Poetry Friday--Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

This is my third year participating in a nengajyou, a Japanese style New Year's card exchange. I wrote about my first two experiences here and here. This year I sent cards to multiple recipients in 12 states, D.C., India, Romania, United Kingdom, Ireland, Trinidad & Tobago, and Canada!

The past two years I have used photos of my cat and my son's rabbit* to illustrate the card. The animals were in keeping with the symbols of the zodiac, in Japanese known as Juni Shi: 2010 was the year of the Tiger, 2011 was the year of the Rabbit. As 2012 will be the year of the Dragon, it wasn't possible to find a dragon around the house! I went to the Library of Congress for my illustration, a star map created in 1825, which shows the Dragon constellation, Draco, and Ursa Minor.

The haiku uses a kigo, that is, a seasonal word that provides an imagistic shortcut to the reader. A haiku poet uses a kigo as a way of saving words, which is important in a poem that is typically about 11 or 12 syllables long. [For those wishing to learn more about kigo, please visit the World Kigo Database. It is not easy to navigate if you're looking for something specific, it is better to browse.]

"First" indicates the New Year, as in "first dawn" or "first bath." "First wish" serves not only as the first wish (on a star) of the year, but also as a wish for the entire year ahead. I probably could have left out the word "winter," but, it is an indication that for us in the northern hemisphere that New Year's comes in the winter. This would have been important if any of my cards were sent, say, to Australia or South Africa.

2013 will be the year of the Snake. I found a delightful old photo on the Library of Congress site, so come back next year at this time. For now, you should head on over to The Drift Record, where Julie will round out 2011's great poetry offerings!

Here's wishing everyone a year of health and happiness--and the world a year of justice and peace. Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu (Happy New Year)!


*Sad news, Miles the rabbit, passed away, so I guess 2011 wasn't his luckiest year!

Haiku Sticky #129

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day! Christmas Edition

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

Poetry Friday--It's In the Air!

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

The Library of Congress has been like Santa Claus to me with a goody bag overflowing with copyright-free photos. I have another holiday haiga using a Library of Congress photo, which I posted last year, click here to see it. There will be yet another one on Sunday, so come back again.

Head over to Dori Reads for the holiday Poetry Round-Up, then settle in for a wonderful holiday weekend! Peace to all.

Haiku Sticky #128

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--The Cure

There is absolutely no other response to the following except a big smile!

The Cure
by Ginger Andrews

Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.

I think most readers will figure out what "the mulleygrubs" is from the context, but, if you'd like to learn more about the word, click here. It's the perfect word for this poem, and isn't a red dress the perfect cure? I love this poem, it is so down-to-earth!

Now go have a piece of cake, then visit your favorite Book Aunt, Kate, for the Poetry Friday Round-Up.

Photo courtesy Huzzah Vintage.

Haiku Sticky #127

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--Poehistry

Pie Town Family, 1940

Five clean-faced young ones
and their parents
sit for the portrait.
The oldest, perhaps twelve,
looks away from
the camera. Distracted?
Or merely not wanting
to be part of this world
where Mom and Dad,
barely beyond childhood
themselves, raise a family
in a shack with cardboard walls
taped, nailed, and stained.

Yet, if you look deeper,
there on the cardboard wall
is a framed print and
a Coca-Cola advertisement.
The makeshift shelf is
covered with a cloth.
Now seventy years
removed, the viewer
can only hope
that those odds and ends
of color against
the brown pasteboard
had been enough.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Pie Town, New Mexico was probably one of the last experiments in homesteading. You can read about it in an article from Smithsonian.

I discovered Pie Town during one of my browsings of the Library of Congress's photography collection. The photos are poignant, yet also show determination and community spirit. I hesitated about writing a poem about the family in the photo above, because some of the people in the picture are probably still living! Imagine finding a photo of yourself online with a poem by a stranger--one who knew nothing of your real life and family.

This week's Poetry Friday Round-Up can be found at Read, Write, Howl.

Photo by Russell Lee courtesy Library of Congress.

Haiku Sticky #126

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

I don't really damn the cookie makers, but they sure make it hard on us weak-willed ones!

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith courtesy Library of Congress.

Poetry Friday--Poets of World War II

Yesterday I was interviewed by Linda Crotta Brennan at Lupine Seeds primarily on my WW II poems. If you missed it, click here.


Since next Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, and the entrance of the United States into the war, I thought I would mention a book in the "American Poets Project" series, Poets of World War II, edited by Harvey Shapiro (Library of America, 2003). The collection covers 62 American poets, with 120 poems dealing with the war. In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, I'd like to share this poem by Howard Neverov:

The War in the Air

For a saving grace, we didn't see our dead,
Who rarely bothered coming home to die
But simply stayed away out there
In the clean war, the war in the air.

