Roberta Writes – d’Verse, Tanka Tuesday, W3, The Flower Hour and Thursday Doors

Two ladies in costumes from the cast. They saw my taking photographs and posed for the camera.

Today is Friday at last and I do have it off. My work hours are under severe threat and I’m going to have to increase them for three months as I have a big project on the go. There is no use in working the hours and not getting paid for them. Anyhow, onwards and upwards.

d’Verse, Tanka Tuesday and W3

I’ve used the d’Verse theme of night provided by the wonderful Dora for both my Tanka Tuesday and my W3 offerings this week.

You can join in Dora’s d’Verse challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/07/14/my-god-its-full-of-stars/

Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge is to write a bussokuseki. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/07/14/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-73-bussokuseki-7-13-26/

This first poem is a bussokuseki about the African bush at night.

Night in the Bush

darkness in the bush

shines like polished black marble

healthy and glossy

splattered with bright, sparkling stars

by comparison, town dark

appears anemic and pale

Jaideep’s challenge is to write a three line poem merging a cultural tradition and modern technology. You can join in W3 here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/07/15/w3-prompt-220-weave-written-weekly/

I selected the tradition of using the Southern Cross constellation as a directional guide combined with working on a computer.

My Artificial Life

Dark night of my computer screen

loads itself into start mode.

Logon criteria flash,

artificial Southern Cross.

Guiding my entrance into

another working day.

The Flower Hour

Last week I mentioned that I’d attended a partner conference in my new job. These photographs are of the gorgeous pincushion protea flower arrangements that graced the lunch tables.

You can join in Terri’s The Flower Hour here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/07/14/the-flower-hour-39-something-about-orange-flowers/

Flower arrangement featuring three pincushion proteas in red, orange, and yellow.
Close up of a single pincushion protea. The red tipped orange petals are narrow and curve inwards above its yellow centre hence its name – pincushion protea.
A slightly more distanced shot of the three pincushion proteas flower arrangement.

Thursday Doors

On Sunday past, my family attended the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Monte Casinos Pieter Torien theatre. It’s been more years than I’m going to tell you since TC and I last saw this show and I’d forgotten how graphic it is. I was a bit worried about Michael’s friend, Jenna, but she took it in her stride and enjoyed it.

You can join in Dan’s challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/07/16/korean-heritage-room/

These are some beautiful doors from outside the theatre.

Doors painted with an Italian street scene during summer from a distance.
Close up of doors painted with an Italian summer street scene featuring lots of greenery.

These photographs are of the stage:

The closed curtains on the stage lit up with blue and pink.
Two ladies in costumes from the cast. They saw my taking photographs and posed for the camera.
One of the set doors on the stage in the form of a balcony to the side.

Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday, W3, Bird of the Week & Thursday Doors

It’s been a crazy week! Is there any other kind of week, I wonder. I attended New Partner Induction on Monday and Tuesday and a Partner Conference from Wednesday to Friday. So many new ideas and new people. My coping mechanism is to draw and paint and write poems so I have three poems to share with you today. I have also started a new art project – my biggest to date and perhaps my most ambitious. Michael thinks its ambitious but I just think its just bigger. All my art projects are very ambitious at the time of initiation. I push myself further with each new painting.

Tanka Tuesday

Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challege this week is to write a tanka Puente poem with the theme of light vs dark.

Colleen has also announced the submission dates to the new Sunflower Tanka anthology 2027. I would love it if you participated and submitted your syllabic poems. You can find out more by reading Colleen’s post here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/07/07/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-72-tanka-puente-7-7-26/

Something New, something older

room of new partners

most young – bright eyed and bushy tailed

full of excitement

ready to take on the world

determined to make their mark

AI won’t replace humans, but humans who use AI will replace those who don’t—Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI

sprinkling of old hands

pockmarks on golden surface

engaged yet cautious

veterans of corporate wars

survivors of constant flux

More excitement with Sunflower Tanka! Colleen and I are running a new series to promote the anthologies. You can read the first post here: https://sunflowertankaanthology.com/2026/07/10/introduction-to-contributor-chris-hall-her-review-of-sunflower-tanka-an-anthology-of-tanka-tanka-prose-experimental-tanka/

W3

Jodi’s prompt is “For this prompt, write a poem in which every line is a lie — except one.“

No, I didn’t write about AI – hehe! You can decide if what is a lie, if anything. Lies in this poem are in the eyes of the beholder.

