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Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday - Haiku for the Birds

November 9, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, -haiku, Haiku Society of America, bird haiku, bird poems, kukai, Antoinette Libro, Michael Henry Lee, Robyn Hood Black, Stanford M. Forrester, bottle rockets press, Johnette Downing, Nick Virgilio

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  This past Saturday, I enjoyed attending the "Almost Winter" Open Mic Zoom Event of the Southeast Region of the Haiku Society of America, organized by our fearless leader & poet extraordinaire, Michael Henry Lee.

 

Our featured speaker was the generous and gifted Antionette ("Toni") Libro, who shared her experiences with internationally known haiku poet Nick Virgilio (1928-1989), considered "a founder of haiku written in the American idiom." (More here.)   Libro invited Virgilio to speak to her classes at Rowan University when she taught there, and she published some of his haiku in Asphodel, the literary journal she founded and edited.

 

Stanford M. Forrester also shared a short presentation about Jerry Kilbride, including one of his haibun about Virgilio. Forrester founded bottle rockets press 25 years ago and is a former president of the HSA.  

 

Also at the virtual meeting, winners of our kukai were announced.  A kukai is a contest in which participants submit a poem on a theme, and then all of them judge the submissions (presented anonymously). For our contest, the three haiku receiving the most votes were the winners, with their authors receiving a copy of Nick Virgilio:  A Life in Haiku, edited by Raffael de Gruttola (Turtle Light Press, 2012).

 

Happy to report that my haiku was one of these three!  The other winners were Terri L. French and Cody Huddleston. Fine company.  The aforementioned theme was "almost winter," and my contribution was a spare one:

 

 

almost winter as the crow flies

 

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

Thank you, HSA SE!

 

Speaking of birds (and there will likely be a raven post coming soon, after our seeing them on our Blue Ridge Parkway trip), I'm happy to highlight the latest anthology from bottle rockets press, Bird Whistle - A Contemporary Anthology of Bird Haiku, Senryu, & Short Poems, edited by Stanford M Forrester/sekiro and Johnette Downing.  The collection features bird-themed poems by more than 100 poets, including terrific haiku by the two wonderful editors.

 

The poems in the collection are by turns wistful, profound, surprising and humorous.

 

One of my favorites was penned by the above-mentioned Michael Henry Lee:

 

 

swallow tail kites

making more of the wind

than there is

 

 

©Michael Henry Lee

 

 

I have some previously published poems included as well:

 

 

one blue feather

then another

then the pile

 

 

our different truths

the rusty underside

of a bluebird

 

 

robin's egg blue

how my father would have loved

my son

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

 

I have already bought an extra copy of Bird Whistle for someone special on my Christmas list. Maybe you have bird-lovers on your holiday list as well? Here's the link.

 

If you have a lot of them, I have some bird-y items in my Etsy shop, too! ;0) (Click  here to peruse.)

 

By the way, I wasn't able to stay for the open mic part of our get-together on Saturday, because we had to get back on the road with our new Keeshond puppy we had just picked up in Georgia that morning (pictured above).  His name is Rookie, but that's another story… ;0)

 

Flap your way on over to see Karen Edmisten, who is kindly rounding up Poetry Friday this week.  Thanks, Karen!

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Poetry Friday - (September Part 2) - We Did It!

September 28, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, -haiku, Robyn Hood Black, September poems, mountain poem

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

In last week's post, I featured Edgar Guest's "It's September" (which had a fun addendum added later, after my mother saw the post and shared with me her own experience with that poem). I also mentioned that Jeff and I were going to celebrate our engagement on Sunday, exactly 40 years later, by revisiting the place where he proposed.  As Furman students in the South Carolina Upstate, we had hiked up Table Rock, not far from campus and not far from where we moved this year. BIG thanks to everyone who left encouraging words last week for our hike!

 

Sunday morning, we donned our boots and grabbed our new hiking poles, and off we went! We were hopeful to make it to the top, but the trail is designated as "very strenuous," and I wasn't sure that some past injuries of mine would be keen on such an adventure.  But (drumroll...) - we did it! 

