#NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Ten

Soft Caress

Beauty
Fingers linger
She offers a warm smile
He breathes in her effervescence
Allure

Shawn and I recreate “The Kiss”

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.

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#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty Three

Pink Rose by Shawn Hosking

Pink Rose

Sweet dreams
She sleeps soundly
Wrapped secure in his arms
He breathes in her effervescence
Love drunk

NaPoWriMo Prompt = Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that responds, in some way, to another. This could be as simple as using a line or image from another poem as a jumping-off point, or it could be a more formal poetic response to the argument or ideas raised in another poem. You might use a favorite (or least favorite poem) as the source for your response. And if you’re having trouble finding a poem to respond to, here are a few that might help you generate ideas: “This World is Not Conclusion,” by Peter Gizzi, “In That Other Fantasy Where We Live Forever,” by Wanda Coleman, “La Chalupa, the Boat,” by Jean Valentine, or “Aubade: Some Peaches, After Storm,” by Carl Phillips.

Good morning and welcome to day twenty three of #NaPoWriMo. Okay I wasn’t exactly getting into this prompt. I’ve replied to other poems before and didn’t really know who I wanted to read and respond to today. When I checked Facebook, I was reminded it’s Shakespeare day. But he’s a little over done. Then I checked my blog stats and saw someone read a post from #NaPoWriMo 2018; I started going through those posts and right near the start of the month Day Two I see I wrote a poem using Romeo & Juliet and responded to a poem Shawn wrote. So it hasn’t been six years since Shawn wrote me a poem; I’ve cut it down to three. The title of today’s poem comes from the photo and one of those silly games – Every Woman is a Flower. Apparently I’m a pink rose.

Love’s in the Air  2018

In the soft light of the night
It’s exciting to see you breathe
In effervescent waves
The rise…
The shudder…
The fall…
Of lungs full of love
Drunk with pollen’s pleasure

© Shawn Hosking 2018

#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Eighteen

Wicked Intent

Passionate Shepherd
Outlaw on a poem walk
His third try to charm
She is not easily wooed
By obvious turpitude

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our (optional) daily prompt! This one comes to us from Stephanie Malley, who challenges us to write a poem based on the title of one of the chpaters from Susan G. Wooldridge’s Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words. The book’s  table of contents can be viewed using Amazon’s “Look inside” feature. Will you choose “the poem squash?” or perhaps “grocery weeping” or “the blue socks”? If none of the 60 rather wonderful chapter titles here inspire you, perhaps a chapter title from a favorite book would do? For example, the photo on my personal twitter account is a shot of a chapter title from a P.G. Wodehouse novel — the chapter title being “Sensational Occurrence at a Poetry Reading.”

Good afternoon and welcome to day eighteen of #NaPoWriMo. Thirty years ago today Shawn and I went on our first date. We went to the movies and saw The Marrying Man – was that a clue for our future? A couple years later my mom got us tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera up in Toronto and a short time after that, I received a poem in the mail signed – The Phantom. You know it’s not advisable to “steal” poetry to woo your girlfriend who is an English major. The day we read the poem in class I started laughing; I do believe Shawn wanted to send an obscure poem I would not recognize. He probably would have been better off borrowing from a contemporary poet.

Ahhh.. But Shawn is not the only person to borrow something without permission. 😉 After thirty years, I’ve learned a thing or two.

#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Fifteen

Mom in 1967 when my dad was in Vietnam. Six years before I was born.

Twice Married

Mom always said,
You’ll live until you’re twice married
Whenever her children fell down
A phrase I found quite peculiar

Mom always said,
You’ll live until you’re twice married
A phrase I found myself repeating
Whenever my children were upset

Mom never said,
You’ll live until you’re twice married
My twin would not pass it down
After her second marriage

Mom always said,
You’ll live until you’re twice married
She hoped we’d all live forever
Never contemplating divorce

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today’s prompt comes to us from Juan Martinez. It asks you to think about a small habit you picked up from one of your parents, and then to write a piece that explores an early memory of your parent engaged in that habit, before shifting into writing about yourself engaging in the same habit.

Good afternoon and welcome to day fifteen of #NaPoWriMo. My mom always had little catch phrases like, “I’m blind in one eye and can’t see out the other;” “if it had teeth it would have bit you;” and my favorite, “You’ll live until you are twice married.” A very cute one I found myself repeating to my own children while they were growing up. I always thought it was odd, but never really thought too deeply on its meaning. Then one day my sister said, I never tell that to my children because I am married twice. So…? The phrase is actually conveying you will live a good long life because 1) you won’t get remarried or 2) you’ll get married a second time after living a long, happy life with your first spouse and they’ve passed away. There was never any contemplation of divorce in the saying. Oh well, I still use the phrase because yes, I’m still happily married to spouse #1. 😛

I also remind my children, Life’s a b@$#% and then you die. Maybe a little insight to marriage number one not being happily ever after, 😉

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Eight

Jacob and Lindsey Wedding Alwun House – Shawn Hosking Photographer

Love Potion

Wedding
bride and groom step
forward to recite vows
reception happiness abounds
Allure

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Let’s take a leaf from Shelley’s book, and write poems in which mysterious and magical things occur. Your poem could take the form of a spell, for example, or simply describe an event that can’t be understood literally. Feel free to incorporate crystal balls, fauns, lightning storms, or whatever seems fierce and free and strange. Poetry is like that (at least when you’ve been reading Shelley!) If you’re in search of inspiration, maybe you’ll find it in this poem by Louis Untermeyer, or this one by Kathleen Graber.

