Sunday haiku

tiny jewel with wings
I dreamt I saw you last night
hummingbird beauty

I think it also works in reverse:

hummingbird beauty
I dreamt I saw you last night
tiny jewel with wings

Which way works better to your senses? (Personally, I prefer the first one, waiting until the end to reveal the subject of the poem.)




Day 11

Saturday short one

A frosty night passes
then we all come outside
to kiss the sun
and plant flowers



Day 10

Identify

I am from Lite Brite and Etch-a-Sketch,
Tinker Toys and Legos,
Fashion Plates and Barbie.
I am from four-eyes and brace face,
bad haircuts and big eyeglasses.

I scribbled and drew,
danced and made music.
Single child,
nurtured by parents and educators,
I dreamed big dreams about what I would be.

State Fairs and band camps,
ball games and concerts;
bleachers and classrooms,
football fields and stages -
these are the places that shaped who I am.

Perfectionist and pouty,
moody and meticulous -
some things never change.

Hard-working and driven,
addicted to knowledge -
some things never change.

I am a product of myself.

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Today's poem is based on a prompt shared with me by my dear friend Meg. It is a response to a wonderful poem by George Ella Lyon called "Where I'm From."  Thanks for sharing that with me, Meg!



Day 9

Artisanal Obsession

Blue Beauty
Goddess of my kitchen counter
I bow down to thee.

Your juxtapositions -
delicate yet powerful,
industrial yet beautiful -
have nestled their way into my heart.
You add depth and complexity to my life,
to my heart, to my baking.
You are a 5-quart, 10-speed powerhouse.
You complete me.

You effortlessly turn butter and sugar into a
pillow of fine yellow velvet.

You blend yeast and flour, oil and water
into a heady ball of fermented goodness.

Oh and the things you can do with eggs...
make them into a frothy, foamy lather,
or luxurious golden ribbons,
even fluffy, billowy clouds.
Finally you whirl into a frenzy,
whipping my meringues higher and higher.

It never felt so good to have so much fun in the kitchen.

---

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt is "unusual love connections". The prompt offers the following: "Today, think of your current love, your current obsession or the one who got away. Now come up with five or more unusual metaphors for the object of your affection/obsession: wool scarf, cough drop, puddle, half-empty bottle of red wine… Choose your favorite of the bunch and write a poem celebrating (or trashing) your love." I mostly followed this. I'm sure most folks wrote about a person, but after perusing a few of my favorite cooking blogs today, I decided that I wanted to do a poem related to food, and I figured my Artisan series Kitchen-Aid stand mixer was an item worthy of my loving praises, and thus this poem was born.



Day 8

Thursday morn haiku

in the early dawn
relentless and tireless
the turkey gobbles

Rival

Lady bird I will show you that I am the man for you
I offer you this tasty peanut from my beak to yours
complete with a fancy dance of love
until my rival interrupts
and drives me away

---

Well, here we are at the end of the first week of NaPoWriMo. I hit a wall today. The prompt didn't do much for me, and I was very uninspired today in general. We were prompted to write about humor in love, using a specific form called tanka (a Japanese poetry form that predates haiku).  I strayed quite a bit from the prompt and the form, but I did at least have a love story to tell, sad as it is.



Day 7

Believe

Come to me for your healing -
I welcome you with open arms.
It will be simple and perfect,
a whisper of soul, of honest acceptance.
I will ground you in rock and stone,
and timeless purity.
Your ancient tears,
fragments of emotion,
will be respected.
Breathe the cool air, feel the release.
Touch the cool earth, feel the forgiveness.
You and your memories are home here,
in the calm silence of bliss.
Oh, structure of flesh and bone,
you are sacred and special.
You were made in harmony with the ancients.
I know you.
I accept you.
I love you.
Be at peace.

---

Today's prompt asked us to "converse with images." We were to pick an image (or images, in my case) of our liking and have a conversation with it. What would the picture say? Why is it meaningful to me? What does it make me feel or remember? What kind of mood does it invoke? As answers to these questions started to come, we were encouraged to jot down words freely and randomly, and then try to connect the dots, so to speak.
These particular images are from my own collection, and they were taken in a location that is very special and sacred to me. When I started this piece, it had a completely different tone, a different voice, a different point. The first draft was written directly in verse, and I thought it was the story the pictures wanted me to tell, but it wasn't working and I knew it. So I scrapped the first version and starting making a list of words, just as instructed in the prompt. What a miracle that was! Emotions worked their way into it, and I came up with something much more true to what the images mean to me. This has definitely been the most difficult prompt for me yet, and certainly the most rewarding.



Day 6