Author: Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

The wonderful Sea Notes Choral Society I am privileged to be a member of, established 50 years ago and still going strong, invites everyone out for not one but two concerts! Saturday December 6 @ 3:00 pm & Sunday December 7 @ 3 pm.

Tickets are free and can be picked up at any of the locations noted on the above official announcement. Hope to see YOU in the audience!!

In response to Esther Chilton’s Can You Tell A Story In 54 Words? Use the following words in a poem or story: GERBIL, WONDERLAND, ZIP, AFTERSHAVE, BANSHEE

The banshee she hunted
each Halloween night
Released from the veil
into a wonderland of prey

She camouflaged her stink
with human aftershave
To find her a gerbil
to free her from a witch’s spell

Yet years had passed to her dismay
gerbil’s ran faster than lightning
and away they went
– zip zip zip!

I have never jumped on a trampoline
I wonder how it would be to fly
to hit the bottom then bounce back up
to jump and jump and jump

I have never skied across a lake
frozen over with wintry ice
How wonderful I think it would be
to slide and slide and slide

I have never sped upon water ski’s
salty sea water beneath my feet
A wonderful time like a dolphin skims
to swim and swim and swim.

I have never run through a field of corn
with other children from the farm
To hop around and chase the mice
to run and run and run

I have felt the kindness of a stranger
stopping to hold an open door
Thankful for the occasional chatter
I smile and smile and smile

Brutal is the love

that can not be realized
Tortuous is the love
that must be denied

Ferocious is the pain
of love subdued forever
Merciless is the ache
of forbidden love

Savage is the pining
for everlasting love
Relentless is the thirst
for love’s committed kiss

Heartless was Cupid
directing love’s arrow
Ruthless was his aim
at these two lover’s hearts

Posted on October 15, 2025by ben Alexander

A two-person ‘Rengay’

By Gypsie-Ami and David

gaof-light blocked by darkness
searches through the masses
warmth, energy circle the globe

db-new dawn edges past despair —
love reminds us how to breathe

gaof-red moon falls into the sun
molten rays melt hate and pain
meadows of hope emerge

db-warships gather rust —
freed souls rise from buried dreams
builders greet fresh morn

gaof-warriors sleep undisturbed
we honor their true birthright

db-watchers drift
orbit round the Earth
vigilant

I’m Rengay is a form of linked verse created as an alternative to Japanese renga or renku. The form was devised by Garry Gay in California in 1992. A rengay consists of six thematic haiku verses and is normally composed by two or three poets, although solo and six-person rengay are not uncommon.

---

I sit here
invisible
In this little
bar
All alone
watching

Do they know I
watch
Would they
care
If they knew I
wrote

That it was them
here
On paper or
screen
That I record their
inattentiveness

To my invisibility?

You left me,
no remorse.
I waited,
no recourse.

Not enough
to keep you here.
Never enough
to keep you near.

All the rest
that came along.
Everyone danced
to the same old song.

Something better
lay down the road.
Nothing here
but an ugly old toad.

Yet like the prince
in tales once told.
With a lover’s kiss
a toad becomes gold.

Babbling speech echoes
from beneath the piped water
Hands rap on invisible walls
exiled beneath the weight of oppression

Tree bark peels like disemboweled promises
while the snake slithers out of his heralded slot
A flock of sparrows circle the over-coiffed head
forming a false halo – leaving excrement in their wake

A brush of a pen and a nod of his head
the lions circle his den before hunting his prey
The echoes and cries of the people converge
their outrage subdued – the dictator lives on.

Time passes, seasons change
churches built, buildings fall.
Acorns sprout, trees emerge,
living long, growing tall.

Day turns into endless darkness,
night encompasses one and all.
On the horizon, sunrise hovers,
moonbeams release their nightly enthrall.

Voices carry whispers in the wind,
ears attuned to each quiet vowel.
No more hiding, no more lying,
eyes are open, no need to pretend.