Perception

A few ducky activities taken during one photo shoot:

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

Links

Cultures without Borders Group Show

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Now Showing

Now Showing

What show will play

in the sky tonight?

What pictures will

stars form with light?

Will a meteor shower

be all the rage?

Will the moon

take center stage?

Will wonders appear

before your eyes

or  will a curtain of clouds

refuse to rise?

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Star. What's your favorite show in the sky at night?

Links

ARTSPEAK RADIO Presents, New Year's Eve with Friends

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Fogged In

Fogged In

Bogged down

by the fog,

damp and dreary.

Hard to see what's

in front of me.

When the sun

shines again,

I'll have a new

appreciation

of the view.

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

Links

ARTSPEAK RADIO Presents, 7 Writers Writing

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Fishing for Words

Fishing for Words

After sunrise, I rise.

Coffee ready,

I sit and sip

as a steady stream

of words runs

through my mind.

I wish I could hook

them one at a time.

Create the perfect line,

the perfect line,

the perfect line

until I finish.

Instead, I scratch

down what I can

then revise and revise.

I tire and go to sleep,

only to rise and start again.

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for the Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Finish. What projects have you finished lately?

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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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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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A World of Choices

A World of Choices

Where would you go

to get away,

to take a break,

to breathe more freely?

Would you go to

the mountains and

look down upon

all that surrounds?

Would you go to

the ocean and

look straight ahead,

focused on the horizon?

Would you go to

the forest and

look up at the trees

until you see the sun

through the leaves?

Would you go to

one of the world's wonders

to look upon something

like no other?

Would you go to

somewhere commonplace,

similar to home but

in another space?

Where would you go

to take a break

if you could go

anyplace?

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

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Dusk in the Sculpture Park

There are three sources of light in this photograph. The moon and the streetlight are the obvious ones. The Bloch building is illuminated after dark. This photograph was taken at dusk so only the moon is shining.

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

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The One and Only Me and MY Golf Tournament

My cousin Sharon holding 

me, age 7, and my Aunt Lydia

It was typical kid's stuff. One of the older girls in the neighborhood convinced me to ride on the back of her bicycle. She started going faster to scare me. It worked, and as I got more tense, my legs moved in toward the wheels. My right foot got caught in the spokes.

The timing of this injury was bad because my family was going to spend a few days at a cottage in Canada. I would be relegated to sitting on the beach with a plastic bag covering my foot and ankle to keep sand and water out of the wound.

Shortly after I returned from the emergency room, my Uncle John came to talk to me. We lived in the upstairs flat of the house owned by Uncle John and Aunt Lydia.

"How long before you're back on your feet?"

"A couple of weeks."

"The golf course is having a Me and My Tournament. Each player invites someone else to play so the teams are Me and My Son or Me and My Daughter. I wanted my team to be Me and My Niece, but I don't know if you'll be ready. Let me check on the date."

A little while later, I got the good news. The tournament was going to be held later than my uncle thought. I would be ready to play!

When the day came, we set out for the golf course, just the two of us. The Me and My was a putting tournament. We went around the practice putting green twice alternating shots until we completed our 18 holes. The appropriate oohs, ahhs and groans accompanied each attempt.

A couple of days later, my Aunt and Uncle came upstairs and presented me with my first collared golf shirt. We had taken third place.

"What prize did you get?" I asked my Uncle.

His eyebrows went up and his eyes got wide. "Socks,"  he blurted out after a second of hesitation. "Boy," I thought, "I got the good prize."

Years later, my Aunt told me I really threw him off with that question. He didn't expect it so he hadn't prepared an answer. 

I still play golf and play in a few tournaments, mostly scrambles. Nothing can compare with the tournament my Uncle created to give me something to look forward to after I injured my foot-the one and only Me and My Golf Tournament.

Related Link-The Best Uncles

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

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Reflections, snoitcelfeR

I love to take pictures of reflections. They are the two-fers of photography. For example, you can take one picture and capture buildings on opposite sides of the street. You also can get two pictures of the same objects in one frame, such as a tree and a tree standing on its head.

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Bonus. Wordsmith Studio has Twitter chats every Tuesday. Join us at #wschat at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern time.

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Ten Things I've Learned from Wordsmith Studio

As part of its April birthday celebration, Wordsmith Studio is posting weekly prompts that inspire us to share our experiences with the community. This week's prompt asks us to share how our writing life has been affected by WSS. Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this prompt.

Following is a list of 10 things, in no particular order, that I have learned since joining Wordsmith Studio. I included some general lessons that I think are important.

• The back of the class is the place to be.
• How to grow a Word Garden.
• There is another university besides Syracuse whose sports teams wear Orange.
• How to better handle (sob) rejection.
• Calvies are pretty darn cute.
• If I take on a challenge, I'll have support.
• I'm a pantser.
• Word sprints rock.
• Time zones can be a challenge.
• Chatting on Twitter is a blast [Note: We chat every Tuesday at #wschat at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. You're welcome to join in.

