Category: Digital Photography - Everyday Art Every Day

Poetember Challenge - Start....

9/3/2018

Need a creative boost? I do! I love Kick in the Creatives...

#Poetember ... For the poets out there, this month we are introducing the brand new poetry challenge, ‘Poetember.’’ We are challenging you to write and share a poem every day throughout September!

Guidelines:

Write a poem every day in September.
You can write a poem about any topic you like, but we’ll provide optional prompts if you need them.
If you choose to share your work on social media, don’t forget to link and tag us in your post (details shown below) We might even feature your work on our blog!

Prompt #1 - Calm

Stormy Weather

Crow caws the alarm,
Flapping ferociously.
Gales grab at fancy flyers;
End is nigh.

Thunder grumbles cuz it knows.

A calm and balmy, sultry breeze;
Allure of safety - falsely so.

A power-hungry forceful fork
Explodes its light upon
The dead still
Of a break in putrid heat.

Bird song resumes.

First round results:
Victory to the light.

Dark recedes, for now.
Though its presence duly noted
By the mammoth rain drops splatting on my screen.

Prompt #2 - violet

Violaceous Amethystine

I saw her there
in a room:
livid lavender in the canister
smells all purple and lilac-y
a plum petunia,
Violet vavoomed a violent viola
she, Violaceous Amethystine,
a mauve orchid, and
I, a hyacinth painted pansy magenta,
crouched next to the Spider lighter
sitting on the floor, fallen

a note on method - I looked up the prompt word in the thesaurus and combine words based on sound; ‘spider lighter’ is a random pleasant sounding object that was part of my physical world at the time; gradually an image appeared in my mind, and a mood...
Violaceous Amethystine is a viola-playing beauty. The narrator is a mere common man, crouched low on the floor, watching his love perform.
It is unclear as to whether she even knows he exists...

Prompt #3 (waiting)...

#NaPoWriMo2018 - Day #10 (Poem #7)

4/10/2018

Operation Library/Afternoon Adventure

There were distractions galore
So I moved out the door
And down the street
I moved my feet.
I heard a tweet,
Louder than the others,
A message just for me.
So I seek out the strange staccato sound,
Which is a little like laughter.
Maybe they laugh at me, or with me.
I’m giggling at the mad squirrels
As they dash to and fro
And those chickadees are getting frisky.
Spring is in the air,
So many robins in the grass there.

Oh, right...
Operation get me to the library...

Here, at the library, all cozied up in a nook
(a book nook, if you like).
I hear papers rustling;
Some people still read paper.
Voices murmur in muted whispers.
The bookcart creaks across floor.
There is always work to be done.
Hushed laughter indicates pleasure
In a world of words.

Words in books.
Numbers to show the way.
There is order, here.
Dewey liked everything in its own place
As peaceful as it is upstairs,
Downstairs, the squealing, singing and playing tots enjoy the day

Some folks choose magazines,
Others head to bestsellers to see what’s #hashtag #trending,
Some, to new releases, with old endings.
My mind wanders. I wonder:
how many books have
ever been written? and have
they all been read?
Is that even possible? I ponder.
There are way too many books to count,
Let alone read... and if a book is never read is it still a book?

Anyway,
Just hanging out in my library nook
Trying to write for 30 minutes.
It’s not so hard, surely.
Surely, it’s not so easy.

I look, I watch, I’m hungry.
Need food to sustain brain...
I brought lunch.
No excuses.
Keep writing.
Explore.
Love. Learn. Adventure.
Embrace the magic;
Endless discoveries...

Putting the pen to the paper: This poem was created out of my 30 minute ‘Free Write’ at my local library. I noticed my prose was poem-y, or my poem was prose-y, so I did a quick edit as I inputted the words into the second draft. ** It is still a work in progress.

#NaPoWriMo2018 - Poem 6

4/6/2018

The One In the Window

In certain slants of light, she looks
like that dude from Metallica (in his younger years).
Everything was happening in Hollywood.
This ain’t Kansas anymore; it’s real,
And my favourite ruby shoes
have a broken heel.
I don’t like how it feels.
And nobody wants to
have anything to do
with a girl and her guitar.

It occurs to me I’m in a dead trade.
I can’t find work so I cant get paid.
And it seems to me,
Everybody does it all for free.

And you realize, as you roam,
that there’s no place like home.
But your home is someone else’s couch.
And it’s do, or don’t;
Not a question of won’t

Truth resonates
The universe inspirates.
Failing to find love and happiness;
Falling fully and flailing completely;
It’s all in the rewrites.
Through it all, you gotta keep on keeping on.

I LOVE Candy... just sayin'...

9/27/2017

Gummy candy and chocolate;
Reeses peanut butter death cups-
for a certain population of unlucky souls.
Skor, skittles and smarties
All contribute to my rotting teethies;
Airheads, making me anything but smart.

