Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

#SmallPoemSunday #micropoetry
#Oulens #blueskypoets
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Amnesia
- C. Oulens

Dreamy dawn

Forgets
the night’s tears—shed and held—blurred to light

All too soon

November 24, 2025 at 3:25 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

asclepiads order
doughnut on choco-spill
star packaging
#Oulens

Pic showing a couple of varieties of asclepiads in a partially revealed pot with a small flower shaped like a doughnut on star on one of the stalks

November 23, 2025 at 6:42 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

#SenseWrds Prompt 148: Tenderness Repetitive Absence
#Oulens
#blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Unfound Objects
- C. Oulens

Don’t need no photo album
Don’t need to flip them
over and over again
Sweetheart, I don’t need
no blues tracks neither
not on shuffle not on repeat
to know that I gone missing
Don’t you tell me
that I gone missing
Did you endeavour to trace the tracks?

November 21, 2025 at 6:00 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For #PoemsAbout #DogTags
Will come back later to read others and comment. A slightly long poem today, will understand if you give it a miss. Thank you! 🙏 💫

@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poetry

Of Certificates and Of Those Missing
- C. Oulens
I was born happy and blue!
A little confused coz there seemed a lot of hullabaloos over this fact and that I did not wail and kept my eyes shut—they even discriminate against babies that are introvert!

Oh c’mon, what’s the deal with this—I thought—should I gawk wide at the beauty of sunshine? Can I not let it seep in with time? Have they not learnt from dawn, of light’s slow release? Should I let the sun jump on me and damage my eyes? Let’s say I concede to that, but why, oh why—should they want me to shriek?

Then I heard my mom’s wail—Yeah, well, emotional blackmail commences as early as that—even before they’ve prepared your destiny’s sketch (and the many certificates of mismatch). Besides, they were shaking me (and what not—uncomfortably)—so, with an eye roll, I kindly complied and delivered a heart-rending scream—an encore to my mom’s premature mournful cries (it seemed she thought I got born with an intent to die)—and to my bafflement—followed by a roomful of applause and cheer—it now appeared I had claimed my first entitlement of existence—certified in a registry.

… and that, in short, is my introduction to a kind world that said—undocumented—you’ve had your heartful—henceforth the world would appreciate if you kept your screams inside and your tears dry—there’s too much, anyway, to pass by.

And sunshine I found is not infinite—how can it be when some are looking to steal from you with a sleight of hand—but some, at the edge of abyss, will find a bagful of a warm wish—unclassified, uncertified.

I am not happy but I’m happily blue.
I stole too—some stars—of a blue moon—committing poetry—without standard devices—without requisite licences—without certificates to earn.

November 21, 2025 at 6:22 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

My reaction to this #action prompt once again went way over expected character count 🤷‍♀️

#vss365 #2WordPrompt #Oulens
#blueskypoets #BlueskyPoetry #writingcommunity
#poetrycommunity

“So our first #Action hero, am forgetting his name… the one who had new tons of brain who watched the apple fall n had to pick it up n eat it on his own coz Eve was already outta garden in some free zone… who philosophised about the need to react…”

Ok…okay…what about him?!

“Well, I followed his advice… n one fine day when a dude threw a ball in my court, I threw it back in his, but he didn’t take it kindly… he’s sorta outta action now! umm, yeah, well, you see… the theorem is flawed… it’s not easy to maintain the ‘equal’ bit of it…”

November 20, 2025 at 12:23 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

The poem ran out of character counts #reality today… so a screenshot
#vss365 #Reality
#2WordPrompt : #involve #summer
#Oulens
#blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

#Reality checked in this noon
unannounced.
How rude! I muttered
beneath my sober breath browsing
for real spirits in my empty bar.
She gauged my turmoil—
she’s always so #involved—
and uttered—don’t sweat so
it ain’t #summer—It’s byob
(Books, of course)—
I’ll lend you some mine
but just add to the party
your special silly fritters—I’m so bored!

