Three Perspectives on Endings May 23, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Happiness, Humor, Life Lessons, Poetry.Tags: Dr. Seuss, Humor, Poetry, Shel Silverstein, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
29 comments
How we see life depends on which end of the telescope we gaze through:
There are no happy endings.
Endings are the saddest part,
So just give me a happy middle
And a very happy start.
~ Shel Silverstein, Every Thing on It
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
~ Dr. Seuss (perhaps)
All will be well in the end.
If all is not well, it is not yet the end.
~ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Aah . . . that’s better!
Which quote suits you best? Does it depend upon your proximity to “The End”?
When We No Longer Know May 12, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Life Lessons, Mindfulness, Poetry, Synchronicity & Mystery.Tags: Journey, Mindfulness, Poetry, Purpose, Wendell Berry
39 comments
It may be when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Consistency is Over-rated May 10, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Poetry, Synchronicity & Mystery, Word Play.Tags: Consistency, Happiness, Poetry, Self-Esteem, Weekend Theme
29 comments
If a man admits
That a choice he made was wrong
Will he then be right?
Looking within leads
to the next best step . . . just start
and the way appears
Final walk-through: turn
in the keys and turn the page
as that chapter ends
Consistency is
over-rated . . . to become
whole, let go the past
An early morning
Up before the dawn, we yawn
As the full moon shines
Aah . . . that’s better!
Sidey’s Weekend Theme ~ Inconsistency
NASA’s “Out Of This World” Poetry Contest May 3, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Bulletin Board, Fun & Games, Humor, Poetry, Word Play.Tags: Contest, DVD, Earth, Haiku, Humor, Mars, MAVEN, NASA, Poetry
16 comments
Milka (Perfecting Motherhood) shared a link to an “Out of this World” poetry contest with me yesterday:
Send Your Haiku To Mars! NASA Seeks Poets
This stellar contest is open to everyone on Planet Earth. All submitted haiku must be in English, with three lines following the 5-7-5 syllable format.
An example from newscast anchor Dave Mattingly:
Mars, you planet red
No life, just craters and ice
Dark, dark, dark, dark, goose
He’s got my vote!
Three winning poets will be invited to send their haiku into outer space with NASA in November.
Everyone who enters will have their name included on the DVD.
The submission deadline is July 1. Starting July 15, the public will vote to select three winning poems to travel on the spacecraft’s DVD. Winners will be announced Aug. 8.
The poems will be accompanied on the MAVEN by student artwork, selected by popular vote in a separate contest.
What a great way to rocket to stardom, to launch your poetry career, to take your writing to the next level, and to boldly go where no haiku has gone before!
I can see your resume now . . . “partnered with NASA on the MAVEN mission.”
Illustrations: Wikipedia ~ MARS
For more details: Send Your Name and Message to MARS! and Contest Rules.
Aah . . . that’s better!
Terza Rima April 27, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Poetry, Word Play.Tags: Divine Comedy, Poetry, Rhyme, Rhyme scheme, Tercet, Terza Rima
46 comments
Have you ever written a Terza Rima?
A poem of three-line stanzas in which the end-word of the second line in the first tercet establishes the rhyme for the first and third lines in the following tercet and so on?
No? Me neither . . . until now.
Domenico di Michelino, La Divina Commedia di Dante (Dante and the Divine Comedy). 1465 fresco, in the dome of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (Florence’s cathedral). Dante Alighieri is shown holding a copy of his epic poem The Divine Comedy. He is pointing to a procession of sin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
From Amazon:
The first known use of terza rima is in Dante’s Divina Commedia. In creating the form, Dante may have been influenced by the sirventes, a lyric form used by the Provençal troubadours. The three-line pattern may have been intended to suggest the Holy Trinity.
Inspired by Dante, other Italian poets, including Petrarch and Boccaccio, began using the form.
