More than thirty years High school sweethearts' nascent love Grows stronger each day Two hearts beat as one Attraction returns tenfold True redamancy
Last week I combined a #haikuchallenge word – nascent with the #mmpoetrybattle theme – redamancy. And then I shared the poem with Shawn, because it works well for Valentine’s Day.
Check out all the poems featured in the #mmpoetrybattle week of 2/10/2023
Photo Credit – Memory Alpha
In search of solace
Before grief consumes your soul
Move to Nepenthe
A few days ago the #haikuchallenge word was Nepenthe and my readers know there was no way I was going to pass up writing about Star Trek. I loved seeing Captain Riker and Commander Troi together again. And later this week when Picard season 3 premieres, they’ll be reunited again. I can’t wait.
A little known fact in 1989 my mom bought my sister and me tickets to attend our first Star Trek convention. It happened to be on our 16th birthday in Buffalo, NY and Wil Wheaton was one of the stars in attendance. Needless to say, Kati was excited (I was too but Jonathan Frakes was my favorite. I had to wait until 1994 to see him at a convention). Still it was fun to go to our first convention and Kati stood in line to meet Wheaton. I never thought we would have the opportunity to keep seeing these characters on the screen over 30 years later. Back then the original cast had only been out 20 years past their television finale. Of course the fact The Motion Picture put TOS on the big screen and paved the way for TNG and all the other Star Trek spin offs, its longevity shouldn’t have been that surprising. As the third and final season of Picard is getting ready to air, my love for the franchise keeps growing. And the person Wil Wheaton has become is one of the reasons – his appreciation of Jonathan Frakes is also a big reason.
I just hope no one says, fire at will; because my family likes to pick on me whenever anyone utters that line in a Star Trek episode or movie.
Bills will not be here
Super Bowl fifty seven
Laudable season
Sunshine and blue skies
Chamber of commerce weather
Majestic weekend
Super Bowl 57 is this weekend here in Phoenix. I told Shawn we’re going to take advantage of having the big game close to home for photos. Last weekend we went over to the Goodyear Civic Square to take photos of the LVII sign – much more laid back than trying to get into the NFL experience in downtown Phoenix. No crowd or lines to contend with and I wanted to go before the big game, because on February 11th Goodyear is hosting a super bowl party there. It definitely will be chamber of commerce weather high near 80 tomorrow and they’re predicting 73 for kick off on Sunday.
Stuck in Wonderland
Queen of Hearts not junoesque
Yells, Off with her head!
Fall down rabbit hole
Kaizen – change is gradual
We’re all mad here
The last weekend in January we had a fun adventure with the Alice in Wonderland Experience in downtown Phoenix, following the map and clues created by cluedupp. After four hours we successfully freed Alice from the clutches of the Queen of Hearts. It’s a great way to spend time with family and get in your daily steps 3+ miles walking. I’ve purchased another scavenger hunt activity in Phoenix we’ll be embarking on soon.
Multiple Braces
My right side spastic
growing up with CP
clunky and unwieldy
my night brace
would beat up
my left leg
rolling over in bed.
Then the day brace
made of plastic
to keep my right foot
growing properly
better than the boot
easier to sleep
not good to race
or even keep pace
run, jump, or leap
no longer for me
NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our daily (optional) prompt. Today I’d like to challenge you to write a poem in the style of Kay Ryan, whose poems tend to be short and snappy – with a lot of rhyme and soundplay. They also have a deceptive simplicity about them, like proverbs or aphorisms. Once you’ve read a few, you’ll see what I mean. Here’s her “Token Loss,” “Blue China Doorknob,” “Houdini,” and “Crustacean Island.”
Good afternoon and welcome to day twenty-three of napowrimo where I fiddle with rhyme. The #HaikuChallenge word today is brace and it made me think about my old braces. I’m not sure I capture Kay Ryan’s style well. Here is a haiku I wrote last year about me and why it was a bad idea to play wearing my leg brace.
Jump rope at recess
without removing leg brace
Snaps under pressure
NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for today’s (optional) prompt. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that anthropomorphizes a kind of food. It could be a favorite food of yours, or maybe one you feel conflicted about. I feel conflicted about Black Forest Cake, for example. It always looks so pretty in a bakery window, and I want to like the combination of cherries and chocolate . . . but I don’t. But how does the cake feel about it?
Good morning and welcome to day twenty of NaPoWriMo where I write in the POV of coffee. The #haikuchallenge word today is lose and my earlier version was –
Every morning
She trusts me to work magic
Lose her displeasure
I’m ambivalent over which version I like better. It’s funny because Gretchen wanted me to proofread one of her papers before she left for school yesterday, but she said I was sleeping. I told her she could have woken me up. She said I’d be grumpy (before coffee). Instead she just sent me an invite to google docs to proofread it while she was at school. Then the evil twin sent me her essay to proofread. Hey Kati, personal pronouns should not appear in formal essays! The evil twin has been long out of essay writing practice. There is no amount of coffee available for me to lose my displeasure at reading I, we, us in an essay. Coffee already has a big job in this house. 😉
I beg your pardon
Inspiration wanes
in April poetry begs
me to write daily
Always reply, I
decline for secret reasons
make them beg for why
(borrowed from E.B. White)
Kiss me once, twice, thrice
Write poetry of our love
Beg for more romance
Another Monday
writing poetry in bed
chores beg to be done
Need one more answer
Laundry remains in dryer
Begs for attention
NaPoWriMo Prompt – Last but not least, here is today’s prompt (optional, as always). It’s based on Faisal Mohyuddin’s poem “Five Answers to the Same Question.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own poem that provides five answers to the same question – without ever specifically identifying the question that is being answered.
