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Tag: national poetry month

Posted
April 11, 2019
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Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 10

Ever have one of those moments of beauty during mundane life that takes your breath away?

I don’t head to the Natick Mall often, and it usually exhausts me to do so, but I was coming back to the car during this sunset and I stopped to stare… and barely remembered to snap a picture.  I took two. The other is clearer, but I prefer the colors on this one… and the effect of the blur fits into the poem.

Better titles may be forthcoming, but right now they are “Neon Sunset at the Natick Mall” for the photo and “Brilliance” for the poem.  Enjoy!

The poem, like all of what I’m posting, is in its rough draft form, too. My aim for the month is composition; I’ll edit later. Please do not copy or share the photos or poems I’m posting. I am not finished, and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

 

Posted
April 9, 2019
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Folklore, Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 9

I managed another short poem! (Seriously, this is an achievement for me!)

This pairing references the beautiful and heartbreaking story of Hachikō, which if you don’t know, is worth looking up. But have plenty of tissues handy.

Scott, Husband-of-Awesome, actually took the photo. I honestly don’t know if it’s from Taiwan or Osaka, Japan… so I hope the pairing isn’t problematic with the Japanese story, though the story has been retold several times in several cultures—one of the most recent and memorable (at least to geeks like me) being the Futurama episode, “Jurassic Bark.”

The poem, like all of what I’m posting, is in its rough draft form, too. My aim for the month is composition; I’ll edit later. Please do not copy or share the photos or poems I’m posting. I am not finished, and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

Posted
April 9, 2019
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Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 8

It’s only a little past midnight!

And it’s a short poem! (Because deadlines…getting worked on…and piling hard!)

This photo is of the lighthouse (well, wee automated lighthouse) at the end of one of the original breakers of Cape Cod Canal, which is accessible via Scusset Beach. A good friend of mine has a house on the private part that she allows me to rent with a group of writers and artists, and I have so many pictures of the area. I love it very much!

What caught my eye with this particular picture (and there are a lot of this breaker and lighthouse because it is so striking) is the poem. Another one that’s been banging in my head for a while that I’ve finally written down.

The poem, like all of what I’m posting, is in its rough draft form, too. My aim for the month is composition; I’ll edit later. Please do not copy or share the photos or poems I’m posting. I am not finished, and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

Posted
April 8, 2019
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Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 7

Today’s pairing ended up the last thing I needed to cobble together before bed after a busy day, but here it is!

Quick description: These are the “Moss Stairs” sculpture / art installation at Tower Hill Botanical Garden. They have a description that includes not walking on them because it will disturb the fragile moss ecosystem that has grown on them, which I included in the poem.

Again, this poem, like all of what I’m posting, is in super rough draft form, too. Please do not share the photos or poems I’m posting; I am not finished, and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

Posted
April 7, 2019
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Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 6

Running out the door to a movie with the Husband of Awesome, so real quick…

Picture is another from Scotland, an old gravestone at an old abbey in Coldingham. There’s more to the story… but perhaps later.

The set is tentatively titled “Momento Mori.”

Remember, the poem is super rough draft, and also please do not share the photos or poems I’m posting; I am not finished, and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

Posted
April 6, 2019
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Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 5

Not that I figured I’d get far in any poetry journey without a faery poem, but in going through the pictures I’ve taken and am using for inspiration, there’s no less than three that are titled “Faery ________.” If you’ve known me or been following me for some time, I’m sure you’re shocked. Completely and utterly shocked. <insert sarcasm>

This particular photo is “Faery Bed,” and I’ve named the poem to match.  I took this picture in Scotland while I was doing research for my MacArthur series of books. It was at this wonderful and magical place, Traquair House, which is the oldest inhabited home. It has a hedge maze; secret passage ways; Victorian furniture (including a writing desk in the room and a canopy bed!); delicious food (with option for a romantic dinner with fancy crystal-ware!); all sorts of trails through the woodlands, wetlands, and gardens; free range farm animals and peafowl; and nesting grey herons that sound like dinosaurs. Really, what else could anyone ask for?

I found this copse of azaleas that looked like a canopy bed and had recently discovered our camera did this “punch” thing with colors that makes them more vivid. (This was 2012, well before cell phone camera and Instagram filters.) Even without the color “punch,” I was intrigued by what looked like a faery bed of purple flower petals beneath a branching canopy of twisted limbs and green leaves. This was the best of several pictures I took, and I knew I’d write something to match it eventually.

The poem, like all of what I’m posting, is in its rough draft form, too. My aim is to compose the poems this month, and then go back and edit later.

Please do not share the photos or poems I’m posting; I am not finished, and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

Posted
April 5, 2019
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Life, poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 3 and 4

I was offline yesterday doing stuff and making yummy food for the Husband-of-Awesome’s Birthday.

I DID pick and do a lot of cursing at Photoshop for yesterday’s picture on Tuesday. (I’m a superduper n00b on Photoshop, so the cursing is expected). I particularly chose that picture because Scott pointed the scene out to me while we were wandering around Marblehead the day before the big Salem Open Market, and I remember him saying something to the effect of “that’s a story, right there,” and I agreed and snapped the picture on my phone. I titled them both “A Story to Tell.”

Today’s pair comes from our adventures in Japan. We went to see the Giant Buddha in Kamakura, and this was a scene wandering around the whole temple area. It was gorgeous! It was also March, so very early spring. Only a few cherry trees were in bloom. These I titled “Conversations with Gods.”

Please do not share these photos; I am not finished and sharing them can hurt my future plans for these pieces. Thank you!

 

 

Posted
April 3, 2019
Category
poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 2

I’m taking poetic license on the definition of “date,” as I often do. It is the same day from the time I wake up until I go to bed. So there.

This is a quick post, at least.  I had this pairing in my mind for a while because this is a picture that has remained with me since I took it.  For a little over ten years, I volunteered for the Bay State Equine Rescue. It was a wonderful experience that gifted me with my own adopted horse, Calico Silver.  This picture far predates Calico, though, and comes from my early years at the rescue.  One morning, when I came in for my volunteer shift, lo and behold, there were three new horses!  It was an Appaloosa family: a stallion (soon to be gelded), a mare, and their baby! I happened to have my camera with me (well before camera phones were a thing, so a miracle in and of itself!), so I snapped pictures. And this picture of the stallion, Metro, was one that stayed in my mind as striking with his expression and the wind in his hair.  For the final piece, I will likely use the black and white (which was quite some stressful playing in PhotoShop since all my other photo editing has just been on my phone, itself!), but I wanted to share all his gorgeousness here!

The poem is also in its rough draft form, too. My aim is to compose the poems this month, and then go back and edit later.

Please do not share these photos; I am not finished and sharing them can hurt my future plans for this piece. Thank you!

04022019 Survivor Poem

Posted
April 2, 2019
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poetry
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National Poetry Month, April 1

For National Poetry Month, I decided to challenge myself with an ekphrastic poem every day.

What’s an ekphrastic poem? It’s a poem written about a picture or work of art–or inspired by a picture / work of art–meant to expand upon the meaning of the piece it’s in response to.

I’ve had the honor and privilege to be part of the Blackstone Valley Art Association‘s Art-Poetry Pairing for the past three years, and I’ve loved working with artists. This year, I participated as both artist and poet.  You can see this year’s parings at this link.

So, this year, I decided to celebrate National Poetry Month by doing my own pairings of my hobby photos and poems. Some days the poem will be the inspiration, other days the picture will be.

Today is my first full day home after attending Conbust, one of the regular conventions I attend. It was amazing, as always, and it’s the inspiration for this particular pairing.  I had an idea of taking a picture of my duffel bag spilled first and writing a poem about recovery, about self-care and permission to recover–particularly after several excellent panels discussing invisible disabilities and the challenges of neurodiversity.

Instead, with the photo plan in mind, I wrote the poem first–a very different poem than I planned–and then did the shoot, chose the pictures, and edited them a little. The poem, however, is unedited and will be edited.  Most of my poems are handwritten first. So here are the two pictures I am deciding between for the pairing and a photo of the VERY ROUGH draft of the  poem.

Please do not share these photos; I am not finished and sharing them can hurt my future plans for this piece. Thank you!

 

04012019 Poem Pic

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