Category: tutto e niente

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

what if

Tina Stewart Brakebill

what if magic is the true key

not illogical or absurd

but the spell that sets us all free

 

what if magic is the true key

where you and I awoke as we

ideas shared with a secret word

not illogical or absurd

 

what if magic is the true key

Photo by u5927 u8463 on Pexels.com

 Inspired by many things including the RDP prompt (ABSURD) and the call to visualize joy, for which I chose the Seasons of Enchantment card. It brought to mind my happy place: a magical world where joy abounds.

TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 38, Visualize Your Joy, 11/11/25
RDP Tuesday! Absurd!

Plus, I’m still having fun with the Triolet, which is an 8-line poem where lines repeat in a beautiful rhythm:

Lines 1, 4, and 7 are the same, and lines 2 and 8 are also repeated.

The rhyme scheme looks like this: ABaAabAB (uppercase = repeated lines).

If you’d like to make it a little trickier, try writing each line with 8 syllables (iambic tetrameter, the classic French style) — or challenge yourself with 10 syllables per line (the English version). I chose the 8-syllable version tonight.

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

under the night sky I waver

Tina Stewart Brakebill

under the night sky I waver

as moonbeams penetrate my shroud

baring that fateful palaver

under the night sky I waver

 wishing I had once been braver

but the die was cast as I bowed

 under the night sky I waver

as moonbeams penetrate my shroud

Photo by Kristina Nor on Pexels.com

 

Today, Reena asks us to consider: THE MASKS WE FORGOT TO REMOVE

Let your protagonist (fictional or real) explore the following aspects.

  • Has it become too comfortable?
  • Concealing an unpalatable truth
  • Being haunted by their own disguise
  • The silence after the revelry when real selves do not return

 The RD Prompt (WAVER) seemed to fit into my thoughts as I played around with the idea of the consequences of decisions contrary to your true self. At least I think that may be what I was going for. It took its own course-as words sometimes do.  

Plus, I’m clearly obsessed with the Triolet this week.

A Triolet is an 8-line poem where lines repeat in a beautiful rhythm:

Lines 1, 4, and 7 are the same, and lines 2 and 8 are also repeated.

The rhyme scheme looks like this: ABaAabAB (uppercase = repeated lines).

If you’d like to make it a little trickier, try writing each line with 8 syllables (iambic tetrameter, the classic French style) — or challenge yourself with 10 syllables per line (the English version). [I did 8-syllables today.]  

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #406
RDP Thursday : Waver
Flash Fiction, Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

the boy next door

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Staring out the window, I search for the final line of my verse.

Through the looking glass

Beyond the land of wonder

Alice …?

Alice cries for home? Alice mourns for me?  

I need to move away from the glass. I can’t focus. Every sound, any little movement, and I’m sure it’s her. Finally. Home for the holidays. She said she’s not interested, but she’s just confused. I can change her mind. Explain things. Show her my words. Convince her she’s meant to be with me. Mine. Forever.

Then it comes to me. The perfect ending:   

Alice dies for love.     

 (100 words)

PHOTO PROMPT ©Yvette Prior

Esther’s Writing Prompt (GLASS) immediately brought Alice in Wonderland to mind and then the Friday Fictioneers photo skewed Wonderland into an even creepier space.  

Writing Prompts
7 November 2025