 

It was a gorgeous day with a bright blue sky and heaps of wildflowers.  We got there early in the morning.  They say to allow three hours up and two down; it's a 7.2 mile round trip.  We took our time and got to the top in four hours, stayed up there an hour enjoying the views (and a bald eagle fly-by), and then took three hours to make our way down. 

 

Did I mention, "very strenuous"? No way I would have made it without the poles. At the beginning, and at a couple-few points along the way, the trail teases you with regular ground at a gentle slope.  This never lasts long.  Most of the trail is literally huge rock stair steps that have been put on the trail, or carved out of existing rock.  Or, in more than one place, little indentations carved into a rock face, barely larger than an adult-sized foot (sideways).  Then, in other spots, there are just scatterings of rocks and boulders stacked up - and the red painted trail blaze close by on a tree. 

 

There were a few folks our age and older, with most younger, and, faster.  Most.  A few young ones did struggle in spots! It wasn't as crowded as I thought it might be on the first fall weekend, especially as reviews had mentioned crowds.  Reviews I'd read on the All Trails app ranged from accurate to aspirational to very funny.  One hiker said she experienced all five stages of grief on that hike.  Another said it was just several hours on a stair-climbing machine. 

 

Anyway, we made it up and down alive and enjoyed the challenge!  Jeff said, "Maybe we should do it every year."  I'm thinking every 40 years sounds good... so, I'll write about it again when we're 100.

 

 

            Summit

 

     Me: 

     Decades of wear,

     decades of tear,

     but with more than a skip and a hop -

     we dug deep and dug in,

     put in all of our skin,

     and made it somehow to the top.

 

     Table Rock:

     You want wear and tear?

     Pull up a chair.

     (Though around me, I only saw stone.)

     The Rockies have nothing

     on what I once was.

     Her voice had a wistful tone.

     You talk about years?

     I shed waterfall tears.

     And yet, I still hold my own.

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

---------------

 

We didn't see any bears or rattlesnakes, as had been mentioned in reviews, but one hiker ahead of us had seen a Mama bear and her two cubs, and some other young hikers had seen a rattlesnake. Shortly after we arrived at the top, however, we did see a couple of bald eagles, one flying very close to the few of us gazing at it from the rock outcropping. 

 

 

summit

out of the blue

a bald eagle

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

Please visit the one-and-only, creatively adventurous Jama at her Alphabet Soup for this week's Roundup. 

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Poetry Friday - Haiku in Remembrance of a Dog

September 14, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -haiku, </br>Poetry Friday, Robyn Hood Black, dog poem, Grief, dog haiku
Victorian Trading Card, The Graphics Fairy. thegraphicsfairy.com

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Missed you last week as I was visiting my folks in Florida.  It was strange taking walks around their neighborhood without my tiny walking buddy of the past 10 years.  As I write this post on the 14th, it's six months since I had to have our precious 3 1/2-pound rescued Chihuahua, Rita, put down the afternoon before I moved from coastal Beaufort, SC, to join my husband here at our new address in the Upstate. It was a shock to spend much of my last week there in the emergency vet hospital instead of just packing boxes.

 

We still miss her naps in our laps, her tail-chasing spins of excitment, and the teeny tapping of the tiniest toenails across the floor.  Three friends of mine lost long-time dog companions this summer, and another lost a favored alpaca.  I've seen online that a Poetry Friday friend just lost a treasured family pup, too.  It never gets easier for any of us, does it?

 

Haiku always offers me a safe and sometimes surprising place to park my grief, explore our connection with the world, and spark memory or wonder.  Here's a haiku I wrote after Rita died, and which was chosen by this year's Haiku Society of America's Members Anthology editor Allyson Whipple for the upcoming 2023 edition.

 

 

first day of spring
my dog's ashes
in the mailbox 

 

©Robyn Hood Black.  All rights reserved. 

 

 

The lovely and talented Rose has our Roundup this week at Imagine the Possibilities.  Thanks for hosting, Rose!

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Poetry Friday - What is Hope? (& my Metamorphosis poem)

August 31, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, Janet Wong, Pomelo Books, Sylvia Vardell, metamorphosis, butterfly poem, poems about hope, Robyn Hood Black, Robyn Hood Black poems, wings poem

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Nope, I can't believe it's already September either... but it was nice to get a peek at the blue moon/super moon to round out August. (It was so cloudy because of the outer storm bands Wednesday night that it took three attempts. Prayers for all those affected by Idalia. My Florida family folks are all okay.)

 

The next time we'll have that super-blue combo treat, it will be 2037.  Our baby grandson will be old enough to get a learner's permit!

 

I have hopes for him, and for our world, as we face so many overwhelming challenges.  Hope lifts us up - it's the thing with feathers, as our Emily said a century-and-a-half ago. 

 

What is Hope? is also the newest title in the ekphrastic anthology series for young readers from Pomelo Books.  Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have outdone themselves again, offering a collection of 40 poems written in response to photographs, and all sparkling with hope.  There's also a great section in the back with resources for readers, writers, and teachers. As with previous titles, 100 percent of the profits from the sale of the book will be donated to the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund.  (That is hope in action, right there.) 

 

This book, along with others in the series, sprang forth from an online workshop led by Janet & Sylvia.  I was delighted to participate again in one of these magical gatherings, and I'm honored to have a poem included in the volume, pictured above.  (Sylvia made wonderful 'poem cards'!) The poems were penned by current and previous workshop participants, along with a few guest poets as well. The opening poem, "World," by Syliva, sets a perfect tone for choosing hope when the world offers so many reasons for anger and sadness.  Janet has a very fun poem livening up the middle, "Pickleball."  I really enjoyed this one because I had the good fortune, along with fellow contributor Matthew Winter, to get a personal pickleball lesson from Janet herself, and her quick-on-his-feet and fast-with-a-paddle husband, Glenn.  (That was in July, at the "Think Poetry" & more gathering at Janet's beautiful home in Washington state.  I mentioned this wonderful trip in a blog post here.)

 

Here's my poem:

 

   Metamorphosis

 

     To look at me,

     you might only see

     my long body bunching up.

     Munching leaves.

     Lumbering along a branch,

     earth bound.

 

     What you don't see

     are my wings.

 

     Yet.

 

     They're there.

     Give me a little time.

     A place to spin.

     A thread of hope.

 

     Soon,

     I will stretch iridescent wings

     and dance in the wandering wind.

 

     ©Robyn Hood Black.  All rights reserved. 

 

What is Hope? has just been named a Children's Book Council "Hot Off the Press" Selection for August 2023. (Each month, the CBC highlights new titles identified as great resources for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents.  See the whole August list here.)

 

Hop on over to Pomelo Books to learn more about this hope-full collection here.  You'll find several options for purchase.  Easy-peasey clicks, and you'll be adding to our world's supply of HOPE.

 

Ramona at Pleasures from the Page is gagthering up all the Poetry Friday goodness this week.  Thanks, Ramona!

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Poetry Friday - Meet Matthew Winter! (& Bailey)

July 6, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, Pomelo Books, poetry for kids, Matthew Winter

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! It's so much fun to meet in person someone whom you've only seen in a little Zoom square. Especially when they bring their adorable dog along. 

 

Most of you know Pomelo Books and the power team of Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.  (If you don't, please visit all the poetry magic here.) And many of you know about the online anthology workshops they've offered the last couple of years.  (Info here.)  Participants in these workshops have had the opportunity to submit poems for a book associated with each one, and now there's a nice collection of these user-friendly ekphrastic anthologies being shared in living rooms and classrooms, gathering a trail of awards as they go.  I've had the privilege of participating in a couple of these and meeting new folks through the Zoom gatherings.  When Janet and Sylvia recently offered a new "Think Poetry" workshop geared toward sharing poetry in schools as well as writing, I jumped on that, too, since I love sharing as much poetry as I can during author visits. 

 

Janet also graciously offered to host a bonus in-person Think Poetry workshop/gathering for anyone who could get themselves out here to the beautiful coast of Washington state this week.  My hubby graciously offered to give me all his frequent flyer miles. So here I am! Another participant and contributor to these recent anthologies, Matthew Winter, likewise boarded a plane from the East Coast and flew across the country to join in the fun. And, he brought along his adorable flying companion & canine connoisseur of poetry, Bailey.