Seldom the ghosts came back bearing their tales
Of hitting the earth, the incompressible sea,

But stayed up there in the relative wind,
Shades fading in the mind,

Who had no graves but only epitaphs
Where never so many spoke for never so few:
Per ardua, said the partisans of Mars,
Per aspera, to the stars.

That was the good war, the war we won
As if there were no death, for goodness' sake,
With the help of the losers we left out there
In the air, in the empty air.

(Note: the Latin phrases can be translated as "through adversity" and "through hardship." The motto of the RAF was Per ardua ad astra. "Through adversity to the stars.")


This week's Poetry Friday Round-Up is found at Carol's Corner.

Pearl Harbor photos courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

Some Horn Tootin'

I was interviewed at Linda Crotta Brennan's blog today! Check it out here.

Haiku Sticky #125

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--The Day After

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Before you head out to the mall for holiday shopping, stop by My Juicy Little Universe for this week's gift of poetry links.

Haiku Sticky #124

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

If the font is difficult to read, here's the haiku:

november dusk...
looking through coat pockets
for gloves that match

You can also click on the image to enlarge it.

Poetry Friday--Pigs!

Years ago, I saw Steven Kellogg at some conference, somewhere, and purchased a book that he had illustrated, Snuffles and Snouts, poems selected by Laura Robb. Kellogg drew a huge pig face on the end papers and signed his name with a heart!

The book ended up lost in a pile of books, but, now, 16 years later, I've unearthed it and have found this tender (pun intended) poem that concludes the book:

The Prayer of the Little Pig

by Carmen Bernos De Gasztold (translated by Rumer Godden)

Lord,
    their politeness makes me laugh!
    Yes, I grunt!
    Grunt and snuffle!
    I grunt because I grunt
    and snuffle
    because I cannot do anything else!
    All the same, I am not going to thank them
    for fattening me up to make bacon.
    Why did You make me so tender?
    What a fate!
    Lord,
    teach me how to say

                          Amen.

I'd suggest that you look for Snuffles and Snouts at your public library since it is long out of print. The illustrations are typically Kelloggian, and, on the back cover, Kellogg has included a little piggy poem of his own to meet the challenge issued by John Ciardi in "Why Pigs Can't Write Poems."

Snuffle on over to Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference for the weekly Round-Up of poetry links.

Photo © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Haiku Sticky #123

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Too Good Not To Share!

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--"The Fifteenth Summer"

One of my $1.00 finds at the used book store is The Inner Room: Poems by James Merrill. I took a fancy to the poem below because it appeals to the side of me that despite loving books, is easily distracted by what's going on all around.

The Fifteenth Summer

Scrambling with a book
The hundred-or-so feet
Up the Australian pine
To a slung-rope seat--
The nerve it took!

Small wonder, often as not
He never read a line,
Flaubert or Howard Fast,
Just pondered earth and ocean,
The odd car’s crawling dot:

Why were we here?
To flow. To bear. To be.
Over the view his tree
In slow, slow motion
Held sway, the pointer of a scale so vast,

Alive and variable, so inlaid
As well with sticky, pungent gold,
That many a year
Would pass before it told
Those mornings what they weighed.

And as if to prove the point of my distractedness, after initially reading the poem I found myself looking up an Australian pine. I had never heard of it, but it is true to its name and is found in Australia. Its Latin name is Casuarina, and the Australian National Botanic Gardens tells us that it is "named after the cassowary (Casuarinus) because the long, drooping branchlets were supposed to resemble its feathers."

Then, in researching James Merrill, I found he was born, and I assume, raised in New York City. So now I have the puzzle of how does an Australian pine end up in a poem by a New Yorker? If anyone has a guess, please tell us in the comments below.

April at Teaching Authors is the host of the Poetry Friday Round-Up.

Photo by Arthur Chapman.

Haiku Sticky #122

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--Fun Fabulous Finds

Saturday I went to a local used book superstore, I wrote about it briefly here.

There was section labeled vintage, which had books old and yellowed, some more ancient than vintage! One of my vintage finds was a small book of poems for kids entitled The Little Hill: Poems & Pictures by Harry Behn. (I wouldn't dare call this title ancient since it was published the same year I was born, and let's leave the date as "long ago.")

I was absolutely delighted to find this book! I wrote about Behn back in March. I never expected to find a book of his children's poems for sale in my own backyard!

This copy, although a discard from a school library, seems to have been little used. Either that, or, since it was from a Catholic school library, the users lived in fear of divine (or nun) retribution for returning a book marked or damaged! There was even a borrower's record card still in the pocket! And, it had borrower's names until some time after 1978 when names were replaced by numbers.

The poems in the book are each accompanied by a small, all-red illustration. The paper used in The Little Hill is thick and lovely and perfect for the woodblock prints.

I was lucky to find this little treasure of a book with this little treasure of a poem:

Circles

The things to draw with compasses
Are suns and moons and circleses
And rows of humptydumpasses
Or anything in circuses
Like hippopotamusseses
And hoops and camels' humpasses
And wheels on clownses busseses
And fat old elephumpasses.

Do kids today even know what a compass is--besides a potential lethal weapon? Perhaps not, but they'd sure enjoy the hearing this poem read aloud!

Today's other fun fabulous find is all the wonderful poetry links at our Round-Up hostess, Laura Salas's blog, which is now residing at WordPress.

Haiku Sticky #121

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Halloween Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Every Day is Poetry Friday!

"Better late than never" writes Ben of The Small Nouns, so, I'm giving Ben his own special P.F. edition today! Check out his recommendation to visit the Poetry 180 site, and read the awesome poem he features, "The Printer's Error" by Aaron Fogel.

I visited the local used book emporium today where everything was 50% off. I picked up a bunch of poetry books--some for $1.00 each! One is 99 Poems in Translation selected by Harold Pinter et al. A penny a poem! I probably would have been willing to pay at least 5 cents for this one:

No

by Lady Ki No Washika, translated by Graeme Wilson

It's not because I'm now too old,
More wizened than you guess...

If I say no, it's only
Because I fear that yes
Would bring me nothing, in the end,
But a fiercer loneliness.

Poetry Friday Round-Up Is Here!

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.
Welcome to Poetry Friday brought to you from the great state of New Hampshire! And to celebrate, here's a seasonal poem from a neighbor up the road (a hundred years ago)--Robert Frost:

Gathering Leaves

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight;
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

This year, the leaves have been less than spectacular. We've had a lot of rain and wind, and much of the color has ended up stuck to windshields and on the ground. Like Frost's crop, ours this year has grown duller "from contact with earth."

Autumn leaves in their various states of change have been inspiration for poems for as long as there have been poets, and probably for as long as there have been leaves. I imagine the delight of cave men upon seeing the brilliant colors of autumn--the same as we find delight today! I imagine the autumn melancholia, too, is the same.

Share your links in the comments below and I'll post them. I may sneak out for a few hours in the afternoon, but I'll get to all the links as quickly as I can.

I'll begin with my own links: At Kids of the Homefront Army, I continue through the war with a poem that is a bit sad, but that's what war is...

At Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet I have a creepy flower poem--yes, there is such a thing--by Amy Lowell. And, at KK's Kwotes, there's a little something from Carl Sandburg.

A few early birds chimed in:

Charles Ghigna, a.k.a. Father Goose, was super early--before the sun even set in NH last night! He shares a fun little holiday poem, "Halloween Candy Check" from his book, Halloween Night.

Robyn Hood Black has an interview with poet Irene Latham. What an accomplished lady, she is. As if her poetry wasn't enough to wow me--Irene completed a quilt-a-month challenge! And isn't this a great quote?--"I believe strongly that the most important thing I can do for my writing is go out and live a life worth writing about."

If you click here, you'll be transported to GatheringBooks half-way round the world in Singapore! There Myra shares "Day and Night" by Gemino H. Abad.

At Musings, fellow New Hampshire citizen, Joyce Ray, talks about our first taste of snow for the season (yes, it's true, we had snow, but not enough to make me think about putting on gloves just yet). She also features a poem, "Blue Snow," from Donald Hall's latest (and last?) collection.

Camille at A Curious Thing found that Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys appeals to boys--both young and old.

Laura Salas celebrates National Chocolates Day with a J. Patrick Lewis poem. Sometimes it's best to resist a chocolate craving! Laura also has a nice bunch of 15 Words or Less poems here.

And now we have those who were up at the crack of dawn!

Of course someone who lives on The Poem Farm would be up with the birds! Amy shares an original poem about nesting and she shares the fabulous news that her book Forest Has a Song will be out in the spring of 2013. It'll be here before you know it, Amy!

Tara at A Teaching Life reports that she heard Naomi Shibab Nye read recently, and so, she shares a poem and a little Nye story. Nice!

Gregory K. has an original poem just in time for the upcoming festivities: "I’m the Squeak upon the Stair..." And Greg hints that he's going to be looking for some peanut butter cups on Monday.

