Poetry Friday--The Round-Up Is Here!

Yee ha! It's the last of this first half of the year's Round-Ups. The Fourth of July is around the corner and summer is in full swing! So, let's get started!

I came upon the name, Hélène Dutrieu, quite by accident--she turns out to have been one of the most fascinating women, ever! Hélène Dutrieu [1877-1961] was what I would call a real hot ticket! I hope to find out more about her one day soon, but her Wikipedia entry was enough to spark a bit of illustrated poehistory!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Hélène Dutrieu: The Bare Facts

She conquered
balance
as a cyclist,
speed
as an auto racer,
and gravity
as an aviator.

Still, she could not
conquer prejudice.

Women of daring
and accomplishment
expected push-back.

Hélène received it
in the form of
fashion criticism.

A Paris couturier
designed her flight
suit, yet Hélène was
lambasted for what
she neglected
to wear in the air--
her corset.


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Haiku Sticky #415

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

after weighing
the risk of catastrophe
she still hits "send"

Happy Haiga Day!

Inspired by Jama Rattigan's fortune cookie post this past Friday. This is more of a pun than a poem!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo by Orel Hamawi CC BY-SA 4.0.

Text:

fortune cookies...
factory seconds truly
un-fortune-ate

Poetry--Had Enough Katku?

This is the last Friday of Katku before I'll take a break. They are kind of addictive--at least as far as creating them is concerned.

Text:

winter sun
in complete control
of the cat

Text:

cat watches
the neighbor's cat
watching

Text:

unfed cat's look
burns right through me
...she walks away


The Poetry Friday Round-Up is taking place at My Juicy Little Universe. Next week, it will be here!

Haiku Sticky #414

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

June kitchen
the diligence of ants
almost admirable

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

day at the shore

the blinding reflection
of sun on the surf

motion, smells,
the squark of gulls,
and, his imagination

Poetry Friday--More Katku

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Flower Girl" by Charles Cromwell Ingham [1846] courtesy The Athenaeum.

Text:

a gift of flowers...
cat develops a taste
for carnations

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Erastus Salisbury Field" [circa 1836] by Henry Thomas Robbins courtesy The Athenaeum.

Text:

breakfast delayed...
cat practiced in the art
of payback

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Prelude" [1882] by Charles Sprague Pearce courtesy The Athenaeum.

Text:

the cat's song
unappreciated
...early morning

Carol's Corner is the location for this week's Round-Up!

Haiku Sticky #413

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

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

Poetry Friday--Katku

I have given myself a new project for the summer--Katku. Katku is a name I've come up with for cat haiku, which I've written and illustrated with works of art. The works, by generally unknown American artists, have been altered slightly by the addition of my cat's head. It's a project that combines my love of cats, haiku, and art! Plus, it makes me laugh, and keeps me out of trouble. I posted my first Katku on Happy Haiga Day! this past Sunday and I've repeated it today along with two more:

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Preparing to Fish (Boys Fishing)" [circa 1846] by James Henry Cafferty courtesy Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth.

Text:

the cat stares
fishing for the tuna
in my sandwich

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Boy with Red Peonies" by Robert Lewis Reid [circa 1910] courtesy The Athenaeum.

Text:

curtain undulates
I feign surprise
as the cat leaps

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "The Favorite" by Jean-Leon Gerome Ferris [1890] courtesy The Athenaeum.

Text:

ennui:
cat's acknowledgement of
a human's request


Visit Mary Lee at A Year of Reading where the Poetry Friday Round-Up is in full-swing.

Haiku Sticky #412

The spring of 2017 in 17 syllables!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Happy Haiga Day!

I had a bit of photo editing fun putting my cat's head over the head of a boy in this painting, "Preparing to Fish (Boys Fishing)" [circa 1846] by James Henry Cafferty (1819-1869). I wrote a haiku to fit the painting and the character of my cat.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Painting courtesy Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth.

Text:

the cat stares...
fishing for the tuna
in my sandwich

Poetry Friday--Ekphrastic Cherita

A few weeks ago I spent several hours at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, MA. Although I thought I wouldn't like the exhibit titled, "WOW® World of WearableArt™," I found myself enjoying the show immensely.

The stated purpose of the design competition that formed the basis of the exhibit is to

"get art off the walls and onto the body."

The competition's requirement was that the artwork outfit be wearable by a model, not just appear in a sketch or on a mannequin.

The variety of materials used is mind-boggling--from standard leather to milk-carton-type plastic to re-purposed handcuffs.

Here are a few of the photos I took during my visit and the cherita they inspired.

smell of well-oiled leather

sufficient to alert
her senses

her skin still
tingles even though
he is gone

near dawn

field mice feast on rice
between the cobblestones

his new mother-in-law
tallies up the cash
in their wedding cards

car show & swap meet

the 70-year-olds
around 50s models

grinning with each
story dredged up
from god-knows-where

after surgery

an appointment
at the lingerie shop

the weathered skin
of the woman who
fits the bras

Valentine's Day

she fingers
a rose quartz talisman

her mailbox empty
except for the junk mail
...same as every day

Photos and cherita © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

For those who don't know the terms "ekphrasis" and "cherita," ekphrasis is art about art. Cherita is a small poem with 3 stanzas of 1, 2, 3 lines, and tells a story.

If you're in the Boston area, please be aware that the "WOW® World of WearableArt™" ends on Sunday, June 11.

Buffy's Blog will be hosting the Round-Up this week. See you there!