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

Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday - More New Year Poetry Post Cards

February 15, 2024
Tags: -Poetry Friday, Lunar New Year, New Year Poem Postcard Project

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Hope you've felt loved this Valentine's Day week. 

 

I'm happy to share the rest of the postcards I've received as part of the New Year Poetry Postcard Swap, organized by Jone Rush MacCulloch. Participants send these wonderful greetings any time after January 1 through the Chinese/Lunar New Year (February 10 this year).  Poems and images may or may not include the animal for the year, which is currently the Wood Dragon. (My post last week featured my own postcard, and on January 25, I featured the first three I received.)  

 

Enlarge the picture to get a sense of the images in these delightful dozen, and here are excerpted poems from them:

 

Peace Four Ways 2024

by Linda Mitchell

 

How to write a peace poem

when our world knows only war?

Millions wander with no home

How to write a peace poem?

as bomb-dropping drones 

pollute our skies and more?

How to write a peace poem?

when our world knows only war?

 

Peace

quiet covers

this warring world

we fight

ourselves

 

this peace at twilight

this refuge from day's worries

a breath for this world

 

In 2024, let

us remake the world for peace

Let us take a moment to begin

again the notion that with

a new year there's no war for you or me

 

 

 

from Denise Krebs:

 

Robyn

creative artist

visionary life-giver

like the wood dragon

Awaiting

 

-another elfchen for Robyn

(Aww... thank you, Denise!)

 

 

From Margaret Simon:

 

GRACE

BELONGS HERE

TELLING ME HOW

GOOD I AM NOW

---

WISDOM

 

 

From Gail Aldous:

 

sun holds blue sky's hands

they persuade gray clouds away

sparkling peace and light

 

 

From Molly Hogan:

 

When you lose sight

of the beauty around you

may a new day

restore glory

to the tattered and ordinary

and light the way

 

 

From Michelle Kogan:

 

together

we can do more

let's begin

 

 

   ---

 

Get Ready...

 

Compass 

Cooper's Hawk

as you navigate

unknown, unbalanced paths of

2024...

 

From Carol Varsalona:

 

Year of the Wood Dragon

 

breath

of fire

warms winter's chills

offering energy and opportunities - 

possibilities

 

---

 

snowdrops

freeflutter on

windchilled days like

glittery fairies dancing together

winterwonder

 

From Jone Rush MacCulloch:

 

first morning, walking on the beach, what

treasures does the ebbing tide have?

Reading sea-foam like tea leaves, I

wonder what my ancestors risked?

 

From Tabatha Yeatts (& dragon on her card was created by Elena):

 

As the new year delivers the unknown to hand,

Fortify yourself as well as you can:

 

Repair your armor, pack a shield,

Stow words and memories that heal,

 

Keep compassion on tap and pour a deep flagon - 

We're at the edge of the map, and here be dragons.

 

 

 

From Linda Baie:

 

new year's gift - 

forget the hurry

waste time every day

listen to the rain

and to the cat's purr

 

 

Postcard images and poems are copyright each poet. Thank you, poets, for sharing!

 

For even more wonderful poetry, row your way over to Reflections on the Teche, where our lovely and talented Margaret (included above!) is rounding up Poetry Friday this week. 

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Poetry Friday - Happy Lunar New Year, Dragon Fans!

February 8, 2024
Tags: -Poetry Friday, New Year Poem Postcard Project, New Year Poem Postcards, Robyn Hood Black, dragon poem, Lunar New Year, relief printing
poem and artwork ©2024 Robyn Hood Black
(Click to enlarge.)

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Continuing a recent theme, I've received more wonderful, creative New Year postcards as part of Jone Rush MacCulloch's Poem Postcard Exchange, and I look forward to featuring them next week. (Or the next couple of weeks, depending on how many I can fit in a picture!) These surprises in the mailbox really brighten a day, especially in winter.

 

Today I thought I'd share mine that I sent out this week to everyone.  I hope these cards make it by Saturday, the beginning of the Chinese/Lunar New Year! 

 

Jone always adds a nod to the Lunar New Year (and its animal) as a an option for creative inspiration. The postcard exchange itself is inspired, she says, by the Japanese custom of Nengajo - sending out greetings for the New Year. 

 

Jone shared that her own birth year's animal is the water dragon, so she's related to Nessie.  ;0) (Slaintѐ to that, Jone!!)  The animal for 2024 is the wood dragon. 

 

Online you'll find all kinds of info, customs, and folklore surrounding these dragons as well as the other animals.  The New Year is a huge holiday in many Asian countries, with countless people travelling to their home towns to celebrate, and many businesses closing for a week.

 

As for me, I've always loved dragons. (My first published/now out-of-print book, a Scholastic Rookie Reader called Sir Mike, featured an imaginary one!)