 

Matt and I have been staying at the same friendly inn in town and did a little exploring at the small harbor Wednesday before working on some poetry adventures with Janet and Sylvia. It's been a blast!  As an elementary school teacher for 21 years, Matt brings not only his talent as a writer to the table but years of professional experience and expertise with young learners, particularly in the area of reading.  Originally from Maryland, he lives in New York.  

 

"I love to read and write stories and poems for children," Matt says.  Lucky for us, he's sharing them with the world!  Matt's poems are featured in these Pomelo books:  Things We Feel, Things We Wear, What is a Friend?, and What is Family?  While Matt can rollick and roll with playful poetry, as in his "Apron" poem in Things We Wear, he can also capture emotions more difficult to talk about.  

 

Here are two wonderful expamples. 

 

 

MAD

 

I want to roar and rattle

and get ready for battle.

I'm MAD!

 

No!  I don't want to talk.

I want to screech and squawk.

I'm MAD!

 

Breathe in

and

out.

 

Count 1, 2, 3 -

just like magic

I'm back to me. 

 

 

©Matthew Winter

Things We Feel by Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong, Pomelo Books, 2022.

 

 

HOPE

 

 

In lieu of flowers, please

 

send:

 

love

 

peace

 

comfort

 

joy

 

or 

 

harmony  

 

 

And - 

 

if you can spare - 

 

maybe a little bit of

 

hope

 

 

for our family

 

 

 

 ©Matthew Winter

What is a Family? by Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong, Pomelo Books, 2023.

 

 

Look for more of Matt's work soon in the next Pomelo Books anthology! And for another great reason to purchase from Pomelo Books, all profits from this recent anthology series are donated to the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund (IBBY.org).  Sylvia is the current president of IBBY (The International Board on Books for Young People), having served this organization for many years.  Founded in 1953 in Zurich, IBBY reaches across the globe to get books in the hands of young people.  The Children in Crisis Fund was set up in 2005 "to help children affected by natural disasters, civil disorder or war. The Fund seeks donations for projects that replace or create libraries/collections of appropriate children's books and provide bibliography, the therapeutic use of books and storytelling."

 

Many thanks to Matt, and to Sylvia and Janet, for their generosity.

 

For more terrific poetry, visit the oh-so-talented Marcie Flinchum Atkins for the Roundup!

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Poetry Friday Roundup is HERE! Happy Mother's Day...

May 11, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, -haiku, Mother's Day poetry
Black-and-white photos by Sommer Daniel.

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  I'm honored to be hosting Poetry Friday this week.  Please leave your links & descriptions in the comments below, and I'll round them up old-school-style throughout the day.

 

Happy Mother's Day weekend!  Let's acknowledge right out of the gate that this is a tough time for many.  If you are missing your mother, or you have lost a child, or you've had a less-than-ideal relationship as a mother or a child, or if you are longing to be a mother and it hasn't worked out, you are wished comfort and peace this weekend.

 

I'm feeling beyond grateful that our daughter, Morgan, is experiencing her first Mother's Day this year. (She only missed it by a couple-few weeks last year, as our wee Sawyer is 11 months old.)  This precious boy was wanted for a long time, after a few hard years of empty arms and fertility treatments.  Hats off to any woman willing to go through all those long needles for months and months and months or more.

 

I'm also beyond grateful that my spunky 84-year-old mother, Nita, a cancer survivor among other challenges, is doing well and has been able to love on Sawyer herself - most recently in the snapshot above from April.  (The black and white photos were taken last fall.) While Jeff & I are closer to our kiddos after our recent move, I'm afraid Florida, where my folks live, is down a longer stretch of road now.  But kudos to Mom who, despite vision problems, has learned how to text and enjoy (almost daily) pictures and videos of baby antics. 

