RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY... T3M's BIRD CAGE CHALLENGE...

 “Whether you’re beaten or pampered, 

fed the best foods or starved, 

kept in filth or kept clean, 

a cage is still a cage.” 

~

 Anne Bishop

DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT... SPA's SKELETONS CHALLENGE...

 We get it almost every night 

When that moon is big and bright 

It's a supernatural delight 

Everybody's dancing in the moonlight 

  Everybody's feeling warm and bright 

It's such a fine and natural sight 

Everybody's dancing in the moonlight

~

Toploader

FARMER's DAUGHTER... DIGITAL WHISPER's FARM GIRL CHALLENGE...

 You got your ponytail pulled through your Carhartt cap 

Mud on your boots, nothing wrong with that 

Friday night jeans on and your plaid shirt 

  You ain't afraid of a little dirt 

A coyote howl or a cricket chirp 

You're everything this old farm boy's ever dreamed of 

And I love you little farm girl 

My little farm girl

~

High Valley

COUNTING CROWS... DIGITALMANIA JIM WARREN CHALLENGE...

 Felt the wind's direction beginning to change 

Clouds so softly full of rain 

The summer fell and the winter sprang 

Now it's all a feeling I can't get back again 

 Throw your arms around my neck 

I won't be soon to forget 

Throw your arms around my neck 

I won't be soon to forget

~

Counting Crows

LIKE A BALL AND CHAIN... DIGITALMANIA JIM WARREN CHALLENGE...

 Love's got a hold on me, baby, 

Feels just like a ball and chain. 

Now, love's just draggin' me down, baby, 

yeah, Feels like a ball and chain. 

I hope there's someone out there who could tell me 

Why the man I love wanna leave me in so much pain.

Feels just like a ball and chain. 

~

Janis Joplin

THAT CREEPY FEELING... T3M's SOMETHING SPOOKY CHALLENGE...

 “It was crazy. 

It was the kind of story you told years later 

while your listeners rolled their eyes, 

because they had no idea how the terror felt 

on the back of your neck.” 

~

Simone St. James

RAVENS NEVERMORE... SPA's RAVENS & BLACK BIRDS CHALLENGE...

 Once upon a midnight dreary 

While I pondered weak and weary 

Over a poem the world has loved forevermore. 

Suddenly there came a squawking 

A dark and scary flocking 

Of Ravens through my chamber door. 

Only this and nothing more. 

 

It was in a bleak October 

And I swear that I was sober 

While I watched said Ravens dancing 

Dancing about my chamber floor 

Then the birds said “Nevermore.” 

 

All at once my teeth were gnashing 

Glass was breaking, things were crashing 

Crashing on my chamber floor 

 ’Tis the wind and nothing more!” 

 Presently my soul grew stronger 

I couldn’t take this any longer 

I sought the cause of my plight 

And though it took most all the night 

I found the answer I was hope’n 

Lenore had left the windows open. 

 Merely this and nothing more. 

 ~ 

 DSW 21

NOTHINGS WORSE THAN A WET WITCH... DIGITAL WHISPER's RAIN CHALLENGE...

 Raindrops keep falling on my head 

But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red 

Crying's not for me 

'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining 

Because I'm free 

Nothing's worrying me … 

It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

~

BJ Thomas

THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN... T3M's LIGHTNING CHALLENGE...

In dark of night 

the light of the moon 

 pounding of hooves 

arriving soon 

 rider in black 

phantom of fear 

headless and heartless 

ever so near 

nowhere to run 

 hurry and hide 

the headless horseman 

is on his ride 

lightning flashes

he takes his toll

thunder crashes 

heads will roll.

~

DSW 21

GHOST OF ST. GILES... SPA's GHOSTS CHALLENGE...

 “One need not be a chamber to be haunted, 

One need not be a house; 

The brain has corridors surpassing 

Material place. 

 Far safer, of a midnight meeting 

External ghost, 

Than an interior confronting 

That whiter host. 

 Far safer through an Abbey gallop, 

The stones a chase, 

Than, moonless, one's own self encounter 

In lonesome place. 

 ~

Emily Dickinson

LOVING AUTUMN... DIGITAL WHISPERS FALLING LEAVES CHALLENGE...

 I raked the leaves on our front lawn; 

It took all afternoon. 

I started at ’round half past one and said, 

“I’ll be done soon.” 

 But once I saw how more leaves fell 

Each time I made a pile, 

I quickly saw this outdoor chore 

Was going to take a while. 

 And so I did what my dad said 

A winner does to win: 

I studied that great pile of leaves, 

And then I jumped right in. 

