Random Noodling: 2021

August 4, 2021

August 1, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

Text:

a colorful thought:

blue is a devoted
handmaiden to sadness

give her a summer sky
a blooming hydrangea and
she may look for a new job

July 28, 2021

Haiku Sticky #602

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a few roses
from the supermarket
...rain continues

July 25, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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nary a ripple...
too hot even for fish
to jump

July 18, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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vacation at the bungalow

we played card games
with stale chips as chips

most days, though,
were spent with noses
pressed against cold glass

July 11, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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the friend

not made today

...summer rain

July 7, 2021

Haiku Sticky #601

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two huge thunderclaps
the next morning wondering
if it was a dream

July 4, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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We Americans
have no need
of pyrotechnics
to make a bang.

The implosion of
our democracy is
a spectacle visible
to all the world.

June 30, 2021

Haiku Sticky #600

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third day near 100
all rational thoughts
sweated away

June 27, 2021

Produce Section

Oh, the urge to stop and smell
a peach (and give it a squeeze).
You've been disappointed
in Junes past, so you settle for
one more pint of strawberries.

August you'll be tired of peaches,
but not yet ready for a hard pear.

Six months from now you'll accept
anything approaching ripeness.

June 23, 2021

Haiku Sticky #599

Text:

distant thunder
the chatter between crows
continues

June 20, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

A few weeks ago, in a post Covid gathering, there was a discussion of the proposed Juneteenth federal holiday. At least one person spoke up to say she had never heard of Juneteenth. If you, too, were unfamiliar with the holiday and want to learn more than has been presented in media snippets over the past week, start with this post from the Library of Congress.

Text:

Juneteenth

"how come I never
learned that in school?"

American minds may
yet be emancipated by
a proclamation of truth

June 16, 2021

Haiku Sticky #598

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Lunch, June 2021

Reunion of old friends
after the pandemic.
Same old, same old
never more welcomed.

June 13, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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June strawberries
freshly plucked the scent
as heady as the taste

June 9, 2021

Haiku Sticky #597

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temperature in the 90s

spider runs up and down
the kitchen wall

where it finds the energy
I don't know, but I can't
stop watching it in awe

June 6, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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early June

the pear tree interlaced
with walnut-sized fruit

come September after
birds and squirrels feast
we'll be lucky to find three

June 2, 2021

Haiku Sticky #596

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it's been a year since
democracy took a direct
hit of tear gas

the devil waved a bible
with a look of defiance

who is left to pray

May 30, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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bird, tree frog, chipmunk
each with its own audience
plus me

May 26, 2021

Haiku Sticky #595

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Sunday drive...

a Deer Run Road in all

the small towns

May 23, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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pandemic spring
seeing coronavirus
everywhere

May 19, 2021

Haiku Sticky #594

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the ending leaves
her weeping in the driveway
--audiobook

May 16, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

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no memory
of the "before time"

Saturday trip to
Home Depot supersizes
his world

two-year-old

May 12, 2021

Haiku Sticky #593

What's really sad is that "the other guy" seems to have cloned himself and is now living with several democracy destroying room-mates.

Text:

three plus months gone by

"he-who-shall-not-be-named"
now with the sobriquet
"the other guy" and

still living rent-free
in our heads

May 9, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

Text:

is there a difference
between purple and violet?

and does the late
Artist plant earworms
in your head, too?

...pandemic continues

May 5, 2021

Haiku Sticky #592

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first lilac sighting
an overwhelming urge
to rip off my mask

May 2, 2021

Happy Haiga Day!

I decided it was high time I set up a label titled "pandemic." Today's post will be labeled as such, and I'll go back over the past year and add the rest. It may take a few days.

Text:

her highest single
word score ever

regrettably played
against an opponent
named "Practice"

pandemic year

April 30, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 30: "Two Sleeping Cats"

I'm going to end my 4th annual National Poetry Month series of ekphrastic cherita with a cat painting by Wanda Gág, author and illustrator of one of my favorite picture books, Millions of Cats.

"Two Sleeping Cats" (1928) by Wanda Gág [1893-1946].

a pat of butter melting
on a slice of hot toast

a sleeping cat

a Saturday morning

with a cup of coffee

and nowhere else to be

April 29, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 29: "[Black and white, an informal portrait of a young Negro woman surrounded by laundry in Newport, R.I.]"

"[Black and white, an informal portrait of a young Negro woman surrounded by laundry in Newport, R.I.]" (1903) by Gertrude Käsebier [1852-1934].

an artist has the freedom
to play with perspective
to show things in new ways

we notice, then wonder
what else we've missed...

...let's go play!