 

Here's my poem for today, a haiku written not long after Sawyer was born:

 

 

new mother's whisper

the strength

of spider silk 

 


Frogpond, Vol. 45, No. 3 Autumn 2022

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

 

In other poetry news, I'm enjoying The Father Goose Treasury of Poetry by Charles Ghigna and illustrated by Sara Brezzi (Schiffer Kids, just out).  Gorgeous!  And that's a feat worth celebrating, having a body of work large enough to comb through to make a treasury, am I right?  This is a great volume to share among generations. In case you missed it, our lovely Jama posted a fulsome interview with Charles and peeks inside the book over at Jama's Alphabet Soup here. 

 

May is a super-busy month, I know.  Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all you educators! Also, take care of yourself and appreciate National Mental Health Month, and thanks to folks like my hubby who devote their professional lives to improving mental health for others. 

 

So, what's going on in your realm this week? (Yes, I did wake up at 5 a.m. to watch the coronation last Saturday!) I can't wait to read what you've got to share. 

 

(Unrelated PS - For those who follow artsyletters, I posted some in-progress new studio pics over at artsyletters.com here. I'll do a 'tour' when I get a little more together!)

 

* * * * * * * * THE ROUNDUP * * * * * * * * 

 

Janice Scully starts us off with a haiku and an appreciation for the timing of blooming things - her lilacs are in full purple glory here at Salt City Verse. Happy Spring!

 

Over at Chicken Spaghetti, Susan has a beautiful cento created from the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, presented in Spanish and English with her original translations.

 

At Small Reads for Brighter Days, Laura has a day-brightening and sigh-worthy poetryaction (say that out loud & learn more at her site!) to the picture book Milo Imagines the World. 

 

Linda has two bright and springy original haiku and a padlet link to her charming triolet (all writers will relate!) at A Word Edgewise today.  One of these days, Linda and I are going to collage together in person....

 

You will leave anything BUT blue if you wing it on over to Jama's Alphabet Soup for a serving of Sidney Wade's poem, "Blue."  (I am loving all these poetic encounters with birds this morning.  Though I had my alarm set a little early because I was hosting PF, it was really a Carolina Wren on the fence outside my bedroom window which got me up today....)

 

No one can accuse our Tabatha of not branching out into many magical (and sometimes wild) directions. At The Opposite of Indifference , she's celebrating originality with lyrics from "Crooked Tree" with a video of Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.  (She also has a snippet from the brand new Poetry Out Loud winner as a bonus!)

 

Our multi-talented Michelle Kogan chimes in with a gorgeous original oil painting detail and some more poetic bird-love (an original 4X4 poem) celebrating Mother's Day.

 

Three cheers for Catherine at Reading to the Core for forging ahead toward the finish line of her April/Poetry Month project with poems of hope featuring the letters "v" and "w"!  That's my kind of timeline, btw... I particularly love her golden shovel today, inspired by lines from GMH I have hanging up in my house.

 

At Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, Matt stumbled upon some buried treasure in his files - an original five-year-old poem that packs some Springtime punch in just four lines and 12 words! Bravo.

 

Rose has a tribute to dogs over at Imagine the Possibilities, with some lines from the incomparable Mary Oliver and a thoughtful original poem. (Warning - have a tissue handy; I am still grieving the sudden loss of our wee Rita and did not make it through the post dry-eyed.  Thank you for putting so much of what we love about dogs in these words, Rose.)

 

Keep the tissue handy.  Linda at Teacher Dance has collected and shared responses of kindnesses noted by many of you recently at her blog (and new folks are always welcome to the Poetry Friday table - and folks who have had to be dipping in and out, like yours truly this Spring!). Kindness itself is poetry, isn't it?  Go fill your cup!

 

Why do you write?  Dave tackles this question by responding with an original poem over at Leap of Dave and shares a bit about a local poetry workshop he participates in. 

 

Give a nod to Edward Lear and then head over to see Sally for a quick celebration of Limerick Day!  Sally's post might be concise, but she's been long on sharing poetry goodness with young writers and readers this week.

 

Cue the CONFETTI - lots of it!  Marcie Flinchum Atkins has not one, but TWO amazing-sounding book publication announcements this week!  One is for a nonfiction nature picture book, and the other is for a historical verse novel about an activist in the women's suffrage movement. Way to go, Marcie!  She also shares a Spring haiku and some lovely pictures of blooms... I'd like to gather up all of this week's PF flower pictures in a garden, and all of this week's PF birds to flitter around them. 

