The 30th & 2nd meet

Two more from www.reverb10.com

December 30th Prompt: Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year? The most memorable gift I received this year was multi-part; the gift of insightful, meaningful & genuine teachers in my current phase of life.

December 2nd: Writing: What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
Three things:
1)Tell myself I don't have time. (I know this is untrue. If I just hold myself accountable I can definitely make time/find time every day.)
2)Being apathetic or indifferent, therefore no good, write-able observations. (Find something to write about every day.
3)Self-criticism. (Say the criticism out loud or write it and use it as writing.

skip the fake it, just Make it (December 6)

Make.
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

I've made poems - they usually take a lot less than non-poet-y people expect. Sometimes only a voice memo or a Tweet. Other times several pages of paper, ink smudges on hands, multiple rewrites and surely internal editors... but I'm not sure if that's what I constitute as my last "make." I'd probably more likely say cooking dinner for a friend, making soap from scratch or yesterday's "festive fruit crisp" for the latest holiday potluck. Even though it was overshadowed at the dessert table by a mountain of other things (not in plain tin pie plates?), I thought it was delicious - apples, rhubarb,  cranberries, nutmeg, cloves (and the usual: butter, brown sugar, oatmeal & cinnamon).

I'd really like to "make" another mosaic, a book and also more paintings & colleges but I feel more of the necessity is space (for said products afterward) than time... and in the realm of "making" food, a realm I like to visit often, I want to try making salsa, cheese, a fancy multi-tiered cake and the coloured/candied popcorn of my youth. If I can get three of those done by the end of summer I'll be pretty pleased!

Thanks Reverb10! Good post from Dec. 6th!

MM WW

Levitate

You hover
in space
like you were born in that place

roll 'round
in the air
upside down as you dare

just watch
as I wait
trying to levitate

attempts
leave me bruised
spell-bound & confused

you warn
not to frown
as it's the coming down

... that's really the tough part.

LyndiaP November 22, 2010 (PoemADay 22 of 30 and submission to Jingle Poetry's Poetry Potluck - theme: MM WW - Magic & Miracles, Wonder & Wizardry)

16 Take 2

I did PoemADay 16... then it electronically disappeared. It was one of those magic tricks you are totally fooled by and desperately want to learn the slight of hand behind it. I digress... perhaps fate has put this computer debachule in my day for a reason - forced me to go for "take 2"

Here it is -

(untitled)

Collage my heart with cellophane
be transparent to the world.
Collage my heart with tissue paper
it can soak up tears oft pearled.
Collage my heart in black and white
so every colour is content.
Collage my heart with dawn and night
opposites to represent.

Collage, the art I do alone
collage to show I'll share it.
Collage the lips that speak your voice
Collage the face that wears it.

LyndiaP November 16, 2010 (PoemADay 16.5 of 30)

Poetry Potluck 1

for my first "Poetry Potluck" with Jingle Poetry we have the theme of Emotions, Moods & Feelings" this one is something simply fun!

Plain Excitement

cheering, joy indeed:
"Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!"
"I've got it!"
and
"I'm going!"
Thoughts at sonic speed:
"preparations in a suitcase
inspirations in a new way"
Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Excitement ever plain
Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!
here I go again...
this time not quite the same
Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!
this excitement is 'plane.'

LyndiaP November 15, 2010 (PoemADay Challenge 15 of 30 & Poetry Potluck submission)

Mountain Eyes

Closed My Eyes to Hear the Mountains

Thoughts drifted slower, slowly
so I could hear the mountains
one hundred kilometers away.
Far and away
Farther than a whisper on the wind.
Hide behind them like a satellite.
A planet smaller than a voice.
A particle grander than infinity.
From this breath 
and a million years before

Mountains far and away
Inside my sensitive heart.
A movement that waits
a weight that smiles
that risks all for love
and finds it in a mountain
waiting just below the surface
waiting, as a whisper, 
to be heard.


LyndiaP November 14, 2010 (PoemADay Challenge 14 of 30)

Atlas Afternoon

inspired by the title of a song from a kid's movie and a brand-new reference book that inspired more excitement than I expected... probably what I should have expected from a day off though.

Atlas Afternoon

nothing portable about the World
spinning on its axis.
nothing portable about this volume
12th edition atlas.
Lap's devoured - maps by the pound
legends scoured - obscure cities found
on this atlas afternoon.