Good afternoon and welcome back to #NaPoWriMo day eight. I slept in this morning so I got a lot start on today’s prompt. Any guesses where I was yesterday? Yes, Shawn and I attended a wedding and Shawn was one of the photographers. It worked out for me though, because another friend helped me with the buffet and kept me well supplied in beverages. I told Shawn he needed to pay him for taking care of me. It was nice not trying to balance a plate of food and walk back to the table. Of course I learned years ago, I don’t care how dressed up I am, my feet will be in sneakers. It just makes it easier to walk. One of the pictures Shawn took was everyone standing in front of Alwun House. I really tried to sneak to the back, but it didn’t work. Shawn showed me the photo, but I didn’t check to see if the sneakers were visible.

Well I have some housework to do since I’ll be starting work tomorrow and I won’t have all the time to procrastinate as usual. I can’t believe no one told me April 7 is no housework day. Actually made yesterday’s poem work out even better, but I was doing some housework before we left for the wedding.

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Two

 

Sweet Rose

Sweet rose
Juliet pines
over stranger she met
unaware he hears her below
Love blooms

Sweet rose
shall I compare
her to its soft petals
I reach out unaware of thorns
Love fades

 

Good morning and welcome to day two of #NaPoWriMo. Shawn finally got the photos he took Saturday night uploaded. Though when I went to go pilfer a few for this post, I realized he had more video than pictures. Yesterday Shawn used the photo of the rose as inspiration for his poem and I complained there was no mention of his lovely wife – Shall I compare thee to a rose? He said, I was trying to work in a Romeo & Juliet angle; rose, second story window, in front of a theater, but alas there is no balcony. Since he failed on that front, I think he should have compared his wife to the rose – her cheeks are as rosy pink. 😉 Except he mentioned something about the thorns.

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Taking a cue from our craft resource, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that plays with voice. For example, you might try writing a stanza that recounts something in the first-person, followed by a stanza recounting the same incident in the second-person, followed by a stanza that treats the incident from a third-person point of view. Or you might try a poem in the form of a dialogue, which necessarily has two “I” speakers, addressing two “you”s. Another way to go is to take an existing poem of yours or someone else’s, and try rewriting it in a different voice. The point is just to play with who is speaking to who and how. Happy writing!

Love’s in the Air  2018

In the soft light of the night
It’s exciting to see you breathe
In effervescent waves
The rise…
The shudder…
The fall…
Of lungs full of love
Drunk with pollens pleasure

© Shawn Hosking 2018

Personal note – I edited Shawn’s poem. I think he meant breathe but he had breath. Not sure where I was going with my verse today. I played with 3rd pov and then 1st, but it isn’t exactly a rewrite of Shawn’s poem. It’s just what popped in my head this morning after we discussed Shawn’s poem yesterday.

Happy Valentine’s Day

 

I heard Shawn playing this clip this morning. I thought I would give him a Valentine’s day poem to match.

Men read poems and duck
fervent
women release heavy objects

Honestly it’s not my fault, the #haikuchallenge word is release. My tweet was –

Tangled between sheets
beast with two backs in search of
climactic release

Actually these are not far off of previous Valentine’s Day poetry.

Penis Envy

Jackass Artist

Don’t you just feel the love between us. 😉 Shawn did make me a nice cup of coffee before he left for work today. ❤

Happy 19th Anniversary

 

The Happy Couple

Horsing around

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There once was a happy couple redound
to silly antics and horsing around
all smiles at Oktoberfest
knowing they are truly blessed
for in nineteen years their love has abound

 

NaPoWriMo Day 4

Old Ailments

There was a young lady pretty in lace
Who wanted her beau to run past third base
to prevent wandering womb
I must make him my groom
Better not suffer from bicycle face

Bicycle race

NapoWriMo Prompt – And now for today’s prompt (optional, as always). Love poems are a staple of the poetry scene. It’s pretty hard to be a poet and not write a few – or a dozen – or maybe six books’ worth. But because so many love poems have been written, there are lots of clichés. Fill your poems with robins and hearts and flowers, and you’ll sound more like a greeting card than a bard. So today, I challenge you to write a “loveless” love poem. Don’t use the word love! And avoid the flowers and rainbows. And if you’re not in the mood for love? Well, the flip-side of the love poem – the break-up poem – is another staple of the poet’s repertoire. If that’s more your speed at present, try writing one of those, but again, avoid thunder, rain, and lines beginning with a plaintive “why”? Try to write a poem that expresses the feeling of love or lovelorn-ness without the traditional trappings you associate with the subject matter.

I’ll admit I didn’t know where to begin with this one. Yes, I write love poems every year at least twice (Valentine’s Day/birthday poem in February and anniversary poem in October). A few years ago I started writing anniversary limericks. One because Shawn enjoys limericks and two because I need to stretch my rhyming muscle. After I read today’s prompt, I went on Facebook and a friend (thanks Kris) linked this article. I knew there was a reason I never learned to ride a bike. It had nothing to do with cerebral palsy and total lack of balance. 😉 But now I am going to have to warn my girls about bicycle face.

Swallowed Whole

The end of this month marks one year since the loss of my brother-in-law. Then a month later, my cousin, Ken, passed away.  We were traveling to El Paso that day to spend time with Nonnie (my mother-in-law) while the girls were on winter break.  This August my mom passed away.  She had gone through pictures and set them aside for each of us sisters. In my batch, I found a Thanksgiving picture of the Hosking/Dougherty clans (my twin’s family).

Thanksgiving 2001

It is now up on the kitchen cabinet for this Thanksgiving. And this past weekend we were hit with another tragedy as we’ve lost another cousin.  I posted a picture of him and my twin and me on Facebook for throwback Thursday.

Me, Craig, Katryn
Summer 1990

News of suicide
hit hard by reality
tears open my heart

Plummet in despair
Black swallows all radiance
Snuffing out your light

Despondent reach out
Distance felt between us grows
Death cannot be breached

It’s been a very rough year.  I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers.