Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Néith castigatrice" by L. J. J. Dubois, courtesy NYPL Digital Gallery.

Poetry Friday--A Return to Hell

I seem to be returning often to the subject of heaven and hell. Some of it is due to the Sketchbook Project I'm working on, the topic of which is "Angels." A lot more of it has to do with human nature, the news of the day, or the political circus, a.k.a. the 2016 election cycle. The other day I was looking for something in my files and found a poem I had written in early July, 2010. You may remember this was the time of the BP oil spill. The poem was titled "Burning Sea Turtles." I won't explain the title. If you need more information, do a Google search on the term, "burning sea turtles."

Since I was already wrapped up in heaven and hell poems, I figure one more wouldn't hurt, so I illustrated it:

Click to enlarge. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Here's the text alone:

Burning Sea Turtles

There is no hell
for any creature
other than man.
We have created
it whole from our
imagination, and
not content, we have
re-created the vision
here on earth so all
God's creatures can
know the true Satan.

I promise this will be the last hell poem for a while. If I continue with angels, I'll try to lean toward the lighter side. I've actually written a humorous one, but it's definitely seasonal, so it's saved for December.

I'm sure there will be heavenly delights this week at the Round-Up being hosted by Sylvia at Poetry for Children. Please stop by.

Haiku Sticky #320

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

Click on image to enlarge. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. This haiku was submitted as part of the July Shiki Kukai with the topic, "quiet." A fogdog is a break, or a bright spot, in the fog.

Poetry Friday--A Reason to Regret Not Believing in Hell

(Warning: this post deals with mature subject matter, reader discretion is advised.)

After a little research into the life of Lord Byron, I almost wish there was a hell, for surely he deserves to be there.

I got started on Byron when I accidentally came upon the BBC Radio 4 Facebook page. There I found a link to an audio about Lord Byron's daughter, Allegra, who was sent off to a convent and died there at the age of five. That's bad enough, but Byron ignored her letters asking him to visit her. After listening, I starting reading bits and pieces of Byron's story and the anger in me grew.

Byron couldn't resist the advances of an 18 year old girl, Claire Clairmont (half-sister to Mary Shelley), who was dazzled by his good looks and his fame. He spurned her at first, but succumbed to primal urges. This is from a letter he wrote to his half-sister, Augusta Leigh (also one of his sex partners), in 1816,

Now don’t scold; but what could I do?--a foolish girl, in spite of all I could say or do, would come after me, or rather went before--for I found her here--and I have had all the plague possible to persuade her to go back again; but at last she went. Now, dearest, I do most truly tell thee that I could not help this, that I did all I could to prevent it, and have at last put an end to it. I was not in love, nor have any love left for any; but I could not exactly play the Stoic with a woman who had scrambled eight hundred miles to unphilosophise me. Besides, I had been regaled of late with so many "two courses and a desert" (Alas!) of aversion, that I was fain to take a little love (if pressed particularly) by way of novelty.

As a result of his taking "a little love," a daughter, Allegra, was born in January 1817. When Allegra was a toddler, Claire gave over the care of the child to Byron. After she became a bother to him, he arranged for her to be sent to a convent run by the Capuchin nuns in Bagnacavallo, a distance of about 15 miles from Palazzo Guiccioli where Byron stayed in Ravenna, Italy. (Byron's mistress, wife of Count Gicciolo, is said not to have liked the little girl.) Byron had many mistresses in the course of his life; I'm only including the bare minimum of detail, since the story of Byron is full of him thumbing his nose at society, politics, sex, and lots of writing. To learn more about little Allegra, please listen to the BBC audio.

A long introduction to a short poem!

Click to enlarge for easier reading. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. The background is the portion of a letter to Byron from a nun in which Allegra addresses her father. The original is found at the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford. I have no information on the Allegra picture, but since it is in the public domain, I felt free to alter it. A version can be found at Wikipedia.

Head over to Reading to the Core for this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up!

Haiku Sticky #319

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

Click on image to enlarge. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. This haiku was submitted as part of the July Shiki Kukai with the kigo prompt, "hot/tropical night."

Poetry Friday--"Petty Theft"

It's that time of year again--we're slowly sliding into fall and the goldenrod (Solidago) varieties are beginning to bloom. The bees love goldenrod. Many people mistake goldenrod for ragweed (Ambrosia), but they are not the same. It is ragweed that causes hayfever, and not goldenrod, so go ahead and leave these wildflowers to grow. The bees will love you, too!

Click on the image to enlarge. Poem and photos © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. By the way, I've been using and reusing a group of goldenrod photos I took back in 2010. Every time I look at them, the bees in their fuzzy jackets make me smile.

Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) photo courtesy Neorurale.

Heidi is the hostess for this week's Round-Up. She's bound to have a big pitcher of lemonade waiting for you at My Juicy Little Universe.

Haiku Sticky #318

Strange bathroom companions in the middle of the night!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

Click on the image to enlarge. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the sideways face of Poe in the cloud reflection?

Poetry Friday--Swappin' Part 2

Last Friday I shared the three poems I received in the 2015 Summer Poem Swap organized by Tabatha Yeatts. Today I'll show you the poems I sent out. There are two more swaps that I will post about at a later date.

The first was created for Buffy Silverman. It was inspired by Buffy's blog banner photo.

For Linda Baie, I wrote a sequence, which was inspired by a photo she had posted on her Facebook page in the autumn of 2014:

Another sequence was written for our fearless swap leader, Tabatha Yeatts. Tabatha always shares wonderful works of art! I thought she might like this painting titled "White Shoes" by Eva Gonzales (1849-1883), a French Impressionist. Tabatha is also this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up host!

Click on the images above to enlarge for easier reading. All poems © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Haiku Sticky #317

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

My friend Janet, the ex-patriot, frequently posts photos of her adopted home of Ireland. Earlier in the week she posted several photos on Facebook that she labeled "Cooloorta Beauties." The "beauties" are four lovely, lively horses. I asked to use one of her photos and she allowed me to turn it into a haiga. I cropped and edited Janet's photo. I didn't much like the end result at first, but it has grown on me over the past few days!

Click to enlarge for easier reading. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo © Janet Buell, all rights reserved, used with permission.