#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Thirty

Dynamite Rabbits

1807 – France signs the Treaties of Tilsit, ending war with Russia.

Napoleon and his men arrange a hunt to celebrate
Chief of Staff Alexandre Berthier decides on a massacre

Berthier collects thousands of rabbits from local farmers
Once the hunters are assembled, the rabbits CHARGE!
Domestic rabbits, not afraid of men, are carnivorous little beasts.

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And for our final (optional) prompt, I’d like you to take your cue from Borges, and write a poem that engages with a strange and fascinating fact. It could be an odd piece of history, an unusual bit of art trivia, or something just plain weird. While I cannot vouch for the actual accuracy of any of the facts presented at the links above (or any other facts you might use as inspiration!), I can tell you that there are definitely some poetic ideas here, just waiting for someone to use them.

Good Evening and welcome to day thirty of #NaPoWriMo and we are finished for another year! Lol! When I read Napoleon was once attacked by rabbits, I immediately thought of Monty Python; perhaps Napoleon could have used a holy hand grenade. 😉 Or he should have read Watership Down; he would have been warned how vicious rabbits can be, especially hungry domesticated rabbits who thought they were getting fed not hunted. This was a fun little cherita (story) to write. I’d like to thank all my readers for tuning in for my ramblings for another year.

Advertisement

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Six

Blue Angels over Litchfield Park Photographer Shawn Hosking

Fly By

Luke days coincides with art in the park

Bring Back Buddy plays ‘50s rock-n-roll music
as the Blue Angels fly overhead

One shot
captures
jets between the American and Arizona flags

Good morning! Welcome to day six of #NaPoWriMo. This is another cherita. I’ve notice the form is suppose to tell a story with 3 stanzas – 1 line, 2 lines and 3 lines. No where have I seen a formula for the length of the lines so I thought it would be a good form to play with long and short lines together. When Shawn and I went to the concert at the Wigwam in March, Luke days was also happening. Shawn was able to capture the Blue Angels between the flags. Then I took our date selfie pic. Shawn said I should have told him; we could have timed it to get the jets in the selfie. I think he is getting cocky with his photography skills.

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And last but not least, here is our prompt for the day (optional, as always). Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that stretches your comfort zone with line breaks. That could be a poem with very long lines, or very short lines. Or a poem that blends the two. You might break to emphasize (or de-emphasize) sounds or rhymes, or to create a moment of hesitation in the middle of a thought. Looking for inspiration? You might take a look at this poem by Lorine Niedecker, this poem by Stanley Kunitz, or this one by Amiri Baraka.

Since the prompt grew from Alberto Rios’ thoughts on the poetic line, and he was Arizona’s first poet laureate I thought this would make a good story. And because the #haikuchallenge word today is sing

Blue Angels fly by
Band sings fifties rock-n-roll
Both spectacular

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day One

2018 Poster from poets.org

 

The First of April

Lazy morning in bed

Playing Candy Crush Soda
with an hour of infinite lives

The first day of April
I’m exploding candy bombs
while Easter baskets sit empty

 

Good morning, yes it is still only 10am here so I did not waste my whole morning on a game. Welcome to the first day of #NaPoWriMo. I wanted to share a picture from our evening out last night. Shawn and I attended a poetry reading for World Poetry day, but Shawn said his photos are still loading and I didn’t take any. Instead I decided to share a picture of the 2018 napowrimo poster from poets.org. Before Shawn and I went out last night, Rachael, Gretchen and I went shopping. We still had no Easter candy nor dye for the eggs. Rachael drove us over to Target where we weren’t the only people picking up candy last minute. When we got home I put in a Pei Wei order; hey I have to cook tonight so why cook on Saturday, too.

Rachael is working a full day today – until 3pm, she was excited to have hot & sour soup to bring in for her lunch. She already texted me, Can we die eggs when I get home. By the time we got home yesterday, it was time to eat and then we had to leave for the reading. Don’t worry, I informed Rachael I was pretty sure the eggs were already dead, but we can still dye them. Actually realized I had Candy Crush brain because I had a terrible time wording a sentence with dye in the present tense. The #haikuchallenge word today is really – an extra poetry offering.

