Patchwork Prose and Verse
Merlin was going strong
helping me identify the birds
by their birdsongs
Prairie Warbler
Orchard Oriole
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
Brown Thrasher
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Phoebe
….when my husband walks up
and kisses me right on the lips
then asks
what did that register as?
a lovebird???
and this is the kind of humor
I love about him
and how I know
he’s a keeper
Today’s topic for the tiny writing shared by Georgia Heard on her May calendar is A Secret You Keep. I’m using the Shadorma form this month for most of these poems (3-5-3-3-7-5). My poem today is inspired by the prankish secret I’m keeping. A few weeks ago, I cleaned out the silverware drawer and put the holder back in a different direction. A week or so later, I noticed my husband had flipped it back to the original position. And so I turned it back. He flipped it again. Again, I turned it, in a different direction from either of the first. And now, this game – more of a prank than a secret – is part of the fun of the morning.
A Secret You Keep
suddenly
after 18 years
there’s a tiff
over which
way the silverware tray goes ~
so now it’s a game!
My sister in law and I have been making various salves, lotions, balms, and body butters. It all started in April. She found a recipe for Bergamot Body Butter, and it’s been fun ever since. We each ordered some of the ingredients and a slew of containers, fired up the stove, and got to stirring and mixing, making our own magnesium and shea butter foot creams.
Today’s poem is a simple tricube – three stanzas of three lines with three syllables!
Sister Time Tricube
bergamot
shea butter
olive oil
lavender
mixing bowls
minerals
beeswax flakes
kitchen fun
sister time
Today’s prompt at http://www.ethicalela.com for the first day of the May Open Write is by Dr. Sarah Donovan, who encourages poems related to the stages of forgiveness and pain. I’ve chosen a double haiku followed by a shadorma for today’s verse, blending madness and sadness of grief that lingers. I’m reminded that sometimes forgiveness is a long time coming.
For Today
all lies, no mercy ~
how can I choose forgiveness?
I’m still working through
things that can never
be replaced, lived out rightly
the way she’d wanted
perhaps in
time there will be a
change of heart
but for now
for this hour, for this moment
my soul can’t forget
I’m engaging in tiny writes this month, introduced by Georgia Heard on her monthly writing topics. Margaret Simon shared it on her blog earlier this month. Margaret also introduced me to the Shadorma form, which is a poem consisting of six lines with lines of the following numbers of syllables, in this order: 3,5,3,3,7,5. I’m using a tiny form for the tiny write topics and finding that it is a breath of fresh air after the marathon months of March with the Slice of Life Challenge at http://www.twowritingteachers.org and April with #VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com.
Today’s topic on Georgia Heard’s calendar is Where You Belong.
Where You Belong
you belong
to adventure winds
that beckon
you to seek
all-new possibilities ~
discovery quests!
I’m engaging in tiny writes this month, introduced by Georgia Heard on her monthly writing topics. Margaret Simon shared it on her blog earlier this month. Margaret also introduced me to the Shadorma form, which is a poem consisting of six lines with lines of the following numbers of syllables, in this order: 3,5,3,3,7,5. I’m using a tiny form for the tiny write topics and finding that it is a breath of fresh air after the marathon months of March with the Slice of Life Challenge at http://www.twowritingteachers.org and April with #VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com.
Today’s topic on Georgia Heard’s calendar is A List of Last Times.
A List of Last Times
you hugged me
your body quivered
we both knew
this was it ~
the reason I’d made the trip
was to say goodbye
I’m engaging in tiny writes this month, introduced by Georgia Heard on her monthly writing calendar. Margaret Simon of Louisiana shared it on her blog earlier this month. Margaret also introduced me to the Shadorma form, which is a poem consisting of six lines with lines of the following numbers of syllables, in this order: 3,5,3,3,7,5. I’m using a tiny form for the tiny write topics and finding that it is a breath of fresh air after the marathon months of March with the Slice of Life Challenge at http://www.twowritingteachers.org and April with #VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com.
Wednesday’s topic on Georgia Heard’s calendar was What the Moon Might Say, but I missed writing that topic, so I picked it for today.
Goodnight Moon
moonbeams shine
Heaven’s messages
on pillows
sweet dreams, Love
is what the moon might say, a
ghostly kiss goodnight
For My First Daughter – A Pickled Egg Princess
pickled egg princess
boiled peanut queen of the south
moved to Nevada
left her roots behind
she’s a gypsy vagabond
sweet pea with sweet tea
missing her culture
while creating a new one
living her best life
This Year, The Rodent Got it Right
just three months ago from today it
was Groundhog Day (my favorite
holiday, to tell the truth)
no gifts to buy, no food
to cook, no decor
just the stuff of
dreams of warmth ~
early
spring
as
forecast
by sleeping
(pulled out of bed)
prognosticator
who has only one job:
snooze all year, then toss a coin
like the regular weather guy
who still gets it wrong most of the time
Rabbit, Rabbit.
May brings some notable endings. It’s the first day that it hasn’t been National Poetry Month for the past 30 days, and the first day that there is no organized month-long community writing group occurring. The Stafford Challenge continues, but Slice of Life and VerseLove have concluded for the year. May also brings the end of the school year for students and teachers, and there is a strange sense of winding down and gearing up all at once.
I’m ready for that pause. I have friends retiring this year, and there is a strange mixture of both fear and envy for them. I want to be at the point where I can load the camper and take off for two months and see parts of the country I’ve never seen, just my husband, our three dogs and me. My limited time in the summer, for this year, I hope will satisfy my traveling itch for the coming year.
Today’s paint chip poem is one that I wrote when The Poetry Fox, Chris Vitiello, visited my town. We sat together at the oval table by the window in the far back corner on the night of his visit and wrote several together, then shared. I saw the avocado green paint chip and went straight back to our 1970s kitchen on St. Simons Island, Georgia at 208 Martin Street, where the washer and dryer sat at the carport end of the kitchen.
Avocado Kitchen
avocado kitchen ~ matching
wall phone with a long cord
for those 1970s Velveeta
grilled cheese
Wonder Bread holy sandwiches
the kind made
in a cast iron skillet
by Mama with her black beehive wig
and sleeveless white and yellow daisy
button-down and green Pappagallo strap
sandals while she flitted about
and flipped the toast in the butter and
gossiped with her cigarette-smoking
friend Bonnie Jean about that new
lady vacuum sales rep who
brought skepticism and raised
eyebrows of all the wives…….
Common Threads 