One Single Impression

The sources of poetry are in the spirit seeking completeness. ~ Muriel Rukeyser


I have missed my weekly participation in one single impression...so here I am again.

This week's word is TOLERANCE given to us by Gina of Kilauea Poetry.

I have written a haiku...

a veil of droplets

spread tolerance to spaces

open to receive

15 Words or Less

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. ~Kahlil Gibran

With the above quote I would also add...thesaurus, as I use it a lot when I write poetry.

Anyway...this week Susan Taylor Brown is hosting 15 Words or Less...it's a great photo, easily stimulating one's imagination. Head on over and join in...everyone's welcome.

Here's my contribution:


Puzzle pieces
placed upon
nature's background.

One Single Impression

This week on OSI the prompt is WORD...a word close to my heart, as my husband is unable to use them at this point...so it brings many emotions and thoughts to mind...here is what I came up with.

Silent Words

your eyes speak
words,
your hand speaks
words,
I listen...
frustration mounts,
you slouch,
I say your
words,
you listen...
your eyes
smile,
I understood your
silent words.

Life's Decisions

"Life is a process. We are a process. The universe is a process." ~ Anne Wilson Schaef


Today, my quote is about life rather than poetry as that is what has been happening in my days...LIFE...so much so I have had little time to write, other than personal poems...which by the way gets me through my life. With my current situation of being a care giver to my husband and my youngest very high needs son my writing time is limited, so....

I am in the process of prioritizing my writing and have found that blogging, both reading and writing them, and dealing with emails, takes up far too much of the free time I have allocatied for writing. In other words, I am getting very little 'real writing' done...you know the kind that potentially can earn me money and/or recognition.

So... I am going to be doing less blogging, less constantly checking emails, and reading other blogs...Starting tomorrow I will focus on my 'real writing' projects and get lots of things submitted... :>)...including additional intro packages to educational publishers and other poetry and fictional work.

Oooh...I feel elated about this process. Have you ever noticed that the process of making a decision is the difficult part...actually making the decision is the peaceful and exciting part!!!!

I will be blogging, just not as often...only as time permits, and I will be keeping track of my writing time on slimtimer and posting weekly on my writing blog...time permitting, of course ;>)

See ya' around...yee haw!!!!

One Single Impression

A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true. ~ W.H. Auden

These week's prompt at one single impression is LISTEN, and here is my lanturne...head on over and join in

Paint

wild strokes,

spring sprouting,

nature listens,

peace.

Poetry Friday

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~Novalis


I know...I know...I'm late with today's lanturne. I have decided to write one to help promote my online teacher and friend, Laura Purdie Salas' new book, to be released this Monday April 6, 2009. Her book is titled, Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School.

Wild

poems!

Stampede your

way to the store.

Read!

It looks like it's going to be a great book, based on it's wild cover and the few tastes of her poems I've read at jama rattigan's alphabet soup.

15 Words or Less

"The eye is the notebook of the poet." ~ James Russell Lowell







Today's photo at 15 words or less is a fan, and in keeping with my daily lanturne for national poetry month...read on and you too can participate, and link up at readwritepoem.

fan

sweeps space,

splashes breeze

upon glistened

face

One Single Impression

Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits. ~ Carl Sandburg

To start off National Poetry Month I am using the prompt from One Single Impression to write my lanturne. The word this week is SMOKE... and as the picture at OSI depicts I have written mine with the thought of incense, as I love the smell of it...

Twirls,

upward,

the sweet smell

encircles with

love.

National Poetry Month

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. ~G.K. Chesterton

Tomorrow is the dawn of National Poetry Month and there will be tons of poems to read and or receive throughout April.

I plan to write a poem-a-day in the form of a Laturne. If you're interested in participating by writing a poem every day for the month of April (weekends included, I assume:>)) you can sign up at readwritepoem, and from there you will be able to read many poems on many blogs.

You can also receive a poem-a day by email. Sign up at poets.org.

I am also going to read a poetry book a day and post it on the my side bar.

Even if you don't think of yourself as a poet, give it a try. It'll be fun and you will definately learn a little, if not a lot...so come along for the ride, and you could even write a poem about cheese (see the above quote)!

Weekend Wordsmith

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -
True Poems flee.

~Emily Dickinson



Weekend Wordsmith's writing prompt is JUMBLED. I like that word and all it conjures in my frazzled brain. So this is what I came up with midst the jumble of my life :>)



Jumbled

Juggling the jumble of
Piles protruding,
Lists lengthening,
Time trumpeting,
Jingle jangle...

gotta start somewhere!

