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Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday - Hello to Fall with a few lines from Longfellow

Image from Yay Images

When the season officially turned from summer to fall this past week, we enjoyed a tease of cool days here in Georgia. [Where are my socks, anyway…?]

A warm front barreled on through the last couple of days, but the acorns are falling and the leaves of the sassafras tree out front have begun to turn. Isn’t sassafras one of the most delicious words ever?

Fall is my favorite season. The excitement of a new school year has always infused me, not just the couple of years I taught, but every year. The cool, crisp air rejuvenates the spirit after sultry summers. And it seems the perfect time to begin new things – like the art business I mentioned last week, and the new monthly poetry post I’ll begin on Janice Hardy’s blog for writers, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY , this coming Thursday.

On the home front, we have high school homecoming and my daughter’s Family Weekend at college. Much to remember and celebrate. So my offering today is simply some timeless lines honoring the season. They’re from a poem whose origin is a rather sentimental story in Boccaccio’s 14th Century Decameron (which I won’t pretend to know much about). But they’re fitting for the season.

Excerpt from “The Falcon of Ser Federigo”

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The morrow was a bright September morn;
The earth was beautiful as if new-born;
There was that nameless splendor everywhere,
The wild exhileration in the air,
Which makes the passers in the city street
Congratulate each other as they meet.


Sending congratulations to all! Remember, it's good luck to catch a falling leaf. :0)May Autumn bring you harvests of inspiring words.

Also remember, tomorrow is the world-wide celebration of 100 Thousand Poets for Change.

The wonderful Marjorie at Paper Tigers has our Poetry Friday Roundup today. Go enjoy!
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Poetry Friday - Found Poem and artsyletters

Happy Poetry Friday!

Today I'm offering a found poem and a bit of, well, blatant self-promotion. (Feel free to excuse yourself if you must - I felt I had to warn you.)

I've just launched a new art business, artsyletters, featuring "Art for Your Literary Side" and gifts for readers and writers. My first art show since life B. C. (Before Children) was last weekend, and I was delighted with the feedback and response. Actually, the most popular item in my booth was the old Underwood typewriter I had set out for folks to type in their email addresses for a forthcoming quarterly newsletter. I lost track of how many kids I "taught" to type (kid being the appropriate label all the way up to 20-somethings) - You have to kind of punch the key down, see? And listen for that wonderful ding as you get to the end of the line....

The littlest kids enjoyed finding the letters to their name on the strange contraption; the young at heart reminisced about typewriters their parents had had, machines that used to be in attics and oh-how-I-wish-I had-that now, or Smith Caronas they had typed on in school. (I personally churned out college papers on a typewriter - albeit an electric one, though a job soon out of college at a community newspaper came with an ancient, heavy, wonderful old black typewriter!)

Well, I'm paying homage to typewriters and old books and letters and poetry and more with my new art. It includes pen and ink, relief prints, calligraphy, bookmarks and note cards, in addition to more of these altered page collages which yield found poems. Here's one for today, pictured above:

THE POET

A young man
in spite of the
moment
the hour
proved that
observing
filled
the
studio
with fantastic
curious
verses
mysteries of thought
and
graceful words!


©Robyn Hood Black. All rights reserved.

This collage began as page 206 of the 1922 JOURNEYS THROUGH BOOKLAND (Vol. 6) compiled by Charles H. Sylvester. It's the first page of a story called "The Poet and the Peasant" by French novelist Emile Souvestre. I added some bling to the initial letter A - a bit of 23 karat gold leaf. The beautiful old watchface, vintage key, and the vintage Remington typewriter part were all Etsy finds!

And here's all my links: To peruse my wares, please visit my new Etsy shop. Click here for my new blog, which will soon feature weekly musings and art discussions among creative folk (I hope - come see me!), plus some give-aways. I wouldn't object if you wanted to "Like" my artsyletters Facebook page - thanks to those of you who have already!, and before too long I'll figure out how to Tweet. I think.

Huge thanks to Cathy C. Hall, who stumbled on some of the aforementioned and asked if she could do a "Fun Friday" post about it today. Um, YEAH. Here's the link to her fabulous blog.

And, finally, Renee has more poetry than chocolate in a candy store today at her incredible No Water River. Indulge yourself! (And for those who read to the end, my humble thanks.)
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Poetry Friday - Where Did Today Go?

The sun is actually starting to think about setting, and I never got my Poetry Friday blog post up - I'll save it for next Friday! Spent all day setting up an Etsy shop for my new art business. :0) More on that here next week! Though if you want a sneak peek, click here.

And for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup, go visit the ever-amazing Diane at Random Noodling .

Happy Weekend! I'll be doing my first art show since life B. C. (Before Children) downtown in our hometown Saturday and Sunday.

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Poetry Friday: Jump-Start your Morning with Janet Wong…

This image, like most of the fun ones I find online, from the company YAY Images.

What’s that – a yawn? Oh, I see – you’re just perusing a few Poetry Friday blog posts while the coffee pot is sputtering and clicking. Well, then, today’s poem is for you!

If you’re a Janet Wong fan (I know - that’s everyone!), perhaps you’ve taken BEHIND THE WHEEL – Poems About Driving for a spin around the block already. Originally published by Margaret K. McElderry in 1999, Janet made these wonderful poems available as an e-book last year and a paperback this year for a new set of young drivers and poetry lovers.

Of course, the collection is about so much more than driving: family relationships, love, authority, choices, beliefs. As expected, the poems unfold in simple language, sometimes with more than a dash of humor, and leave the reader nodding, “Yes – I’ve felt that way, too.”

Today we’ll enjoy a lighter one, and this will get us back to coffee.

Not these lines from “One Hand On the Wheel,” but I have to share them because I love them so:


My mother was one of them
when –
who knows what happened.

Now she’s driving 65,
one hand holding a cup of coffee,
one hand on the wheel


No, here is the poem I want to leave you with as you smell that aroma from your kitchen. It’s shared with gracious permission of the author.

Jump-Start

by Janet Wong

can’t turn over
battery’s dead

need
jumper cables
in
my
head

clamp them on
start me up

pour some coffee
in my cup
dark strong coffee

start me up



To learn more about Janet and her robust, full-flavored, high-octane body of work, visit her website. Check out terrific resources for educators at her Poetry Suitcase! For Janet’s amazing collaborations with Sylvia Vardell, including the Poetry Tag Time books and the hot-off-the-press Poetry Friday Anthology, visit Pomelo Books.

And for cup after cup of delicious poetry, sit a spell this morning with the lovely Katya, who is rounding up Poetry Friday at Write, Sketch, Repeat.

Cream and sugar, anyone?
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