Poetry Friday--"At the Bottom of the Menu"

Just about 2 years ago, I went to dinner with a friend, and honest-to-goodness, there was a warning message...

At the Bottom of the Menu

Talking on your cell phone at the table has been known to shut off power to the kitchen. Please carry on cell phone conversations in the front lobby. Thank you.

The warnings of
the fine print take
me off guard--idle
threats or truth?

With microwaves
and radio waves criss-
crossing are we in
any real danger of

not getting our food in
a timely manner or
is the only danger that
of another diner hearing

intimate details of
a complete stranger's
night of sexual prowess
before his own dessert

is served.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

I love unexpected surprises found on restaurant menus or placemats, don't you?

Check out the Poetry Friday Round-Up, hosted this week at Read Write Believe.

Guess Who's a Judge...

Me! In the genre of poetry. Should be fun! And an education! I'm SO looking forward to it!

Haiku Sticky #116

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Poetry Friday--The Autumnal Equinox

This year, the autumnal equinox occurs today, the 23rd. For many people we are heading into their favorite time of year. Not me. I'm a spring girl, myself. But, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the show of color that will be arriving here shortly in southern New Hampshire. Here's a poem by Annie Finch to welcome the equinox.

Crown of Autumn Leaves

For Mabon (fall equinox), Sept. 21

Our voices press
from us
and twine
around the year's
fermenting wine

Yellow fall roars
Over the ground.
Loud, in the leafy sun that pours
Liquid through doors,
Yellow, the leaves twist down

as the winding
of the vine
pulls our curling
voices—

Glowing in wind and change,
The orange leaf tells

How one more season will alter and range,
Working the strange
Colors of clamor and bells

Read the rest here.

I'm proud to announce that I'm an Advisory Board member of a new organization, founded by Steven Withrow, Poetry Advocates for Children and Young Adults. Visit Poetry at Play, the blog of PACYA, "like" the Facebook page, and join in the fun.

Visit Picture Book of the Day for the Poetry Friday Round-Up.

Photo by hichako.

Haiku Sticky #115

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Poetry Friday--David Ignatow

We've been a car-centric society for 60 years now, and that idea is made perfectly clear by this bit of fun by David Ignatow:

That's the Sum of It

I don’t know which to mourn. Both have died on me, my wife and
my car. I feel strongly about my car, but I am also affected by my
wife. Without my car, I can’t leave the house to keep myself from
being alone. My wife gave me two children, both of whom, of course,
no longer live with us, as was to be expected, as we in our youth left
our parents behind. With my car, I could visit my children, when they
are not too busy.

Before she died, my wife urged me to find another woman. It’s advice
I’d like to take up but not without a car. Without a car, I cannot find
myself another woman. That’s the sum of it.

I like to hear a poet recite his work, it adds another dimension to the poem. Here's Ignatow reading "I Killed a Fly."



From here, head over to The Poem Farm for this week's Round-Up.

Haiku Sticky #114

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Haiga Day

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--What's News?

There has been lots of poetry news lately, so I thought I would round it up for you this week.

In Kolkata, the city formerly known as Calcutta, the powers that be are supporting the celebration of poetry by broadcasting it aloud. Actually, the real point of the program is an effort to calm drivers in the city's highly congested streets! I guess it's a good thing that they're doing it through poetry, right? Read more here.



The U.S. Postal Service with be honoring poets with a new series of "forever" stamps! Read about it here. Four out of the ten poets are women! One more would have been more reflective of the United States. In 2010, women made up approximately 51% of the population, but I don't want society to move any faster than it is ready to move. (Who am I kidding? Of course, I do. I want society to acknowledge women artists--do it now!)

The Guerilla Haiku Movement is making tracks to Chicago tomorrow! The movement chalks haiku on city streets. It looks like fun to me, but, I'm slightly prejudiced...

The British poet laureate (the country's first female to be so honored), Carol Ann Duffy, recently said that a poem is "a perfecting of a feeling in language--it's a way of saying more with less, just as texting is." So, texting may be preparing a whole new crop of poets! Here's the report.

Perhaps the most exciting news is the upcoming 100 Thousand Poets for Change worldwide event taking place on September 24. Here's the description from their Facebook page:

Poets in 400 cities representing 95 countries are currently organizing the largest poetry reading in history with over 500 individual events scheduled to take place simultaneously on September 24th to promote environmental, social, and political change.

For additional information, the website is here.



If you "like" the FB page, you will be updated several times a day with news of new locations, event posters, etc. I especially enjoy seeing the flyers, some of which are collected here.

I'm sure more exciting news awaits you at the Poetry Friday Round-Up being held today at Secrets & Sharing Soda.

Stamps image courtesy Beyond the Perf.

Haiku Sticky #113

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Originally published in Sketchbook May/June 2011, Volume 6, No. 3.

Poetry Friday--"The Benefits of Ignorance"

This poem by Hal Sirowitz is my kind of poem--short and smaht (as they say here in the Boston area).

The Benefits of Ignorance

If ignorance is bliss, Father said,
shouldn't you be looking blissful?
You should check to see if you have
the right kind of ignorance. If you're
not getting the benefits that most people
get from acting stupid, then you should
go back to what you always were—
being too smart for your own good.

You can read another of Sirowitz's poems, "Misery Loves Company" at The Writer's Almanac.

From the video below, you can tell immediately that Hal Sirowitz is not from the Boston area!



Tricia, at the Miss Rumphius Effect, is hosting the Poetry Friday Round-Up this week.

Have a relaxing long weekend everyone!