NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 27

Really? A sonnet? An American sonnet you suggest, NaPoWriMo? I had a day. So here ya go.

Woke up this morning wanting to paint
Wanting to use the vacuum cleaner
Not wanting to think it had been awhile
Made breakfast to let me feel normal
Sat down and painted a landscape
some clouds, some blue sky, some hills
why so pastel hills, I wonder
why is my palette so messy? so of course
I spent time cleaning all the corners
dug out two blues and spread fresh paint
Noting that a couple tubes were almost spent
Of course I went to the art store and
then the grocery store, just to feel normal.

From the Quote Box:

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. — Harriet Beecher Stowe

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NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 26

I had good intentions of getting stuff done this morning. But I guess my brain needed to decompress after all the legal-news-watching yesterday so getting up and out didn’t happen. Instead mom and I had an early dinner and then I tried to take us to see Cohoes Falls and failed not once but twice to get into the right lane to stay on 787 to get to Cohoes so we had a lovely tour of downtown Troy and spent a warm few minutes behind the Arts Center looking at the Hudson.

Then I came home and celebrated TGIF. These two haiku went out on a postcard as part of a yearlong poetry exchange.

Never a postmark
your words come to me again
unsullied

On the flipside
exotic destination
momentary trip.

Posted in Do the Work, family and friends, haiku, In the neighborhood, life around us, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, taking time to look, the creative process, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 25

I think we’re all seeing the finish line in sight. Can’t you imagine the ears pricking a little as the head and eyes come up? Go go go April poets! You can do this!

Today NaPoWriMo.net challenged us to take the Proust Questionnaire (see also here). It had been awhile, so I printed it out (how analogue) so I could look it over in between listening to the SCOTUS oral arguments today. I didn’t get to it until afterwards, but maybe it had been simmering overnight. I jotted down a couple quick answers but didn’t see too much coming of it but then the very last question:

What is your motto?

That had a clear answer! From the quilt annals of 2002…

Always be learning.
Practice. Persistence. Beauty.
Always do the work.

Posted in badass-ness, Do the Work, haiku, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, quilting, RESIST, Ripped from the headlines, the creative process | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 24

Lunch with Mom today because Wednesday is Greek Food Day at our Alexis Diner! Then home and the light was nice and it wasn’t too chilly so I sat out and watched the front yard change.

Yellow light slanting
in afternoon across lawn
blue shadows sap green

red wine seems chilly
afternoon shadows deepen
with glints of sunset

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NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 23

I have no idea what prompts were offered today. I messed around with bird feeders (one crook totally fallen apart, one squirrel baffle undone, hummingbird feeders hung albeit early). I transplanted the cheery little tulip ahead of a visit from the propane company. And indeed, he showed up today. Time will tell if the tulip survives.

it’s ok to be silent
to wait for something
to happen by
here is some sunlight
over there one red tulip
in the tree, many birds
it’s ok to be here waiting
being quiet amidst the birds
many clad in brown and gray
but there goes a cardinal
now the coffee is gone
and soon I go too.

And now, obligatory black cats.

Posted in cats helpful cats, deadline, Do the Work, gardens and flowers, In the neighborhood, life around us, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, taking time to look, the creative process | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment