Captain Jerry Yellin flew the last combat mission of WWII on the morning of August 15, 1945, out of Iwo Jima.

Cruising above the Pacific under the morning sun, the Americans had approached the Japanese coastline without incident. Jerry wondered how many more missions like this he would have to fly. They’d all thought the war was over, but now, here he was again, heading to strike a stubbornly resistant enemy.

But down below, in the nation they were about to attack, a philosophical battle was raging on whether to surrender or fight on. The “Big Six”—the six military officers running Japan—had been split by a vote of 3-3 on when and how to end the war with honor. In general, hard, passionate divisions of opinion existed among the Japanese military: some of the older officers wanted to surrender to prevent the destruction of Japan, while others wanted to fight…

Today’s prompt is to write a poem that engages with another art form – it might be about a friend of yours who paints or sculpts, your high school struggles with learning to play the French horn, or a wonderful painting, film, or piece of music you’ve experienced – anything is in bounds here, so long as it uses the poem to express something about another form of art. I have chosen to write about the featured Rosina Wachtmeister painting which us one of my favourite gifts that Android has given me.

Rainbow Kitties

A golden shine from pointed lines

They’re angular and pretty

They hail from multi-coloured times

Known as The Rainbow Kitties

By evening moon, they wail and croon

By day they pose and pamper

All cuddly ‘til they change their tune,

One blink and off they scamper!

Four sapphire eyes reflect the skies

Four others soulful amber

“It is finished”
words of agony from Jesus’ lips
“It is finished”
no greater love will again eclipse.

“It is finished”
these words aloud Jesus said
and for the sins of everyone
His soul hemorrhage and bled.

“It is finished”
but, what really had just begun
was that grace and forgiveness
were freely given by God’s Son.

“It is finished”
but, for you it can be a new start
if you repent now of your sin
and give Jesus your whole heart.

“It is finished”
Jesus died so that you’d be free
let His death on  Calvary’s cross
take your soul to its knees.

“It is finished”
but, it’s not the end of the story
not until the day all of mankind
stands before God’s in all His glory.

“It is finished”
words of hope from Jesus’ lips
“It is finished”
don’t let His love for you eclipse!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I keep thinking I might be done
Giving one more time, one more try
I’ve been working life like a railroad
thinking we would make it
through the tunnel
Always believing and seeing
There’s just another tunnel ahead
You seem to like life on the rail
I love you so
I’ll walk the rails with you

Train bridge

It’s a lazy Sunday morning this end and we are encouraged to write a poem that, incorporates wild, surreal images. We are to play around with writing that doesn’t make formal sense, but which engages all the senses and involves dream-logic.

Beach Balloons

They landed!

Like a bunch of ingenious ice-creams upon a tray of sugared sand

Grand strides of irrepressible impetus

So this is what they meant!

Hurdling over silver seagull and pink starfish

The shaking shore showering her interior with invitation

She paused

Both irises extending welcome platforms to The View

A lifetime of programming to

Take it In

Highly-sensitive ears assaulted by the inertia of the

conspiring tides

Gathering helium-bellied courage

She bolted

Charged like Winning Brew through wave and wonder

Exultant energy emitting from each celebratory cell

A gymnastic projection into the fragrant future

And she caught them!

Two ecstatic hands now holding on to happiness