Some Days

Some days the sun does not rise

Golden horses do not pull the fiery ball

across the blue washed sky

Cotton tailed clouds do not gambol and play

Flowers do not bloom

do not expose fragrant centres

to buzzing bees and butterflies

the day does not progress

all remains in darkness

Other days

the sun leaps into the sky

washing the world

in golden light

Bird of the Week

You can join in Bird of the Week here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/bird-of-the-week-invitation/ and read the latest post here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/common-gull-birds-of-the-week-clxxvi/

Racing or The World’s Dumbest Bird

Kori bustards are Africa's largest bird that can fly. They have grey and white feathers on their longish necks, small heads with a black feather 'cap' on top, brown body feathers and long slim legs

Two kori bustards

racing down the road

are they trying to escape

our slow paced vehicle

(perhaps its TC’s purple jersey

I hate it too)

is the male chasing the female

male kori bustards

have a bad reputation

for playing the field

attempting to breed

with as many females as possible

but taking no responsibility

for the resultant off spring

(Hey! that sounds familiar …)

One goes left

the other right

they appear the same size

more or less

but males are up to 40% larger

my perception must be wrong

(what about yours?)

Mr Right looks confused

(there’s a surprise!)

glancing over his shoulder

as I hang out of my window

(you’re not supposed to do this!

what if I fell out

got eaten by a lion

or worse yet

kidnapped by a baboon)

snap! snap! snap!

As we slowly pass

Mr Right warms up to the idea

of posing for the camera

gives me his best side

(can you see his smile?)

Picture caption: kori bustard posing for the camera

Thursday Doors

My blogging friend, Brian, featured a photograph of the gargoyles of Notre Dame pre the fire. You can read his post here: https://equinoxio21.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/random-travels-umpteen/. I am sharing a few pictures I took of Notre Dame and its gargoyles so Brian can rest assured they are thriving. My shots aren’t as good as his!

The doors are for Dan’s Thursday Doors challenge which you can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/07/09/old-sturbridge-village-6-26/

First Notre Dame and its doors:

Notre Dame from the front with its ornate front door and two towers
The ornately carved entrance and doors of Notre Dame (front doors)
Another door into Notre Dame. This entrance was closed so the shot didn’t have people in it.

These are the gargoyles. My friend, Chris, also likes gargoyles. You can find Chris’ blog here: https://lunas-online.com/2026/07/10/a-spaceship/

A row of gargoyles on the roof of Notre Dame. The front one has horns.
The silhouette of a gargoyle on the roof of Notre Dame. He has wings but no horns.
A long row of gargoyles along the side of Notre Dame. There is scaffolding in the background.

Roberta Writes – Reblog: Famous Books and Authors – The World According to Garp by John Irving

I found this book to be completely fascinating and absorbing. My thanks to Barbara from https://bvitelli2002.wordpress.com/2026/07/06/book-review-fox-by-joyce-carol-oates/ for pointing me in the direction of this book.

Famous Books and Authors – Best-selling author and Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Irving and a review

Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday, CFFC, and The Flower Hour

I’m late this week. I had planned to post this last night but I had a three-hour art class in the morning and then I had to take Mom back to the optometrist for more tests and to chose new frames for her two new pairs of glasses. My mother loves shopping and she can not be hurried, and shouldn’t be because she enjoys it so much, so she tried on just about every frame in the shop. We chose two really lovely frames and she is very happy. I was exhausted when we got home at 4pm as I learned a new technique at art which was quite difficult to implement initially (I’ve got the hang of it now) and then all the traffic and stress of the tests. The good news is the technique looks really good on my current painting and Mom’s eyes are doing a lot better.

Tanka Tuesday

Willow asked poets to write a tanka poem about a photograph that brings to mind a particular memory. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/06/30/tanka-tuesday-challenge-71-photo-tanka-photo-tanka-6-30-26/

This photograph of a gold roses cake I made for my mother’s birthday some years ago is the inspiration for this poem.