 

Write poem with flair
April first is really here
Easter baskets bare

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And last but not least, here is our (optional, as always) prompt for the day. It’s based off of Lauren Russell’s collaborative poetry exercise. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that is based on a secret shame, or a secret pleasure. It could be eating too many cookies, or bad movies, or the time you told your sister she could totally brush her teeth with soap. It’s up to you. Happy writing!

Saturday Stuck at Home

John and Me – Casey Moore’s Tempe AZ

Rush Hour

Driving through Phoenix

in the HOV lane
enduring rush hour traffic

Idle conversation
reminiscing on our childhood
as we travel to Tempe

 

Hello all! Just a friendly reminder tomorrow is CP Awareness Day so wear your green again. Today is the day of the new AC install so we are stuck here until it’s finished. On Thursday my friend who has a home up in Sedona came down to Phoenix; he had to drop his dad off at the airport. While he was in town, he asked if we wanted to go out for dinner and drinks. In order for Shawn to tag along, John came over to the house and then we drove out to Tempe. It is easier for Shawn to drive to a restaurant close to work than it is for him to fight the rush hour traffic all the way back to the west valley. Otherwise Shawn would have had to leave work very early. Instead John and I got to drive through the mess of Phoenix traffic. Shawn picked the restaurant as I know nothing about restaurants out in the east valley. Casey Moore’s is an Irish Pub 😉 the food was great and it was a nice evening to sit outside and enjoy it while catching up. Though John was the other friend who visited in November when Rick and Charles were in town. It hasn’t been overly long since our last visit.

Well since I’m stuck at home anyway, I thought I’d update on the poetry front. NaPoWriMo is closing in – one week from tomorrow. I got my poster from poets.org so I think I’m ready. I made a couple submissions this week, but otherwise all I’ve heard is crickets. The NaHaiWriMo Facebook page shared a submission call by Jacquie Pearce. Since we traveled by train on our honeymoon, I’m working on an entry.

Jacquie Pearce’s Blog

 

Yes, I’m also working on other poetry forms today. I need to stretch my poetry muscle for NaPoWriMo – not sure if I’ll blog again before then, but I hope to see a lot of readers everyday in April.

Arizona Statehood – 106 years

Ferris Wheel at Block Party

Stand in line to ride
on top of the Ferris wheel
Spectacular view

Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912 and to celebrate the centennial the cities of Avondale and Goodyear had a parade back in 2012. Every year since then, the two cities have celebrated AZ statehood over at EMCC. Yesterday they had a festival at night; the past years it has been held during the day.

It’s been a pretty hectic week here last week. Gretchen is still doing the after school program to see Hamilton. Then on Tuesday, Shawn told me tomorrow’s going to be a long day. He failed to inform me he was flying out to California Wednesday to attend the machine show. He and Rachael were up at 4am, because she still carpooled over to ASU with Dad. He dropped her off at school was at the airport by 6am; spent the day in CA; then flew back. The two of them didn’t get home until midnight. On Friday Rachael got up early to go shadow the vet on surgery day. She was able to watch 4 surgeries: 1 bladder stone removal, 1 spay or neuter (I can’t remember), and 2 dentals. Friday was the opening night of the Exotic Show over at Alwun house. Shawn took off from work. Another thing he failed to mention. Once I learned he wasn’t going in to work and with Gretchen at school and Rachael at the vet office, I declared a lunch date.

Shawn and I went to Apple Bee’s Friday for lunch. Then the girls and I had Subway for dinner. Rachael was happy the next day was Saturday so she could sleep in. Hold the phone, Gretchen has to get to school. What? What about Dad? Well that silly man after staying out til 1am at the Exotic Show got up bright and early for the nurse’s book sale Saturday morning. But Rachael wasn’t going to have it; she works early on Sunday so Saturday would be the only day for her to sleep in for the week. She bribed Gretchen into riding her bike to EMCC. Then Gretchen got an email informing them about the street closure. She was all confused until I told her she could take her usual route to school. They are closing the street to cars not pedestrians.

