The Art of Flirting, a Wordle from MLMM

MindLoveMiseryMenagerie, Poetry, This and That, Wordles

It’s been awhile since I published one of my Wordle attempts.   MindLoveMiseryMenagerie regularly presents these Word-puzzles, in which a list of words is provided, to be crafted into a poem or other form of writing.     This Wordle is    #157.  (*see word list below.)

The Art of Flirting

We have reached a stalemate…you and I
in our playhouse of make-believe,
avoiding muse-thieves in cahoots vis-à-vis
in competition for cleverness … a turn of a phrase.

I bite my tongue in affected semaphorism
… a flicker of eyelashes with a knowing smile,
a hint of a shared secret, imaginary  interlude
“remember the willows…?” a tentative glance…

To know or not to know becomes the quest
we wonder: are we on the same page?
Do we deserve to solve the paradox
of saying nothing…while expressing it all?

©Sometimes, 2017

*Word list: bite, smooth, open, deserve, paradox, semaphorism, stalemate, tension, playhouse, Neptune, thieves.   (I was unable to work in two of the words: Neptune and tension, but did manage to incorporate the prerequisite ten words—including Semaphorism — a conversational hint of something personal to say; a half-told anecdote; one of those comments we slip into an otherwise unconnected conversation, such as an aside which has no apparent meaning other than between two specific people; a private joke.

 

 

 

83 thoughts on “The Art of Flirting, a Wordle from MLMM”

      5. I think poets have different DNA. I’m most ‘comfortable’ writing factual stuff so fiction is something I have to work at. Probably half the reason I write so slowly. Poetry would be completely beyond me.

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      6. Most of the fiction that I have written (poetry included) has been on my blog. For 18 years I wrote for the newspaper, reporting and writing features…factual and more or less formal writing. Then of course lots of formal papers as a student and grad student.

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      10. Exciting in a different sort of way…my journalism experience served me very well, including a fire-fighter husband. Also my best-friend-forever lasted until she died, but for 30 years BFF. She had been president of the school board, so I got to be front and center for the schoolboard-wars. LOL

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      17. WordPress had a lot of writing groups, which were so popular they had to limit enrollment.
        Everything I know about poetry I learned in a poetry course…ditto for short fiction.

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      25. Nabatea: Book 3 is available at Amazon for $12.99, with free shipping for orders over $25. The only listing I could see. I think I’ll order it for daughter for xmas. It blurb says its “4 and 5″…

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      26. No! Don’t buy that one for her otherwise she won’t have a clue what’s going on.
        I was on Amazon yesterday and I think the confusion is caused by my name – i.e. some books have A.C.Flory and the newest ones have acflory. I’ve made changes that should bring them all into line but they take a day or two to hit.
        Sorry about this. 😦

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      27. Are the other episodes coming out in paperback as well? I still have all five on my kindle, but I use it for games etc. and don’t want to loan it out for reading. I don’t think ebooks can be transferred to someone else…however the kindle editions can be accessed on my mainframe computer.

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      28. Yes, they’re all out as paperbacks now but for some odd reason, The Godsend isn’t showing on my Amazon Author page. Oh and I just unpublished all the ‘old’ episodes. Kind of sad but I’m much happier with the new trilogy and covers so…onwards and upwards!

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      30. I have actually read only about 7 ebooks including yours, a book of poetry and another book, and a fiction story written by one of my wordpress people. Reading on the device is better than I had expected, my kindle is a 7-inch so it is light and easy to hold.

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      35. Osmosis is good. I’m afraid I don’t really believe in ‘creative writing courses’. Yes, we all need to learn about spelling and grammar etc but isn’t that what school is for? And you can’t teach someone to have an imagination.

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      36. oh yes…I meant I learned that stuff grammar and syntax etc. as an elementary student…in early grades. My theory on spelling skills is that either a kid “gets it” or they don’t. As a former tutor and college instructor I know first hand that many, many students do not get it! 🙂 I still pause when I type a word where the “I before E… except after C” rule applies. THE single most important thing I ever learned dealing with writing/spelling/grammar is Latin. One half year of high school, but I must have liked it because I learned a lot. It did help me learn Spanish, and some half-assed French, but its no help with Russian, which I am studying now.

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      37. lol! The only Latin I ever learned was from the mass – back when the Catholic mass was in latin. Despite being a very happy atheist, I must admit I did enjoy the latin.

