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Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday - Hide and Seek & Be Back Soon...

Adventure hides in boxes, waiting for me to set up shop in my Beaufort, SC, studio!

Greetings, Poetry Peeps!


I'm heading into the home stretch of this gradual move from the north Georgia mountains to the Lowcountry (SC), so I'll just be waving and sending good vibes these next couple of weeks.

This weekend I'm squeezing in an all-day workshop for illustrators in Greenville, SC, with Highlights Art Director Cindy Faber Smith and prolific illustrator Tim Davis. I've met both of these fine folks at workshops before, and I know we're in for a treat. (And, years ago, I had a Hidden Pictures submission make it through a couple of rounds of revisions before it got the axe. It's about time to tackle these wonderful puzzles again!) I'll also get to take my wonderful daughter out for her birthday while in Greenville.. :0)

My also-wonderful hubby helped me move furniture and boxes into my new art studio space in Beaufort this week. During my whirlwind trip, I finished jumping through the business license/codes/taxes hoops to make artsyletters all official there. Can't wait to unpack and set up shop! More on that soon.


In honor of "Hidden Pictures," today I offer up this delightful poem by Walter De LaMare (1873-1956):


Hide and Seek

by Walter De LaMare


Hide and seek, says the Wind,
In the shade of the woods;
Hide and seek, says the Moon,
To the hazel buds;
Hide and seek, says the Cloud,
Star on to star;
Hide and seek, says the Wave,
At the harbour bar;
Hide and seek, say I,
To myself, and step
Out of the dream of Wake
Into the dream of Sleep.



I'll be playing some hide-and-seek with more back-and-forth travel in these next couple-few weeks. But I'll be back! In the meantime, enjoy all the great poetry warming up this cold winter. Today, please visit Tara at A Teaching Life for the Roundup. Next week (Jan. 31), Tricia's got it covered at The Miss Rumphius Effect. And Renee will keep the poetry flowing on Feb. 7 at No Water River. If I come up for air from the boxes, I'll try to join in - but if I'm treading water in Styrofoam peanuts, I'll see you on Valentine's Day! AND, be sure to check in then, as we'll be spreading the haiku love with our Student Poet of the Month. (As you've come to expect, here's another young poet who will blow your Valentine candy wrappers off!)

Finally, my friend Stephanie Salkin passes along that she's helping with another art and poetry contest for the Flagler County (FL) Art League, with the theme of "Art Inspiring Poetry; Poetry Inspiring Art" - and the deadline is looming! It's Jan. 29. Please contact her at ssalkin@cfl.rr.com for details!

Hope you find whatever you're seeking this week!
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Poetry Friday - Sunshine, Daisies, and Emily Dickinson

Yay Images


Feel those rays? There’s been a lot of sunshine in the blogosphere in past weeks. Folks have been bestowing “The Sunshine Award” on fellow bloggers whose posts brighten their days.


The Rules go something like this:
Acknowledge the nominating blogger. Share 11 random facts about yourself. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you. List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love! Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.)


As usual, I’m late to the party, but thankful to these three folks who nominated me (with links to their Sunshine Award posts) – Betsy at Teaching Young Writers , Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty, and Keri at Keri Recommends .

And, as usual, I’m not playing by the rules. So many wonderful Poetry Friday bloggers (and others) have been nominated, I’m already behind on visiting those posts! Also, I’m in the midst of this big move and pretty stretched these few weeks. So I will end this post with my 11 random facts and answer some of the questions from each of the three posts above. Then I’d like YOU to either share a random personal fact in the comments, or answer one of the questions yourself. :0) (I stole this idea from Jama’s comments on other Sunshine posts…!)


But first, let’s enjoy some sunshine with Emily D, shall we?

The daisy follows soft the sun

by Emily Dickinson

The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, waking, finds the flower near.
"Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?"
"Because, sir, love is sweet!"

We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee, —
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night's possibility!


You can hear Garrison Keillor read the poem here.