 

For my postcards, I reached back into my own misty imagination to find dragons.  Did anybody else "sculpt" treasures from a simple dough in the kitchen, and bake them into being? My mother was very supportive of the creative messes my brother Mike and I could make.  Thank you, Mom.

Oh - and Happy 44th Anniversary today to my mother, Nita,  and her Valentine, Jack!

 

 

Here Be

 

Flour, salt, water
Our mother showed us
how to form dough
 into whatever we wanted
bake it, wait for it to cool.

 

I made dragons
with pointy wings
and arrowhead tips on their tails.
Their edges browned.
I painted them purple

and royal blue.

 

If I close my eyes,

I can see them

 

flying

 

feel the warmth
of their fiery
dissipating
breath.

 

©2024 Robyn Hood Black

 

Fun note: In more of my own internet explorations about Lunar New Year dragons, many days after I wrote this poem, I discovered that their lucky colors are purple and blue.  How about that?!!

 

The background for my poem card came from some canvas-textured papers I dyed with indigo powder during a recent online mixed media workshop I took. I scanned a small sheet into my computer and enlarged it a wee bit to make it 5 X 7 size.  For the dragon, I carved a little block of "Easy Carve" (like linoleum, but much softer and easier on the hands).  I had drawn a quick sketch - just from imagination, as I was trying to recall freely drawing dragons as a kid - and made a simple outline of it on the block, then loosely carved away. 

 

I printed the image individually on each card.  Some came out with fairly crisp, even impressions - the usual goal for printmaking, and others were a bit messier.  But, my favorites ended up with gradated amounts of ink over the image, kind of ghostly, like the one above. I thought these blended in with the billowy nature of the indigo wash, adding a hint of mystery, maybe.

 

Final note:  If you search online for "Here Be Dragons," which maybe a few of us (?) thought was a common warning found on very old maps, you might discover as I did that a Latin variation appeared on a globe at the beginning of the 16th Century... and that's about it.  But I do love me some illustrated sea monsters and such on antique maps! 

 

Thanks for reading my rambles.  Now, get out your compass and ramble on over to Beyond Literacy Link, where the ever-generous and creative Carol has our Roundup. 

Happy Valentine's Day to all you LOVE-ly people!

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Poetry Friday - One More Tiger-y Poem Postcard, and... Birds!

February 17, 2022
Tags: -Poetry Friday, Emily Dickinson, Michelle Kogan, New Year Poem Postcard Project, Poetry

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

Happy to share one last New Year's Poem Postcard Project gift that stalked its way to my mailbox this week (part of the annual swap organized by our wonderful Jone Rush MacCulloch, whom I get to see soon as she graces this side of the country with a visit!)

 

This card celebrates the Lunar New Year - The Year of the Tiger (as I chose to do with my own card featured a couple of weeks ago in the mix).  Michelle drew a stately tiger in brown with subtle washes, and added a jaunty message on the right side.  On the back is this poem:

 

Tiger tiger

by twilight

are you there

within the night?

Heed their call

prevent their plight

 

©Michelle Kogan.

 

You can learn more about Michelle and her art (she's a fellow Etsian!) here. 

 

And you can learn more about the plight of tigers, and efforts to save them and many other animals, here. 

 

Speaking of animals, ones who would generally prefer to be far away from tigers, did you know this weekend is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count?  I'm going to try to participate some again this year - it's been a while since I joined in.  The event, sponsored by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and Birds Canada, is now quite smart phone-savvy, with apps (Merlin and EBird), making ID'ing and reporting easier than ever.  No problem if you'd rather use less technology - the organizers welcome results in a variety of forms!  I "attended" a webinar this week in preparation for the Count, and it was nice seeing the dedicated faces who help pull off this oh-so-important project. (I also stocked the bird feeder and cleaned out the bird bath!)

 

The time commitment is up to you - submit as few or as many results over the weekend as you'd like.  The only requirement about that is that they ask you to devote at least 15 minutes to each counting session.  Learn more about how to participate here. 

 

Now, I have to go do a little research or app-perusing to learn about those lovely birds pictured above; I saw them on Thursday, blending in with the rocks at Hunting Island here, and flying off in a short frenzy before settling back down in front of the foaming waves....

 

In honor of the Count, here are the opening stanzas from a famous poem by our dear Emily Dickinson (1830-1886):

 

A Bird came down the Walk (328)

A Bird came down the Walk—
He did not know I saw—
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

 

And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass—
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass—

...

 

(Read the rest here.) 

 

Now flap those wings and soar on over to Small Reads for Brighter Days, where the ever-delightful Laura is rounding up this week.  Thanks, Laura! 

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Poetry Friday - More Poetry Postcards! (mine included)

February 3, 2022
Tags: --poetry, -Poetry Friday, Jone MacCulloch, New Year Poem Postcard Project, Robyn Hood Black, Sarah Grace Tuttle

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  

 

Happy Lunar New Year.  This week I'm sharing two more postcards from our New Year Poem Postcard Project swap, and my own, too, which I finally mailed out last week. ;0)

 

First up, one from our fearless leader, Jone Rush MacCulloch, who organizes this postal shindig each new year.

 

Her intriguing image features this haiku:

 

divergent pathways

a new year

alive with wonder

 

 

©Jone Rush MacCullocch

 

I'm sure that like me, you're a fan of Jone's mean camera skills as well as her poetic prowess.  I love the texture in this picture and asked her about the tracks.  She said they were bird tracks on her deck, made during the first light snow.  Beautiful!

 

Side note - I'm super excited to have learned that Jone's own "pathways" are going to drift over toward my side of the world for a trip soon, and I'm planning to hop in the car and go meet up with her!  (We live on opposite coasts.)  Jealous?  Yep, thought you might be - we'll snap a picture! ;0)

 

Second, I received a beautiful card late Thursday from Sarah Grace Tuttle.  The postcard features a colorful, inviting painting of Commonwealth Books in Boston, Massachusetts by Bob Ecksem.  Makes me want to walk right into that shop and not come out for hours!  Sarah's poem on the back offers a celebration of snow.  I know - many of you all have probably had your fill already this year, but here's a fresh and lovely perspective:

 

Let the Snow Come

 

A cool pressure blanket

to soothe the frantic world,

made of fabric in

a purple shadow pattern

threads of moonlight glitter

seams of bare branches

that can cradle me

as I rest.

 

©Sarah Grace Tuttle

 

Well, the frantic world could definitely use a cool comforter!  And we could all do with some rest under threads of moonlight, couldn't we?  Sigh. 

 

Many thanks to Jone and Sarah Grace for these gifts.

 

This year, as I was receiving so many gorgeous, inspired, and inspiring poem postcards (see the last few posts), I got a wild hair.  I thought I'd toss in a chuckle.  So in honor of the Year of the Tyger, which came padding in at the beginning of the week, I had a little fun with "The Tyger" by William Blake (1757-1827).  

 

Poet Poet, burning bright

In the blue computer light

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful syntax-y?

...

Did he who made Iambs make thee?

 

©Robyn Hood Black, after, and with apologies to, William Blake

 

(You can find Blake's original illustrated poem, from his Songs of Innocence and Experience, here and the text only here.)

 

To my pen and ink tiger sketch, I filled in with stripes which are actually snippets from Blake's draft of "The Tyger" from one of his notebooks  (copied from a reproduction in Peter Ackroyd's book, BLAKE).  It was helpful to me that Blake had so many scratch-throughs in several lines.  These offered bold horizontal darks, and also gave me comfort that even poetic geniuses make mistakes...;0)

 

Thanks again to Jone for organizing the swap, and here's to poetry running wild in 2022!

 

Now, go pounce on Unexpected Intersections, where Elisabeth is kindly rounding up Poetry Friday this week.

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Poetry Friday - Couple More New Year Poem Postcards!

January 27, 2022
Tags: --poetry, -Poetry Friday, New Year Poem Postcard Project, Carol Labuzetta, Gail Aldous

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

More New Year Poem Postcard love this week, thanks to the yearly swap organized by Jone Rush MacCulloch. Lucky for me and my usual time-challenged nature, we can either go the traditional Western New Year's route or pay homage to the Lunar New Year, with its representative animal.  (Feb. 1 will usher in the Year of the Tiger.)  My postcards, finally, are crouched and ready to pounce into the mail this morning.  ;0)

 

Today I share a pair of gems with breathtaking landscape images on one side, and inspiring words on the other. 

 

First, many thanks to Carol Labuzzetta for her gorgeous photograph of the setting moon at Turret Arch in Arches National Park in Utah.  I am drawn right in to that natural wonder in her photograph, and I love how the circle in the rock is mirrored by the bright, round moon on the right!

 

On the other side of her card, beneath a fetching jumping tiger, is this haiku:

 

Eye of the tiger

Keenly seeing the future

Blinking honestly

 

©Carol Labuzzetta

 

(I would welcome more keen eyesight and honesty in the world these days - just sayin'.)

 

Next, please give it up for Gail Aldous, who explains on her postcard that she took this stunning photograph in the Adirondack Mountains, where she and her husband hike and cross-country ski.  She also offers a nod to her cat, whose name is - wait for it - Tigress!

 

The beautiful natural "layers" in her photograph inspired this poem:

 

cloud layers

mountain layers

life layers

joy

 

(draft  ©Gail Aldous)

 

Boy, do those thoughts resonate with me this year!  Layers, indeed.