Me and my 3 Musketeers are never lonely.
We have each other, until well
After Eight.
I can't sleep; I've sealed my fate.
Sugar buzz, sugar high
Why, I feel like I could fly
To Mars and the Milky Way.
Take a little trip with me!
Watch out for the Starburst
A sticky, sickly, sweet curse.

Hey, Hubba Bubba,
Come, kiss my Hot Cherry Lips!
I'm a SweeTart who's into M&Ms and Malteasers,
Together, we can take a Fun Dip
With liquorice whips:)

Atomic fireballs, bazooka, blow pop
Life Savers, these are not.
More like weapons of slow destruction.
They'll rot you from the inside out!

Poem #8, NaPoWriMo... "New Horizons (per second)"

4/9/2017

New Horizons (per second)

Like a probe to Uranus,
the last of the gas giants.
Only been visited once
by humanoid technology
and technological spacemen
Oh, my, what a nice asteroid belt!
(Might I interest you in some fuel?)
Like a great blob of pizza dough,
Every 16 seconds, heated more and more,
I'm off-centre and tilted (Story of my life)
A whole new speed of space craft and light;
Up close and personal.

(Feb. 25, 2017/edited Apr. 9, 2017)

Poem #7, NaPoWriMo

4/9/2017

(Original: February 2017/edit: April 9, 2017)

Old and wise, I'm tired of what life brings.
Seen many things, and suffered the stings.

Thoughts bounce back and forth,
Big Bang inside my brain,
A wild whirling crash course,
Exploding inner peace drain.

Wishing for a black hole to open and obliterate my soul.
A bad mood, like a demon-
You must exercise, until it's free, Man!

NaPoWriMo, Day 9 prompt... write a nine line poem... http://www.napowrimo.net/day-nine-3/

September 03rd, 2016

9/3/2016

Hear the sounds of nature along Spencer Creek... What can you hear? What can you see? Or, simply relax and follow the little yellow ball. Taking some time to just chill out is really good for you says all sorts of research out there (just Google it, if you don't believe me!).

So, I got some bad news...

7/11/2016

... And then I had a bit of a creative tantrum, which was super cathartic. I feel much better, thanks.

Ready? Set! Go, NaPoWriMo2016!

4/1/2016

The muse in the cupboard.

It's April; it's National Poetry Writing Month - or, NaPoWriMo, as we poets affectionally call it:) Join me in this venture of creative wordplay; it may just make your day! Check out the official NaPoWriMo2016 website to add your site to the participant's list and get going!

Since last April, I have taken a 6-week workshop through Coursera, called Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop with Douglas Kearney, which was my first ever poetry workshop and it was pretty cool, and free!

Poems from the workshop, and others since last NaPoWriMo:

A Mouthful of Marbles, a Mixed Media Project (original poetry using the 'em' sound- my own poetry prompt- piano playing, photography & Animoto)

The Fall (original poetry, no prompts)

The Kingdom of Crazy (based loosely on two poetry prompts from the workshop)

Found Poems & Chopping Block Poems (an introductory exercise)

Vision Board Poem, using William Burroughs' Cut-Up technique that David Bowie, RIP, had used, and Break Free (original mixed media collage featuring cut-ups and original photography)

Official NaPoWriMo2016 Prompt:
Write a lune. This is a sort of English-language haiku. While the haiku is a three-line poem with a 5-7-5 syllable count, the lune is a three-line poem with a 5-3-5 syllable count. There’s also a variant based on word-count, instead of syllable count, where the poem still has three lines, but the first line has five words, the second line has three words, and the third line has five words again. Either kind will do, and you can write a one-lune poem, or write a poem consisting of multiple stanzas of lunes.

I turned something I came up with yesterday (in response to something that caught my eye on Facebook), into my Lune poem, using the syllable count pattern of 5-3-5. It might be kind of fun to use the variant of word count 5-3-5. And, I may even attempt to make a poem from scratch, intentionally using this poetic form... Without further ado.... Here is my Day 1 poem:

Life is Better When You're Laughing

In most cases, you
can either
laugh or you can cry;

Positivity
or there is
negativity.

As with many things
in our life,
it is our choice.

You can't always
have control
in situations,

But you can control YOUR
attitude
in situations.

Negativity
is extra
punishment for your-

self- not only might
the shitty
situation suck;

A bad attitude
makes it worse,
exponentially.

My hubby and I
make this our
life philosophy...

and people like us,
yes, they do!
we like each other;

Most importantly,
it's true that
we are happy folks:)

(Original Version)
In most cases,
you can either laugh or cry...
positivity or negativity...
as with most things in life,
it's a choice;
you can't always control a situation,
but you can control YOU in that situation...
negativity is like extra punishment for yourself...
not only might the situation suck;
it is made exponentially worse by a bad attitude...
Hubby and I make this our life philosophy
and people like us, and we like each other, and,
most importantly, we are happy folks:)

Here's an inspirational tune to get us all going:

Mixed Media Project

1/31/2016

A poem using the 'em' sound, a bit of piano playing, and 3 years worth of Instagram photos became this project!