LyndiaP November 12, 2010 (PoemADay Challenge 12 of 30)

Acrostic

overkilling the sweet tooth

bulk bags - jellybeans, rosebuds
induces pancreatic shudders
this is my weakness
this is in my blood
even at breakfast and midnight
replacing sanity for sweets

soft chewy licorice in red
wads of wrappers - naked toffee
eager fingers stained chocolate
expert lips and impatient teeth turned blue
tasting tempting teasing tones.

stalling after sacks of sucrose
undone belts, diets, dental work
glazed eyes reflect doughnut crumbs
aching temples, tired jaw
replete stomach gurgles defeat

ravaged tastebuds already numb
unwilling insulin - overworked or on strike
stale flavours weighing down
hunger for confection subdued sugar stupor

LyndiaP November 11, 2010 (PoemADay 11 of 30)

November writes a Poem about Me

Today for the PoemADay challenge I was going to write about soup and sunshine. I didn't though because I remembered some unfinished ideas that were inspired by a recent viewing of Edward Burtynsky's "Oil" photography exhibit at the Alberta Art Gallery:

Reflecting on OIL

desolate beauty
seasick aesthetics cruise tailings "ponds"
toxic art with glowing prowess.
Detach myself
you draw me in closer.

In a trance I cannot comprehend
reflection appears lovely
but my heart retracts lonely
confused and longing
Portrait of destruction
continued industrial beauty
at expense of nature's duty.
Suffocating repetition
I cannot destroy you
I cannot destroy you.

Divine image of this Sacrosanct view
pedestal of smog to engulf former truths
with allies too slick and enemies few
I cannot destroy you
I cannot destroy you.

Oh desolate beauty that causes me pain
exceptional consumption
giggles insane
hollow echoes under fire
as our truth melts under tires


I am but a girl in green
dreaming of green
torn from the green
hungry for green

while you, portrait of annihilation,
completely vast, shiny false-clean
exudes a nauseating scene
junks food of green.

And I weep as the source grows shallow
lulled to sleep by the force once hallow
our deep green you made sallow.

LyndiaP November 10, 2010 (for PoemADay 10 of 30)

Watching

Recovery Sunrise
for my Dad*


my pen it prays for gratitude

while dawn is drawn and calls awake

my heart, in an emphatic mood,

to noble words when there's a stake.



The light still waits



So pen with ink for blood and food

silent invocation make.

Oh heart with intercessor's attitude

become the role for grandest sake...



in light I wait.



LyndiaP November 9, 2010

(*and for OneShotWednesday 19 & PoemADay 9 of 30)

Poetic Denial

Future Heart

Future Heart
what are the consequences
of my protesting?

My lips are moved in rally cries
by your regulating pulse.
My defiant speech is your echo
rhythm forever pounding.

In my blood-nourished mind
thoughts are fed
actions bred
all controlled by Future Heart.
As clairvoyant circulation
marches from your gates.

Thus my rebellion against you
Heart of Vitality
Heart of Peace,
with ignorant silence,
kills me and cuts me off
one neglected heartbeat
at a time.

LyndiaP November 8, 2010
(PoemADay 8 of 30)

Beneath the Bookcase

Beneath the Bookcase

purple spine,
Stronger than my
backbone,
tattooed with black ink
beliefs.
Messages, mantras deep within
never changing
Your inflexible stance
lives on the pedestal.
My shifting twisting vertebrae
sleep on the floor.

LyndiaP November 7, 2010 (PoemADay 7 of 30)

Four for Four!

November 4th AND my fourth poem this month! Too bad it wasn't also April 2004... then I could be 4 for 4 on 4/04/04. Alas, it is not.

This poem is a mix of things - some prose, rhyme & a haiku so a slightly untraditional Haibun poem.

Season's Secret

winter: a place where sandaled feet on green grass should strike a heart with mild fear.

I can see you're 'fraid of Winter
when you curse this interval's name.
I can see you're scared of Winter.
It emits stillness; you breath fame.

Your cold feet about this season
I assert, are without reason

feverish progress
epidemic glow of 'more'
Winter: calming cure.

LyndiaP Nov.4, 2010

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

...Halloween!! It's my favorite holiday of all! This is saying quite a lot since there is absolutely no associated "day off" and I still love it.

Despite the oxymoronic fact that I am the most sensitive person to being scared, utterly dislike creepy/spooky/haunted things AND have found my affinity for mini chocolate bars waning... I am always up for the celebration, costumes and (of course) the candy!

