Riddle Me This #Throwback Thursday

^{_{Erasure Poem #51, highlighter & gel pen on paper, (Sketchbooks 2022), © N Nazir 2022
Text source: Haroun & the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie, p.162}}

You dive
into the deep.

Stories lie
on the ocean-bed.

Genie:
what is the answer
to this riddle?

*This song is actually called Underwater Love by Smoke City and was a major hit in 1997. It features on their debut album Flying Away.

Denim Blues #publication

Perhaps you ought to
try out a new groove.

The truth is
I was only pretending to like
your…

…you can read the rest of the poem here.

_{^{© N Nazir 2022}}

*thank you to Whispers and Echoes for publishing my poem. This is the first of three to appear in the coming weeks. I originally wrote it for a Sammi Scribbles prompt some time ago, so I’m delighted it was accepted.

Now this song on the other hand is what I’m talking about. The brass section is simply *kisses fingers* Marvin would be proud.

When the Tide Turns

And I
said unto him
she shall sing, she of the
melting horizons shall sing the
blues.  He

turned to
me and said, but
the moment brings peril
there are demons in the wings, they
lurk, skulk

seek to
silence she of
the melting horizons.
Yet it is writ in star dust, I
said.  We

can do
nothing but bear
witness to her song.  None
can thwart the course of fate.  Yes, a
storm is

coming
we must beware
but first she must take her
stage and break everyone’s heart to
pieces.

_{^{© N Nazir 2022}}

Written for dVerse Poetry Prompt Night, hosted by Laura, who sets us the challenge to write…

…either a cinq-cinquain:

• a series of 5 [entire] Crapsey Cinquains, 25 lines total
• syllabic count: 2-4-6-8-2 in each stanza
• written with or without breaks between stanzas

 OR the cinquain chain/crown cinquain:

• a series of 5 [entire] Crapsey Cinquains, 25 lines total
• syllabic count: 2-4-6-8-2 in each stanza
• written with a break between each stanza
• last line of the previous cinquain repeated as first line of the next cinquain
• Note: The final line of the last cinquain does not have to equal the first line of the first cinquain, but it is an option.

Fifty Shades of Blue

All kinds of blue fill me to the brim.

Electric, powder, eggshell, dusk.

The howlin’ wolf of a busker’s busk.

Making their home in my heart, on my skin.

Melancholic, the blue that mourns


azure, turquoise, cornflower, dawn.


The blue of the art I can hardly contain


the hue of the blue of a day filled with rain.

Cobalt, it’s not your fault

I choose other blues over you.

There are times you still make me melt.

Peacock feather, magpie’s wing

one will zing, the other is

a hidden thing.

Bells, berries, birds, bottles

soft, bold, infused, mottled.

Emerging, flowing, sweeping through

as ocean wave does bid adieu.

Twilight and midnight 

the quiet blue shadows 

of snow in sunlight.

All kinds of blue

I see moving in you.

Cerulean, phthalo, ultramarine.

Blue that whispers shades of green.

Your blue-veined arms

so warm, so calm.

Arctic, mussell, royal, indigo

the blue of the mood that knew Picasso.

The manifold blues that ripple across

the ocean face, the ocean bed

blue of the flame hotter than red.

Prussian, the blue of a lively discussion.

French horizon

the look in your eyes and

a silky dew on a day washed new.

The mysterious blue so close to black

of tales that never speak a word.

Otherworld blue, so white it smarts

a hush so deep it can only be heard

in a silent pocket of the heart.

I love the blue, the blue of your art.

Aquamarine, still, serene

complexion of a gentle stream

trickling along with breathless sighs

reflection of the cloudless skies

As whole and full as the truth is true

lives an endless hue of the bluest blue.

^{© N. Nazir 2021}

^{*all images my own}

Written in response to Blue Tuesday prompt by dVerse ~ Poets Pub

Actually rewritten, as I first penned this poem in 2007 and decided to unearth it for this prompt. The original version was embarrassing so I had to do a Zorro on it.

You may also wish to enjoy one of the best blues songs ever…Go on, do it. It will make your day that little bit better.

An Interstellar Poem

^{_{Devotional Series II, Acrylic on Canvas, © N Nazir 2016}}

I orbit your sphere
magnetised
tumble irresistibly over and over
circle you 
attracted
as my guts fall away
compelled
I dance 
celestial
around your 
solid ringed tilt.
I come
as your personal gift moon
balanced finely
for smooth stellar operation
a law beyond mine
a will I could never 
overpower.

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Orbit, 50 words

You can read other interstellar posts by me here and here.

^{© N Nazir 2021}