I learned a thing or two about Emily from the Academy of American Poets site while exploring this poem. For one, “one-third of her brilliantly idiosyncratic poems have wildflowers or other flowers as their subject.” And, at 14, our Emily created “a herbarium, a popular pastime for girls in the mid-1800s.” Click here for more. Also, this daisy poem is most likely romantic – though I think I had that figured out on my own.


Now, turning the daylight on my random facts:


1. In elementary school, I was a background person in an Eastern Airlines commercial at Walt Disney World.

2. I once made up a song about my pet lizard (a green anole, really) with the oh-so-creative-title, “Little Bobby Lizard.” I’ll sing it for you if you like…

3. Like Michelle, I’m an INFJ. And an Aquarius. (Guess that was two facts, so we’ll skip to #5.)

5. I’m not great at math.

6. Willie Nelson once jammed in my living room when I was little. (My dad managed a country radio station way back when.)

7. I learned to take care of and haul horses in my 30s. (We moved back toward town from our farm, though, several years ago.)

8. I hung out with captive wolves in my 40s.

9. Just over a year ago, I rescued a tiny Chihuahua from the middle of what’s technically a highway through town. (I have since learned it’s not terribly smart or legal to stop your car in the middle of a highway. We both must have nine lives. I mean, eight….)

10. I could pretty much live on granola and Greek yogurt.

11. Daisies were the flowers at my wedding, 30 years ago this coming June!


Here are the questions, hand-picked because I’m making up my own rules. (Hey - Mary Lee did it!)


--from Betsy:

Who was the most influential teacher in your life?


Doris Jarvis. Sixth grade and also Junior High English. She believed I could write, so I did, too.

What is the best thing you've ever written? What was it about?

Probably a very short haiku! And probably about my late father.

Where would you love to vacation?

Italy. ( Renée, are you listening? One of these days, I’m showing up at your doorstep!)

Do you collect anything? What?

Well, with my artsyletters adventure, I collect old typewriter keys, teetering stacks of vintage books, little rusty pieces of twisted metal I find on the side of the road….

--from Michelle:

What is your secret snack or guilty pleasure?


Dark chocolate in the door of the fridge. I break off pieces as needed.

Favorite music?

'70s rock. The soundtrack to my mid-teenage years that’s now considered “classic” (as in “old”!).

What are you reading now?

David G. Lanoue’s Haiku Guy series. Except, where did I put the one I was just reading? Have you seen it? It’s here somewhere….

What was the best advice ever given to you?

It will look different in the morning.

--from Keri:

A book you wish you had written?


Because of Winn Dixie by Kate diCamillo.

Unusual skill you possess?

I can wiggle my eyes.

Early bird or night owl?

Hooooot! hooot!

Something you loathe?

Brussels sprouts.

Something you love?

Reading with dogs (or cats) on the couch in front of a fire. The call of a red-shouldered hawk. Poetry Friday. Vulture silhouettes. The smell of ink. (Okay, okay - I’ll stop, but I love a lot of stuff…!) Puppy breath….

Now, speaking of Keri, go see what all she’s rounded up for Poetry Friday at Keri Recommends!

And leave some random fact or delicious tidbit about yourself below…. :0)
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Poetry Friday -Student Haiku Poet of the Month, Stuart Duffield

Stuart Duffield


This new year brings a continuing treat – the second in our series featuring a Haiku Student Poet of the Month from among Tom Painting’s students at The Paideia School in Atlanta. (You can read more about this award-winning poet and teacher here and meet our first featured student poet, Emma Jones, here.)


Today’s featured poet wowed the adult attendees at our recent Haiku Society of America Southeast Region ginko haikufest in Atlanta in October. Please welcome Stuart Duffield.

Stuart was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was raised in
Atlanta Georgia, where he currently attends The Paideia School. He was
first introduced to haiku by his 7th and 8th grade literature teacher,Tom
Painting, and has loved it ever since. Stuart’s other hobbies and
interests include general fitness, swimming, hiking, computer hardware,
and fashion.