Apparently this whole "any costume you want" is a big selling feature for me. There is something about the ability to be creative, silly and playful without reservation that deeply appeals to me. In the past my repitoir has included "Victorian Zombie", "Smurfette", "The Little Mermaid", "Japanese Geisha", "Elvis the Tank Engine", "Trapeze Artist" and my least impressive "Softball Player."
This year? Something new that struck me one day last month...but it'll remain a surprise until after Halloween...

There are easily HUNDREDS of costumes that are not creative and must only be donned to disappoint those of use who set out to conquer creative challenges, reach pinnacles of the princessy or the phantasmagorical to exemplify the epitome of eclectic, venture to the vistas of visionary or just bask in our own silliness.

So I salute those of you dressing up this week and would LOVE to hear what costumes you've rocked and totally understand if it's after the 31st because I think the surprise is the best part too!

Philosophy of Poe-a-Tweets

I Tweet therefore I Am...tweeting.

My current, ongoing Creative Challenge: Poe-a-Tweets. The philosophical re-cap is this- sometimes the confines or restrictions you face (i.e. 140 characters) force you to simply acknowledge THE most important things. I have been sending out these itty bitty poetic reflections to the ether of The Internet(/webs) to make reflection habitual and to practice my search for wonder (which can come in small or surprise forms). If you're interested here's Week 4 of my Poe-a-Tweets:

Aug 25: stuffing gratitude in envelopes/planting electronic seeds/always left to wonder/what might grow

Aug 26: Ode to an empty inbox:/am I dreaming?/No?/Thank God!

Aug 27: #superman /keep your x-Ray vision/keep your spandex too/give me stories of the world/and why you want to save it

Aug 28: Hail: local harvest withstanding the storm/determined farmers never in bad form/Vouyer of a Market Dance/behind a teacup warm

Aug 29: wild apple/silent apple/take this reason/make it a cause./Each apple/tiny apple/dress up in cinnamon/make me a sauce

Aug 30: close watch/closer/than raindrops/to the window/anticipation blooms/spatter patterns/on the glass/appear transparent

Aug 31: sidewalk rainbow/stuck to my shoe/marvelled at its strange debut./now I'm shoeless/feet are bare/& the rainbow is still there

The Poe-a-tweet Endures

WEEK 3- just poe-a-tweeting before 8AM...as I wait for a morning yoga class

Aug 18: vacant picture frames/paraded down busy streets/keeping a clean slate/for pictures of Intuition/photos of Happenstance

Aug 19: downtown glows in my eyes/to the cause I'm not wise/enduring smoke-haze surprise/but I don't despise/as the sun it still tries

Aug 20: perfect laundry/imagination combined/the magic effortlessness of the dry clean/plus the scent/comforting bliss/a la warm dryer.

Aug 21: ur words r my fodder/so r mine too/process of poeting?/is something I do/lexicon tickling/wit can't entreat/what a feat

Aug 22: before today began/I held a moment in my hand/let morning light dance in my brain/to nurture thoughts I haven't named

Aug 23: apples ideas and high heels/characterize a day/fueling/feeding/fusing/leaving only cores/bringing further insight/and blisters.

Aug 24: apricot mountain/in the moonlight/singing Indie pop love tunes/in the moonlight/glitter the glory of headlight parades

Still Poe-a-tweeting...

WEEK TWO - another log of Poetic Tweeting:

Aug 11: report card from today for me/A+ in Creativity/A- for my Life Delight/to counter dismal tech insight/& #FAIL in DVD-Menu-Fight.

Aug 12:running the rain gauntlet/between caverns of construction/reality in another world/just behind my office tower

Aug 13: reclamation invocation/a maker of change./post-superstition beauty/the mark of a truly/fearless new age.

Aug 14: dance floor lights/brighten afternoon nights/warehouse of the past/a celebration at last.

Aug 15: Borrowed expectations/spawning subtle panic/lending headaches and total disappointment/to an otherwise glorious day.

Aug 16: play quotidian games/in generously exceptional ways/freely colour pictures of the ephemeral/bask in the warmth of imperfection

Aug 17: Ode to the Days That You Just Wake Up Productive/Nothing can stop me!/I am on fire!/Never wanna drop me/...until I retire.
---
I hope you enjoyed this set. Some of the Twitter-ers sure are. I've been surprised with all the new 'followers' AND that I was even listed as part of #TeamPoetry on #FF (Follow Fridays)! ...which, granted I don't even fully understand but I remain grateful for and take it as a compliment.
Haha, oh Twitter, I definitely did not expect to learn so much about you this month!

