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raindrops beating on the roofs
lightning charges the night air
the dogs barking with their woofs
thunder’s giving them a scare

sleep escapes, I turn to you
lips electric blue in shade
eyes wide shut, as if you knew
the impending masquerade

quietly at first, we move
urgency soon overtakes
there is nothing left to prove
and too late to hit the brakes

lightning lights our starry end
pale blue glow invades the room
we fall back together, spent
rain will make the flowers bloom

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784074-Love-in-the-rain image from Unsplash

Who doesn't like Queen Esther?
I doubt many would best her
Beguiling bad old Xerxes
(Achashverosh in verses)
saving the people of the Book
from a corrupt and dangerous crook

some reexamine the old story
finding some parts of it too gory
applying modern morals
to old historic quarrels

what fools they be
to live, to thrive!
the moral is
the Book's alive!

be drunk and merry on her day
(that's if the Bible has its way)
and don't forget, for her parade
it's costumes and a masquerade!

Author notes: image from the NY Times https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784680-Favorite-Book-or-Character-of-the-Bible

Tired of her dated green attire
Lady Liberty breaks out
does some much needed shopping
and vamps for the cameras
trying to remind folks
that she is very precious indeed

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784690-8-only-----write-what-inspires

only a melancholy fool
whose day is turning into night
does not appreciate this jewel
and its extraordinary might

your worship once a punished cult
old Akhenaten's parting gift
with Tutankhamun's failed revolt
and your demotion, sharp and swift

but Moses likely understood
the value of the one true god
in driving his unruly brood
the Levites were his trusted squad

it's not for naught that your bright rays
continue symbolizing Him
the light you give, split our by phase
a sign for every hope and dream

the fool that said there's nothing new
under your blessed warming rays
each day you labor, that is true
but all are precious, seize all days

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783637---PHOTO-PROMPT---Photograph-taken-by-Robert

I had coffee with a capuchin
he darted this way and that
grabbed things with his tail
and his tiny cute hands
a living caricature
storming through a coffee shop

finally, he settled down
and ordered a latte

Author notes: image from Sci-News https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784685-I-had-coffee-with....

in my magical world
the lions have laid down with the lambs

the resulting chimaeras
are as likely to have you for dinner
as you are to have them

Author notes: image from Etsy https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784653-A-magic-world

we the people do value these truths

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784703-Only-7-Words

The new Oz
is full of cowardly lions,
and brainless tin men.

Witches have a tough time, too
figuring out if they're good or bad

Used to be simple
North, South
East, West

But now all this gerrymandering
and redrawing districts

The morally ambiguous witches
attempt to maintain

plausible deniability

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784534-Are-you-a-good-witch-or-a-Bad-Witch...Wizar

our prosperity
stuff of tempests in teapots
Prospero's weather

Author notes: image from Shakespeare & Beyond https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest

in fertile pastures
rusty trucks sleep, forgotten
all that is now deer

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784701-Brevity---15-words-or-less

there should be a rule
a horse is a mule
when it's missing critical parts

this rule is maintained
when horses are trained
in racing and other fine arts

but this one, this Ed
got up out of bed
and thought: "I think something is missing"

he later discovered
they're not in his cupboard!
the ladies rejected his kissing

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784681-Picture-Prompt.

sails torn by shrapnel, she groans as she turns
hell below decks as the gun powder burns
smoke blinding eyes, hiding old skull and bones
no longer jolly, is our Davey Jones

gone are the days of the main Spanish threat
vanquished by speed, by the British corvette
galleons, heavy with wine and with loot
tortured by ships that are faster afoot

here goes the mast, Massachusetts' best pine
so much for racing the ships of the line
is this the end, he is forced to admit
Davey is staring at certain defeat

suddenly, as if by Neptune's decree
monstrous tentacles rise from the sea
terrible screams as the water does churn
ships torn asunder from bow to the stern

and sink below, to their watery graves
the smoke clears at last, Jolly Roger yet waves
proud as its ever been, old Skull and Bones
serving its master, the feared Davey Jones

Author notes: Image from Nerdist https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784707-Old-century-Ships-Gentleman-only