 

Speaking of birds, you know Amy is always finding amazing things at The Poem Farm, and she carries that spirit of noticing when she travels, too, as she did while traveling to visit a school this week. "We can each be a beauty detective," she says.  Enjoy her fetching feathered foto and original poem - dare you not to smile. 

 

At Bookseed Studio, enjoy Jan's latest post wrapping up Poetry Month.  I'm always inspired by the wonder that is Jan. 

 

Over at My Juicy Little Universe, you'll encounter Heidi exploring what it is like to be a bat, with a nod to one of my fave recent books about the animal realm, Ed Yong's An Immense World. You'll also encounter the word 'azimuth' in her original poem, which I had to look up. ;0) Don't ask me to tell you what it means, though, K?

 

Margaret has a touching tribute to mothers and mothering at Reflections on the Teche.  She is also honoring generations of mothers in her family.  (There's also a bluebonnet-beautiful photo of Baby June and an original poem by Margaret celebrating her name.)

 

At Live Your Poem, Irene delights us with a free-wheeling and lovely Gees Bend-inspired quilt, and with two versions of a "yellow parasol" haiku as part of her ARTSPEAK adventures.  And, dear reader, she's asked you to weigh in on which one is more effective!  

 

Mary Lee at A(Nother) Year of Reading has pure joy for a post today.  Well, I mean, she has a new book by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido with illustrations by Melissa Sweet: How to Write a Poem.  Released in April, it looks/sounds amazing and I might have just ordered it. My favorite parts of Mary Lee's post, however, are the poetic comments from young readers and writers.  (Mary Lee couldn't quite stay away from teaching reading after retiring from the classroom and is involved in after-school programs, still inspiring lucky kids.)

 

It's time to dance.  No matter your current life situation, whether bathed in grief or joy, join Patricia at Reading, Writing, Wondering for meaningful movement, as well as a snowy poetic evening contemplation with a dog. 

 

And we're back to pure joy with Karen Edmisten's post sharing Ross Gay's poem, "Throwing Children," about the ubiquitious delight children crave by being tossed into the air (and safely caught) by a loving grown-up.  

 

At The Apples in my Orchard, Carol shares a very personal bit of her family's experience navigating her mother's dementia, and the extra miles they go because of the miles between them.  Thank you for your beautiful poem and honest post, Carol.  Many will understand and identify with these bittersweet moments. 

 

Oh, Friends - you'd never believe from the calm and peaceful post and pretty, blooming images Carol has at Beyond Literacy Link that they've had quite the week so far in the Mother-Daughter-new-baby-to-be department, according to her comment below.  Happy Mother's Day to all, and love from all of us Poetry Friday peeps to greet the new little one soon! I'm impressed that in the midst of all the excitement, Carol made time to sit and be and compose haiku and a lovely post. 

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Poetry Friday - Haiku in bottle rockets and a big birthday...

February 1, 2023
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, -haiku, Robyn Hood Black, bottle rockets haiku

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Happy February...

 

Last Friday I was on the road back and forth (again!) to our Upstate SC house, where we are moving permanently in coming weeks. Though life has been chaos for many weeks (Okay, months...) somehow my hubby pulled off a surprise party on Saturday for my 60th birthday (on Monday).  I knew my kids would be visiting, but I didn't know that several dear friends who live in that general region - plus our contactors who are making our basement into a magical living/working space there - would be showing up for lunch & cake! What a treat, and getting to share the surprise and celebration with the  Baby Grand - who enjoyed my gift of a wonderful old Remington typewriter - made it even more special. 

 

Another fun surprise was the new issue of bottle rockets which came a little early, ahead of upcoming postal rate hikes.  Honored to have a poem in it, which kinda relates to this whole getting older thing.  [I'm grateful for every birthday, and I loved what one friend commented on Facebook:  "Welcome to the next level." Ha!]  

 

Also, I suppose this haiku relates to moving as well, as I remember composing it during a gentle rain here in the Lowcountry.  I will miss this place.

