Cleaved in Two

April Cleaved in Two

Workspace torn apart
walls crumble inside
and close in, I’ve lost control
as April is falling to pieces
Friday… my sanity gone

There is a sense of no control here. Anyone in the Phoenix area who needs a plumber, I do recommend Parker and Sons. I have fallen in love with my soft water. We should have done it sooner. And they have been great with covering the repair except for the drywall replacement. Apparently the drywall department is quite busy and can’t get someone out until April 7th! Really would like my workspace back before April, but it’s out of my control.

Jane Dougherty’s poetry challenge is a cleave poem. Most appropriate for how I feel right now, cleaved in two.

Workspace before leak

Current state of workspace

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April Quickly Approaching

Let’s take a look back to 2014. NaPoWriMo Day Seven See the Riker action figure sitting on my desk? And the lovely orange wall behind him (yes, the wall looks yellow in the picture). Well last Friday after I posted my poem about our new water system, I went to sit at the desk to work on the computer some more. But I was stopped in my tracks when I noticed a pool of water under the desk. This is what the same spot looked like over this past weekend.

What happens after writing about a trickle. Water decides to pour. 😦

The connection from the main water pipe to the pipe in the attic leaked. Water was pouring down the side of my house and into the bedroom. I called Parker and Sons. They got a plumber out Friday afternoon who determined it was their problem; fixed the connection and called the restoration company. The fans and dehumidifier were running all weekend. My mother-in-law hosted Easter dinner at her house; we did get away from the noise for a little while. This morning the Dry Force guy came; took readings, and YES! everything is dried out so the fans are gone.

Industrial fans
hum nonstop – my sanity
called into question

Friday night, Shawn and I escaped the noise, too. We went to a poetry reading at 9 the Gallery in Phoenix – Ms. X’s Ocean (April 2016) the poetry of Elizabeth McNeil. The poetess challenged the audience to write a poem for murmuration – here it goes.

Murmuration

flock of birds
in sync
hum
hypnotic flight

This is a play on Teacup Dictionary Poem.

Seven Day Count Down

Yes, I know I have been quiet this month. I’ve been pretty busy with real life and haven’t had much of a chance to write. Wednesday March 16, my husband came in the front door; walked into the kitchen; grabbed potholders and began to walk away. For a second I thought, does he think I kept dinner warm for him in the oven (I have never done this), but he walked past the oven into the hallway?!

What are you doing?

Oh nothing, the hot water tank’s on fire.

Old water tank after gas was shut off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the original and 16 years old, not a bad run. We started looking into water softeners. Actually been talking about getting one for quite a few years, but weren’t looking forward to the expense. Well since we were going to need a new hot water tank, we bit the bullet and got it done at the same time. The unfortunate part, my nephew drove over here Wednesday night for a visit. All day Thursday and most of Friday, we didn’t have hot water. But Friday afternoon this shiny, sleek system was good to go.

 

New tank and water softener

Then when my nephew drove back to Fort Bliss on Sunday, I started working on Rachael’s graduation announcement. Finally got it done and ordered. But it looks like I’ll be addressing envelopes and sending out invites in April. Just pile more onto poetry month. 😉

Yesterday, Gretchen asked me for poetry help. Her teacher is making them write Villanelles. Aww…poor girl had to rhyme. I showed her rhymezone.com and asked her if her teacher told them about the site. She said, No, everyone was asking Siri to come up with rhyming words.

 

 

 

 

Rhyme Tank

April will be here in a week
March poetic muse came up blank
In seven days I need a streak

Rhymes trickle out in a small leak
Frustration builds and I’m a crank
April will be here in a week

Playing with rhyme, my verse is weak
No fire consumes my water tank
In seven days I need a streak

My well is dry, nothing to speak
Of niceties as it’s quite rank
April will be here in a week

My outlook becoming more bleak
As each verse grows dreary and dank
In seven days I need a streak

Of luck to write shiny and sleek
Poems I can claim have no stank
April will be here in a week
In seven days I need a streak

Golden Pixie, poem by Veronica Hosking (MY MANE MEMORIES Poetry & Prose Series)

Enjoyed all the great mane memories in the Silver Birch Press series.

Silver Birch Press

Golden Pixie
by Veronica Hosking

Short
hair
Pixie
cut adorn
by single barrette
Young girl sits with tongue sticking out
stubborn as cowlick
golden locks
cannot
be
tamed

PHOTO: Taken about 1977 in Buffalo, New York.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: My mom once told me this was her favorite photo of me. It was taken at Buffalo Children’s Hospital when I began physical therapy there for my cerebral palsy. Years later my fiancé found it and put it in a photo collage he made for my high school graduation. Yes, I married my high school sweetheart. The goofy picture haunts me to this day, because the collage still hangs in my house. My husband and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary this October.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Veronica Hosking is a wife, mother, and poet. She lives in the desert southwest with her husband and two daughters. Her family and day…

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National Poetry Month

Poets.0rg April Poster

Yes, next month I will be participating in NaPoWriMo once more. My 2016 poster came so I’m getting excited. Yesterday, Susan @mindful poetry pointed out my pantoum was not strictly to form. I knew I played with the lines in the last stanza, but I was not aware lines 2 and 4 of the previous stanza became lines 1 and 3 in the next. I thought only line 2 became line 1 in the next stanza. Oh well, there is a whole month of poetry coming up and I am sure I’ll find a day to play with this form again. Susan always finds the best poetry form instruction sites. If you want to learn more on the pantoum check out this site.

Poem breaks form as
simple paint by number proves
too complicated

Reminiscing – Pantoum

The River Tour Phoenix, AZ March 10 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

And the poets down here don’t write
nothing at all, they just stand back
and let it all be – out of sight
concert, band plays awesome soundtrack

Nothing at all, they just stand back
and revel in the Glory Days
driving in an old Cadillac
our youth disappears in a blaze

And revel in the Glory Days
wake up one morning to find this
girl of seventeen nowadays
longs to recapture youthful bliss

Wake up one morning to find this
unable to let it be trite,
boring stories of youthful bliss
but the poets down here don’t write

The italicized words are from Jungleland. No, they did not play the song last night but I used the lyrics because they’re my favorite. They did perform Glory Days; as Bruce pulled a sign out of the audience that said, The Boss + Spring training = Glory Days. So here is a little something from my glory days. This is a big year for Shawn and me. Next month we will have been going out for 25 years! and in October we will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe I was a young 17 when we started dating. I keep telling him he stole my youth.

Frontier Central Senior Prom

Shawn and me at the concert last night