Picture caption: Gold roses chocolate cake

The Invastion (double tanka prose)

Whenever I see a shoebox, I am reminded of cockroaches. During the height of my cake making phase, I used to make a lot of fondant flowers. To create the cupped shape of the various flowers, I moulded tinfoil into a bowl shape of the correct size for the flower and carefully arranged the flower inside. I then placed the flowers inside a shoebox and left them to dry for at least a week. Some layered flowers, like roses, took me three weeks to a month to make as I gradually added additional petal layers week by week. I kept a collection of empty shoe boxes in my pantry and used them when I needed them. There were at least ten piled up on a shelf at any given time. Early one summer, I noticed we had several cockroaches in the kitchen. I set some cockroach traps around the room but the problem continued to escalate. A few weeks later, I decided to clear out the entire pantry in an attempt to get rid of the cockroaches. When I brought down the shoeboxes, I discovered they had been adopted as cockroach nests and the boxes were full of these nasty, little creatures. The boxes were disposed of, the pantry cleaned from top to toe, and cockroach traps set just about everywhere. This did bring an end to the invasion but I have never recovered from the horror of discovering all those revolving insects inside those shoeboxes. I no longer collect shoeboxes and am paranoid about cleaning under the fridges and stoves to ensure no unwanted visitors gain a foothold in my kitchen.

peaceful neighbourhood

twenty-four hour food service

attracts cockroach guests

unappealing as they are

nature always has her way

***

taking precautions

to keep insect world in check

part of normal life

should these creatures disappear

world as we know it would end

CFFC

Dan’s CFFC challenge this week is brown. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/29/the-crayola-box-of-8-brown-cffc/

Picture caption: Young male nyala antelope

Terri’s Flower Hour

When I went shopping this morning I saw this gorgeous King Protea flower. I bought it to photograph with a view to paining it. Terri’s The Flower Hour prompt is patriotic florals. The Giant or King protea is the national flower of South Africa.

You can join in here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/06/30/the-flower-hour-37-patriotic-florals/

Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday, CFFC, Thursday Doors & Sunday Stills

It doesn’t rain in Johannesburg during the winter. At least it never did until this year. This week, after the winter solstice, we got rain and a heavy mist. While in the traffic on my way into the office, I wrote this poem and took the accompanying photograph. Unusual for my home city.

This poem is a lai comprising of nine lines for Melissa’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/06/23/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-70-the-lai-6-23-26/

Slish! Splosh! Splash!

grey cloud hovers low

golden headlights glow

splish splosh

car snake ultra slow

drizzle impacts flow

my gosh

large puddle – oh no!

mud streaks quite a blow

must wash

Picture caption: A picture of two cranes in Sandton on my drive to work. They are obscured by mist and look rather ghostly and ethereal

Thursday Doors, CFFC, and Sunday Stills

Dan’s CFFC challenge is blue. I have found blue pictures for Dan’s Thursday Doors challenge and Terri’s Sunday Stills wild animals challenge.

You can join in Dan’s CFFC here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/22/the-crayola-box-of-8-blue-cffc/

You can join in Dan’s Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/25/czechoslovak-room/

You can join in Terri’s Sunday Stills here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/06/21/sunday-stills-animal-of-the-month-where-the-wild-things-are/

Picture caption: I loved the doors of this building, 3 Place Denfert-Rochereau, Paris. The late evening sky turned the white of the building blue and the light glows a lovely yellow from the inside. I liked the arched shape of these large doors with the square inlay.

Click on the slideshow to view two giraffes that I saw at Welgevonden Game Reserve in the Waterkloof, South Africa. This is a series of three photographs of the heads and upper necks of two young giraffes against a bright, blue sky. In the first photograph, the two animals are close together but apart. In the second and third photograph, the two giraffes have crossed their necks at the top so that their heads are pointing in opposite directions. In the second photo, the animals are looking straight ahead while in the last photograph they are looking up with their heads angled upwards.

Picture caption: Dam at Pilanesberg Game Reserve with autumn foliage in the front and hills in the background. the predominant colour is misty blue

Roberta Writes – Learn about tailor ants, fire ants and army ants

In Touch with Nature – Tailor Ants, Fire Ants, and Army Ants

Roberta Writes – d’Verse, W3, CFFC, Bird of the Week, and Sunday Stills

Another crazy week has come to an end. My mother has had a terrible few weeks with blepharitis and severe eye pain. This condition, combined with her chronic dry eye has made her quality of life very poor. She’s been wearing a hat pulled right down over her eyes and the antibiotic cream made her practically blind. Very worrying for me from a fall risk point of view.

I took her to my optometrist at 7.30am this morning (she squeezed her in) and she now has a whole treatment plan to treat both chronic conditions. I’m hoping she will have no pain and be able to read again soon.

TC has also been in India for the last two weeks. He arrives home this afternoon. When he’s not home I have to do everything so life feels even busier than usual.

This is the main reason why my post is late this week but, as I always say, better late than never.

I’ve put a few challenges together again today.

d’Verse and W3

Nancy’s prompt is to write a poem in four-stanzas with eight syllables per line about a hard-earned accomplishment. You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/06/17/w3-prompt-216-weave-written-weekly/

Lillian’s Tuesday d’Verse challenge is Get out your crayons and come colour with me. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/06/16/get-out-your-crayons-and-come-color-with-me/

I’ve been learning colour theory for my painting. I am very happy with the results and will share a new painting incorporating my new skills soon. In the meantime, here is a poem about colour theory.

Splat and that

world of colour theory opens

mixing and matching a great game

drop of red enhances golden

tones that ignite into bright flame

***

splashing orange into umber

instills richness into brown

change like wakefulness from slumber

remarkable shade turnaround

***

smear of scarlet into China white

uplifts it to the palest pink

now white painted sections look right

retraining mind on how to think

***

Van Dyke brown enhanced with light blue

brings a greater deepness to dark

eye perceives subtle change in hue

enriched pigment resets benchmark

d’Verse and Bird of the Week

De Jackson’s prompt is to write a quadrille (44 word poem) about a myth. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/06/15/quadrille-250-mything-poems/

You can join in Bird of the Week here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/egyptian-goose-birds-of-the-week-invitation-clxxiii/

My poem is about the myths surrounding the African Fish Eagle which I was privileged to see on my recent bush trip.

The Messenger

know as the ‘Voice of Africa’

its iconic yodeling cry

trails across the blue sky

like condensation from planes

African fish eagle

steeped in mythology and folklore

revered in Bantu and Shona traditions

as its carries messages

between the heavens

and the earthly realm

My photographs of the African fish eagle

Sunday Stills and CFFC

Dan’s CFFC challenge is green. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/15/the-crayola-box-of-8-green-cffc/

Terri’s Sunday Still’s challenge is also green. You can join in here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/06/14/sunday-stills-monthly-color-challenge-exploring-evergreen-and-wonder-in-the-great-outdoors/

These pictures are typical of the South African bush during autumn (except for the Country Club one).

Roberta Writes – I’m Late for Tanka Tuesday and Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge & CFFC & The Flower Hour

Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge

Esther’s challenge for last week was to write about pets. I’m late but never mind, I’m often late. You can read other peoples work and join in Esther’s new challenge here:

Dog Tragedy (shadorma prose)

When I was a girl of twelve we lived on a plot in Honeydew, Johannesburg. It was the second time we lived in this same house as my father had returned to his dream of farming part-time. The property was large with much of the ‘garden’ comprising wild veld grass and scrub bushes. My parents bought two pedigree Great Dane dogs because my mother had always liked this breed and there was a lot of space for them to run about. They were also supposed to be guard dogs but that didn’t pan out well because Harry and Lucy were exceptionally stupid animals. They were a lovely rich light brown colour, with friendly temperaments, and slobbery mouths. I have never been a big fan of slobber but I did like this gangly pair who were always delighted to see me and full of enthusiasm for life.

Some months later, my mother was asked to take another dog. The dog’s family was immigrating and they needed to rehome her. My mother agreed and the new dog soon settled into the family. Her name was Runt and she was partly Chihuahua and partly who knows what. I took a great liking to Runt and she became my dog.

The property adjacent to ours was a working sheep farm. The sheep were even more stupid than Harry and Lucy who took great pleasure in barking madly every time a sheep came into view on the other side of the fence. The sheep never knew what to do about the barking and just stood frozen until the dogs grew bored and moved on to new entertainment. Runt, however, was a clever dog. She also had the instincts of a hunter. Runt took a great interest in the sheep over the fence.