Poe-A-Tweets (part deux)

Here are the Poe-A-Tweets as promised as per last week's blog entry on Tourist Candy. One week down, three to go!

Aug 3: Raspberried soles/tracing province-crossing pavement/imagination so colour saturated/slate grey skies weep/golden canola tears

Aug 4: skin bronzed, head spinning/potential death by inbox suffocation/no match/for supernatural "short work week" sorcery

Aug 5:
Unscheduled dreams/between overflowing hours/heaping haunting hounding/holding them at bay/with an ocean of silence

Aug 6:
from home to home/ and back in time/ old friends new places/ and did someone just say Furby?

Aug 7: baseball diamonds on wedding rings/the white heels covered in red shale/gloves and loves united

Aug 8: short cut's chaos/& I'm furious/long road's splendor/& I'm curious/each day a pace that's pleasant?/escaping to the present

Aug 9: learning to Be/observant/curious./ lessons from petunia pots/5 year-olds./do nothing to Be./ Being human being.

Aug 10: pink polished nails/caked with dirt/iced with grass stains/escaped committment/gardening under false pretenses

(note: commonly the backslash is used to seperate lines in poetry when it is not possible to use the original, intended formatting. I utilize that technique here.)

Poe-a-Tweets

Today, like many other days I felt as though there were too many things to remember. I don't mean groceries or errands or long To-Do lists but rather the stories and mini-adventures that took place from rolling out of bed until, well, now and that's only mid-afternoon:
I picked delicious summer berries, went on a jog and passed an open moving truck filled with amazingly interesting stuff, drove through a colourful downpour and took a windy walk around in a strange city (see Urban Hiking).

This is, of course only the beginning of each story but you know as well as I do that there is never enough time to actually write all the adventures with due attention and still keep up with things like sleep (or the more pesky: work). So I came up with a plan (inspired by a book by Jill Jepson which I'll explain some other time): Poe-a-Tweets... or colloquially: "TodayInAPoem." If you aren't the technology enamoured type then Twitter may not be your thing and if you aren't interested in another channel to access the barage of human banality (for the large part in 'Public' land) than Twitter may also not be your thing.

Let me just say that it took a bit of effort and great deal of searching for interesting people to 'follow' before I found a use. For one thing, instant 'publication' of mini-poems and my soon-to-be Creative Challenge of the Month.*

So for the next 30 days (pending reliable Internet connections each day) I plan to use my LyndiaP Twitter feed and my beloved hash tag (or in English 'searchable theme name') #TodayInAPoem to help me digest all these servings of wonderful and share the sweeness. (I'll try to post the weekly results on Tourist Candy too)

I like TodayInAPoem (or TiAP if you prefer a good acronym) because it forces you to get to the essence of the story and they are so short that I can pump out quickly, say ten, in one end-of-the-day writting session.

Today's TiAP (pardon the redundancy)
Raspberried soles/tracing province-crossing pavement/imagination so colour saturated/slate grey skies weep/golden canola tears

*the Creativity Challenge of the Month is basically like a New Month Resolution in creativity and is a sure fire way for me to motivate myself to find time to make stuff. I always thank myself later too because it's such a Happy-Inducing challenge.

Oxymorons

I want to find out who invented oxymorons. I think they are quite wonderful (this illustrious inventor and his/her invention). I must admit that oxymorons are the most wonderful of all when used ironically but, simultaneously aren't so asinine that they cause me a frustration induced migraine.

It's hard, like with so many potentially annoying things (such as the blatant misuse of the apostrophe) to ascertain where one can draw a line between uncontrollable giggles of amusement and forceful vigilante vengeance. It's a subtle distinction. It is also a subtle understanding. An understanding of language that doesn’t always find itself in common practice. I’m definitely not saying that people don’t understand oxymorons or would be better off if they did understand them. I think the real underlying bit of wonderful here is that interest and even snippets of joy that comes from understanding a language really well. Now this is sounds linguistically elitist, I’m sure, but be assured that in no way am I discouraging people from learning only a bit of another language or trying to assert that English is better than other languages – again, totally untrue. I won’t go into a long spiel about the benefit of multi-lingualism but I will say that no matter how many languages – the ability for expression is not only empowering but it also, in my opinion, encourages more diverse and plentiful ideas and innovations.

How many times has some ingenious use of language inspired you? Sadly if you are only reading billboards this may not happen as often as you would like (or clearly, as I might like). So revel in the chances you get. It is a giant pinprick of light flooding an endless ocean – these linguistic lightning strikes in a curious mind.