Patchwork Prose and Verse
Alarm
Get up!
Get going!
Get out!
Move it!
Asleep to awake
Horizontal to vertical
Dreams to reality
Sheets to shower
Time to money
Money to “living”
Living to surviving
Freedom to ownership
Snooze is not an option
Get up!
Get going!
Get out!
Move it!
1885
weekend camping at FDR- site 104
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
IBD simmering, no full-fledged flare there
Good Housekeeping debut issue
picnic atop the mountain
First Motorcycle – Gottleib Daimler
fireside gift: starter brick flame
Salvation Army organized
Christmas music on the Jensen
Boston Pops formed
recharging our batteries
Statue of Liberty arrives in NYC
Flat tire: changed to spare
First cafeteria opens in NYC
antenna raised – local channels!
Georgia Tech founded – ATL
when’s the next trip?
Today’s writing prompt came from Jennifer Jowett, who inspired us to write in any style verse on the theme of traveling.
Camping Haiku
enjoy the journey
(engraved sign in my camper)
girl seeks adventure!
Today’s challenge from Jennifer Jowett: write a poem using titles of works. I chose the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr and used all 21 titles, but not in sequence. I have to find out who pulled the trigger.
A Virgin River Christmas
‘Tis the Season on Netflix
Virgin River: ALL THE RAGE!
My Kind of Christmas:
lusty indulgences of Forbidden Falls
a Hidden Summit of thrills!
out by the Whispering Rock
under the Harvest Moon
on the Moonlight Road
to Temptation Ridge
ripe for a Moonlight Kiss
I read on in this Paradise Valley
down along Redwood Bend
along the banks of Wild Man Creek
to the depths of Promise Canyon
up Shelter Mountain
over Second Chance Pass
scaling onward beyond Angel’s Peak
to the climax of Sunrise Point
That Holiday Feeling rising like the sun
all day waiting to Return to Virgin River
Bring Me Home for Christmas –
a Virgin River Christmas!
1890?
MDCCCXC?
Russia: Sleeping Beauty premieres at the Imperial Mariinsky
I got all the way dressed too soon
Nelly Bly completes her mission
Warm Springs: F D Roosevelt weekend
Strikes for 8-hour workday begin
Can I sneak out early to pack?
The Picture of Dorian Gray published
2:30: And Then There Were None committee
Death of Vincent Van Gogh
The Beatles Legos still sold out
Washington, DC: DAR founded
Marilyn Monroe Legos in stock
South Dakota: Wounded Knee Massacre
Dehydration: dark eye bags diminishing
1891
MDCCCXCI
6:11?! I overslept
London-Paris telephone system
awake at 3:18, couldn’t sleep again
Chicago: Wrigley Co. founded
Announced yesterday: Tom Ryan is on Cape Cod
with Emily and Sam for Christmas!
England: Great Blizzard
my dogs peed like 2 motorcycles
parked side by side this morning
First performance at Carnegie Hall
sweet potatoes are my new best
friends
Sherlock Holmes appears in The Strand
almond milk banana-berry shake
Swiss Army knife produced
6:57 and off I go!
1889
MDCCCLXXXIX
Total solar eclipse, January 1
NCIS black and white pfoof
Central Asia: 1889 flu pandemic begins
Atlanta: Coca Cola begins as Pemberton Medicine Company
Paris: Eiffel inaugurated, Moulin Rouge opens
Bellisario whacks the microphone
Washington: Great Seattle Fire, Great Fire of Spokane ravage
Exploding light bulb sound: irony
Van Gogh paints The Starry Night
agenda
emails
phone calls
texts
TV
Stay tuned
Goodnight
1897
MDCCCXCVII
In my dream I was house-hunting
first Boston Marathon
15 men, ten finish: John McDermott wins
I settled on a hotel in between
Klondike Gold Rush begins July 17
but the shower light was loose
Jack London among them
so I used the steam button on the iron to shower: good backup for a camper, I noted
Bayer markets aspirin
my late mother appeared with a van, clean, with side-facing seats and cargo hold
yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
I sent her for my purple shampoo and conditioner I had left behind
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161014-in-1925-a-remote-town-was-saved-from-lethal-disease-by-dogs
Today I wrote a found verse, all credit to the article linked above – because we are in a pandemic and can all take a lesson from these dogs
Great Race of Mercy
1925
Gregorian Calendar
MCMXXV
25th year of the 20th century
January 27-February 1
The Great Race of Mercy
serum run to Nome, Alaska
from Nenana
cut off in most brutal winter
in decades
deadly diphtheria epidemic
town doc predicted
100% mortality rate
without the antitoxin
rail could get it minus 674 miles
leave it to the dogs for the rest
20 teams of sled dogs
674 miles of ice and snow
mission: avoid freezing
to death
oh, and the serum
expires in 6 days –
get it there in less than
a quarter of the 25 day
postal time
enter the dogs and drivers
Siberian Huskies
first introduced
to Chukchi culture
by fur trader
William Goodall
Baltic and Togo two lead dogs who stood ready at their points
ready, set, go!
four days in
with two days to go
serum time ticking
Leonard Seppala
veered off on a victory path
in his stretch
a risky one
over the Norton Sound ice sheet
hitting a whiteout
knowing Togo could
navigate around
the potential pitfalls-
deadly open stretches of water
because Siberian Huskies
have vibrissae and tylotrich
to sense air flow changes
Togo got them 91 miles out
when Gunnar Kaasen
stepped in with Balto
and crossed the finish line
in Nome
with a half day to spare
saving 10,000 lives
Dogs aren’t just friends
they’re saviors
but the key to effective sled dogs?
playful dogs with no
inter-group aggression
lesson: we can do the impossible
when we work together
Bedfellows
Saturday morning
6:30 a.m.
36 degrees
they’ve already peed
in the cold, wet grass
just outside the front door
now they’re back
in the warm, soft bed
spoiling into
more rottenness
one is bundled
under the sheets
at my feet
the other sleeps guard
at his master’s shoulder
coiled up tight
like a knotted shoelace
lifts his snow-white
unkempt Schnoodle beard
and bed-headed twisted brows
in a half-dazed stare
his all-expressive eyes
warning
“I’m sleepy…
but I will attack.”
his eyes turn up
to detect any foul motives
like a pair of
pitch-black egg yolks
sitting sideways
atop fried white rims
still,
speculative,
scrutinizing
I’m frozen in place
unblinking,
holding my breath
watching him watch me
I move one finger
his eyes pounce
to the motion
I move it again
his front legs jolt
(issues from a previous life)
my mouth curves
a half-degree smile
of amusement
it’s all over now
he leaps up
all in my face
licking the outside corner
of my bad right eye
feverishly
as he does every morning
his right paw
on his skinny part-poodle leg
that propels his always
prancing-through-the-house
parade gait
now mauling my arm
demanding love
with an urgent itch-like
emergency
he flops down
flips over
contorts awkwardly
wallows himself
into a spiked pretzel
legs pointing the
compass directions
and offers up
a submissive belly
that was
as serious
as a Buckingham Palace guard
as suspecting
as a crime detective
as untrusting
as a suspicious spouse
mere seconds ago
I give a
tight-tummy love rub
but the foot warmer
detects attention
and jealously
tunnels nose-first
up through the covers
nuzzling
his way to the party
crashing it to
claim his share
yep, it’s all over now
Common Threads 