Tabatha Yeatts surprised me with her question after the poem "To My Brother Killed In Battle." Check it out.

Heidi shares "Totem" by Eamon Grennan at My Juicy Little Universe. (It always makes me smile when I read her blog title!) "Totem" is a marvelously descriptive poem about a pumpkin giving way to decomposition.

Andi Sibley has a video of Micah Bourne's contemplation of shampoo for "normal hair." The line "There is something divine about you," takes us into a whole other direction. Glorious!

Mary Lee reviews Laura Purdie Salas' new book Bookspeak!: Poems about Books. Mary Lee has a thing for "bird blobs"--who knew?

More proof that great minds think alike, Jama Rattigan also reviewed Laura's book here, and she looks at Jon Muth's adaptation of Bob Dylan's "Blowin in the Wind," here. Muth, as an illustrator, uses metaphor, too. I'm so glad that Jama points this out for us.

News: The 16 Commonwealth nations have voted and women may now ascend the throne in the United Kingdom!

TeacherDance reports that they've had snow in Denver, too, and she has an original poem on the slide into winter called "This Moment Fills Me."

Oh, no, look what we have in store (from NOAA--they like to shout):

LOW PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY ALONG THE MID
ATLANTIC COAST ON SATURDAY AND MOVE VERY CLOSE TO CAPE COD
SATURDAY NIGHT...THEN NORTHEAST TO THE CANADIAN MARITIMES SUNDAY.
AT THIS TIME...THIS STORM LOOKS TO BRING ACCUMULATING SNOW TO
MUCH OF MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE...WITH THE BULK OF THE SNOW
FALLING SATURDAY NIGHT.

Maria Horvath brings us a lovely painting of Penelope and lines from the "Odyssey." By the way, Maria posts poetry every day, so visit her blog often!

Katya Czaja has another Robert Frost poem for us, "Now Close the Windows." She also said, "On Wednesday, migrating bluebirds hopped among the last few golden leaves of my sugar maple." I have bird envy--I've only seen a handful of bluebirds in my lifetime (and I'm, as my mother used to say, "no spring chicken.")

Joining in on the Halloween fun is Martha Calderaro with an awesome jack-o-lantern poem. Glad you're back to Poetry Friday!

Sara Lewis Holmes has a video clip of Alison Krauss singing "Ghost in the House." It'll send sad shivers down your back!

From Haiti, Ruth sends us a tantalizing portion of "Machines" by Michael Donaghy. Enjoy your upcoming days off, Ruth!

My buddy Janet of The Write Sisters, has a poem about a costume party that I'm glad I wasn't invited to! It's "All Souls" by Michael Collier.

Steven Withrow is interviewed at Kirkus Reviews where he spreads the news about Poetry Advocates for Children and Young Adults. If you haven't joined the group, please do--we'll wait for you, click here or on the little green bird icon on the right-hand side of this page.

We're introduced, by Karen Edmisten, to a book called The Tomb of the Boy King. Karen says, it's a "poetic version of the discovery of King Tut's tomb." That should be interesting! Wait--I just looked it up in my library's catalog and we own it! How did I miss it?

At Teaching Authors, JoAnn Early Macken offers us an original entitled, "The Trick to Getting Published." A simple trick, but you have to learn it the hard way!

Kayroo at BooksYALove recommends the novel-in-verse Karma by Cathy Ostlere. Looks like plenty for discussion in a YA book group with this novel--cultural and ethnic differences, political history, etc.

Paper Tigers has a great quote by Gillian Clarke, "Haunting is all about imagination, and the best imaginers are poets and children." Clarke is the author of The Whispering Room: Haunted Poems, which is shared today by Sally.

One more link before I head off for a little lunch with friends: Liz Scanlon is all about birds today with her photo of a gazillion of them on telephone wires (a touch of Hitchcock), and her links to poems by Robert Frost and Charles Bukowski. For all you bird and poetry lovers, I'd like to suggest that you look for Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds, edited by Billy Collins (Columbia U. Press, 2010).

I'm back, sorry I took so long. To continue, more Halloween treats await at Wild Rose Reader where Elaine reviews Hallowilloween: Nefarious Silliness by Calef Brown. Don't you love that word, nefarious? Elaine also has several other Halloween poems and books to recommend.

Amanda at The Writer's Life gives us a look at her Poetry Friday. Phew, I'm exhausted just reading it! No wonder she didn't get her original poem completed in time to post! That's okay, she shared a poem by Naomi Stroud Simmons, "Without Reservations." The last two lines should make you grin.

