Happy Haiga Day!

Another from my trip to the Andres Institute:

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--Another from the Sketchbook Project

Caption: National Child Labor Committee. No. 92. Main entrance Gary W. Va. Mine. Miners going into mine 7 A.M. Boy beginning career as "picker." Will be in mine over 10 hours consecutively. 7 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Location: Gary, West Virginia. Photo taken September 1908 by Lewis Hine, courtesy Library of Congress.

This photo immediately captured my attention and the child's voice popped into my head.

Beanpole

I was always taller
than the rest. And skinny, too.
Mama called me Polebean
and the name stuck to me
like the grin on a possum.
"Git some sun," she would say,
"keep growin' while you can."

Suddenly my voice started
changing. I grew a whole lot
more and I knew it was time.
The night before I went down
that hole to be a picker,
Mama clung to me like
I was a beanpole and cried.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

I was overtaken by a writing frenzy, so I have a number of Sketchbook Project poems set to post over the next month or so!

For the Round-Up this week, you must go visit Catherine Johnson!

Haiku Sticky #257

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

With two cats inside, and lots of birds outside, I spent a good portion of the weekend rescuing cats!

Happy Haiga Day!

A short poem to accompany a photo of a sculpture at the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline, NH. (Don't ask me what the poem means--I don't have a clue.)

Click on the photo to enlarge for easier reading. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Poetry Friday--D-Day Remembered

June 6, 2014 is the 70th anniversary of the invasion of France that marked the beginning of the end for Germany in World War II.

I'm going share three poems about World War II that you can also find in my online collection, Kids of the Homefront Army: Poems of World War II America.

Cathleen

JUNE 6, 1944

It’s almost as though
everyone is walking
on tippy-toe.

New York City is quiet--
hushed and listening
for the latest news

of the invasion
that will lead us
on the path to peace.

Or not, depending
upon how it goes.
For now, all eyes

are on the news line.
All hearts have stopped beating.
Please, Lord...

Please.



Lucille

AT THE PICTURE SHOW

Every Thursday night
since the war began
my mother and I go
to the picture show.
She claims it’s because
she needs to escape
from the kitchen.
She doesn’t fool me.
It’s the Movietone news
she goes to see.
Newsreels show the war
as it is—dirty and deadly.
As long as Lowell Thomas is able
to narrate the horrors every week,
Mother will be there to watch.
She wants to be a witness.
Me, I’d rather be a slave
in the kitchen.

Nate

MUSICIAN

I picked up the trumpet
in grade school
for something to do.
It was my dad’s horn.

He had played in his
high school band.
He was rather good—
or so he said.

I liked tootling around
pretending I was
swinging with Benny
Goodman or Tommy Dorsey.

One day, at school,
a horn player was recruited
to play Taps as a tribute
to our fallen servicemen.

I had pretended for so long
that I believed I could play.
"I’ll do it!" I said,
before I stopped to think.

Now everyone would know.
I was a faker—a fraud.
How could I have been
so foolish?

I practiced all weekend
in the cellar where my squeaks
and squawks were muffled.
I drilled until my lip bled.

On Monday, bruised and swollen,
I took my place on the landing
between the two floors.
I lifted the trumpet.

I played slowly,
I played deliberately,
I played my best.
I played for my dad.

Poems © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Photo courtesy Library of Congress. Video courtesy Internet Archive.

We can't think about D-Day without remembering those who died--war means loss. Especially for children. Let's all work for peace today.

Carol's Corner is hosting this week's Round-Up and I'm sure there will be plenty of poems to put a smile on your face.

Haiku Sticky #256

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

I hate that the second line had to be broken due to size restraints! This one was my entry in the free format section of the May 2014 Shiki Kukai. The topic was "midnight." It got votes from 6 people, which makes me happy. My kigo entry for the topic "mosquito" only got one vote, but it was a two-pointer.

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Thank goodness for digital cameras. My memory is no match. However, a Google search using "red spring wildflowers," did quickly bring up Eastern red columbine. If I had to describe the flower, without using color, I have no clue how I would describe it. A floral version of a crown roast?

I spotted the flowers on a walk in Brookline, NH, at the Andres Institute of Art. I have many photos of the sculptures, which will surely find their way into future Happy Haiga Days.

The Andres Institute is a hidden gem, and, a great hike, providing you remember to bring bug repellant!