April 28, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 28: "Shorty"

"Shorty" by Ada May Plante [1875-1950].

the ability to dream
with eyes wide open

to be transported
great distances from words
best left unheard

is an admirable trait

April 27, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 27: "A Knock at the Door"

"A Knock at the Door" (1897) by Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema [1852-1909].

my child, he is here

take a deep breath,
another...and one more
check your hair, your dress

slow down, give him
the time to breathe, too

April 26, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 26: "Les Tricoteuses"

"Les Tricoteuses" 1915 by Jacqueline Marval [1866-1932]

I am a cat

and cannot control
my innate impulses

humans knit in front
of me as if they expect
I won't go for the kill

April 25, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 25: "The Milliner"

"The Milliner" (circa 1877) by Eva Gonzalès [1849-1883].

a palette of ribbons
and silk flowers

her use of color is flawless

I do draw the line at
feathers--my adornment
is not worth a song

April 24, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 24: "Flora"

"Flora" (1913) by Louise Abbéma [1853-1927].

I am housemaid to an artist

portrait sitters are prim--
no clean up required

those who partake in a
tableau vivant vex me with
drama (and flower petals)

April 23, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 23: "Bermuda Scene"

"Bermuda Scene" by Mariquita Gill [1861 - 1915].

the house is painted white
against the blazing sun

the reflected yellow
repaints the blue sky
a nauseating green

to match my disposition

April 22, 2021

Ekphrastic April, April 22: "Glacier et Aiguille du Tour..."

"Glacier et Aiguille du Tour , Mer de la Table au Chantre (Buet)" by Georgette Agutte [1867-1922].

she painted a glacier
more than 100 years ago

never realizing she was
providing us with evidence
that nature can be destroyed

while art remains

April 21, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 21: "Self-portrait with Green Background and Blue Irises"

"Self-portrait with Green Background and Blue Irises" (circa 1905) by Paula Modersohn-Becker [1876-1907].

portrait with green background

in 1905 she thought she'd
have many more irises to paint

but death hid grinning in
the foliage--he knew she
had only two springs more

April 20, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 20: "Edge of Abruzzi; Boat with Three People on a Lake"

"Edge of Abruzzi; Boat with Three People on a Lake" (1924) by Winifred Knights [1899-1947].

knowing that nothing
exists beyond what is
seen on the canvas

these two dimensions

possess a magic that makes
me believe I can climb in

April 19, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 19: "Chez Moi"

"Chez Moi" (1887) by Harriet Backer [1845-1932].

my room full of sunlight

when I, too, am sunny
I close the door to play

and sing a dance hall ditty
before settling down to
more interminable practice

April 18, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 18: "Achill Horses"

"Achill Horses" (1941) by Mainie Jellett [1897-1944].

I have seen the white horse
on the high cliff this morning

luck should be mine today

but what to make of
the babe in the cradle
already afloat on the sea?

April 17, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 17: "Afterglow"

"Afterglow" (1914) by Florence H. McGillivray [1864–1938].

when the sun seems
to breathe its last

there is an afterglow

and fantastical words--
crepuscular, vespertine--
describe its creatures

April 16, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 16: "At the Dressing Table"

"At the Dressing Table. Self-Portrait" (1909) by Zinaida Serebriakova [1884-1967].

whites and tints
highlight the triangle

of terracotta and
auburn with her face
at its apex

she lives her art

April 15, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 15: "Blooming Apple-trees. The Trees are in Blossom"

"Blooming apple-trees. The trees are in blossom" (1899) by Maria Yakunchikova [1870-1902].

apple trees in bloom

spring, albeit briefly,
perfumes the air

in a few months the scent
of over-ripe apples will
languish through autumn

April 14, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 14: "Lady Affixing Pennant to a Knight's Spear"

Today's artist is more famous as being the model for others' work. Perhaps most recognizable is the portrayal of her as "Ophelia" by John Everett Millais. Her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was a well-known poet and artist, so I imagine it may have been a struggle to get herself recognized as a poet and artist, too. Read a fascinating BBC article here.

"Lady Affixing Pennant to a Knight's Spear" by Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal [1829-1862].

sidestep the vicissitudes
of physical beauty

dare to become
a person of artistic
accomplishments

the impossibilities, endless

April 13, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 13: "The Tiff"

"The Tiff" (c. 1902) by Florence Carlyle [1864-1923].

I do not mind sulking

it gives us both the time
to think--him about
the unkind thing he said

me about the apologetic
kisses he will soon offer

April 12, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 12: "Bathing Baby"

"Bathing Baby" by Elanor Colburn [1866-1939].

if only she would sit
in the water without
that sodden rabbit

bathing baby

requires patience

and many many towels

April 11, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 11: "Skaters"

"Skaters" by Marianne von Werefkin [1860-1938].

ice skating

at night I think of myself
as a dark presence flying

over the ice snatching
bits of private conversations
like a bat catches mosquitoes

April 10, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 10: "In a Boat"

"In a Boat" (1907) by Lilla Cabot Perry [1848-1933].

they mock me for my views
of the modern woman

I will shush them by
taking up the oars to paddle
myself across the lake

...I keep going nowhere

April 9, 2021

Ekphrastic April, Day 9: "Poor Cupid, or Love Ensnared."

Please read this Smithsonian post about sculptor, Edmonia Lewis. As an American woman artist she faced many hurdles. As a woman of color, she faced even more. After growing up in the US, it's no wonder she decided to move to Europe.