TRIPTYCH POEM

An online challenge for the month of July is to create a Triptych Poem. Like the old art that showed a story in three parts, triptych poems also work in three connected parts. Often they are past, present and future musings on one subject. Similarly, when looking at old triptych art, we see the main art as the present tense, and the side panels as things happening before or after this event or certainly related to this main event. Some triptychs are simply three related poems. More complicated triptych poems are read in three parts, but also read line by line across all three poems at once. A complicated poem to think about.

We finally are finished with our construction. It’s now time to take a lifetime of books, and whittle them down to a collection that will fit on our 28 feet of shelves. It’s not an easy job. But eventually, we will have all or most of our books in one place. A little piece of heaven.

1.

Retreiving books from the attic,

their mustiness fills the room with memories,

forgotten passions and dreams.

2.

Setting up the new library

requires choices: dewey decimal,

by author or themed.?

3.

Will future readers

find the wisdom that

formulated our memes?

Jane has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Raincity Librarian.

Senoka Poem for Poetry Friday

Welcome to Poetry Friday. This week is hosted by Marcie Atkins https://www.marcieatkins.com.

the challenge is to write a sedoka poem. – 2 three line stanzas –5 syllables in the first line and 7 syllables in the second and third lines of each stanza -the first stanza is an observation on nature or a comment on love -the second is an internal response or emotional response to the first stanza

We’ve been hiding from the sun of late. These temps are just too much, even in the shade. But thank goodness for solar panels. There is no guilt when we turn up the air conditioner.

FREE ELECTRICITY

Sun bares it’s anger

turning summer into fear.

We hide from it’s radience.

But solar panels

rejoice in the opulence

turning heat into cool bliss.

It is nice to not have new Trump atrocities every day, though he’s trying to shake our attention away from the Epstein files. It’s repetitive news. And I appreciate not feeling outraged anew each day.

UNRELENTING NONSENSE

Finally a break

from news bombarding my ears

and my tired brain can rest.

Let the Epstein tale

stay with us a while longer

so I can ignore the noise.

What is Normal?

Taken from last months ELA challenge, I felt compelled to write to this prompt this morning when so many of the things I love are disappearing overnight. It feels like my world is turning upside down. Again.

I was reading about a 100 year old Holocaust survivor, who actually survived by playing in the orchestra at Auschwitz, say that when all was going down in Germany that she couldn’t believe Germans could be that stupid. Germans were known for their scientific intelligence. Later she said, they WERE that stupid. How many times lately have I said that about America, where we hold ourselves up as being the best in the world. Now all I can say is, the best at what?

WHAT IS NORMAL?

Every morning I wake to the news

of a new normal

where things I took for granted

are gone.

Let’s not support Sesame Street

or National Public Radio,

or late night comics that tell the truth.

Let’s take away protections for

pregnant women, women who

want to write or vote

or women in general as they obviously

don’t matter and often

just get in the way.

Let’s make sure school loans are paid

immediately after college,

job or not,

medicaid is taken away

from those in desperation,

and society is run

on the word of a single man

not in reality, or investigation

or honestly anything other than wim.

There is no normal

other than change

and loss

and the hollow emptiness of being tired

of fighting, even when

we have no choice but to continue

as we wake up

to each abnormal morning.

Finding old forgotten poems

I’m moving my bookcases and am amazed at the assortment of photos and newspaper clippings, etc. that are tucked in between the books. I happened upon an old printout of a poem, published in an xzine called Fantasy, Forlklore and Fairytales. Itr was one of the first things I ever published and I don’t think I have a record of it anywhere. I had totally forgotten it, so I was delighted to pull it from the shelves. Here is my poem, Fairy Dance from around 2020ish.

Poetry Friday this past week was run by Tabatha, at https://theoppositeofindifferencecom.wordpress.com. Check out these other great poetry blog sites.

Priceless

FAIRY DANCE.

Come play us a tune

little man-child

upon mellow reeds so sweet.

Come play us a dance

that will laugh with the wind

and pleasure our frolicking feet.

For the sheep and the goats won’t

need you

as they search for their grasses and hay

but as fairies spin “round

leaping far off the ground

they will marvel at notes you can play.

Please give us a song

little sheperd

with melodies haunting and wild.

Please finger the reeds

and your dreams will suceed

in return for your music, my child.

Today is a quiet day

So much of my life looks to the future. What do I need to be doing? Who should I be talking to? What is on my calendar for today? Even though I am retired and can make my days whatever I desire, I still am driven by my future tasks. But today, when reading poetry blogs, I am overtaken by calmness. I can see that so much of poetry is stopping to take in a moment, to be present in that second, to listen and think without letting time in. And so I vow that today, at least for some part of today, I will stop my mind and let in the thoughts that I’m usually too busy to notice.

In Japan, in the 1980’s, people started noticing that the noise and stress of urban life was impacting people’s health. Along with zen meditation and mindfulness, they began going out to nature to forest bathe.  “Being in a forest and paying attention to our surroundings stimulates the senses enough to ease the drive to do something, yet is calming enough to allow us a moment of peace.”

FOREST BATHING

Easter egg skies

poke through myriads of greens.

Leaves flicker, bathing me

in stillness and solitude.

Birds cry out

rejoicing in their abundance of food

and sunshine

while tiny ants

dance along the tempered glass table

to investigate my presence.

Summertime can be more restive

than meditation or mindfulness.

