November 30, 2018

Poetry Friday--And So It Begins

The rush toward the holidays has begun. For some, though, the season of joy is exactly the opposite.


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

late November 2018

decreased daylight, rain, cold,
and, oh, the state of the world

a surfeit of tears
at the sound of a carol
the squish of a bug


The blues can do a number on you. Sit under a therapeutic light, wrap yourself in a fuzzy sweater, brew a pot of tea, stay away from the news. Cry if you need to. Just remember, after December 21, the days will get longer again. The holiday rush will slow to a halt. And, after December 25, holiday chocolate will be "priced to go!" Stock up!

Visit Carol's Corner for this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up--you may find poetry is even better than chocolate!


November 27, 2018

Haiku Sticky #480


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

November rain
a shiver with each drop
that streaks the window

November 25, 2018

Happy Haiga Day!


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Black Friday...
only in the market for
a poem that fits

November 20, 2018

Haiku Sticky #479


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

mince pie...
once a year a friend
remembers

November 18, 2018

Happy Haiga Day!


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. "Black and White Cat" by Henriette Ronner-Knip.

Text:

cat ready for breakfast

its stare ultimately
ignorable

then the nip behind
the knee--its intent
not to be denied

November 16, 2018

Poetry Friday--Probably Not What You Were Expecting

I'm sure you were expecting yet another haiku or cherita, or maybe one of my Robin Hood poems--surprise! None of the above.

There are people who have a visceral effect to images of spiders, so, if you are one, it's probably best to leave right now.

The following video supposedly went viral last week on the internet. I can understand why! It is amazing. And utterly fascinating!



As you can understand if you've watched it, the spider video has been spreading under the name, "dog head spider." I find the name a little sinister, don't you? Bunny Harvestman, its "real" name, takes my imagination to innocuous springtime themes.

So, without further ado, although it's nearly Thanksgiving, let's celebrate Easter!


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. The illustration is a mash-up of several public domain images.

Text:

Prep Work

Teeny tiny jelly beans in
flavors exotic or plain
picked by bunny harvesters
in sun or in the rain
fill the empty spaces
between your Easter treats
of dark chocolate eggs
and marshmallow Peeps®.

I imagine a whole crew of bunny-headed spiders, working for the Easter Bunny, harvesting jelly beans from beanstalks, and then dropping them into waiting baskets. I see the spiders' webs and silk functioning like cranea in a shipyard.

A word about the rhyme. I know "treats" and "Peeps®" are slightly off. I would have been better served using "treats" and "sweets," but, I'm a big Peeps® fan, and those little yellow marshmallow blobs are my Easter candy of choice. (Unfortunately, Peeps® have been so heavily promoted over the past few years for every holiday and poor-excuse-for-a-holiday, that they are no longer something to look forward to. But, I digress...)

I'll probably kick myself next April when I have to scrounge around for an Easter post!

Linda at Teacher Dance will undoubtedly have more seasonally appropriate poetry links today at the Poetry Friday Round-Up!

November 13, 2018

Haiku Sticky #478


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Armistice Day

the children wave
their flags eagerly

with equal innocence
an eager wind sets dying
leaves to waving goodbye

November 11, 2018

Happy Haiga Day!

The trees are now nearly bare and the cat can stop being on guard against leaves flying past her window. Windy days are quite exhausting.


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

old cat
vision fading
awaits the end of wind-tossed leaves
so she can rest
once more

November 8, 2018

Poetry Friday--Introducing the Robin Hood

It's been a crazy year, and I'm so glad that the frenzy of Election Day is over.

I had been particularly bothered by the constant labeling of the media as "fake" or as "the enemy of the people." I thought about how easy it had become to dismiss the watchdog of democracy. Then I thought about what would happen after the press had been devitalized. Would libraries--books--art be targeted next?

In order to distract myself, I played with form. I wanted to write a short poem of hope. A 3-line senyru (haiku form but about human nature) wasn't going to be long enough. I had enjoyed writing a poem using a form that Margaret Simon introduced to us last month called an octaiku (2-4-8-2-4 syllables), but I was looking for slightly more complexity. What I ended up with is something I'm calling a "Robin Hood."

I developed the following rules for a Robin Hood:
subject should be determination, persistence, opposition, survival, etc.

no title

2-4-8-4-2 syllables (the reader should see it as an arrowhead)

punctuation and capitalization is optional
In old Robin Hood movies, Robin showed off his archer prowess by hitting a bullseye and then aiming a second arrow at the same spot. Robin Hood's second arrow was so accurate, it hit the exact same spot as the first, splitting the shaft of the first arrow. That shot became known as a "Robin Hood." I have named my form "Robin Hood," since the arrow of endurance splits the arrow of whatever adversity besets the human heart/natural spirit. Does that make sense to anyone other than me?


Text:

words we
can commit to
memory may be rewritten...
yes, hell will be
survived


Here's one, written on Election Day:

two years...
truth and justice,
empathy, kindness, all but gone
--twenty-eighteen
we vote!



Text:

cold rain
wet fallen leaves
hidden acorns trodden berries
and one cheery
chipmunk

All poems © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Give a Robin Hood a shot (pun intended) and let me know how you do.

It's time to head down to Florida for Michelle's Today's Little Ditty P. F. Round-Up







November 6, 2018

Haiku Sticky #477

I completely missed posting last Tuesday, but this Tuesday is so important, there's no way I'm going to forget. I don't care what you do when you get to the polls--cross your fingers, say a little prayer, or wear your lucky underwear--the important thing is to get to the polling place and VOTE!


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Taxt:

mid-term election
today I almost regret
being atheist

November 4, 2018

Happy Haiga Day!


Click on the image to enlarge--you may be able to see one of the pests on a bud near the top of the bloom. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

the roses of 2018

two years of pests have
had a spotty effect

scars disappear when leaves
fall, but an insidious blight
is at work rotting the roots

November 2, 2018

Poetry Friday--Autumn Rainbow, Part 2

The month of October is over, and with great trepidation I look forward to November. Since the Spark postcard exchange creation period is completed, I am posting the three cards I made for exchange participants. I've worked with a theme of "autumn rainbow," and I posted three colors last week. Here is the rest of the rainbow:


Red


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Autumn in Red

Maple leaves
Winterberries
Dogwood fruit
Crab apples
Burning bush
Sumac drupes


Orange


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Dear, Isabella Tiger Moth

Orange and black are the colors you wear
as a creeping crawling woolly bear.

Caterpillar, that is.

One day you spin a cocoon of amber,
then presto change-o! You're a brown tiger!

Moth, that is.

I know real tigers are orange and black
and real bears are often brown.

Dear, Isabella Tiger Moth:
Please switch your outfits around!


Yellow


© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

The Impatience of Frost

He warned us it is hard to hold--
the early green that's really gold--
but the gold will persevere.

Had he waited 'til the greens faded,
he would have found the hue fated
to eventually reappear.


If you have a hankering for more poetry, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup for the Poetry Friday Round-Up.