One morning, Harry and Runt were missing when we awoke. We called and called when breakfast was served but no dogs appeared. Eventually, Harry turned up in a bad state. He had been shot in the leg and was bleeding badly. My father had to take him to the vet for treatment. Runt never came home. Later that day, the farmer came to call. Runt had discovered a hole in the fence and she and Harry had wriggled through. Runt had led Harry in an attack on one of the lambs. The farmer, hearing the commotion, had shot at the dogs, killing Runt and injuring Harry. In those days, farmers defended their livestock by shooting any predators which is part of the reason why wild dogs and leopards are so endangered now. I was devastated when I learned the news and I’ve never had another dog since. We were told the lamb had died but there was never any proof of that.

keen prey drive

mixed breed chihuahua

looked for fun

found trouble

victim of a farmer’s anger

crossed the rainbow bridge

Tanka Tuesday

Colleen’s challenge was to use variants of the word yellow in a syllabic poem. You can read other poet’s entries here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/06/04/tankatuesday-yellow-things/

Flowering Aloes (tanka)

organic gemstones

string of lemon quartz flowers

lifeblood of aloe

produced in heartwood of plant

basking in cool amber sun

CFFC – Yellow & The Flower Hour

These are the flower pictures that inspired my Tanka Tuesday poem above.

You can join in CFFC here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/08/the-crayola-box-of-8-yellow-cffc/

You can join in The Flower Hour here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2026/06/09/the-flower-hour-34-roses-in-memoriam/

Roberta Writes – Reblog: Treasuring Poetry – Meet poet and blogger Dwight Roth and a review

Thank you to Dwight Roth for being a wonderful guest. Thanks for hosting Kaye Lynne Booth.

Treasuring Poetry – Meet poet and blogger Dwight Roth and a review

Roberta Writes – d’Verse – poetics, W3, Bird of the week, and Thursday Doors

d’Verse, W3 & Bird of the week

I’ve put all three of these challenges together this week.
Dora’s d’Verse poetics challenge is something borrowed, something blue. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/06/02/poetics-something-borrowed-something-blue/

Deanna’s W3 challenge is to include a character from a nursery rhyme. You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/06/03/w3-prompt-214-weave-written-weekly/

You can join in the bird of the week challenge here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2026/06/02/tufted-duck-birds-of-the-week-invitation-clxxi/

I have written five syllabic poems, on for each component of Dora’s challenge. Each verse includes a character from a nursery rhyme as well as a bird.

Something Old (American cinquain)

hungry

white backed vulture

Old Mother Hubbard like

searching surrounding area

for bones

Below are two of my photographs of a white backed vulture taken in the Hluhluwe National Game Reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.

Something New (American cinquain)

loeries

propagators

of seeds; gardeners like

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

green birds

Picture caption: My photograph of a grey loerie in a tree. This is one of my garden residents.

Something Borrowed (tanka)

greater honeyguide

lays its eggs in foreign nests

bold brood parasite

runs away like Knave of Hearts

but she bypasses capture

Something Blue (tanka)

flash of brilliance

Little Boy Blue look alike

European roller

favours warm, open country

at home in meadows and fields

Picture caption: My photograph of a European roller in the Hluhluwe National Game Reserve. Can you say Hluhluwe?

Sixpence in Her Shoe (shadorma)

kingfisher

excavates tunnels

laying eggs

its treasure

better than a golden pear

or silver nutmeg

Picture caption: My photograph of a kingfisher in the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa.

Thursday Doors

Today I’m sharing photographs of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. You can join in Thursday Doors here:

This is what Wikipedia says about the Arc de Triomphe: https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/04/iowa-doors-2/

The Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France. It is located at the western end of the Champs-Élysées, at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle—formerly known as the Place de l’Étoile—named for the star-shaped configuration formed by the convergence of twelve radiating avenues. The monument is situated at the intersection of three arrondissements: the 16th (to the south and west), the 17th (to the north), and the 8th (to the east). Commissioned to honor those who fought and died for France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Arc bears the names of French victories and generals engraved on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I, marked by an eternal flame commemorating unidentified fallen soldiers.