Scarlet Firespike against a fiery sky. I’ve been trying to identify this flower for twenty years. Now, thanks to a generous commenter who suggested a flower identification site, I’ve done so!!!! If you are the one who sent me the suggestion and you see this, please identify yourself, and many thanks.
For Cee’s FOTD
Juguetes
(Play Things)
I snapped the central picture of this retablo in the home of Rudolfo Moralez, a famous Oaxacan painter now deceased. It was a very large doll, sitting in a nicho on the stairwell up to his studio. It had obviously been exposed to the elements and in fact was breaking open. For years, I tried to think of an association to begin a retablo dedicated to this wonderful man, as well as to the image itself. Finally, the image won out. Toys and elements of board games old and new surround her image. The blue rectangle with the silver star on it under the silver-leafed toy horse is a harmonica. That may give you some idea of the scale of the piece.
My friend Linda Levy challenged me to post a different photo of my art each day for ten days. I’ve skipped a few days thanks to a faulty memory, but here, at last, is day 5!!
Culinary Apologies
Though some would say that I’m a flake
when I’m called upon to bake,
and though I qualify just barely,
I feel I’m typecast most unfairly.
True, I rank with all the rookies
when it comes to baking cookies,
and my cupcakes don’t win prizes
at anything but worst surprises.
Nonetheless, my precedent
at providing less than I had meant
is never intentional.
It’s just that I am rather dull
when it comes to pleasuring
by sifting, baking, measuring.
I lack that culinary calm
so never cook without a qualm.
When I baked banana bread
and measured powdered sugar instead
of flour, yes, I must confess
it created an awful mess.
And when I burned the chicken stew
because I had so much to do,
I hope that you remember that
I trimmed the plants and fed the cat,
wrote a poem and made some art,
(scorched the toast and burned the tart)
took the puppy for a walk,
phoned a friend and had a talk.
So though my fridge is lacking stuff,
I find my life is full enough
All in all, what I’ve got cookin’
may not be where you are lookin’.
Prompts today are flake, calm, intentional, typecast and precedent. (If you want to read about the powdered sugar debacle, click on the link where it is mentioned in the poem.)
Panegyric for Pachyderm
Which one among us says I can’t
eulogize an elephant?
Oh thou of ears floppily gray,
of thee I have so much to say.
Words invented will not do.
I have to coin new words for you.
Your skin, in fact, is so abundant
that I must call you epibundant.
And other words unbunkable?
Tuskidopherous and trunkable.
Unchallenged monarch of the zoo,
parades aren’t complete without you.
Your trumpet fills the savanna air
to tell the world that you are there.
Rip Van Wrinkle might better name
thee, monarch of the great untame!
And though by any other term,
loxodonta or pachyderm,
we do not know thee quite as well.
in size and fame, you still excel.
For NaPoWriMo Day 11, we are to write a poem about a very large thing. And yes, that is me on the back of that elephant!
Early Release
He barely saw the morning view, he was in such a pother.
He skipped his juice and pancakes. He simply couldn’t bother.
Today no one could find a way to dispel his grief.
His nervousness was clear to all. He couldn’t find relief.
His summer bliss was over. The truth blatantly cruel
as his worst fears came true at last with the first day of school!
He dragged his book bag in the dust and lagged behind the others.
He’d be out at the fishing hole if he had had his druthers.
Pencils his ma had sharpened, he broke against the wall,
so when he had to write things down, he’d have no way at all.
He used his brand new ruler to pry up stones and rocks
to catch red ants and spiders to tie up in his socks.
He caught a lizard just before it zipped under a log,
and put it in his pocket with a field mouse and a frog.
So when he got to school he’d have ample ammunition
to bring the brand new school marm to a sure state of contrition
for imprisoning them all inside on such a nice fall day,
and school would get out early if he had his way!
Prompt words for today are grief, nervous, pother and morning view.
Dim Sum are little love poems. I challenge every reader to write one and send it to me! For the fun of it, I made mine into a chain of hearts.
Dim Sum
When you rise hours early
to stand in front of the window
and watch for the UPS truck,
I shift my dreaming over
to your warm pillow.
If you are a child,
I am a
cat.
The Computer
has become the new hearth
and heart of our home, now
glowing out in the darkness
long after we have moved
to the room next door
to try to sleep
in vain.
A Clock
on the wall of every room
speaks its midnight language
and intrudes into my dreams,
each one telling me I am
another hour closer
to leaving
you.
For Day 10 of NaNoWriMo 2022 we have been asked to write a love poem. Here are three for someone who is never forgotten..
Night and Day
I memorize your face, your hair,
your breath white light upon cold air.
Hours pass like minutes while
I chart the borders of your smile.
A wisp of cloud, sliver of moon
slip behind the highest dune.
The stars have plans that drive the night
to plots that I will later write.
Fictions Imagined by me,
no match for their reality.
Then, sun rays sent to ban the night
obscure the moon and stars from sight.
A chiming bell is morning’s crime
dispelling pleasures most sublime,
but if I linger long, I might
survive the day to earn the night.
Prompts are: sliver breath sent plans hours minutes chime drive write light crime match for the Sunday Whirl Wordle 548
Wherever we go, Zoe attracts admirers. Here are some of her selfies from last week.These little boys followed us for a long time, playing with her as they walked, eventually picking her up for more prolonged play. They were adorable. Her aunties took turns carrying her or walking her on the leash.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 