Posts

Raven

  Raven In Kwakw a k a 'wakw legend  it was Raven who first  brought light to the world Raven the trickster, the creator! Lifted the lid of the wooden box  with his powerful beak And released the Sun  Once when I was driving    in my car on my way home to the beach I looked up and saw a pair of them  flying side by side, ahead of me For a few miles we were travelling  at about the same pace  It was lovely!    And for a moment  I felt like they were accompanying me I’ve seen them gathered at the grave yard,   after a burial,    just standing around like guests Are you paying your respects ? I ask But the Ravens don’t answer me . I’ve had the privilege to see some beautiful artwork depicting the Raven creation story in prints and carving made by Kwakiutl artist Calvin Hunt at his Copper Maker gallery, in Fort Rupert BC.   Our Land | Our People | Living Tradition, The Kwakwaka'wakw Potlatch on the Nor...
6 comments
Read more

Flora

  Flora Sweet Alyssum ~  Worth beyond beauty Azalea  ~ Temperance Balm of Gilead  ~ Cure    Relief Bay Tree  ~ Glory Bluebell  ~ Constancy Camomile  ~ Energy in adversity Cedar Leaf  ~ I live for thee Chickweed  ~ Rendezvous Chicory  ~. Frugality Coreopsis  ~ Always cheerful Crocus, Spring  ~ Youthful gladness Crocus, Saffron  ~ Mirth Day 19 Prompt: pick a flower or two (or a whole bouquet, if you like) from this online edition of Kate Greenaway’s  Language of Flowers . Now, write your own poem in which you muse on your selections’ names and meanings. If you’re so inclined, you could even do some outside research into your flowers, and incorporate facts that you learn into your work.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tilbury Town

I went down to Tilbury Town looking for Poetry I heard she used to work at the fish factory But it had been awhile since she’d been seen I fancied myself a new age Don Quixote  My Rocinante an old Barracuda  with an ashtray (and a potato for gas cap) And that’s what got me in trouble They stopped us at the ferry dock You cannot board like that !  (they hadn’t noticed on the way over) You’ll have to find a gas cap And that was that I could not cross over the wine dark sea to continue my search for Poetry I’m in exile now in Tilbury Town  And Poetry is not around Sancho and I are parked at a garage where we    wait  until a new gas cap arrives Maybe Tuesday                                                         ~ to be continued                        ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Skirting the Cape

Skirting the Cape          ~ visiting the lighthouse (reading your poems Julia) It is still beautiful (all these years later) The rock is sun-warmed where we lounge propped up on elbows watching the waves crash below Ron is reciting behind his binoculars  Naming the familiar fishing boats by their colours as they cut through turbulent waters skirting the Cape  On Saturday we go to town in the life raft (to take me back) We    see some of those same folks at the dock And some stop and chat                                   …about firewood, gooseberries and foundation posts, And when you get home, you write a poem  about it (of course you do)                  a conversation,    [you] take home           like a bunch of flowers            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My garden song

Springtime    steady on   full speed ahead  Wild strawberry    running on    running on springtime Mother nature sets her watch  by the angle of the sun Yesterday the blue muscari  Tomorrow the wild cherry My garden    telling me telling me    it’s springtime! Day 16 prompt: In “Ocean” Robinson Jeffers delivers an almost oracular, scriptural description of the sea not just as a geographical phenomenon, but a sort of being – old, wise, profound, and able to teach those who want to learn. Today, try writing a poem in which you describe something that cannot speak, and what it has taught or told you.
Post a Comment
Read more

Musing on love

  Love what is love? Love speaks softly like a lullaby calming and soothing your fretting mind  telling you everything will be alright in the morning hypnotized  you fall into a deep dreamless sleep Like a babe in a cradle Love is a whisper, a sigh A bird on a bough Love is a journey on a long road knowing when you arrive you are home Love is now. Prompt: write a poem that muses on love, but isn’t a traditional love poem in the sense of expressing love between romantic partners. I like the love is a journey theme expressed in the K. Siva Reddy poem    A Love Song Between Two Generations given as a resource poem for today. https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103-16127_A-LOVE-SONG-BETWEEN-TWO-GENERATIONS
2 comments
Read more

Navigating Maya

  Navigating Maya Then: You spend your days toiling with pen and paper  Digging deep through your memories  for anything resembling poetry (You know no one will ever read) Now: You’re writing poetry in the sky  Your words are literally bouncing off satellites received instantly by anonymous reader in Mumbai (Now you’re a fish caught in the internet) Day 14 prompt: Poetry is an ancient art, and one that revisits themes that existed thousands of years ago – love, nature, jealousy. But that doesn’t mean that poets live in a sort of pre-history unaffected by technological advances. Emily Dickinson wrote about trains, and I’m rather charmed by a poem about the “incredible hair” of actors on television. In a more recent example, Becca Klaver’s Manifesto of the Lyric Self draws inspiration from the contemporary drive to document everything in digital photographs. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that similarly bridges (whether smoothly or not) the seeming divide betw...
Post a Comment
Read more