November 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

Four today’s #PoemsAbout , #Desire that pulses through the subconscious—looking for cracks to gush out…

@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poetry

Please check the reply on this post for the Alt text… since it’s not allowing me to save it here

November 15, 2025 at 5:41 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

Pleased to have a #haiku / #senryu in this issue of Post. Many thanks to Peter Devonald @pdevonald.bsky.social for selecting this piece. 🙏😊 First posted this piece for a poemsabout prompt
#Oulens

A screenshot of poetry corner page from Post featuring various poems…
My piece:

by C.Oulens

behind stone
facades
cling-film shadows
of fear
suffocate fresh
tears

November 8, 2025 at 12:46 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

#SenseWrds Prompt 137: Frosted Entwining Constellations
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

…and I’d have written of…of all these tender thoughts…behind two misted glass…but then…were you not…already gloating?…but I’d have…would have still…surrendered all…all of these subliminal thoughts…some laces of worded dots…to the night’s silent map…had you not already been struggling…to break free…

November 1, 2025 at 7:23 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

This is one of my first poems on Threads posted in June2024 and spl coz it survived as poem#100 when I took to writing again. For #PoemsAbout #Blood and
Thanks to hosts @alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

An Elegy for the Survivor?
-C. Oulens

Poem — I know — it long struggled.
It set out for the unthinkable—
To outlive its cloud-shelf life.

It dived to depths, slid down some pits.
Whenever I thought, it’s done and out—
It burst afore, out of breath.

With wings clipped, it crawled on sands;
Its bucket growing in grains—
A castle of time in space sans space.

When the snow fell in freezing winter,
It donned a fur coat, put on weight;
It didn’t hibernate, wouldn’t migrate.

Even when words dripped blue blobs,
It couldn’t care less, to disengage—
The ink — from its crimson feather.

Blood—the lifeline
Bleed—a sign of life

Dedicated
To those who outlived a bleed
To those who respect a bleed and also
To those who embraced and survived the flood of another’s bleed
🙏 ❤️‍🩹 🩵 🙏

October 31, 2025 at 2:30 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

Pleased to share my poem featured in this lovely issue of #SciFanSat. To read it full, request you to please visit the site and show some love to fab Editor Jason H. Abbott @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social It’s free…and a wealth of other moontastic contributions.
#Oulens #blueskypoets
#poetrycommunity

A partial screenshot of my poem.

Bloody Broody Blues
by C. Oulens

You said, "Blue…... is the mood..."
I took a dip in the aqua pool.
Since that didn't make you swoon,
…..

To read the full poem, please visit the website in the quoted post.

October 26, 2025 at 4:19 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For #PoemsAbout #BurnForTheCamera
Thanks to hosts @alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

Also thanks to everyone for taking a pause to read my poetry. It’s greatly appreciated. Enjoy your week🙏💫
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Pictures Posed a Simple Poem
- C. Oulens

I smile every
time you click a
button and I’ve

lied some smiles
sometimes when
you’ve clicked

the button and I
ponder if
some pics will

crack under
weight of fakes
but I wonder

still more
how many
truly lovely

trues escaped
even as you were

bound by a frame
sold on a take
focused

on the tick
of a button.

October 24, 2025 at 3:26 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For today’s #vss365 sharing my poem “Seen #Unseen“ that won this year’s “Annual Poe-It Like Poe” poetry contest awarded by “The Six Degrees of Edgar Allan Poe”. The poem’s a #shovel after Poe’s “Alone”, which is one of my personal favourites. #Oulens #blueskypoets
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

A screenshot of the winning poem…
It can be accessed through the following link:

https://sixdegreesofpoe.com/poe-it-like-poe-contest-winners

October 23, 2025 at 2:31 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For #PoemsAbout #BreakTheMould
trying to break the mould of my poetry writing (not easy too, like the mould in my poem) with a #seox.
For hosts @alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Not as Easy as Ecdysis
- C. Oulens

my perfect
second skin… since baby skin
scales glow— ‘understanding’
asphyxiating…
insidious.
“shed dead trap!”

