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Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday, W3, and CFFC #poetry #photography #Bruge

Tanka Tuesday

This week’s prompt is hosted by Melissa from Mom With a Blog. The challenge is to write a series of shadorma for one of the picture choices. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2025/07/15/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-21-shadorma-7-15-2025/

Alma Thomas, Aquatic Gardens, 1973, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Sunflowers on blue

rays of sun

distilled as petals

infused with

earthy scents

beautiful yet practical

perfect for weddings

***

Sunflowers

on backgrounds of blue

reminders

of movement

and change as life ebbs and flows

continuously

***

wedding day

fresh and beauty filled

time’s passage

wears edges

evolution essential

to vows survival

Cindy Georgakas recently wrote a very good post about marriage which you can read here: https://uniquelyfitblog.com/2025/07/18/celebrating-46-years-of-wedded-bliss-or-go-fish-on-fri-yayyy/

W3

Ben’s prompt is to write a poem including vintage mechanical marvels. You can read other poets contributions here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2025/07/16/w3-prompt-168-weave-written-weekly/

Cogs and Gears

The only wheels, cogs, and gears I know

are the ones turning inside my head

and they’ve always worked backwards

thus, explaining my processes I dread

At work, the most efficient outcome

appears, a completed puzzle in my mind

I dismantle the pieces, one by one

to determine what’s going on inside

Other painters start with backgrounds

always working from dark to light

I start with the most interesting piece

the background a boredom fight

Poems come to me fully formed

I just pluck the words out of my head

and my best ideas most certainly

don’t come while I’m dreaming in bed

Perhaps, I should take up horology

start tinkering with time keeping devices

the benefits of time moving backwards

I don’t need to think about twice

CFFC – Alongside

Dan’s prompt this week is Alongside and you can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/07/21/alongside-cffc/

My pictures are all from my short time in Bruges, Belgium.

Picture caption: The canal in Bruges

Picture caption: statue in the market square in Bruges

Picture caption: boat on the canal with the bridge in the background in Bruges
Picture caption: Entrance into Bruge. You can see Michael and TC to the left of the picture
Picture caption: This is the Women’s Quarter in Bruge

These are are few of my YouTube videos of Bruge:

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Published by robbiesinspiration

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children's books, and written and illustrated four poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies. Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

80 thoughts on “Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday, W3, and CFFC #poetry #photography #Bruge”

  13. Robbie, I really enjoyed each of these! Your shadorma about sunflowers felt both fresh and thoughtful—such a lovely nod to time and change. “Cogs and Gears” made me grin with its honesty and wit, especially the bit about poems arriving fully formed. And those Bruges photos are beautiful—thanks for sharing the glimpses and memories! 😊

    Much love,
    David

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  14. Melissa’s prompt has elicited some beautiful poetry, Robbie, and yours is no exception. I love your interpretation of it as sunflowers. The Cogs and Gears poem was a great interpretation of the way your mind works. And your photos of Belgium are beautiful. I was there when I was eleven and didn’t appreciate it the way I would now. 🙂

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    1. Hi Diana, it is wonderful to see you. I hope you saw my interview with Resa on my other blog. You are mentioned in the post 🥰. We don’t have enough experience of life to appreciate many things when we are young. Everything is taken for granted in so many ways. I saw that on my recent trip with Michael.

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      1. I did, Robbie, and I left a comment. I hope it came through (maybe stuck in spam?). It was a fabulous interview and I was tickled with the mention.

        And yes, the wisdom we desperately need when we’re young is, ironically, something that we only gain with age and experience. ❤

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  24. great photos, Robbie: they remind me of the 2008 film ‘In Bruges’ with Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson.; We’re two birds of a feather: poems come to me, too, almost fully formed in my head: there’s no gruelling editing —

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