For the Fourth of July

Mary Lee Hahn at her blog A(nother) Year of Reading is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup, thanks Mary Lee! She has given us the challenge of writing about Independence Day and Protest.

All I can think about when asked to write about this year’s fourth of July, is the song by Tom Petty, “I won’t back down”. Known for being a song of resistance, it feels right in this time when we fight and fight and get knocked down over and over by the numbers. What can we do but stand up and try again.

Well, I won’t back down
No I won’t back down
You could stand me up at the gates of Hell
But I won’t back down

No I’ll stand my ground
Won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Well, I know what’s right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down)
And I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down)
And I won’t back down (I won’t back down)
No I won’t back down

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Tom Petty / Jeff Lynne

I Won’t Back Down lyrics © Emi April Music Inc., Emi Music Publishing, Gone Gator Music, Tom Petty, Notoriousjbpsongs

—————————————————————————————————-

Here is my take today on the subject:

INDEPENDENCE

Our nation teaches us

to think independently

to have opinions

to be strong

but it is still hard to hear

when another’s independent thought

is so opposite

of mine.

I force a smile

when the store clerk says,

I love Trump,

and purse my lips

when my brother pokes the bear

by rejoicing in an unfair big, beautiful bill.

But it is their right

their duty

to be independent

to think for themselves

and argue their points of view.

I only wish their point of view

didn’t echo their party’s

talking points

word for word.

When fate is trying to tell you…

At my friend’s birthday party, they spoke of how he always led the U.U. congregation in song, no matter what the season. One particularly enthusiastic song was for the Jewish holidays, “Dayenu”. And so they wrote a song about him in that form to celebrate his birthday. Well ,fate must be speaking to me because in the same week I heard this song three times on “The Chosen” series as well. I know, it is a season about Passover, and this is a Passover song. But still, who would have thought it…So now it has become an ear worm. And as I was going to bed, this kept singing in my ear. So I decided to get up and write my own Dayenu. The form says: if only this happened, and not the next thing, that would be enough. I am told Dayenu is Hebrew for it is enough.

TO MY CHILDREN

If you only were my baby

and you never learned to smile

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only laughed and smiled

and never liked to play at all

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only liked to play

and never saw a magic world

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only saw the magic

and you never taught me too

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only taught me magic

and spent all your time in school

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only went to school

and never shared your day with me

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only shared your stories

‘and you never shared your dreams

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only shared your dreams

and never grew to live them true

that would surely be enough.

Dayenu.

If you only lived your dreams

but had to live them far away

that would have to be enough.

Dayenu.

new form: Raccontino

Well, this form is a tough one. The title is part of a story. The story is read by reading the title and the last word of every odd line (1,3,5,etc). The even lines must end with the same rhyme. The lines must also have the same number of syllables in them all. A lot of rules, but I’ve taken up the challenge. I’ll spend more time on it next time I attempt this.

As you can guess, I’ve had sciatica for the past few weeks. I’m going to P.T. but oddly, the best medicine seems to be walking 120 steps every half hour. So many of my activities in life seem to sit me at a computer, or at least a table far too often. I guess I’m learning my lesson on that.

Tanita S. Davis  {fiction, instead of lies} is our host this week for the Poetry Friday Roundup, thanks Tanita!

WITH SCIATICA

It couldn’t be, said I

My back’s not hurt at all

unless you want to count

the pain that seems to fall

down one leg, through my steps.

This isn’t something small

my nerve is crying to

be free. I need to call

on inner strength, to heal.

It makes me want to bawl

but I will attempt my

new walking after all.

Though this is such a pain

P.T. is now installed.

.

new form: ZENO POEM

When I get stuck on what to write, I love to try out new forms. Having a boundaryL helps me to focus on what I am writing. Getting the form right shifts your mind away from the fear of being creative and into puzzle solving mode. It may make a good poem, it may not. But more than likely, it will at least give you a draft that may turn into something awesome down the road.

Thanks to Margaret of Reflections on the Teche

who wrote:

“Today I decided to write a Zeno poem. It’s a mathematical form created by J. Patrick Lewis using the sequence 8, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1. Each one syllable line rhymes.”

FAMILY

Looking through recovered photos

I try to see

part of

me.

family genes

are the

key.

discovering

what makes

we.

Quiet Time

Sometimes you need to get out of your writing space, your office or your home in order to find the quiet of your mind again. Today the fumes of refinishing our new floor have chased me from my home. And though I am displaced, I am finding a peace of mind that is remarkable. Just being out of the space where my mind races between the have-to-dos and the should-have-dones is opening me to a calm I didn’t expect. And perhaps I will find the answers to my mg novel question that has been plaguing me the past few weeks. As part of this new found serenity, I thought I’d work on a poem as a warm up.

Prompt: instructions for a dream (from Georgia’s Heard’s prompts for May)

DEAR DREAM

Set my dream in a comfortable room

lined with books and warmed

with shades of ochre and cinnamon.

Make me laugh with hilarity

over secret jokes, puns and parodies

that no one else can see.

Add a whispered audio

of Don McLean’s Vincent

or Carol King’s Earth that moves

with the strength and purposefulness

that women recognise

in their souls.

Grab my curiosity

like a Dali painting

making the unthinkable, possible.

Nod my head in recognition

over loved ones lost.

Make me feel at home

and safe

and thankful for the magic

in this world..

(draft 6/10/25)