Poetry Friday--A Whole Lotta Nothin'

It's 2019 and I'm looking forward to some kind of change. The last year basically rung me out and left me in a heap. I even missed two weeks of Poetry Friday in December--something I don't think I've done since I started this blog nearly ten years ago. As far as writing is concerned--I've been going through the paces, but I don't have much of anything from the last three months of the year. I wasn't even tempted to participate in #haikuforhope. I thank those who had enough hope stored away to share.

So, what about going forward? I'm seriously considering bowing out of Poetry Fridays since I contribute little to all those who take the time to read and comment. I'll probably make a decision in the near future. I'm also planning on retiring within the next six months, so I've got a lot of chaos to look forward to.

For today I had a whole lotta nothin'. So, I hit the files to see what I wrote over the past decade during the first week of January. It will have to do...

A small poem written January 1, 2010:

How Lovely

Cat sleeps
and sleeps and sleeps
and sleeps, not knowing,
or caring, that time
is passing.

Cat wakes
to str-e-t-c-hhh,
drink, eat, excrete
play, groom, prowl.
Then back

she goes
to circle round and round
until finally tucking
her head into her
chest, she closes

her eyes.
Cat sleeps and sleeps
and sleeps. How
lovely to be
a cat.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

In January 2, 2011 I wrote this senryu:

online calendar
gone is the satisfaction
of discarding a year

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Just so you know, I was never able to adjust to online calendars. Paper's fine for me. (I may have gone a bit overboard though, next to my computer, in 2018, I had three small calendars! I discarded 2018 three times!)

This next one was puzzle to me when I found it, because I had no idea what inspired it. Then I came across a post about the The OEDILF. My limerick was written January 1, 2012:

A charta, also known as a patch,
is paper to which drugs are attached.
Then attached to you
And kept out of view
Your ailment is simply dispatched.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

On January 3, 2013, I wrote a tanka:

cat on the sill
nuthatch upside down
through the glass
that separates their
simultaneous complaints

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

For many years I participated in the 15 Words of Less challenges on Laura Salas' page and this one came on January 2, 2014. I have no idea what the photo was that we used that day to inspire this poem:

With God on Their Side

They embraced the myth,
approached the native
species sword in hand
and declared themselves
dragon-slayers.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

January 4, 2015, Margaret Simon posted on Facebook about resurrection ferns. I was totally unfamiliar with the fern, so I looked it up and then wrote this:

Text:

Resurrection Fern

The live oak
living up to
its name
provides
resurrection
& life--
through air
not bread,
water
not wine,
and it does
it in less
than a day.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

It must have rained on January 6, 2016:

pop-up storm
the gurgle of rain
through a rusted grate

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

And on January 1, 2017, the sun was shining brightly:

Text:

January 1
a songbird hedge alive
in the sun

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

And yet another weather-related haiku for January 4, 2018:

quick moving storm
chicken barley soup
fogs the panes

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Actually, my mood has improved considerably after reading through some of my older stuff. I hope your mood has been improved, too!

Sylvia is hosting the first Round-Up of 2019! Stop by Poetry for Children where the New Year's party continues.