 

just beyond

memory's reach

soft rain in the woods

 

 

©Robyn Hood Black

bottle rockets, #48, February 2023

 

 

Many thanks to the oh-so-talented Laura for hosting us all this week, and for filling February with poetry all month long....

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Poetry Friday - My PERFECT Poem Swap Gifts from Patricia J. Franz

December 15, 2022
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, Poem Swap, Patricia J. Franz

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

I received the most wonderful gift in the mail yesterday – my poem swap goodies from this year's swap partner, Patricia J. Franz.  (The Winter Poem Swap is organized by the amazing Tabatha Yeatts, whose blog is here.  You can learn more about Patricia here.)

 

Full disclosure – I am so overextended this year that I JUST mailed Patricia her poem and gifties from me yesterday, too. (Insert face-slap emoji here.) No excuses, but an explanation – I/we recently made a crazy decision to put our house on the market sooner rather than later, so we are temporarily moving to an apartment here next week. That way, we can show the house without all – cough-cough – my, um, artistic piles o' stuff, and without having to manage a wee doggie, etc., etc.  Also, if it sells quickly as we hope, then we'll have a place to live while Jeff finishes his job here before starting his new one in the Upstate. I mean, moving is so easy and fun that everyone should do it twice for each move, right? 

 

So it was an especially perfect treat to open Patricia's package and slow down and savor her gifts.  She included some beautiful, fancy sticky notes – how could she know I LIVE by sticky notes?! – and the most charming tiny replica music box that plays "Hey Jude" when you turn its handle.  She explained in her lovely note that the song came to her while working on my poem, and then she said, "the universe made a house call, as I found this in the gift shop at the Whitney Museum in NYC."  I was floored!  How special, and you bet it will have an honored place in my new studio (being formed as we speak in a basement renovation at our Upstate house that we'll move to in a couple-few months.)

 

As for the poem Patricia sent, I was moved to tears upon reading it.  First, she tackled a ghazal, though she added, "Truth be told, I'm certain this is not a true ghazal!  In my  mind, I was channeling your artful spirit – letting the poetic form become what it needed to contain the words."

 

You see, she wrote a poem about… artsyletters! No one has ever written a poem about my art endeavors before, not even me.  Talk about affirmation, and with my favorite kind of writing – poetry!

Not to mention that the presentation – printed to look it's on faded, foxed, glorious old paper, and with some of my items – absolutely speaks my aesthetic language.  What a gift, and to think we've never met in person before.  But that's the magic of Poetry Friday, isn't it?

 

I'm beyond delighted to share:

 

 

artsyletters:  a  ghazal

 

what sound speaks?  What reaches your ear?

asking to be transformed – the trinket, the trifle

 

finger a curl of your hair, pause to hear

art unaware, setting free the trinket, the trifle

will you be jeweled? Beheld by a book?

re-membered eternal, no trinket or trifle

 

work of your hands, heart's possibility

becomes twinkle delightful – the trinket, the trifle

 

©Patricia J. Franz

 

This was just what I needed but didn't know I needed, grounding my art adventures as I'm trying to keep them all together during this bit of transition and chaos.  I'm so excited to hang up this poem in my studio space when it's finished, a heart-sent gift from a poet friend. It's just perfect as I reflect on this 10th anniversary year of starting my art business and Etsy shop and anticipating its landing, finally, in a perfect and personal home space.  Thank you, Patricia!

 

The perfect place for poetry today is with Karen Edmisten, who is rounding up Poetry Friday this week.  Thank you, Karen! And Happy Holiday blessings to all; I'll be taking a wee break as we work on the move stuff and also travel - multiple times - to see family over a stretched-out holiday season.  Extra prayers for those missing loved ones this season, and those who don't have homes to move to or from this winter. See you in January!

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Poetry Friday - Emily Dickinson's "Winter is Good"

December 1, 2022
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, Emily Dickinson, artsyletters, winter poem
New ornament featuring a vintage Emily Dickinson postage stamp- listing is here in my Etsy shop! (I have William Shakespeare, too. ;0) )

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  I hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend last week, wherever you were.  Prayers for all with an empty chair at the holidays this year.