 

I feel so blessed to be able to do some armchair traveling with these poem postcards - The warm words and wishes inspire me, and the glimpses of life in other ecoysystems and landscapes is magical.  Thanks, Carol and Gail!

 

 

Fellow Southerner Irene Latham has the Roundup this week - and always a million amazing, wonderful things - at Live Your Poem. Thank you for hosting, Irene!

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Poetry Friday - Blue Horizons in Postcards from Margaret And Linda B.

January 20, 2022
Tags: - poetry, -Poetry Friday, Linda Baie, Margaret Simon, New Year Poem Postcard Project, Jone Rush MacCulloch

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  A couple more postcards from our New Year's Poem Postcard Swap, coordinated by the wonderful Jone Rush MacCulloch.

 

Speaking of Jone, please see her poignant haiku featured on The Haiku Foundation's "Haiku of the Day" page for Jan. 13 here - Congratulations, Jone! 

 

This week's additions to the refrigerator door have complementary visuals - I  love that!  Margaret Simon sent a photo postcard with a collage on the front in beautiful blue celestial and warm earth hues.  Having recently seen the traveling interactive Van Gogh exhibit, I enjoyed the bits of Starry Night in this piece!  These envelope a wonderful quote from Emily Dickinson.  The image includes some mountain-y layers in the background under the sun, and a yoga enthusiast under myriads of stars, among other delights.  

 

Her original poem reads:

 

    A new year

     new ideas

  growing buds

 to find a garden

already blooming

 

I love that surprise at the end; the kind of "relief" to feel that we don't always have to start everything from scratch.  I/we might need to take a look around and appreciate what's there. 

 

Linda Baie sent a gorgeous expansive photograph from Colorado - look at those majestic Rockies!  Her greeting reads:

 

     Happy New Year!

Blue Skies Smiling at YOU!

 

I'll take those smiling blue skies, thank you!

 

On the back of her card is a poetic quote from Chandra Kochhar, sentiments that seem to me in keeping with Margaret's inspiring words, too.

 

Here's to smiles and blooms and noticing - wishing you inspirations as you make your way through these winter days. 

 

(And, no - I still haven't sent my poem swap postcards out yet, but working on it.... ;0) )

 

Many thanks to our beloved and multitalented Tabatha for hosting the Roundup this week at The Opposite of Indifference - Enjoy the treasures!

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Poetry Friday - Some New Year Postcard Poem Swap Arrivals...

January 7, 2021
Tags: </br>Poetry Friday, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Poetry, Linda Mitchell, Carol Varsalona, New Year Poem Postcard Project

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty spent after news events this week.  (And the extremes - Personally, I was elated about the voting efforts of my former fellow Georgians when both Senate run-off races were in the "called" column Wednesday, only to plunge right afterwards into heartsickness about the breach of the Capitol.)

 

So I have been especially appreciative of the poetic gifts in my mailbox, as part of Jone Rush MacCulloch's annual New Year's Poem Postcard Project. Enjoy the respite of these first three I've received, one by Jone herself (I mentioned her foray into Scottish Gaelic last week), and one from Carol Varsalona, and one from Linda Mitchell. These are SO creative, and each so different. 

 

Savor Jone's new language skills to accompany her formidable skills behind the camera, and Carol's jaunty imaginative words and her lovely lake image, and Linda's nod to the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Ox, with her artwork featuring a version of Paul Bunyan's "Babe" in art and collaged background words, and her quite original poem on the other side of the bookmark.

 

Also, you can listen to Jone read her poem in Scottish Gaelic in her post from last week here!

 

Many thanks, Ladies, for sending much needed light in these days. 

 

 

 

first full moon
makes poetry wishes
happy new year

 

Poem and Photo ©Jone Rush MacCulloch

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

upon the lake

 

silverdrops dance

as a new year arises.

breathe in

winter's freshness.
exhale earth's frostbitten bite.


Evolve!


Poem and Photo ©Carol Varsalona

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Year of the Ox

 

Monday, Ox delivers brush and brooms

to sweep old year away

 

Tuesday, Ox brings uncles, aunties

hong bao and rice cakes

 

Wendesday, Ox shies at red banners

good luck poems they swish and sway

 

Thursday Ox shakes golden bells

hoping kitchen god will stay

 

Friday Ox easts and rest contentedly

firecrackers pop -

wishing

Happy New Year's Day!

 

Poem and Art ©Linda Mitchell

 

~~~

 

(PS - My poem postcards are still in the works; waiting on delivery from the printer.);0)

 

Our amazing Sylvia has the Roundup today over at Poetry for Children.  Don't miss her annual New Year "Sneak Peek" list-- a gathering of all the titles of poetry books, anthologies, and novels in verse expected in 2021!

Wishing you, and all, a peaceful weekend.

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