Monday, April 30, 2018

THE UNIVERSE GRANTED MY WISH/ dVerse -- A POEM A DAY/ Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads -- NATIONAL POETRY MONTH/ Waiting on Words - Ladies in Waiting



Haibun Monday

Walking down a dirt road, a road I call my own.  A road in Northern New Mexico, dodging dust clouds raised by passing cars.  I cast my wish into the clear blue sky.  No sooner than I found the words, and repeated them to myself, I spotted a flying bird across the valley.

I could see him circling and rising, circling and rising.  Riding the thermals, becoming just a dot.  All at once the bird dived, folding his wings and became a bullet.  In seconds he found his prey.  It was the first time the universe granted a wish on command.



I cast a wish in spring time
And there was the falcon
Diving for his prey


April 30, 2018

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Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads

A POEM A DAY
To poem or not to poem?
That is the question
Truth-speakers attempt to shape the light
Or is it light the shape?
Turn truth wrong side out
Hang it out to dry
Mismatch the nouns and verbs
Turtles into figs
Flies into amber
Painting a picture in words for all to see

April 30, 2018

Note:  The prompt was to use nouns as verbs.  This is the shortest poem I have written this month...It seemed the more I thought about it, the more confused I got.  So here is my poem.

Thank you Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads for the prompts this month.  It was lots of fun.


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https://claudetteellinger.wordpress.com


NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
The last day of April
Poets have attempted 
To write a poem each day 
It is what poets do
Some poems are completed
Some are not

Does a poet ever know 
When a poem is finished
Since poets are writing from a feeling
Do poets ever get over feelings
Put them in a drawer
To be forgotten in time
Do poets ever say it completely
Or do poets return to the scene of the crime
And begin again....again

When poets have written the last word
Declare they have reached the finish line
For they have found the final word
That completes the thought
Closed the chapter
Slammed the door

Case closed
Kaput
Job well done
We have reached the end
No more to be said
Not one more word
As we traveled down the road
We were surprised
To find we have reached the destination
Finito

April 30, 2018

Note:  Thank you to Elizabeth!!!  What fun we have had!  And this last challenge is so good, you have given us a choice, and I have accepted them all!!  Let's do this again!!!  





Sunday, April 29, 2018

Poets United -- A SUNNY SUNDAY MORNING/Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads -- "ME TOO"/https://claudetteellinger.wordpress.com

Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads

A SUNNY SUNDAY MORNING
Sometimes the ending comes
On a sunny day
Early morning
You have no clue
All is as it was before
The ringing of the phone
Crashes through the silence
Afterwards the world is different
And will always be different
You can’t put things back as they were
Humpty Dumpty knows

Then there are times
You will be forewarned
The end is near
You will stand vigilant
The water will rise
You will drown
It is out of your hands
Your heart will be torn from your body
The kids in the yard will play with it
Shoot hoops
Bounce it on the ground
Leave it where it lies

There will be endings
You say, but I cannot stand this
I do not want it
The life I’ve made is good for me
Let things stay as they are
The universe has other plans
You will not know at first the devastation
That will come later
And for all times
You will carry the pain in your heart

I remember you said to me
On that sunny Sunday morning
There is nothing we can do
At the same time there was a tear
In the sheet of the universe
So loud, yet I was the only one to hear
And I hear it now
In the silence after

April 29, 2018




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https://claudetteellinger.wordpress.com

“ME TOO"
It has happened to all women
Who dwell in the land
Ruled by men

Even women
Who have some power in this world
Have acted like the rulers
They have also oppressed
And humiliated other women
It is the male experience
Of “Me Too!”
It isn’t easy to stay on top
The suppressed
Just ‘wanta’ be free

Early today in the low light of morning
My kitty was playing with a mouse
It was a deadly game for the mouse
And I thought that is how men 
Often play with women
To remain in control
The woman running
From hiding place 
To hiding place
Looking for the escape route

More often than not
There is no escape route
What happens 
Is what happens
She is not in control
She calls out to others
Eyes are down cast
It seems each woman
Has to fight her own battle

When at last she is able to tell
She is not believed
After all she has no power
She is only a wife
Everyone knows 
There is no rape in marriage
She is a whore
She is a sex worker
She shouldn’t have been there
Look at how she is dressed
And he says, “She made me do it.”