Stampede to an online Launch Party

"Poetry lies its way to the truth.” ~ John Ciardi

This morning's post is to invite you to Laura Salas' online launch party for her new book, about to be released, Stampede! To Celebrate the Wild side of School!

Let's join her in celebration on April 6, 2009!

Poetry Friday

"Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.” ~ Charles Simic

A few days ago, I picked up a poetry book written by an 11 year-old boy. His name, Mattie J.T. Stepanek. He began writing poetry at the age of three, to help him deal with the death of his older brother. Mattie had a rare form of muscular distrophy, and somehow this young soul was able to feel and see life for what it really was...living our lives listening to our heartsongs. The Journey through Heartsongs, the book I read, has poems written by a very young Mattie, age 3 to age 11. There is much to be learned by his poetry...I would hope that I too will listen to my heartsongs...

Here is an excerpt from a poem written by Mattie, age of eight, in his book titled, Journey through Heartsongs..

Swinging

So high. . .
Wind tickles my tummy
Plays with my feet
Gives my hair a ride.
So high. . .
Grab a leaf from a tree
Reach a so-far-up branch
See over the edge of my earth.
So high. . . read the rest..

Julie Larios is hosting Poetry Friday today. Check out the roundup here.

Three Word Wednesday

"Poetry...tells of capturing a moment...because it's going to live." ~ Nikki Giovanni

This weeks 3WW had me stewing. I wanted to write something for children, but that just wasn't coming out of me. And besides the words weren't really kids' kind of words, but I did come up with something but I couldn't quite get it done and it was time to move on to other projects with self imposed deadlines...so the following is what came out, instead (and it's not intended as a children's poem :>))...

The three words are: earnest, layer, reactive.

Beneath the layers

emotion sleeps,

standing at attention

for the moment

of reactive fear

to plunge me into

earnest tears.

"Never let the mud puddle get lost in poetry--because in many ways the mud puddle is the poetry." ~ Valerie Worth



It's been a while for me but here I am once again ready to write a poem from One Single Impressions prompt, which this weeks is 'equals' representing March 20, the vernal equinox, when day and night were the same length.

In my minds eye I saw the sun sinking into the horizon to give night an equal share, and wrote the following haiku...

day leaves, shaking hands

with night, sun sinks out of sight,

moon's light takes over.

Weekend Wordsmith

"Poetry is indispensable --if I only knew what for." Cocteau, Jean

This weekend's Weekend Wordsmith is Passport.

I was finding myself stumped. Throughout Saturday I had tried several times to come up with a poem (because that's what I like to write from my prompts). Nothing was coming, so this morning I remembered something I learned in a poetry course...add an extra word to a poem to give it some more depth.

Well I added two extra words to the prompt, Red and Trampoline, and before I knew it words flowed, and out came a poem of sorts. Not only that, similes showed up, too. This was a great exercise for me, and reminded me of the usefulness of continued education :>)

Bouncing from city to city
Like a trampoline,
Eyes as red
As delicious apples,

Feeling as used
As a passport,
Announcements unfiltered
Like a rock concert,

Will it ever end
Like a book?

Yes

Smiles greet me
Like open envelopes
Hugs as welcoming
As…well hugs

Home at last…

15 Words or Less

"Writing is a delicious agony."~Gwendolyn Brooks

Ahh...my favourite poetry day, photopoetry Thursday and 15 Words or Less...today's pciture is...well...peace provoking. Head on over to Laura Salas' blog and join in...for the fun of it...


Here's mine for this week, P for peace...


P for Peace

petals protruding
persuading
the world to
embrace
Peace

My Peace Poems

A smile is the beginning of peace.~~ Mother Teresa

You may have already seen the letter below floating amongst writers blogs regarding the gathering of peace poems. Please feel free to participate and help in your own way to bring peace into your life and others, as well as help Judy reach her goal.

Here are my poetic contributions, one is an acrostic and the other a diamante


Perpetual
Essence of
Acceptance
Cradled for
Eternity

War
fearful, hostile
struggling, battling, conforming
bloodshed, survival, tranquility, freedom
understanding, accepting, embracing
harmonious, serene
Peace

3-1-09

Dear Family and Friends of mine,
Peace and love are on my mind now all day, everyday...Do you remember the story of Sadako the little girl who died as the result of the Hiroshima bombing? Her goal was to fold 1,000 origami cranes before she died, an act of hope and
peace. She died before she finished, but since then, children from all over the world continue to send thousands of colorful peace cranes to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. Thus, they show their support and faith.