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Tired

I saw this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Tired, which was provided by Rebecca Barray, when it was posted last Thursday. It just so happened that I was attending an event at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art that evening. I took my camera along in case I had time to go to the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park after the presentation was finished.

When I got to the park, daylight was waning, but the moon was bright. The downward curve of so many branches in this tree gave me the sense that they were tired at the end of another windy day. I hope they had a restful night.

What do you think of when you hear the word tired? Let us know by commenting on the blog post for this prompt.

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Change the Calendar

Change the Calendar

I've spent months

on the finest golf courses.

I've spent months

on London's streets.

I've spent months

back in my hometown.

I've spent months

viewing wondrous scenes.

Now, I tend to spend my months

filling little boxes on a screen.

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Calendar. What thoughts do calendars conjure up for you? Share them in the comments on the blog post.

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Holding On

Holding On

Can something last too long?

Remain past the time

it should have been gone?

The leaf that hangs onto the tree

after all others have blown free.

Feelings we keep deep inside

instead of letting them subside.

We think persistence is always good, but

we might be better off if we understood

that sometimes it is necessary to let go.

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

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If Santa were a Writer

If Santa Were a Writer

If Santa were a writer,

what stories would he tell?

We know he’s good at keeping lists.

Can he write fiction just as well?

Maybe he’s a poet.

Perhaps, even a Beat.

That’s true when he writes 

on Christmas day, before

he’s gotten any sleep.

Would his setting be the North Pole

or towns all covered in snow?

Only if he believes in the axiom

“Write about what you know.”

If ever he had writer’s block,

he could hop into his sleigh.

Go soaring high above the earth.

Get a new perspective on the day.

No matter Santa’s style,

some things he’s sure to say.

Merry Christmas to all!

Get those potted plants

out of my way.

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Prompt-Holiday. What do you think about at the holidays? Share your thoughts in the comments at the link above.

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Young



Small Steps

We forget our small-step ways.

Putting  one foot down.

Using the sofa to scoot around.

Letting go to see if we could stand.

If we fell down, we pulled

ourselves up and tried again.

We grow to want thing's right away.

No time to stand on wobbly legs.

We push the sofas out of the way.

If we fall down, we get embarrassed.

Look for the bump in the floor to blame.

We need to remember that once we

took small steps, we were off and running.

This was written in response to the Wordsmith Studio Prompt-Young. Yes, that's me off to the races and I haven't stopped yet.  Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this prompt.

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Beat

 

 

 

Modern Sonnet

 

The words won’t flow
in form for me
despite the time
I spend with them
in work and play.

 

I try to make
the stress and light
just right and place
the rhymes in lines
like Shakespeare could.

 

My lines are short.
They lack the rhyme.
Don’t see the light.
The stress remains.

 

Beat-(noun)  a metrical or rhythmic stress in poetry or music or the rhythmic effect of these stresses

(Merriam-Webster.com)

 

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

 

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Support

 

 

I went to one of my favorite places, the Sculpture Park at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, to take pictures that would represent this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-Support. I knew there were a variety of physical examples of support in the park. As I walked around, I was reminded that this has become a place from which I draw support for my art and my well-being.

 

I took about a dozen pictures in search of one to use in this post. They included the columns that are part of the Nelson-Atkins Building, parts of various sculptures and even some fencing near the Bloch Building. I settled on the above stairway because it shows two forms of support. One is the structural support that holds up the railings. The other is the railings themselves, which give support to those who need or choose to use them to go up and down the stairs.

 

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's prompt. Where do you find support?

 

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Found

 

 

 

When I went out to water the garden the other night, I noticed a little red behind the leaves on the gerbera. I moved the leaves and found

 

 



 

 

that the gerbera is blooming again! I added this plant to the garden this spring and it was in bloom when I bought it. I thought that would be it for this year so I am really excited about seeing these new flowers (there are two).

 

Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt. What have you found lately? Tell us about it in your favorite form of expression and post a link in the comments section of the prompt post.

 

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Mighty

 

 

This week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt is Mighty.  I chose to photograph the original building of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for my interpretation of the prompt.

 

The building itself is certainly a mighty structure, but I also chose the museum because of the art it houses and the opportunities it provides to all of its visitors. This building and the newer Bloch Building, opened in 2007, house outstanding permanent collections and are continually stops for some of the best traveling exhibits available. In addition, the museum has excellent programs that emphasize education and participation for all ages. I think the Nelson-Atkins does a mighty fine job in its commitment "to engage, educate and serve the community."

 

What does the word mighty bring to mind for you? Tell us in words or images by providing a link in the comments on the prompt post. Thanks to Rebecca Barray for this week's prompt.

 

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