Lorie Ann Grover, at Readertotz, previews North by Nick Dowson, due in January. It's nonfiction in poetry form. And, at On Point she has an original small poem accompanied by a spider-topped skull!

Did Charles Gigna post so early last night because he was headed to Bangkok today? If so, Father Goose must have a jet-powered Halloween broomstick! Read an interview here.

Okay, I'm going to quote David Elzey directly for this description: "i'm in this week with a true story of the abraham lincoln coconut vampire turtle...cake. crazy, but true." It's all at fomograms.

At All about Books, Janet S. introduces a title I haven't seen before, Holiday Stew: A Kids Portion of Holiday and Seasonal Poems by Jenny Whitehead.

Donna has a new old house in Maine! At Mainely Write, her original poem, "The House with the Wrinkled Wall," tells of the house's make-over, and from the photo, that make-over comes not a minute too soon!

It's Almost Poetry Friday!

The Round-Up will be held here. If you'd like to post your links tonight, please do so in the comments below, otherwise, see you bright and early tomorrow!

Haiku Sticky #120

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

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

Poetry Friday--"Power Source"

Last week I went to the local used bookstore and purchased, for $2.99 each, two compact volumes from the "Everyman's Library Pocket Poets" series. Not in perfect condition, but nearly so, and well worth the price. One of the titles is Doggerel: Poems about Dogs, selected and edited by Carmela Ciuraru. I spent a good portion of Sunday night reading through the poems and found this one in honor of my little canine friend, Mary Murphy:

Power Source
by Edward Field

Like harnessing
the tides or the wind,
how about attaching
dogs' tails
to power generators?

I want the job
of patting the dog
to keep its tail
wagging.

Dogs could generate
enough electricity
for cities, for countries--
light up the world!

Mary doesn't have much in the way of a tail, but she does her best with what she's got. It's more than enough to power a smile.

Head over to Jama's Alphabet Soup for this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up and come back next week--the Round-Up will be here!

Haiku Sticky #119

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo by William Henry Jackson courtesy Library of Congress.

Poetry Friday--Poetry in NH

The New Hampshire Writers' Project (NHWP) is holding a month of Poetry and Politics. Yesterday there was a day long conference on the topic and an event with noted slam poet Mali Taylor. Today, at least 15 poets laureate from NH and several other states will be reading their work in different locations. And tomorrow, another conference will be held; topics for the panel discussions are, "Poetry & Community," "Poetry & Education," "Poetry & Social Justice," and "Poetry & Politcs." Tickets may still be available, so call 603-314-7980 if you're interested!

I'm particularly interested in next week's program on Sunday, October 23, when former U.S. Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan, will be presented with the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. The award includes a $5,000 prize! Kay Ryan will also be reading her poems. (I saw Ryan at the Dodge Poetry Festival last year and thought she was awesome!)

The prize is sponsored by NHWP and the Concord Monitor through a fund established in Kenyon’s memory after her death in 1995.

The University of NH has an online exhibit on Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall, who, as husband and wife, lived in the town of Wilmot for many years. Be sure to check out:Life at Eagle Pond: The Poetry of Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall. Here's a poem by Kenyon that is featured:

Biscuit

The dog has cleaned his bowl
and his reward is a biscuit,
which I put in his mouth
like a priest offering the host.

I can’t bear that trusting face!
He asks for bread, expects
bread, and I in my power
might have given him a stone.

from Constance (Graywolf Press, 1993)

This week's Round-Up will be found at Fomograms.

Haiku Sticky #118

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo © Andrea Murphy, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--"The Matrix"

"The Matrix," by Amy Lowell, has a fantastic opening. The first four lines concisely describe the way work divides up our time, yet, are these bits of our life the "matrix" upon which a richer life is built?

The Matrix

Goaded and harassed in the factory
    That tears our life up into bits of days
    Ticked off upon a clock which never stays,
Shredding our portion of Eternity,
We break away at last, and steal the key
    Which hides a world empty of hours; ways
    Of space unroll, and Heaven overlays
The leafy, sun-lit earth of Fantasy.
    Beyond the ilex shadow glares the sun,
    Scorching against the blue flame of the sky.
Brown lily-pads lie heavy and supine
    Within a granite basin, under one
    The bronze-gold glimmer of a carp; and I
Reach out my hand and pluck a nectarine.

This week's Poetry Friday Round-Up is being hosted by Great Kid Books.

If you've read any great new books of children's poetry this year, consider nominating one for the Cybils award. Click here for more information--but do it soon, nominations end on the 15th.

Photo by foodiesathome.com.

Haiku Sticky #117

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Originally published in Notes from the Gean, Vol. 2, Issue 3--December 2010

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.