I traveled for two weeks in November with Patch Adams and 25 other clowns on their 24th annual humanitarian clowning trip to Russia. We visited sick or abandoned children in hospitals, orphanages and home hospices, clowning and sharing love, laughter and peace.

Action: I am gathering poems, quotes and prose pictures about peace* from writers around the world, of all ages and backgrounds, published or not. They will be arranged in a book, the proceeds of which will go exclusively toward building in West Virginia, the world's first silly hospital, a proto-typical model of health care delivery. See www.PatchAdams.org; Patch Adams: Gesundheit (Patch Adams & Maureen Mylander); Housecalls (Patch Adams).

This one-of-its-kind hospital will treat patients free of charge using the most modern medical technology and alternative methods including humor, drama, art, music, playful architecture and old fashioned family-doctoring. There will be no insurance required or accepted.

Arnold Adoff, Maya Angelou, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Zilpha Keatley Synder and Jane Yolen have already contributed their poems. Honor Moore will help. I have asked the Obama Family, Patch Adams, Robin Williams and Shel Silverstein’s publishers to participate in 1,000 pieces of peace. Would you please join us?


What: send one or more peace pieces *
When: DEADLINE: March 30
Where: judy.fisk.lucas@gmail.com
Why: To do something for peace

Thank you from the center of my heart,
Judy Lucas, M.A.
SCBWI Member & CSUCI writing student
Camarillo, CA

Poetry is not always words. ~Audrey Foris

Ah...it's Thursday again...15 words or less day over at Laura Salas' blog. I have great fun writing poetry from pictures. I find it very inspiring and all kinds of ideas pop into my head from a photo. Head on over and try it...it's for fun, no pressure. Today's photo is titled 'Secret Door'. Doesn't that just make you want to take a peak???

Here's my creation:

Squirreled away
Bark hair drapes the curved archway
Awaiting new life

Weekend Wordsmith

"What can a poem do? Just about everything."~Eve Merriam

This weekend's prompt at Weekend Wordsmith is MEDAL. As you'll notice in my poem it has absolutely nothing to do with the word medal. What I picked up on was the word science written on the medals in the picture. This in turn triggered a thought about how one of my son's do not like science...and this is what I came up with...(the metering is a little off...oops!)

I hate science,

I hate math,

Spend umpteen hours

With homework's wrath.

I like recess,

I like phys. ed.,

For those there's no

Need to use my head.

I like my friends,

I like being cool,

So I may as well

Stay in school.

15 Words of Less

"Poetry helps us travel beyond ourselves."~X. J. Kennedy







Head on over to Laura Salas' blog for this week's 15 Words or Less...write a short poem from a posted picture...it's for fun and is fun to do...meant for anyone who just wants to try. Below is my creation for this week.


peaceful wind
carries me-
forgotten below
the speed of life.

Three Word Wednesday

"Poetry should be like fireworks...ready to explode..." ~~Lilian Moore.




Today, on Three Word Wednesday the word prompts are:

Avenge
Genuine
Ramble

An interesting combination which produced this result from my rambling brain...

The need to avenge
the force of life
through time,
Rambles our need
to find
our genuine self.

Monday's Poetry Stretch

It's been a while since I've done Monday's Poetry Stretch. This one was fun to do...not only inspired by the prompt of writing a personal ad poem, but also by Jane Yolen's poem she posted first thing...rhyming poems are fun to write...

Next!

I'm tall and slim
And somewhat prim,
My hair a mess
I must confess,
But eyes of blue
And that is true.

I love to read,
My biggest need,
To you I'll talk,
And mend your sock,
Do you believe?
Then how naive!

My dogs, my cats,
My birds, my rats
Mean more to me
Than drink or tea.

I live a life,
And need a wife
To cook and clean,
I'll be your queen,
You'll be my king,
I'll take your ring...

It's no, you say
Well that's okay,
I'll not resist--
Next! on my list...

Weekend Wordsmith

Poetry makes nothing happen. It survives in the valley of its saying. Auden, W. H.