Stuart shares a few of his thoughts about the genre:


It is often the most ordinary and common moments in my life that
haiku captures with its full breadth. These moments, many times ignored in
my fast paced life, are often most worthy of my attention, not because of
the immediate satisfaction of capturing the intricacies of nature in a
single breath, but rather the comfort it provides when I am most removed
from the things I love. Through this perspective, beauty is no longer
bound by the spindling webs of social structures and culture, but freed by
the feel of warm, moist sand underneath your feet, the warm breath blown
over the tip of your nose, the winds whipping at your cheeks and the
syncopated beats of crickets at dusk.





Now, please enjoy some of Stuart’s poems:



desert road
a javelina hides
behind a prickly pear



lazy afternoon
the cat
watches the bird feeder



desert sunrise
a cactus wren calls
from the ocotillo



sunlight through the garage window
the first chords
kick up dust



train whistle
ravens burden
a leafless tree



All poems ©Stuart Duffield. All rights reserved.

Many thanks to Stuart for sharing his fine work here this week!

Thanks as well to the Delightful Donna, hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Mainely Write.
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Poetry Friday: Happy New Year with a Treasure from the (Victorian) Past...

CROWN JEWELS - And, as the steel engravings suggest, "Looking into the Future," I wish you a year of "Health and Beauty."

I went for a brisk walk New Year's Day morning, only to discover a package in the carport - evidently left by the postal carrier the afternoon before. Let's just say a holiday of opening presents continued... .

You've heard me gush before about my author friend and resident Etsy "expert" Kim Siegelson, who always keeps an eye out for perfectly imperfect vintage treasures. She has a wonderful Etsy shop, Perfect Patina. The last time we met for lunch and antiquing (is there a more perfect way to spend an afternoon?) she'd mentioned having an old book to send me, but I couldn't have imagined. Well, the title speaks for itself:

Crown Jewels
OR
Gems of Literature, Art, and Music
BEING
Choice Selections from the Writings and Musical Productions of the Most Celebrated Authors, From the Earliest Times:



(I'll omit the list of genres here, but "The Whole" does indeed form "A Vast Treasury of the Gems of Poetry, Prose, and Song"!) Its 632 pages, compiled by Henry Davenport Northrop, D. D., were published in 1888.

Here are some opening and closing lines from the Publisher's Announcement printed inside:

"This magnificent work, which comprises many books in one volume, is a vast treasury of the Choicest Gems of English Literature, in prose and poetry. It contains those resplendent jewels of thought, feeling and sentiment which fascinate, instruct and entertain the reader....
The Prospectus is very attractive, and shows at a glance the great superiority of this book over other similar works that are illustrated with cheap woodcuts. ..."


Gotta love those Victorians! Well, let's just say this collection will fuel some artsyletters inspiration for years to come. Thank you, Kim!

The poem I've chosen to share is from the first section, "The Home Circle." I suppose it's because we've been between homes lately - making this move from north Georgia to coastal South Carolina, with kids in colleges several hours away. Transitions are never easy, but I look forward to this adventure in our new home town, greeting each day from our new front porch. With afternoon tea out there, too, of course!

THE DEAREST SPOT OF EARTH IS HOME

by W. T. Wrighton

The dearest spot of earth to me
      is home, sweet home!
    The fairy land I long to see
      is home, sweet home!
There, how charmed the sense of hearing!
There, where love is so endearing!
All the world is not so cheering
    as home, sweet home!

      The dearest spot of earth to me
      is home, sweet home!
    The fairy land I long to see
      is home, sweet home!

I've taught my heart the way to prize
   My home, sweet home!
I've learned to look with lovers' eyes
On home, sweet home!

There, where vows are truly plighted!
There, where hearts are so united!
All the world besides I've slighted
    For home, sweet home!

      The dearest spot of earth to me
      is home, sweet home!
    The fairy land I long to see
      is home, sweet home!


Wishing a happy 2014 to your home, sweet home! Poetry Friday is at home today at I Think in Poems, where the Bedazzling Betsy has this week's Roundup.
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