* * * * *
Here’s my first (and likely my last) Terza Rima:
Full Circle
Is reality a given?
How, now, did we arrive here?
To what heights have we striven?
Does clarity conquer fear?
Or leave us quaking in our boots
As we wander far and near?
Letting go and pulling up roots
To explore adventures ahead
We pursue our pursuits
Until we’re buried and dead
Pausing only to fall in love
To fall in love, heels over head
Distracted by heavens, above
Aah . . . that’s better!
So . . . you want to give it a go?
The poem can have as many stanzas as you’d like. The rhyme scheme (aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc.) continues through the final stanza.
And if you’ve written a Terza Rima . . . share a link below.
When Thoughts Turn South April 17, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Life Lessons, Mindfulness, Poetry.Tags: Abyss, Boston Marathon, Finish Line, Poetry, Thought, Trolls
26 comments
When thoughts turn South
We can follow them to the abyss
Into the mists of doom and gloom
The depths of despair
Where no trace of light looms
But isolated floating thoughts
Of nameless, faceless, ageless trolls
Are seldom compelling enough
To force us to follow their descent
We can turn from edgeless rough
We need not allow night scavengers
To pull us into their world
Where thoughts are bitter and bland
We can shelve the endless questions
The who, what, where, how, when
We can allow night to drift out of mind
So we can go on with our day
Stepping back into the light
Where peace resides
And right is not held hostage to might
Aah . . . that’s better!
Pools of Sadness April 16, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Life Lessons, Mindfulness, Poetry.Tags: Bombs, Boston Marathon, Explosion, Peace, Poetry, Sorrow
35 comments
Life is filled with pools
of sadness ~ those we love and
lose, we miss and mourn
Senseless killings make
no sense ~ logic stalls when faced
with insanity
The human race will
never win a marathon
against crazed madmen
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
~ Jimi Hendrix
Aah . . . that’s better!
Apologies to Mother Goose April 14, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Fun & Games, Humor, Poetry.Tags: Magic Mushrooms, Mother Goose, Pumpkins, WordPress, Zen
20 comments
Tired of pumpkin consumption, and running out of wives to fill the wells of all those empty shells, Peter longed for a substance with substance.
Something with less residue than an autumnal gourd.
When he found it . . . WOW!
Peter, Peter, Mushroom Eater
Wrote a poem with perfect meter
He put it on a WordPress site
And was Fresh Pressed that very night
What a trip!
Peter was flying high.
Not content to be a “one hit wonder,” Peter continued experimenting.
With poetry.
He longed to become the next Dr. Seuss.
Or Mother Goose.
The goose that laid the golden egg.
Then our “funny fungus” feeder
Wrote a poem that went still deeper
It blew our minds time and again
With wisdom from the depths of Zen
Mother Goose approved.
Dr. Seuss refrained from comment.
Aah . . . that’s better!
Joyce Kilmer Eat Your Heart Out . . . April 4, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Fun & Games, Humor, Poetry.Tags: Brownies, Cookies, Food, Humor, Joyce Kilmer, Poetry
36 comments
I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a . . . .
Plate of oatmeal-raisin cookies and chewy fudge brownies!
Aah . . . that’s better!
Related poem: Trees by Joyce Kilmer
Addendum: After reading aawwa’s comment, I swung through cyber space to check out her post ~ I Love Trees (All About Words) ~ which features Joyce Kilmer’s poem and 29 photos of trees. See if you can guess which two photos were taken in London.
With Sugar On Top April 2, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Blogs & Blogging, Food & Drink, Poetry, Word Play.Tags: Food, Fruit, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Strawberries, Word Play
43 comments
cheery cherry countenance
bright bouncy bonnets
strawberries spell spring
Aah . . . that’s better!
Related posts: 30 Poems, 30 Days~ NaPoWriMo Has Begun (WordPress) * Tammy’s Top Ten Ways To Celebrate Poetry (AgriGirl’s Blog)