The prompt on this Weekend's Wordsmith is 'TIME', and I have come up with a sort of haiku..

purple petals sway

caught by the camera's eye

time stopped~

15 Words or Less

"Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the sky."-- Carl Sandburg

I see it's been a week since I last posted...oh well! Life is kind of getting in my way. I'm busy with Laura Purdie Salas' non-fiction course and then there's regular life with kids, husband, pets, and of course, me :>)

Head on over and try your hand at writing a 15 word or less poem prompted from this week's photo...it's a strange one...but lots of neat poems and thoughts have been posted.

Here's mine for this week, inspired from my eldest's son fear of clowns when he was young:

hidden behind

my painted smile,

frowns,

searching for happiness.

15 Words or Less

"A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else can be only a footnote."-- Yevgeny Yevtushenko


This week's photo at 15 Words or Less, although it is definately a winter picture, reminded me of spring, because we are having a rainfall warning here and it feels a little like springs arrival as the snow seeps away into the soil...



Spring sprouts,
Soaking ice,
Skating saved,
Swimming soon!

Three Word Wednesday

Poetry doesn't belong to those who write it, but to those who need it. ~Unknown, Source

This week on Three Word Wednesday the three words are:

Disarray, Rabble, Validate

As a side, I love the way the word 'rabble' rolls from the mouth...and my poem for the week is;

Aphasia

Rabble words

t

u

m

b

l

e

in a disarray,

Unable to connect, and

Validate his existence.

Weekend Wordsmith

Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings, and making music with them. ~Dennis Gabor

I'm a little late with Weekend Wordsmith, but as they say, here I am...I guess that's not really what they say....just what I say ...

This weekend's prompt is Boom and I've come up with a very simple acronym.

Blasts

Of

Own

Mistakes

15 Words or Less

Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the color of the wind. ~~Maxwell Bodenheim

Today on 15 Words or less Laura Salas has a photo of an unusual clock. Head on over and join in for the fun of it.

The poem that popped into my head today, and can also be found at 15 Words or less, came to me as I pictured my parents' home where there is almost a clock on every wall. My stepfather is a 'clock person' involved in the clock community here. When I visit their home, I am reminded how easily time slips by, yet it's also neat to be reminded by all the chimes, bells and songs their clocks sing.

Pendulums pump
Chimes chirp
Time twitters
A...w...a...y......

Three Word Wednesday

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. ~Thomas Gray


Those three little words this week on 3WW are:



Crumple
Illicit
Nerve


Brain Attack

Crumpled sounds attack
With illicit power
Shooting nerve endings
Into energy space .

One Single Impression

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth. ~Samuel Johnson







This weeks prompt at One Single Impression is the adverb 'slowly'.

I have written my poem about the progress I have seen in my husband, who is learning to walk all over again, following his stroke last year. The progress is slow but it is there, and that's what's important....reaching our goals no matter the mountain standing in our way.

Steps

Each step,
Stuck,
Each step,
Shuffle,
Each step,
Secure,

Stuck, shuffle,secure,
Step by step by step…

Weekend Wordsmith

"Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the sky."-- Carl Sandburg

This weekend's Weekend Wordsmith is, sleepless, an action I know very well at this time of my life for numerous reasons.

Following is the poem I created in trying to 'fly in the sky'. What I ended up with was a very strange Haiku...


Sleepless

Clustered thoughts like stars,
Pinprick my brain, tossing
Sheep back to their fields.

Three Word Wednesday

Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry.~Muriel Rukeyser

Today's words for 3WW are and interesting contrast and I thought, "Won't it be fun to play with these three words:

Caress

Jagged

Ruthless

And as I thought of these words a picture of a rock climber popped into my head.

( I'm not quite sure who to attribute this image to but it can be found at www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000830.html )

Unseen ruthless winds

Beckon,

Hanging hands caressing

Jagged rocks.

Earth waits...above.

Monday's Poetry Stretch

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~Novalis

Today, even though it's not Monday, I am doing Monday's Poetry Stretch, and a stretch I believe it will be. Below will be an attempt at a lipogram, and I have decided to write a short verse without the letter 'e' as that seems to be the most challenging...


Without

Oh, how do you put
In writing
A short group of words
With constraints, such as
A missing part
Of what allows us to
Talk amongst humans,
Without driving us
NUTS!!!??

One Single Impression

To have great poets there must be great audiences too. "--Walt Whitman

This week on OSI the prompt is 'If Only I Had Time". For me that is true of my daily schedule, as it is for many I'm sure. And so I continue through life using time as efficiently as possible, even if that means sitting quietly and doing my sudoku or ken ken puzzle...

Here is my contribution for this week. Feel free to join in and read some wonderful works from such varying writers...One Single Impression

Like fairy dust

Time sprinkled

For use to...