April 29, 2018




Saturday, April 28, 2018

BOMB SHELTERS/Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads


BOMB SHELTERS
We crawl under our desks, bomb shelters
As instructed
We take a deep breath
Some giggle
Some tears fall to the floor, bomb shelters
There are moments
Fear returns
Leaders exchange ugly words
Make threats
Hold hands, kiss and hug
Stumble from North to South, bomb shelters

April 28, 2018

Friday, April 27, 2018

SERENDIPITY/Waiting on Words Ladies in Waiting -- The image is a work of art by a 5th gr. 10 years, Dog



                                                        5thgr. 10 years, Dog






SERENDIPITY
I guess you think I look pretty proud of myself
Just like my dog
While searching for the answer
My skirts drag the floor
Through the dust
Taking names
Collecting DNA

It was serendipity
A fluke, you see
A happenstance
I had no idea
As I stumbled across the floor

A lucky break for me
My skirts drag through the dust
Taking names
Collecting DNA

Note:  Again today, I am combining the prompt from Ladies in Waiting, Serendipity.  And a work of art from Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads.




Thursday, April 26, 2018

LESSON IN FIVE PARTS/https://claudetteellinger.wordpress.com -- Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads

https://claudetteellinger.wordpress.com

Today the prompt is Lesson

LESSON IN FIVE PARTS

1.    The introduction of the lesson and what is to be learned.
2.    We think about it then put it on the back burner, so the subconscious can look at it. 
3.    We act.
4.    We make judgements.
5.    We put it in our old kit-bag, to become a part of our skill-sets.

We could call the first part of the lesson, the introduction, or the inspiration.  We are reading and we see a word, rarely used. It catches our attention, and we determine we would like to see what we can do with it.

We forget about it, we go about our daily life, secure in the knowledge we will return to it.
All the while the subconscious is turning it over, looking at ways to solve the problem.  When we do return to it, we will be refreshed and have many ideas about what we will do.

We act on the problem presented by the lesson.

We make judgements about our actions.  We ask would there be other ways we might have approached the problem.

The last part of the lesson is will we take this lesson with us and will this lesson help us in the future. If we are lucky, it will be a lesson we will not have to learn again.

April 26, 2018





Note:  I have written this to satisfy the prompt from Ladies in Waiting, which was Lesson.  And for Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads, the prompt was, a poem with five parts.





Wednesday, April 25, 2018

THE SUMMER OF OUR LIVES/Poets United Midweek Motif -- SEVEN DEADLY SINS/ Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads -- A SUNNY DAY IN JUNE/Waiting on Words/ Ladies in Waiting

-------------------------------------------------------Poets United  Midwekk Motif  Summer

THE SUMMER OF OUR LIVES
Lazy days
The summer of our lives
Goals set
Goals accomplished
The beginning is over
The voyage is well under way

The horizon is distant
Future pitfalls unseen
Take a deep breath
It’s going to be OK
Your ideas clear
The destination
Still seems far off

In some ways the journey is long
In others ways short
Sounding the depths
Mark Twain (safe water)
Call for water 2 fathoms deep
Take each day as it comes
Lazy days of summer

April 25, 2018






---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads

SEVEN DEADLY SINS
Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

What does it mean to sin
And what is sin after all
Sin is an archery term
Meaning to miss the mark
And who hasn’t missed the mark
Shot an arrow that has gone astray
My life is full of sin
My intention was to hit the target
Instead the arrow hit the neighbor next door
Forgive me I say
Reaching for a towel 
I wipe the blood away


April 25, 2018





-------------------------------------------------------------------------Waiting on words/ Ladies in Waiting

A SUNNY DAY IN JUNE
The sun rises
The morning brings
A memory
I say nothing
Don’t want to give myself away
Like a moth in my hand
It flutters
I slip it into my pocket
I almost hear a cry

Tender
You come to me
You say
Soon it will be four years
And so many years before
I never got used to it
My foot searches for the brake
Can we stop
Can we just stop

The sun rises each morning
The buds on the lilac bush
Too numerous to count
A bush you promised 
Would only grow 4 feet high
But no….
It towers over the roof
And isn’t through yet

I return to the scene
Spring has arrived
The world is new
The color green
Accented by a pair of cardinals
Who brought the news
The world screeches to a halt
A sunny day in June

April 25, 2018


Tuesday, April 24, 2018

THE EDGE EFFECT/IMAGINARY GARDENS WITH REAL TOADS -- THEY CALLED US HYSTERICAL/Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads/April 23, 2018 -- MODERN OR MODEM/Waiting on Words --Ladies in Waiting

Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads/April 24, 2018

THE EDGE EFFECT; re-Imagining the East Jemez Landscape
We mounted the steps
Of the old fire lookout tower
At the top of the steps
We took a deep breath
The air clean and fresh
High above Frijoles canyon
And Bandelier National Monument

The instillation focused
On the element of line
Lines that symbolized
Fractured  boundaries
Found in the landscape
Boundaries that mark separations
Between cultures and entities
Lines that bind
Cultures to the land

On this morning the sun was shining bright
We met the artists at the gate
And walked up to the historic lookout tower
A variety of plants grew along the path
Their names unknown to me
The sky open to the cosmos
Black crows calling our names 
Led the way

From the lookout tower
We looked over the landscape
And down into Frijoles canyon
We saw the scares created by the fires
The landscape appeared empty
Following the fires 
Severe droughts
 More wildfires
And devastating floods

Over the windows
The artists had taped large
Transparent colorful maps
Deep rich color flooded the room
Red, orange, pink, green and blue
Highlighting the lines
That fractured the landscape 

In the middle of the room
Was a sculpture made up of lines
Created by clear plastic thread
Like a spider web 
Around the landscape
Represented by a map of the area at the base
Hidden under the map
Was Ponderosa Pine pollen
The lines of the sculpture grabbed the color
Fracturing and reflecting it
A stuffed black crow flew 
Within the lines of the sculpture

The artists explained
Because of climate change
These lines and boundaries
That separate us
Will have to be addressed
Collaboratively
To manage this brave new world

April 24, 2018



THE EDGE EFFECT; re-Imagining the East Jemez Landscape
Installation by Kathleen Brennan and Shawn Skabelund

Exhibition at the Historic Fire Lookout Tower
Bandelier National Monument






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Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads/ April 23, 2018

THEY CALLED US HYSTERICAL
They said we were hysterical
They said we had lost touch
They said we needed to be cared for
They said we were nervous and afraid
They said we were the weaker sex
They said we were cold
They said we could not be satisfied
They said it wasn’t good for us to write
They said our little minds were in the dark
They said we could not take care of business

They called us witches
They burned us
They drowned us
They took what we loved away
They wanted us to be silent
They wanted us to obey
They did not want us to use our minds
They were afraid of us
They called us hysterical

April 24, 2018

This is my response to Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads/ April 23, 2018.  I was out of pocket yesterday, renewing my soul, to see Kathleen Brennan's exhibition.  So I wrote to the prompt today.  Our focus for this prompt is The Mind: those troubles of the brain, shaping fantasies and antic dispositions which make us human.



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Waiting on Words -- Ladies in Waiting

MODERN OR MODEM
Like the game of “gossip”
I sent you the word “modern”
And it is now “modem”
Changed magically
When I chose the word
I was thinking of “modern”
As in art
As in style
As in the now
Fresh and new
That modern woman
No longer tied to old ideas
Creating her own world

In art the artist
Is no longer copying nature
No longer working realistically
No longer speaking down to the viewer
“See me, see how good I am”
But asking the viewer to join in the fun

I have nothing to say about modem

April 24, 2018





mod·ern
ˈmädərn/
adjective
adjective: modern
1.    1
relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.
"the pace of modern life"
synonyms:
present-daycontemporarypresentcurrent, twenty-first-century, latter-day, modern-day, recent
"modern times"
antonyms:
past
o   characterized by or using the most up-to-date techniques, ideas, or equipment.
"they do not have modern weapons"
synonyms:
fashionable, in fashion, in style, in vogue, up to date, all the rage, trend-setting, stylish, voguish, modishchicà la modeMore
antonyms:
out of dateold-fashioned
o   denoting the form of a language that is currently used, as opposed to any earlier form.
"modern German"
o   denoting a current or recent style or trend in art, architecture, or other cultural activity marked by a significant departure from traditional styles and values.
"Matisse's contribution to modern art"
noun
noun: modern; plural noun: moderns
1.    1
a person who advocates or practices a departure from traditional styles or values.


mo·dem
ˈmōdəm/
noun
noun: modem; plural noun: modems
1.    1
a combined device for modulation and demodulation, for example, between the digital data of a computer and the analog signal of a telephone line.
verb
verb: modem; 3rd person present: modems; past tense: modemed; past participle: modemed; gerund or present participle: modeming
1.    1
send (data) by modem.






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