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      38. I liked the old latin mass. Nice. Now in the vernacular mostly; I liked the bells and incese, and the sanctus sanctus sanctus business…. the Latin had the effect on me of being sort of other-worldly not tied down to English.

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      39. I think it is that I found the rhetoric not to my liking, whereas the ritual and music entered my thoughts and being. I didn’t realize that what I just wrote was true… 🙂

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      41. the beauty to me is a high mass conducted in some other language 🙂 and the point isn’t to be rabble-roused but to actually commune with the music and atmosphere. Once in Mexico I attended mass in the a 15th century cathedral…I wanted to get close to see a specific bishop, so got myself more or less trapped in the closest row (with the high hoopty-doos) and it wasn’t the Bishop I thought it was. But as it was I couldn’t leave gracefully, so I stayed. The mass and announcements were in Spanish and Mayan language. At the end of the services I turned for the hand-shaking thing (which I absolutely hate anywhere in the world) and the entire cathedral was filled with Mayan men in their white outfits with their sombreros in front of them, and their women with traditional Mayan dress. This was VERY effective. At the time my Spanish was pretty rudimentary, and I was unfamiliar with any of the Mayan languages. That experience was I think my favorite all-time experience in churches.

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      48. I really enjoy creating a written piece from just a handful of words or a theme. Some of my best stuff I don’t even remember writing. Now this will sound … weird… but when I write something that I like a lot I always add a note (in my notebooks) that it is © to me. Otherwise I sometimes don’t recognize it. duh… I know

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      49. I admit to having my share of scholarly writings with the words in red: “you can do better than that.” ha ha indeed. I once did a paper on Diego Rivera, Mexican artist, and thought I could coast on some decent photos we (my husband) took.

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      51. coast, as in get-away-with, make-do, I am big on attribution and credit for photos etc., and always cite my late husband’s pix. Back in the day he was our photographer, and many of my newspaper photo/feature spreads included his photos. That was before digital photography…he was very prolific with his pics, I wish he would have been around when the digital cameras came out and the cost of film and developing became moot.

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      53. oh yes, actually I do a lot of photography in my yard, and in various travels. I’m converting thousands of slides to digital…in fact I should get on the ball publishing it. I did a lot of traveling in Mexico in the 1990s -2005 or so, much of it by myself. I enjoyed traveling by myself without being encumbered by the agendas of others…. 🙂

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      56. It’s a company that prints ‘picture’ books for self publishers – i.e. anyone who wants their photos in a book rather than just stuck in a box or a photo album.

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      57. hmmmm, I’ll check them out. I have hundreds of slides, and thousands of post-digital photos. Also my photo albums overflow…I used to be better about pasting pics into the albums, and the kids and grandkids never cease to be fascinated poring over the old photos.

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      59. I really want to publish a volume of my poetry, I’d give it to my kids and friends, who might or might not ever read it. My grandchildren would, my kids not really so much except my son and daughter-in-law.

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      60. Yes! You should. Seriously. It’s your legacy. I don’t believe in immortality or life after death or any of that stuff but I do believe in being ‘remembered’. That’s what my writing means to me, a way of being remembered. Please do it!

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      61. I like to say that I love blogging because it allows me to post my work, good or bad, onto a potentially eternal cyberspace. Anyone who wants to read it may do so, if not…then oh, well.

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      62. lol – I feel the same coz I love blogging too. But a book? I didn’t believe the difference it would make until held a print copy in my hands for the first time. Mine. Real. 🙂

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      64. By the way, my 12-year-old great granddaughter is in photography club at school, and there will be a display next month. My oldest great-grand, the daughter of my oldest granddaughter.

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      66. yes, I rarely see her two younger cousins, who live in Minnesota…I saw them when they were like 5 and 6 or there about. I was impressed at how they were so pleased to see me even though I hadn’t seen them since they were very young toddlers. The one I really bond with is the 4 year-old, Edward, a remarkable little boy.

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      68. Edward. Yes…he was a sort of gift from heaven…long story, but let’s just say it was one of those things that was destined to happen. His Dad is half-Hawaiian. When he came along his siblings (half) were both in school, which really upset the applecart…

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      69. Late child? I can imagine. There’s only 6 years between my niece and nephew but it’s always felt like a ‘generation’ in terms of maturity!

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      70. Not exactly a late child, but rather one that just happened in a serendipitous relationship… as I said a sort of gift from the universe. He is fortunate to have two devoted parents and extended families.

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