Up and Over

Up and Over

Rough stone

Sharp edges

One misstep

results in

brush burns.

Another could

mean a fall.

Find firm

footing and

up you go,

over the wall.

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Texture.

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Columns

Columns

Stand upright

in rows or alone.

Bear the weight

or decorate a space.

Landmark for

 all who pass by

or approach and try

to take in your strength.

Tower over

your visitors,

not in dominance

but constancy.

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All Aboard

Photo by Dana Dampier

All Aboard

Board the train.

Take the ride.

Feel the cars shift

from side-to-side.

Look down the tracks.

They begin to blur.

Do they go straight

or take a curve?

The train moves on.

The tracks are sound.

Enjoy the journey

wherever you're bound.

Thanks to Dana Dampier for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-A Picture Worth a Thousand Words. Thank you for sharing one of your photos with us.

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Deep Breaths

Deep Breaths

Breath

held in

awe and fear

released in

relief and relaxation

seen on

metal and mirrors

felt on
cold hands and 
warm necks

Life's first, life's last

Breath

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Shadow Games

Shadow Games

All day, the trees

and the sun play.

Branches and trunks

get in the way

of the rays and

block them from

reaching the ground.

The forms change

as the light

moves around, but

the trees get credit

for casting the shadows.

Time runs out as

the sun goes down,

and the game is called

because of darkness.

Do you like to look for shadows?

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Illumination

Illumination

Travel the road

as it unfolds,

straight or twisted,

paved or stones.

Trust you are going

where you need to go

with whomever

you are meant to know.

Wander unbowed

with a peaceful soul.

Look for the lampposts

and follow the glow.

I was looking through my photographs and this one caught my attention. A new Ekphrastic poem (a poem inspired by visual art) was born.

How do you navigate through life?

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Balancing Act

Balancing Act

A change in

the seasons approaches.

A balance of:

daylight and darkness

alpha and omega

loss and renewal

Some go to seed

while others still bloom.

Thanks to JLynn Sheridan for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Try to Remember. [Note: If you only know Jerry Orbach as Lennie Bricoe on Law and Order, click on the link to hear him sing Try to Remember from the Broadway musical The Fantasticks.] I took this photograph in September 2013 in the memorial garden I have in remembrance of my sister, Vicki. The milkweed has gone to seed, but the sedum, which blooms later, is full of flowers.

What thoughts or memories does the month of September bring to mind for you? 

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Writing is not Always a Solitary Venture

We often hear stories about the solitary writer, but this story is about a collaborative writing project in which I had the privilege to participate. Maria Vasquez Boyd, invited 10 writers from the greater Kansas City area to write a renga on the theme of radio to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of ArtSpeak Radio, a show that Maria and Blair Schulman host on community radio station KKFI 90.1 FM.

Renga or "linked poem" is a Japanese form. It originally consisted of alternating stanzas of  3-lines totaling 17 syllables (sound familiar?) and two-lines of seven syllables each. Contemporary renga is more flexible. For Radio Renga, each person wrote 10 lines with no restriction on syllable count.

    Radio Renga Team-Standing (l to r): Michelle Pond, Carl Bettis,

    Jen Harris, Miguel Morales, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Blair Schulman.

    Around the Ukulele Case (l to r): Diego Chi, Jennifer Leigh Coates, 

    Sandra Moran, Missing (and missed): Norma Elia Cantu, Damon

    Lee Patterson and Shawn Pavey. 

We were given an order in which to write and had about 48 hours to complete our 10 lines. We were reminded not to write ahead, but to work off of the previous stanza. Shawn Pavey, our lead poet, set up a shared document for us to use and also sent a reminder to each of us when it was our turn.

I was sixth in line and felt like I was being bombarded by radio memories while I waited for my turn to come. I was a little nervous when I got the go signal since this was my first experience with renga and relieved when a couple of lines from the previous stanza jumped out at me. I used those as prompts and got my stanza done by the deadline.

So, you might ask, weren't you still a solitary writer? I never lost the sense of being part of the group when I was writing. My inspiration came from the stanza before and when I was finished, I read the other stanzas to make sure someone else hadn't written something similar.

Maria Vasquez Boyd

Radio Renga premiered on ArtSpeak Radio September 3 and it was a special evening. The energy in the studio seemed to build throughout the reading. As each person finished, there were fist bumps, arms raised, any non-verbal acknowledgement of a good job that we could give.

After the last line, Maria and Blair graciously began to applaud and the writers joined in. In my mind we were applauding the whole experience: the station, the show, our memories of radio, the writing, the reading, the collaboration and new bonds.

All of the photos in this post are courtesy of Joy Baker. Thank you, Joy!

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Rare Books

Rare Books

The rare book collection

was on the top floor.

Accessed through

a special door.

A book was requested

and brought to you.

No note taking in pen,

only pencil would do.

                            

If a book written

today becomes rare,

will it be handled

with such care?

Or will books

no longer be rare?

Just downloads

accessible from anywhere?

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Antiques.

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