Gretchen biked to and from school Saturday morning and saw the set up for the block party. At 6PM I asked the girls if they wanted to go with us, Rachael was onboard; Gretchen was a little hesitant until she remembered seeing the Ferris wheel, so everyone was off to the block party. Found out the reason Rachael wanted to go was because she was hungry. We hit the food vendors first, then got in line to ride the Ferris wheel. Glad we got in line when we did; it just kept getting longer. Gretchen wanted to know if we could eat on the ride. I assured her if she still had food, I would hold it. I wasn’t going on that thing. Mom doesn’t do rides or heights. Gretchen didn’t think I could hold all the food, but I told her, Rachael’s not going to have anything left to hold by the time we get to the front. And I was pretty sure I’d be done with mine as well, so only Gretchen’s burrito had to be watched.

Spectacular view

Celebrate Arizona statehood
at Culture Pop Block Party

Eating tamales and burritos
while standing in line
to ride the Ferris wheel

On the poetry front, I’ve written a haiku everyday since finding out it is nahaiwrimo. Today’s #haikuchallenge word on twitter is top. Good news first I received a couple acceptances for my haiku but with all the submitting I have also gotten some rejections. My poem for the Arizona panels during NaPoWriMo (April) was one of the rejections. Today I’m busy writing poetry while doing laundry. Last weekend I fiddled with a couple haiku on laundry.

After washer stops
I sit twiddling my thumbs
Dryer’s not finished

Only to check on the dryer to notice it wasn’t heating up. It’s been on awhile today, so I should check it, switching cycles last week did the trick, but we may need a new heating element – fun wow.

WD – Distraction Poem

Gretchen at playground Monday Afternoon

Park Distraction

Rest stop at the park

Meet 16 year old at late bus
drop off, just the two of us

walking home through neighborhood
distracted by playground equipment
brings back small slice of childhood

 

Robert Lee Brewer asked for a distraction poem as the 425 Wednesday Poetry Prompt. I decided to play with the cherita poetry form again. On Monday, my almost 17 year old daughter wanted me to meet her at the late bus drop off. She is getting to go see Hamilton at Gammage auditorium through her school. However the opportunity requires her to stay after school to learn more about the American Revolution before they go to the play. I honestly didn’t think she would do it, because it meant taking the late bus home and that is outside her comfort zone. Little did mom know she’d ask her to meet her at the bus stop, which is across the street from the elementary school. I haven’t made that walk in years. And yes, when I used to walk down there to pick up the girls after school (all the way back to pre-k), we would stop and play at the park. Over the years, the playground equipment has changed. They didn’t have the duck there when the girls were small.

Sunny Desert Winter

Last Monday I was chilly; it only reached 60 here in the desert. But over the weekend, it warmed up nicely. Yesterday it was 80 and I went in the backyard to soak in the warmth.

Selfie of me in the backyard

While I was out there enjoying my desert heat, I read Ken’s blog – Missouri weather.  He wrote a cherita. It was the first time I saw this poetry form and since it it short, I had to give it a try. I borrowed from Ken’s piece as we are both Buffalo transplants.

Arizona weather

nothing like
Buffalo

sun will shine
no need to shovel
soak in the warmth

This website as more info on the cherita poetry form.

Then when I checked my following reader page on WordPress this morning, I saw more desert pictures from a post by Jasmine, Driving through the Arizona desert. I agree; I love my desert. Can you believe by the end of this week it’s going to be February? Friday, February 2nd is my mother’s birthday and groundhog’s day, marking the halfway point of winter. My mother disliked the bitter cold and snow of Buffalo winters. Shawn and I moved out to Arizona 19 years ago now, and I have to admit I do not miss the snow and cold. Also the humidity all those things affect my CP and the Arizona sun and warmth keep me a much happier person.

Enjoying the sun
my little slice of heaven
sits in my backyard

The #haikuchallenge word on twitter today is slice.