Shawn has provided another photo prompt this week: Sky over Barceloneta Beach. I was surprised at how quickly I thought of something in response. Maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this writing thing…
Etch A Sketch
the wide blue screen plots certain
journeys — destinations and departures
scrawled in vapor trail
some expand to dissipate into
nothingness while others contract
to invisibility — in the end
all vanish
Posted in Poetry
Tagged Barceloneta Beach, Etch A Sketch, photo prompts, prompted poetry, Shawn L. Bird, writing practice, writing prompts
I’ve been playing with spam lately; I find the auto-translated stuff a great source of amusement and inspiration. The wonky syntax and near-psychedelic word juxtapositions light up all kinds of brain activity. Sometimes I take whole chunks and try to punctuate them so they make some kind of sense in English; other times I lift choice bits from here and there and combine them to see what happens. Here’s my favorite poem from this morning’s work:
Forests of Puget Sound
On a great treelined side freeway, a sanctioned handsome conical
specimen with simple roots and sagging, greygreen sharp needles
matured with regard to wet, detailed mud.
Always those already established Northwest mystics (to find
a reasonably sultry painting of them) have been a far more spectral
only no less helpful presence.
We simply come across your wife’s perception openly
once, many years after the scandal.
Posted in Poetry
Tagged fir tree, forests, found poetry, mystics, Pacific Northwest, Puget Sound, spam poetry, writing practice
I missed the deadline for submitting this poem to be part of the weekly collection of blog posts at Write on Edge, but decided to post it on my blog anyway. The prompt was a photo and a Sylvia Plath quote; click here to see both.
Inclination to equinox
summer light slowly tilts
toward autumn not yet born
canning jars suspended on fence
pickets collect slow-witted flies
who rattle in blue-green heat until spent
then drop out to lie
dazed and dusty by the road
(22sep13 update: I changed the title of the poem from “Toward the equinox.” I just realized I use the word “toward” in the second line, and that kind of repetition doesn’t work in a poem this short. Just goes to show how difficult — i.e. impossible — it is to edit your own work. Hire an editor, people!)
Posted in Poetry
Tagged prompted poetry, Sylvia Plath, Write at the Merge, Write on Edge, writing practice
This is in response to a photo prompt/meme posted by Shawn at Shawn L. Bird on Monday. The title isn’t very clever, but it provides some context that’s lacking if you don’t have the photo as a reference. Suggestions and comments welcome!
Robin at Montserrat
bit of parti-colored fluff on a rocky ledge cares
nothing for the travelers on this pilgrim way, intent
rather on insects stirred by their passing, dusty votives
for the wide-mouth choristers who clamorously intone
the offices of her days — their stuffed silence the peace
she seeks, their bulging craws the benediction
over which she folds when evening’s chill sets in
Posted in Poetry
Tagged Montserrat, photo prompts, prompted poetry, robin, Shawn L. Bird, writing practice, writing prompts
This poem is a mash-up of bits and pieces from a long list of prompts I’ve collected in my writing journal. Nothing profound, just something fun I tossed off Saturday morning.
listening to the voices in the cracked
red bowl while you were lost
I could not sleep — bowlegged dreams
follow the grain of indolent beliefs and discarded
remainders of ideas in a dark time
use your favorite letter traveling alone
without leaving home out of fear
I could not sleep — growing in an old place
as if seeing it for the first time
a scrawl of words in the background
I noticed some familiar arthropods on the leaves of my swamp magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) the other day. These are Leptoglossus fulvicornis, commonly called leaf-footed bugs because of the shape of their hind legs (“foliaceous hind tibia” in entomologese). The two adults in the photo at right show the characteristic flattened shape of those rear leg segments.
They are true bugs, members of the suborder Heteroptera, along with squash bugs and stink bugs. Leptoglossus fulvicornis is also known by the species name magnoliae because it only feeds on the fruits of magnolia trees.
I first met these critters in college, where they were frequent visitors in our dorm rooms once the weather turned cold. This now makes perfect sense to me because the courtyard of the dormitory sheltered several ancient and glorious magnolia trees from the harsh winds that blew off Lake Michigan.
Anyway, back to the present. This photo shows a cluster of nymphs of various ages — the youngest have bulbous red bodies, somewhat reminiscent of the bright red magnolia fruits they eat (also shown in the photo). Six juveniles are huddled together on the leaf in the foreground, with an adult on another leaf in the lower background. They are hiding because a female cardinal (not pictured) has figured out that this tree offers not only delicious fruit but yummy bugs. She’s been in the front yard a lot lately (I hear her out there now, in fact), and I’ve noticed much fewer leaf-footed bugs on the tree than in previous years.
Incidentally, this tree stands next to the porch where the parsley sits in its pot. It seems this cardinal also has a taste for grasshoppers (you go, girl!) and swallowtail larvae (sadly). She flew off the step when I opened the front door one day, and I found the swallowtails all gone, save for half of one she dropped when I startled her, and odd bits of grasshopper scattered about the porch.
Saddened as I am at the loss of the swallowtails, it is affirming to see the ways in which my little corner of the ecosystem reflects the resourceful adaptability of the whole. It also lets me experience myself and my yard as part of that larger system, and reminds me that most imbalances will correct themselves if I only give them time.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arthropods, ecosystem, gardening, leaf-footed bugs, magnolias, true bugs
This is my response to a writing challenge prompt by Elizabeth Beck and John Lackey from the Accents Publishing blog. Accents Publishing is a wonderful independent press with a global literary presence and a commitment to the local writing and visual arts community.
within the very atoms of our bones
swirl the fires of creation and our flesh
smolders with the expanding
passion that gives birth to stars
luminous though our celestial bodies appear
to instrument and naked eye alike the greater
part of matter and energy remains
dark and unknowable
Posted in Poetry
Tagged Accents Publishing, ekphrasis, Elizabeth Beck, John Lackey, prompted poetry, writing practice
Remember the over-abundance of grasshoppers I complained about in a previous post? Well, help is on the way!
See those yellow beetles with black spots? They’re goldenrod soldier beetles (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) also known as Pennsylvania leather-wings. The adults feed on nectar and pollen (hence their interest in the Sedum matrona) but the larvae feed on aphids (hurray!) and — get this — grasshopper eggs! Is it any wonder that a large number of them have chosen to hang out in my front yard? I saw quite a few mating pairs on the sedum, but decided to photograph the singles because it’s easier to see them.
So it looks as though my “plague of locusts” may not be quite so bad next year. Platoons of goldenrod soldier beetle larvae will be on patrol.
I have a hard time convincing some folks that modern poetry is not necessarily biographical, and that good poetry manages to be personal even when it is fictional. This is a moment of imaginary conversation between imaginary people in an imaginary coffee shop.
Tall decaf mocha latte
I’m feeling a little short,
he said. Of what? I asked
absently and sipped coffee
still too hot to drink. Of time, money,
inspiration, he said, flinging
hands in the air. Of stature,
he added as he dropped them
in his lap. I eyed him over
the steaming brim. Of stature,
I echoed. Metaphorically speaking,
he answered, shoulders slumped.
Posted in Poetry
Tagged coffee shop poetry, fictional poetry, personal poetry, prompted poetry
The other book I purchased from the gift shop at the Mark Twain House was also written by a New England author who had taken part in one of the wonderful writing workshops the museum sponsors. I’m working my way through the book very slowly, saving it for those days when I sit down to work and struggle to find something coherent to write.
Advice to a Writer
you should not walk
around with your heart
hanging open — there’s too much
danger out there
just find a way to make your heart
safe for opening slowly
chamber by chamber
so you can get back
to those in-the-moment
moments
— Nancy Slonim Aronie in Writing from the Heart: Tapping the Power of Your Inner Voice, p. 33 (Hyperion 1998)
Posted in Poetry
Tagged found poetry, Mark Twain House, Nancy Slonim Aronie, writing advice, Writing from the Heart, writing practice
The Daily Compost 