 ~ 

Barbara Vance

CASTLE ON A CLOUD...

 There is a castle on a cloud 

I like to go there in my sleep 

Aren't any floors for me to sweep 

Not in my castle on a cloud 

 I know a place where no ones lost 

I know a place where no one cries 

Crying at all is not allowed 

Not in my castle on a cloud

~

Les Miserables

TO FLY... T3M's TEXT CHALLENGE...

 “To hear never-heard sounds, 

 To see never-seen colors and shapes, 

 To try to understand the imperceptible 

 Power pervading the world; 

 To fly and find pure ethereal substances 

 That are not of matter 

 But of that invisible soul pervading reality. 

 To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul; 

 To be a lantern in the darkness 

 Or an umbrella in a stormy day; 

 To feel much more than know. 

 To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain; 

 To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon; 

 To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves; 

 To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets 

 Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching. 

 To be a smile on the face of a woman 

 And shine in her memory 

 As a moment saved without planning.” 

~

 Dejan Stojanovic

PERFECT PUMPKIN FOR EVERYONE... SPA's PUMPKIN CHALLENGE...

 There must be a pumpkin for everyone 

I know for I’ve seen quite a few 

There are tall ones and dumpy ones 

Stripped ones and bumpy ones 

Giant ones and tiny ones 

White, green and shiny ones 

And here’s one that looks 

just like you. 

~ 

DSW 21

HARVST BY MOONLIGHT... DIGITAL WHISPER's HARVEST MOON CHALLENGE...

Oh, shine on, shine on harvest moon up in the sky. 

 I ain't had no lovin' since 

January, February, June or July 

 Snow time 

ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon, 

 So shine on, shine on harvest moon 

 for me and my gal !

~

Kate Smith

GOTHIC MAN IN THE MOON... T3M's MOON CHARACTER CHALLENGE...

 “Tell me the story.. 

About how the sun loved the moon so much.. 

That she died every night.. 

Just to let him breathe...”

~

 Hanako Ishii

THE PROPHET... ASEMIC WRITTING CHALLENGE..

 “If you love somebody, 

let them go, 

for if they return, 

they were always yours. 

If they don't, 

they never were.” 

~

 Kahlil Gibran

HARRY HATES COLD FEET... DIGITAL WHISPER's MAN's BEST FRIEND CHALLENGE...

 “Happiness is a warm puppy.” 

~

 Charles M. Schulz

XARIA...

 Blackbird singing in the dead of night 

Take these broken wings and learn to fly 

All your life 

You were only waiting for this moment to arise 

Blackbird singing in the dead of night 

Take these sunken eyes and learn to see 

All your life 

You were only waiting for this moment to be free

~

Lennon/McCartney

THE SHOWDOWN...

 You got to learn how to fall 

Before you learn to fly 

And mama, mama it ain't no lie 

butterfly

Before you learn to fly 

Learn how to fall

~

Paul Simon

FLYING ACE... T3M's MASCULINE CHALLENGE...

 “And like no other sculpture in the history of art, 

the dead engine and dead airframe come to life 

at the touch of a human hand, 

and join their life with the pilot's own.” 

~

 Richard Bach

DOWNHILL RACEING... SPA's BICYCLE CHALLENGE...

 “When the spirits are low, 

when the day appears dark, 

when work becomes monotonous, 

when hope hardly seems worth having, 

just mount a bicycle 

and go out for a spin down the road, 

without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” 

~

 Arthur Conan Doyle

IT'LL ALL COME OUT IN THE WASH... DIGITAL WHISPER's LAUNDRY CHALLENGE...

 “I'm never letting you do my laundry. Again."

 "I didn't know the red towel was in there,"

 "You did it on purpose to get out of doing laundry." 

"Maybe. But it worked." 

~

 S.E. Jakes

FIND A HAND TO HOLD... T3M's HANDS CHALLENGE...

 “Our troubled world today needs hands 

 helping, giving, loving, and caring hands 

 we need a lot of them, not fingers 

 pointing fingers 

 there are too many of them.”

~

Andawn F

"The road of life is long 

find a had to hold."

~

DSW 21

FIRE IN THE FOREST... SPA's FOREST CHALLENGE...

 Smoke in the air 

tears in our eyes 

heaven's on fire 

angels can't stop it 

many have tried

forgive us our sins 

please answer our prayers 

heaven's on fire 

 we're choking to death.

~

DSW 21

There are many forest fires in California and around the western U.S.,  

consequently our skies are filled with smoke. 

Some days it is so bad I can't even see the mountains 5 miles away.