 

Over here  on the South Carolina Coast, Friday morning temps will be in the 40s, which is chilly for us. (Then we'll warm back up.)  But pictures of growing piles of snow from the Northwest to the Plains are something else altogether, like the pictures posted online recently by our own Amy Ludwig VanDerwater up in New York state. 

 

So here's a little poem by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) for the new season.  (Love the last line... we were happy to say goodbye to the hurricane season, by the way, on Wednesday!)

 

 

Winter is good - his Hoar Delights (1316)


Emily Dickinson 

Winter is good - his Hoar Delights
Italic flavor yield -
To Intellects inebriate
With Summer, or the World -

Generic as a Quarry
And hearty - as a Rose -
Invited with asperity
But welcome when he goes.

 

Happy December! 

 

Grab your snowshoes and shuffle on over to see our lovely Catherine at Reading to the Core for this week's Roundup!

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Poetry Friday - Melissa Whiteford St. Clair - DAR Award

November 8, 2022
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, Melissa Whiteford St Clair
Melissa Whiteford St. Clair and her winning photograph.

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  I'm happy to introduce you to a person and a poem on this Veterans Day.  Last weekend I was walking downtown and heard my name called from across the street.  A familiar face and friendly wave were just outside the Beaufort Art Association gallery. I was trying to sort it out; it looked like Melissa St. Clair, but wasn't she in a different part of the state now?  She and her husband had attended the same church as Jeff and I, though we haven't been many times since the pandemic.  That, plus their move, is probably why I didn't know about the interesting things she's been up to in the last couple of years.

 

Melissa was in town because last year, she had the winning photo in a contest, and it is on display at the art association gallery for the month of November.  Her photo of the Beaufort National Cemetery with Wreaths Across America was selected by the South Carolina Society of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) "Rise and Shine: What American Means To Me" Committee. Entries could include a caption or a short paragraph up to 100 words and were judged on interpretation of theme, creativity, and overall impression by a panel of two DAR Members and one non-DAR Member.

 

Here is the accompanying poem:

 

   What America Means to Me

 

Democracy

Hypocrisy

Boiling Points

Melting Pot

 

Juxtapositions

Traditions

Assimilate

Don't Congregate

Unity 

Impunity

 

Unrest

Blessed

Dressing graves

Heroes n'er forget

 

©Melissa Whiteford St. Clair

 

 

Sponsored by the Thomas Heyward Jr. Chapter in Beaufort, SC, St. Clair was presented with the award certificate by Mrs. Gail LaGrone Newton, State Americanism Chair and current President of the Beaufort [SC] Chapter at the 2022 SC DAR State Conference.

 

"I am honored to share this photograph and companion poem display with patrons of the Beaufort Art Association Gallery, especially during the month of November when we set aside a day, Veterans Day, to thank our active duty and retired servicemembers and leading up to the annual Wreaths Across America Day in December," she said. The full press release about the award can be found here. 

Melissa is no stranger to a life of service.  She married her high school sweetheart, who joined the military.  They traveled the next 30 years wherever the US Marine Corps sent them.

 

I discovered that in addition to making an appearance at the gallery for our November First Friday celebration, Melissa also attended a poetry workshop at the Pat Conroy Literary Center while she was in the neighborhood. She published a collection of poetry last year called WHITE GIRL HOMEWORK.  (You can find it on Amazon here.) I had no idea! 

 

She explains that the rise of social injustic in the United States deeply affected her emotionally, and she began a journey that led her to found White Girl Advocacy, LLC.  (Click here to learn more.) The organization's purpose is to "share history lessons plus creative arts for white women who want to be better friends, neighbors, colleagues, and community-builders - better humans."  She launched her chapbook, the full title of which is White Girl Home Work A Collection of Poems Sparked by One White Woman's Journey on the Matter of Race, on Harriet Tubman Day, March 10, in 2021.

 

Many thanks to Melissa for sharing her work with us today!  

 

The talented and wonderful Buffy Silverman has our Roundup this week; enjoy all the offerings.  And thank a veteran! 

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