Art Deco
I loved the art deco details of this theater in Peoria, Arizona. The movie it led us into was fabulous as well. See “The Danish Girl.” I think there will be at least one Oscar in the works for this one! Brilliant acting (effervescent!), writing and camera work.
https://miscellaneousmusingsofamiddleagedmind.wordpress.com/category/thursday-doors/
That Point
It was at that age
of worrying about others
of feeling not enough
of looking for a pattern that was myself
that I put words down
fearing them
or if not them, fearing those who read them.
At that age when I didn’t know what I thought,
I was astonished that the hand that wrote
knew more than I did
and taught that I must be brave,
fearless on the page in a way I had not yet learned to be in life
so that I became a writer to teach myself.
To have someone I trusted as a guide.
It was at that age when I wanted to be admired––
that age when I sought to be loved––
that age when I yearned to be thought a thinker,
important, listened to––
that I somehow was led to listening to myself.
There are these times we are led to by life
that become turning points
so long as we continue.
That sentence. That first sentence stretching
into the future, into now.
I found this poem on my desktop, and although I vaguely remember writing it, I can’t find any evidence of having posted it on my blog. For some reason I feel it ties in with today’s prompt and so I’m going to post a second response to the prompt today. Happy 2016 to all. I hope we all come closer to discovering our best selves in the year to come!
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/a-brand-new-you-effective-tomorrow/
Composing Myself
The Prompt: A Brand New You, Effective Tomorrow––Tomorrow you get to become anyone in the world that you wish. Who are you? You can choose to be anyone alive today, or someone gone long ago. If you decide to stay “you” share your rationale.
How could I choose to become another when I’m still trying to become myself? Start all over? I don’t think so. Every person is a puzzle bent on solving itself. Perhaps for some the puzzle comes fully assembled, but if so, they are people I’ve never met. Why would I want to begin a new puzzle before the one I’ve started is completed? Finish the job, I say.
Perhaps in another life the chance to construct a new life will be provided, but in this life, we are given only one life to solve. No one knows the reason why this life is not perfect from the offset. That puzzle is one for philosophers to solve. In the meantime, I am busy enough figuring out what goes where today and in my own life. I’ll leave the assembling and breakdown and reassembly of the world at large to others.
Can’t Resist!!!
I found this photo on an old backup drive and can’t resist using it as my flower of the day.
Depth of Field
This may be my favorite photo I’ve ever taken. It reminds me of a Monet painting.
This photo of Yolanda’s daughter and son was taken the same day as the trees. I love the sense of wonder both of them gazing into the hazy landscape provides.
I also love the crispness of this turtle against the more muted lily pads.
I don’t know if this shot qualifies as an example of a depth of field shot as prescribed, since most of it is slightly out of focus; but I like the shot and how the flowers stand out a bit. This building conveys such a sense of mystery to me.
I couldn’t decide which of these “Monet” shots I liked best, so I included them both.
I Used to Eat Red
My sister Patti and I, posed by my older sister Betty. Those are “the” cherry trees behind us. The fact that we were wearing dresses suggests we were just home from Sunday school and church, our souls bleached as white as our shoes and socks!
I used to eat red
from backyard cherry trees,
weave yellow dandelions
into cowgirl ropes
to lariat my Cheyenne uncle.
I once watched dull writhing gold
snatched from a haystack by its tail,
held by a work boot
and stilled by the pitchfork of my dad
who cut me rattles while I didn’t watch.
I felt white muslin bleached into my soul
on Sunday mornings in a hard rear pew,
God in my pinafore pocket
with a picture of Jesus
won from memorizing psalms.
But it was black I heard at midnight from my upstairs window––
the low of cattle from the stock pens
on the other side of town––
the long and lonely whine of diesels on the road
to the furthest countries of my mind.
Where I would walk
burnt sienna pathways
to hear green birds sing a jungle song,
gray gulls call an ocean song,
peacocks cry the moon
until I woke to shade-sliced yellow,
mourning doves still crooning midnight songs of Persia
as I heard morning
whistled from a meadowlark
half a block away.
And then,
my white soul in my shorts pocket,
plunging down the stairs to my backyard,
I used to eat red,
pick dandelions yellow.
(This is a reworking of a poem from my book Prairie Moths.) The prompt today was to talk about our earliest childhood memories. https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/childhood-revisited/
Discarded Dreams
What story does this discarded and abandoned wedding corsage tell? You tell me.
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/12/29/flower-of-the-day-december-30-2015-amaryllis-bud-day-4/
The Moon is Full and Waiting
The moon is full and waiting,
but the night is full of chill,
though my true love expects me
over yonder hill.
His ardent calls invite me
to join him for the night,
and yet I dread the cold cold wind
and the night air’s bite.
If I were only twenty
I’d have no choice to make,
but I have guests arriving
and sweet bites yet to bake.
My true love lies waiting
over yonder hill,
but he’ll return another night.
I’m confident he will.
For he has no other
to overlook his flaws:
the roughness of his ardor,
the power of his jaws.
His embrace often bruises,
though this is not his intent.
In the excess of his ardor,
only tenderness is meant.
The warm cave of our meeting
still carves out yonder hill,
but tonight I will not join him.
It may be I never will.
Tomorrow night the full moon
will partially be spent,
and perhaps by next month’s equal,
I will once more not relent.
Perhaps I’ll find another
closer to my kind,
though an equal to his passion
I’m unlikely to find.
A mild wind blows the clouds away
to clear the shrouded moon.
My guests will be arriving.
I know it will be soon.
I stir in leavening powder.
I stir in heavy cream.
Across the hand I stir with
falls the moon’s broad beam.
I drop the spoon and go again
to open up the door.
I hear the gentle song of wind,
my lover’s beckoning roar.
I answer with a beat of blood.
A spasm in my thigh
invites me to be climbing
over distant hill and high.
The crumbs fall from my fingers
as I run into the night.
I do not feel the bruising stones
or the wind’s cold bite.
My lover calls me onward,
and once again I go.
For when the full moon calls me,
not once have I said no.
Both of these photos were taken on Christmas Eve, 2015, from my sister’s back terrace in Peoria, Arizona.
The Prompt: Earworm––Write whatever you normally write about, and weave in a book quote, film quote, or song lyric that’s been sticking with you this week. (The song lyric I was inspired by was “Baby it’s cold outside,” but when I finished, it had no actual place in the poem other than to be its inspiration.) https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/earworm-2/
How Now?
I love this sequence of expressions as my long time friend Marti was relating a story to us. Since I’ve known her for 50 years–yikes!–I know these typical expressions. Only by taking almost constant photos was I able to capture them all. I enjoyed stretching this longtime friendship into the “now” during our 5 days together over Xmas.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 