NaPoWriMo 2026 Day 4

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Mary Beth Frezon

Is there such a thing as live-reporting in sonnet form? I guess there is now!

I rode high in the bright tow truck
looking around my neighborhood
while the tattooed driver drove on
watching messages popping up
we descended from the plateau
and below willows were gold and
maples threw flowers before us
a red carpet we passed over
we chatted about his new truck
his first new anything he said
and my old fiat and its tricks
he said – there’s a nail in that tire
that’s all it took to punctuate
the week that had been chaotic

Generic tire service waiting area view with stacks of tires.

Posted in 418 Petersburg, Do the Work, In the neighborhood, landscape, life around us, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, sonnet, taking time to look, the creative process | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

NaPoWriMo 2026 Day 3

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Mary Beth Frezon

NaPoWriMo suggested writing on an unlikely aspect of a profession – like a farmer that doesn’t like vegetables and I couldn’t help thinking of my pleasure at cleaning and oiling my sewing machine after sewing the other day. I love the math and arithmetic and I love working and understanding machines.

for years I’ve sewn yards of fabric
many miles of thread all colors
enough to explore space I guess
I’ve counted the days in bobbins
I’ve rough measured bright patterned cloth
I’ve auditioned all the purples
There is a wall of colorful
options waiting for their moment
But underneath it all — my joy
the geometry and triangle math
the counting of pieces to cut
the labeling and ordering
and the cleaning and oiling of
the machine I work with daily.

sewing machine cleaning in progress. Machine with bobbin area open. oil, tips, special screwdriver and brush sit to to left

Posted in Do the Work, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, process, quilting, sonnet, the creative process | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

NaPoWriMo 2026 Day 2

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Mary Beth Frezon

Today’s prompt from NaPoWriMo was

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem in which you recount a childhood memory. Try to incorporate a sense of how that experience indicated to you, even then, something about the person you’d grow up to be.

brought this memory to mind so you’ll just have to imagine that deep voice coming out of the darkness.

dad’s face outlined in fire orange
where all backyard fades to history
here we sit around the concrete
block fireplace he built to burn
the papers and scraps and torment
here in the peaceful summer dark
here we gather our family
there may have been some marshmallows
he gave us long branches, sharpened
to a point with his pocket knife
and blew out his own burning puff
savoring bitter carbon sweet
and he sang – oh shenandoah
always a surprise to the last

abstract looking photo of bits of light and random refracted by a glass drawer handle

Posted in Do the Work, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, sonnet, taking time to look, the creative process | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

NaPoWriMo 2026 Day 1

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Mary Beth Frezon

Here’s April again so here comes NaPoWriMo. Not sure if I’ll be able to stay with longer form all month but let’s start with a sonnet.The NaPoWriMo site prompts to try a Tanka but this is a stretch for me so let’s go!
We all have priorities!

this morning the water drops cling
to the mug’s speckled sides, gently
curving, gently sitting, waiting
for the pour of coffee to start
more splashed water on the counter,
the kettle holds an inch or so
some of it glossy in the sink
and still steaming it swirls up
softening the kitchen edges
the cats attend their breakfast bowls
the first intoxicating notes
twined with grinding exercise
sound and scent blending with water
and finally all in one cup.

water drops on the side of a speckled mug, much shadowing

Posted in cats helpful cats, coffee and tea, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, sonnet, the creative process | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Happy Birthday J.R.R

Posted on January 3, 2026 by Mary Beth Frezon

And may hope stay with us in the new year:

…the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.

~~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Book II, The Land of Shadow.

clouds

Posted in Lotr, reads, what I'm listening to, words | 1 Comment