October 17, 2025 at 3:22 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

One for you… this was from my phone cam… with the clouds playing musical chair on the blood moon night

October 10, 2025 at 1:48 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For this #PoemsAbout I’ve found the perfect #ImperfectMe (no lying🤥) and now that the 🐱 out of the 🎩 (was it a 🛍️?) I’m gonna 💨 for the day (JK…) Thanks to host @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
also for #haikuchallenge #anecdote for host @bleuowl.bsky.social
#tanka #Oulens #blueskypoetry

Confessions of an unabashembellisht
- C. Oulens

Oi, I’m a hatful
of lies that hurts umm… no one?
okay… almost.— there!

you browse your own bags while I
~embellish~>
anecdotes of…
nowhere—… .. . _ -

Afterword

* if I’ve to ‘embellish’ (instead of ‘spin’) ‘anecdotes’ (instead of ‘tales’) it’s reasonable that I be permitted 2 extra syllables in the #tanka for my extra-churned services…?🤔

October 10, 2025 at 3:06 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For #PoemsAbout #Mannequin
a little rushed up piece… but didn’t want to skip another week.
For hosts @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Looking forward to reading all the fabulous pieces.
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Mannequins That Wear Menace
- C. Oulens

Mannequins of designer dreams
High on pedestals
Rightly placed
so they can look down upon
from their vantage point
my wayward flab

I’m not bothered I don’t mind
I don’t stare back at them
They may have a right to frown
(though they’d rather die than do that
for fear of fine lines and crow feet)
They seem harmless anyway

They’ve worked hard for
that chiselled shape
I on the contrary have not
earned their wardrobes
neither through god’s flawed design
nor through my own efforts

And believe it or not
though I may not
openly (shh) admit (after all,
who says they love sour grapes!)
I’d happily accept a designer bod
if it was sent to me gift-wrapped

But I’m wary of those
other types—those beheaded
mannequins walking in
silicon heads—dubiously thin
Transplants
on toughened lards

swaggering on the weight of
factory-churned or limited edition
designer dreams—smirking with
sly menace at my artisan
spindle hums or at unravelling
of my wayward spins

That’s when I wonder if
I should don a Snow White-
in-Black cape and crack
some minor magique mirrors
tuning up some elfin cackles
pinched (shh again) from friends

October 3, 2025 at 4:39 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

Many thanks to Peter Devonald @pdevonald.bsky.social for including my #senryu #haiku in the Post. 🙏😊
#Oulens

A page containing several micro poetry
My piece:

by C. Oulens

summer mass transit
sweat & deodorants mix
humans plead distance

October 1, 2025 at 2:48 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

Hi Paul @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social just a 🚧stanza for #PoetryTheme & #AMPHIBIAN coz I need to give the frog sm time to see where it’s headed to. I’ve a tinglin it’s gonna globe-trottin (pond-hoppin?) n I may follow it to see it doesn’t fall in sm fortuitous/devious well ‘long the way… #Oulens 1/2

Untitled
- C. Oulens

“Ribbit! Ribbit…Ribbit!” is not a melody I’d rather fancy hearing. No it isn’t even a sound I’d care about a wee bit. But I’ll admit, it has some weight. It has its moment of a momen of a momn. of…mmn…for lack of an appropriate word or phrase, I guess I’ll go for “hic-cupp-ed serendipity”. It croaks, as if sayin’, “heck, Dame! jus‘bou’ gotchi’ bu’gimme a break!”, makin’ me h-hic, my hair a-prick, my eyes a-pop, teeth-en-tongue, standin’ wi’my ears unplugged on my door’s ledge. Squirrels goin’ nuts ‘long the garden’s hedge n my nerves driv’n to a rabbity edge.

… …. … ??