Fly with the wind

Circle the earth

Dance on the clouds

Sing with the angels

Stay in your dreams

Come out of your past

Time given,

A gift.

Weekend Wordsmith

" Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history."-- Plato

Ah yes...time for weekend wordsmith, and the word to ponder over is sensible, and the photo...well sensible shoes...

(Photo is "Eleanor's Sensible Shoes", by appaloosa)

Grounded,

Solid

By all appearances,

Hidden inside

Tenderness,

Gentleness,

Bursting to show

Through the toes

Wiggling,

Dancing,

Waiting--

For another day.

15 Words or Less

" Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know."-- Joseph Roux

I love Thursdays! Not because tomorrow is Friday, or yesterday was Wednesday, BUT because it's 15 Words or Less day. The day I get to write a short poem from a picture introduced to us at Laura Salas' blog. Head on over and join in. Below is the poem inspired from her photopoetry. It will also be posted on her site tomorrow, along with other great poetry.

Surrendered spirits

Swing toward the

Sight of light

Where love sits.

Three Word Wednesday

"Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind."--Thomas Babington Macaulay



This week's words from three word wednesday are a great combo:

Cadence

Humble

Resolve

What I wrote just sort of came out. It's a 10 line free verse.

Each Day

As we step through each day,

We find a rhythm, a cadence,
Sending us the internal message
We are on the right track.

We resolve to follow our path,
Whether straight, long, narrow, crooked,
And bow our humble heads
To find the spot inside,
Leading us on our way,

As we step through each day.

One Single Impression

"A poet is someone who is astonished by everything."-- Anonymous






This week's prompt at One Single Impression is Fading Memories. This week I have decided to write my poem in the form of Senryu, similar to Haiku but written in the predent tense about human nature or emotions.

Faded Memories

past pictures pass by,
blurred, faded, invisible,
the present surrounds.

Weekend Wordsmith

" Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood."-- T. S. Eliot

This weekend's Weekend Wordsmith photo has brought to me a poem written in the form of a Laturne.

Dark

clouds hang

following

the road toward

Light.

15 Words or Less

A poet must leave traces of his passage, not proof. ~~Rene Char

Today is 15 Words or Less Thursday. I always look forward to writing a short piece of poetry. It just seems so simple and easy, and sometimes I surprise myself with what ends up on paper after only minutes of thought. Actually, there really is no thought to it. Words just form, magically. That's why I love writing poetry from pictures.

Anyway join in and head on over...give it a try at 15 Words or Less. Today's picture is titled Waterfall, Waterstill. Here is my contribution.

H

A

N

G

I

N

G

Hungry for spring,

Hurry, hurry,

Want to join in.

A poem should not mean. But be.—Archibald MacLeish, "Ars Poetica"



Oh! How I wish it was summer, but it's not, so I shall picture in my mind's eye a moment in summer as I observe a curtain of ice fog paint over my window.

You can find the prompt over at One Single Impression and join in by writing a poem about summer. Here is mine:

Branches drape, fanning

through a wall of humid air

blades stretch--bend in the breeze.

Monday Poetry Stretch

All the poet can do today is warn.
That is why true Poets must be truthful. ~~Wilfred Owen


Once again it is Miss Rumphius' Poetry Stretch, and a stretch it is. Here's my shot at an ottava rima.


A part of my dad’s brain died the other day,
A part of him is gone because he had a stroke,
Words get stuck and he has nothing to say,
He can’t even tell me another great joke,
No more soccer or hockey can we play,
His whole right side is completely broke,
I know one day he’ll be able to walk,
I also hope he’ll be able to talk.


As is often the case these days, my poetry projects what is or has been happening in our family life this past year. Good therapy, I say!

Thanks for this stretch it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be...

Monday Poetry Stretch

Always be a poet, even in prose. ~Charles Baudelaire, "My Heart Laid Bare," Intimate Journals, 1864

Today is the first Poetry Stretch of the year. Here is my contribution and hopefully my continued presence. I have been somewhat absent since my husband's stroke.

Head on over to The Miss Rumphius Effect for instructions and join in. Here's my contribution which didn't exactly follow the rules, but then I'm not known for following all the rules!

The Kitchen

Golden brown
Resting on oval,
Knife whirrrs,
Slices --
Juices drool,
Mistletoe dangles,
Aprons meet,
Lips meet,
Smiles melt into
Sun's rays.