Good afternoon and welcome to day eighteen of napowrimo. I took the #haikuchallenge word for today, beg and wrote five haikuesque answers. As an extra bonus today here is a link to the haiku pea podcast. Today’s episode is punctuation.
Semicolons
Chance to catch your breath;
Before drowning
As my long time readers know, my family has been affected by suicide. I learned about the semicolon project several years ago. World semicolon day was Saturday April 16. But always remember there is more to your story. Semicolons Important Punctuation. Thank you for taking the time to read my contribution today. I appreciate all my readers.
Soft Caress Beauty Fingers linger She offers a warm smile He breathes in her effervescence Allure
Napowrimo Prompt – Today’s (optional) prompt is pretty simple – a love poem! If you’re having trouble getting into the right mood for a love poem, maybe you’ll find inspiration in one of my favorites, June Jordan’s “Poem for Haruko.”
Good morning and welcome to day ten. Love poem – there are quite a few on this blog. Being out on the west coast, Maureen posts the next day prompts at 9pm for me. When I checked out the prompt last night, I told Shawn; I’m not sure I’m feeling the love today. He went out to pick up some food and I get a text; Is my wallet on my nightstand? Nope, I don’t see a wallet on the nightstand. I look over on the dresser, still no wallet. I turn back to the bed and there’s the wallet on his quilt. He drives back and I meet him in the driveway with his wallet. Then he sends a group text, Dad dash will be late as mom tried to steal my wallet. SMH
For napowrimo I usually start my poems handwritten in my poetry journal, and as I was flipping through the pages this morning, I came across this poem – Pink Rose. And I still love that fourth line and appropriated it for today’s poem. I also used yesterday’s #haikuchallenge for inspiration.
Intense disquiet
Find solace wrapped in his arms
Harbor in a storm
Thank you for reading my day ten contribution even if there it was not inspired by a loving feeling.
First off I’d like everyone to know I will be participating in NaPoWriMo once again next month. However my in-laws will be in town this weekend to celebrate Gretchen’s 21st birthday so the first few prompts may be late.
All this month I was writing my #haikuchallenge pieces about cerebral palsy. I managed it every day through Friday March 25 – National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day. But this past weekend I was busy enjoying an online cooking experience with Chef Michelle Bernstein offered by Cocina Corona. It was a fun experience and we made some excellent food, but it was draining. I’m glad it was Saturday so Shawn was here to help with all the prep work and cooking. It even wore him out as he took a nap afterwards before sitting down to enjoy the feast.
First photo is the glass of sangria with the queso dip prep behind the computer. Second photo is Shawn starting on the chicken thighs. The third photo is the queso dip we doubled the chorizo since we bought a package that was 9 oz and I didn’t have anything else planned for chorizo so we cooked it all and added it. Everyone enjoyed it and I was pleasantly surprised it reheated well the next day too. Shawn with his sangria watching over the tomatoes and peppers sauteing. The chicken is finished and ready to serve. They had a plating comparison, but for obvious reasons my plating has never been artistic. Thankfully my children don’t care how their food is presented. Now that they’ve started cooking and see how difficult plating can be, we joke about it. But none of us are overly concerned about presentation as long as the food tastes great. Chef Bernstein and the moderator check out one of the participant’s plate presentation. Selfie after all the hard work. Last but not least serving the chocolate pudding. Yeah we were worn out and not everything was cleaned up yet.
So Sunday was recuperation day. I did get to the clean up too, and we had great leftovers for lunch. Then today I used the #HaikuChallenge word to talk about my fun weekend.
Pudding skin debate
The piece de resistance
Love it or hate it
Okay growing up my mom did not cover pudding while it set. As we were making the pudding Saturday night Chef Bernstein told us to cover it with parchment paper before putting it in the fridge. I was not a fan of pudding skin growing up, so I had no problem letting my sisters grab pudding first. They took the skin and I had the good pudding. As Shawn was covering the pudding, I laughed and told him, You know that’s going to prevent a pudding skin? Thankfully he still covered it. He never told me which way he fell on the pudding skin debate.
This March I have decided to try to focus on cerebral palsy for the #haikuchallenge word on Twitter. So far I’ve been able to – granted they are not the greatest poems but they’ve all used the daily @baffled word and the correct syllable count.
Learning how to walk
Life with cerebral palsy
Limbs bend awkwardly
March photo contest
Cerebral palsy spotlight
Thank you for voting
Make a difference
This month brings awareness to
Cerebral palsy
March – official month
Focus on brain injuries
Cerebral palsy
Those are the four thus far. And yes, I snuck in my photo for the cerebral palsy alliance research foundation contest. Any long time readers will recognize it is the photo of me I used for the silver birch press Same Name series.
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