September 24, 2025 at 5:19 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

For #promptcombo #ancestry
and host @victoriaspires.bsky.social
Also for
#vss365: #Reinvigorated #perhaps
#2WordPrompt : #turn #design

#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Garfields of the Sky
—C. Oulens

The clouds take #turns
at making funny faces
They have many
#Reinvigorated with their cackling
they disperse
coz that’s how some are
#designed to be
I smile inwardly
at their funny faces
coz that’s a priceless inheritance
#perhaps, or, maybe
received from my #ancestry

September 22, 2025 at 12:35 PM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

My today’s contribution for #PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets, expanded from a small post written for combined #vss365 ( #style, #flinch) & #2WordPrompt ( #distance + #daughters). Have retained the prompt words here. For
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens
#blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity

First page of the poem

Distancespeak
by C. Oulens

Look, I know our stars have lost their
#style
The enigma
of unknown #distance . . . no more
You n I
like their sons n #daughters
once scattered dust
seafarers
gold-spun
now revolving ‘round
a same blaze
gold-bound
on separate tracks
on the same plane
#flinch
. . .the distance-decimated light too bold
. . . the distance-through-relativity yet cold
1/2

$Page 2 of the poem 2/2 But look, somewhere out there there’s night still . . . a thousand n one light-years . . . of mystical elegance . . . slivers of silence . . . loosely . . . closely held (and a fraction of that . . . of a non-deterministic relevance . . . You n I in style in syzygy on contrary ends of a sun . . . soaking unmeasured warmth in slivers-in-silence constellated on an incomprehensibly cold probabilistic cosmic blackboard . . .) Could distance not remain yet be declared . . . null-n-void . . .$

September 19, 2025 at 2:06 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

#SenseWrds Prompt 118: Fractured Correspondence Undone
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

Intersections
— C. Oulens

You can clank cutleries
I can damn the doors
And
We can leave
The LED screen
On
To stream its idiocy
For
Some sound surround
Sound
Until
We get off the slouch couch
To take a stroll
And meet midway
Down
The ego bridge
Until next
Our eyes meet
And silence speaks

September 13, 2025 at 8:35 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

My today’s contribution for #PoemsAbout #Candlelight
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens
#blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry
Thanks for reading!

**fissure fillers?**
by C. Oulens

sluicing the cold draft cutting

through daffodils and burgundy
refills across a table-
for-two

—a candlelight’s brave try
of lambency. . . then flickers. . . apropos
the candlelight’s lame
lies

September 12, 2025 at 2:24 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

Had quite a few on today’s excellent theme for #ClocksTicking #promptcombo Sharing a very old piece. For host @dragonslayerma.bsky.social
Will read others’ later. 👋

**The Wait**

by C. Oulens

The waiting
from the time the child is conceived
afloat a mother’s celestial womb
to the time to the sun its beauty bursts
amidst pain serenading joy,with aplomb
is the wait —

… only the earth can know
carrying treasures within, to grow;

… lovers will never get to know
as impatience chained to oscillating tick-tock
paces, clap-tap-clap-tap to and fro;

… love will grow to know
when chains unshackle, lead unbuckles,
nimbly as on Nature’s rug, it tip-toes.

September 8, 2025 at 8:17 AM

C. Oulens

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social

#haiku / #senryu for #PoemsAbout #Facades .Was difficult to decide my fav version So not selecting… just putting up a few (will love to know your pick🙏😊) for #PoemsAbout #Facades
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens
#blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poems #poetry

haiku / senryu by C. Oulens

5-7-5
behind stone facades
cling-film-thin shadows of fear
suffocate fresh tears

short forms:
1.
fear cling films
behind stone facades
choking tears
2.
cold shadows ache
behind stone facades
tears numbed
3.
moss of life
on stone walls
in mist of tears
4.
in nooks of stone walls
mush of moss tufts
breathe through tears

September 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM

Add to Home Screen

Light up
your news

Add to Home Screen

Light upyour news

Sign in to Lightnews

Sign up to start reading

Connect Bluesky

Connect with Bluesky

Light up
your news