Click on photos to enlarge.
I loved these photos I took at my friend Blue’s house, but wondered how I was ever going to use them. Then, when once again Brian surprised me with the “Last on the Card” prompt and I checked and discovered these were in fact the last photos I took in December, I was elated.
For Bushboy’s Last on the Card prompt
When I reached into this cluster of assorted succulents and grabbed this dried leaf to pull it from the branch, it wriggled in my fingers and pulled away from me. Only then did I realize that it was a cocoon! I forgot to check it again today, but there was certainly evidence of life within it yesterday. Yes, of course I left it. Curious to see what emerges, if I’m lucky enough to observe it.
Post Script: Unfortunately, I waited too long. I actually took that photo on Dec. 30. Went out today (Jan. 3) to inspect it and it was gone. Not one evidence of anything every being there. I searched all the remaining plants that I could see and nada. Brian thinks it was a Case Moth or Bag Worm, and I think he is correct. Guess we’ll never know for sure, though. So sorry that I didn’t keep better track of it.
For Cee’s FOTD
To see what led up to this poem, you must first go to Forgottenman’s blog and peek in on a Skype conversation we had prior to my writing it. Go HERE to see his blog, then hurry back here. (In case you wonder who Remi is, that’s what Forgottenman calls me. Long story…
To Kiss or Not to Kiss.
Please forgive my oscillation
due to my slight trepidation
concerning your excitation
due to your anticipation
of a proposed osculation.
But I fear your oscitation
creates a slight oppilation
blocking much of my elation
concerning your machination.
Will there be conciliation
or gradual occultation
leading to my castigation
and reduction of your station
as simply a tiny ration
of my love life education?
Below are the words he prescribed to be included in a poem, along with their definitions, which he did not bother to provide. Must say, I had never heard of four of them:
Oscillation: to move back and forth between two points, like a pendulumTo vary between two states, amounts, feelings, or opinions
To be undecided about something, or waver between conflicting positions or courses of action
Osculation: kiss
Oscitation: the act of being inattentive.
Oppilation: the act of crowding or filling together, an obstruction, particularly in the lower intestines.
Occultation: the state of being hidden from view or lost to notice.
Conciliation: the action of stopping someone from being angry; placation, the action of mediating between two disputing people or groups.re settled through conciliation by the official body”
These are additional rhyming words added by me. None of them obscure, so no definitions necessary: anticipation elation trepidation education excitation castigation machination station ration.
Click on Photos to enlarge. What do you see in these beach finds?
To the Island
If I sent you to an island, it would be for your own good.
It wouldn’t be unwillingly, with chains and ropes and hood.
I’d lure you off to be with me, surrounded by the sea.
You wouldn’t have to talk or walk or be in love with me.
The objects that I’d give you are a camera, notepad, pen
and a computer with no wifi to connect to where you’ve been.
You’d live in the present with the details of your life,
examining where you have been without the daily strife.
With no Internet distraction, no ringing of the phone,
sometimes you find a part of you that you have never known.
There’s something that is lacking in what’s crowded in one’s brain.
It’s hard to find ourselves when we must live the whole world’s pain.
In the morning, you would walk the beach, move inward with the tide,
examining what treasures the waves conceal inside.
A stone shaped like a check mark or a continent or heart–
it’s hard to suspend looking, once you’ve made a start.
You may take photos of them or collect them in your pocket—
something to make art from, or a picture for your locket.
Another way to get inside is what you write about them.
If you have secrets, it’s inevitable that you’ll out them.
The sea’s part of something larger and each treasure is a clue
connecting the whole universe to something within you.
This is why each object plucked up from the sand
is part of you that you’ve reclaimed—there within your hand.
What you see in what you find is what you have inside.
Perhaps it’s something you don’t know or that you know and hide.
The very fact that it is here revealed for you to see
may mean that you are ready to finally set it free.
The sea with all its treasures and its recurring tide
is also found within you—safely tucked inside.
So look into a mirror—a metaphor, more or less;
if you are wondering if you’ve changed, you won’t have to guess.
You’ll look for things within yourself as closely as the sea
and find out more of who you are and who you want to be.
You’ll see the changes on your face that say you’ve become wise.
Deep worry lines around your mouth and laugh lines by your eyes.
And once that you have found yourself, you’ll find yourself again;
for you are always changing—refining what you’ve been.
Tucked off on an island like a wallflower on a shelf,
perhaps you’ll find the whole wide world there within yourself.
And when you see the world within, you’ll want to live in it,
for it’s a world that you have power to change as you see fit.
For MVB the prompt is Island
Today’s Post is pictures numbered 123. Click on photos to enlarge.
Yesterday, I Initiated a new prompt called “The Numbers Game.” For years I’ve been noticing that when I do a search according to the number of a photo I’m looking for either in my WordPress Media file or in my Photos file on my computer, that I come up with a varied bunch of photos with the same number. It finally occurred to me that it would be fun to publish them and to ask others to do the same.
Today’s number is 123. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post all the photos you find and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. For Bushboy and others of you who replace your number titles with words, I’m asking Brian to choose a word to use for the prompt and to include it in his comments, along with a link, below. If you do the same, use his prompt, not mine.
This is the second prompt this week, but after this, I’ll do it just one day a week on Monday. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below.
Click on photos to enlarge.
To play along, just post a link to your blog with your photos numbered 9909 in the comments section below. I’ll publish a new number daily.
Dancing in the New Year
One eye on the hourglass, sifting out the sand
belonging to the old year, yet swaying to the band
feverishly spinning in a shallow arc,
the partner that you dance with, caressing in the dark
shadows of the days gone by—three hundred-sixty-five.
Their pages scattered on the floor as you choose to jive.
Butchering the minutes that flutter ’round your feet
as your steps make light of them to the new year’s beat.
No aching gasps of nostalgia counteract the roar
of the new year’s entrance as you swirl around the floor.
For The Sunday Whirl Wordle 635 the prompt words are: shallow spin aching gasps scattered flutter shadows butcher hourglass feverishly eye
12/31/23
End of Year Waltz
One two three, One two three—
won’t you come dance with me?
Out of the old year and into the new,
I’d like to spend the time waltzing with you.
When the clock chimes, we’ll be on the floor,
welcoming in two zero two four.
A friend has pointed out that today’s date, seen without slashes, is 123123—the realization of which gave birth to this poem.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 