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Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday - Year of the Snake

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Attempting to post from my phone at the airport (super quick trip to see my folks), so, short and sweet. 
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Here are my postcards I sent for Jone's fabulous New Year Poem Postcard Swap. 

year of the snake

beware the comfort

of old skin

 

Robyn Hood Black

 

I don't even know who is hosting this week, but I'm sure it will be fabulous. I so appreciate this community. 
More soon - boarding is about to start!

 

xoxo Robyn

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Poetry Friday - Hi & Go See Tabatha!

Howdy... I'd planned to share more New Year Poem Postcards - and I will later - but it's taken me all day long (Thursday) to finish mine!  On my way to mail shortly. ;o)

House-full coming tomorrow for the weekend (family birthdays!).  I'll share my own postcard poem & art next week and more wonderful gifted ones after that. 

Ever-talented Tabatha has the Roundup this week at The Opposite of Indifference. Thanks, Tabatha!

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Poetry Friday - New Year Poem Postcard Swap; First Couple!

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  One thing I always enjoy about the start of a new year is Jone Rush MacCulloch's New Year Poem Postcard Swap! I'm always inspired by the words and images which grace my mailbox, and I (mostly!) love coming up with something myself to send.  Especially because Jone expands the New Year to include the Chinese New Year, with an invitation to incorporate whatever animal is representing that year.  (This year, it'll be the wood snake, and we have until Jan. 29 to send our poems!  That might also just be Jone's birthday, a little snake told me, a day before my own.)  SO, my poem is written, and that's as far as I've gotten. I plan to get my cards made and out by next week.  

 

Other members of our community are far more on the ball.  I've already received a couple of wonderful cards (and a third late today, which I haven't had a chance to look at yet.) I'm delighted to share these gems from Linda Mitchell and Tracey Kiff-Judson. I'm constantly amazed by Linda's mixed media creations (as well as her poems - this one begs to be read aloud), and Tracey's bold art is lively and smile-inducing! Plus, her poem is especially delicious.  Enjoy!

 

 

Year of the Wood Snake

2025

 

Wood snake shifting

this year's first breath.

Shimmering mist,

a welcome guest.

 

Bring no worry

Wood snake shifting.

No more woe, or 

unrhymed poems.

 

Come now springtime!

Come green new shoots!

Wood snake shifting

'tween forest roots.

 

Bring gentle words

fresh ideas too

a good year of

wood snake shifting.

 

©Linda Mitchell

 

 

 

A New Year

 

Stacked with possibility,

limoncello, pumpkin, cherry

flavor awaits

 

Which will you choose

Lip-puckering sunshine?

The comfort of warm spice?

A bit of hibiscus passion?

 

Perhaps a nibble of each...

 

©Tracey Kiff-Judson

 

 

Mmmm.... definitely a nibble of each.  And, yes, come green new shoots!  (January has been frigid, with more arctic blasts on tap for next week.)

 

Thank you, Linda and Tracey, for these treasures.  Now shift yourself over to see Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect, where you'll find the Roundup.  Thanks, Tricia, for hosting!

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Poetry Friday - Donna JT Smith, Kindness, SNOW, and a New Miracle Grandbaby!

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers - I've missed you!  Happy 2025!! We were away for two and a half weeks, from before Christmas til after New Year's, happily on grandparent duty.  Our wee laddie grandboy Sawyer (2 1/2) now has a beautiful baby sister, Ellie Grace.  Everyone is doing great. 

 

Though I usually enjoy participating in the holiday poem swap organized by our wonderful Tabatha, this year (with the baby due date in December and the usual Etsy orders flurry right before Christmas), I told Tabatha I'd have to take a pass.  I didn't realize she'd keep my name in the bin for someone who might want to send something to those who couldn't reciprocate.

 

Before we left on our trip, I got a wonderful surprise package from Maine - from Donna JT Smith.  Not only was there a lovely card, but she had sent the fun painting and poem above and a lovely gold necklace featuring three charms:  a heart, a butterfly, and a little tag with a cut-out star reading "MIRACLE." I wore that necklace every day for a week, I guess - before Ellie Grace was born and for several days after.  (You can see it in the photo above.)  I emailed Donna with thanks for her kindness, and told her the gift was so meaningful as both of these babies are miracle IVF babies!

 

This is my first Poetry Friday back home, and the "Snow Fellows" poem Donna sent is perfect for it.  As I tap out these words on Thursday, we're under a winter storm warning starting first thing Friday morning.  (So if I don't respond to comments, our power might be out!) We're expecting some heavy snow and then ice and other frozen mixes later.  Schools and such are closed. I'm anxious to see what our cold-weather-loving, 42-pounds-of-fluff Rookie thinks of the snow.

 

Snow Fellows

 

Snowy fellows in the yard, stand so staid and fast

till down the slope the sunlight slips, and it is dark at last.

Then is when the party starts, when dark and cold are most.

No campfire's lit, no hot dogs, no marshmallows to roast.

But,

there are some luscious slushies, snowy cones and icy treats,

just the sort of healthy foods a snowman needs to eat!

There are games galore for fun in snow, like sledding, skating,

skiing;

and if they want another friend, they roll a new snowbeing!

The party ends just when the sky starts lifting up the sun.

Returning to their old rolled spots, their twinkling eyes are done.

You may not ever see them dance, nor ever hear them sing,

but look someday, 'round where they've stood - 

Hmmm - footprints in a ring!

 

©Donna JT Smith

 

I love "snowbeing" - ha!

 

While we are anticpating snow, I want to send light and love and prayers to everyone living through the horrific wildfire situation in Los Angeles. My bother-in-law and his family are all in the area.  They are okay and the kids evacuated the city, but it's hard to try to comprehend so much loss and on such a scale. 

 

It's "reigning" cats and dogs at Kat's Whiskers, where Kat kindly has the Roundup! 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

GREETINGS in 2025! Just popping in at the end of our new-grandbaby tour of duty - blissful deployment - to wish you a peaceful and inspiring start to the year. All while knowing peace is not enjoyed by everyone, and we begin 2025 in need of both contemplation and work, as always. 
Technology has been prickly during my trip, with my laptop uncooperative. So I'll have a real post next week. But please go visit Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading for the Roundup! (My phone is not cooperating to copy the link either!) Off to a technology-free baby and her toddler brother... see you soon! xo

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