared the relationship to be “an ongoing psychodrama” but I have no real knowledge of this matter. Anyway I feel that Lillian Gish is the perfect image for my accidental revenge poem. Both images courtesy of wikimedia.
Poems can ring, rise upon sun and moon
or bring momentum to an errant flame.
Maybe it falls face first, mangled too soon
its sound wailing against the sting of rain.
Dawn will singe your senses, set them all free
perform song and acrobatic dances
cry out in celebration, yours to see
Rhymes scatter silently like forgotten fancies.
The wilderness rings bright with poetic voices
Sublime and reverent sounds echo through the trees
Words of wonderment and great rejoices
Poetic dreams elope on shifting breeze.
Ideas and thoughts float light as a feather
Our words will often weave them lovingly together.
Alison Jean Hankinson
This is a shared piece of poetry in response to Jilly’s July Challenge.
Click here to read the details on how you can participate in Jilly’s July Challenge.
I didn’t manage the anagram bit…but I did complete the sonnet that was begun by colourfulpen.
Sorry I didn’t manage the anagram bit.
Hues of Hankinson 