NaPoWriMo – Day Four

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Mary Beth Frezon

Had a nice dinner with Mom. Beautiful sunset which I watched with a police car watching me. One other person stopped by for a few minutes to snap a few photos. I kept waiting to be told to ‘move along’ but I think the officer was probably watching what I was watching. Here, have a sonnet-ish thing. Sunset photos in the next post!

In My Pocketsies

Even though, it turns out I’m not going
anywhere today. Again. Staying home
because that’s the thing we’re all doing. Uh.
So, even though I’m staying home again.
I get up, do all the things, put on clothes.
comb my hair and then — this is the surprise:
I put things in my pockets like normal.
Well, normal is such a slippery word.
I thought about this today, my pockets,
more specifically the fact I carry
three pens with me, and a small notebook too.
Two in a pocket, one on my neckline,
I’m ready to snare whatever words are
trying to sneak by. Oh — I am ready!

Posted in clouds, Do the Work, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, Ripped from the headlines, sonnet, stash, sunsets, taking time to look, the creative process, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

NaPoWriMo Day Three

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Mary Beth Frezon

Thank You For These Groceries

I always cooked before, and
then I stopped. Mostly stopped.
I didn’t give up eating.
Nor were there no bags
of hopeful pasta, apples
and good sharp cheese.
In solitary pleasure
this week I’ve sliced and
diced and blanched,
washed and stirred.
I rise to make breakfast.
I sit down for dinner.
You ask: I stopped why?
The reason no longer matters
so I am taking it back,
bowls and spices and knives.
And today, with no one,
I ate, grateful for food and
time and reason to be grateful.
Glad my hands remember.
Thank you for these groceries.
Thank you for letting me
remember the pleasure
of cooking and eating.
Thank you for this food.
Amen.

Besides doing some cooking and dishwashing (and even a work meeting…), I went out and painted from my car today, in the rain, because… outside.

Finally, I went into my sewing room tonight, thinking maybe I should make a few face masks after all and I pulled a few fabrics, then gave up for the night in part because I had this creepy feeling that I was being watched…

Posted in cats helpful cats, clouds, Do the Work, food, In the neighborhood, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, Ripped from the headlines, taking time to look, the creative process, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

NaPoWriMo Day 2

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Mary Beth Frezon

Today was more about picking up a grocery order and unpacking some shipped fruits and vegetables but this was yesterday:

Picnic in Time of Isolation

Having carefully packed my
ham and cheese sandwich, the
packet of crackers, the
thermos of hot tea,
I sit and picnic in the car.
In the late day slant
the tips of my front yard birch
are pink and sparkling while
lower branches move with birds
grabbing last seeds from the
feeder there. I have to duck
as I pass but now it’s busy
with sparrows and red-wings and
finches, and there’s a dove.
I sit in the warmer car,
thermos cup on the dash,
savoring the mustard and how
someone, oh me, toasted the bread
and carefully cut the
resulting sandwich in two.
The ground is thick with empty
seeds but the grass is greening
and the daffodils glow in the light.
Soon tiny solar lights will twinkle
on above the front door,
welcoming me back and I’ll pass
beneath the several vee’s of
birch trunk, ducking on my way home,
hands incensed with the sacredness
of a single mandarin orange.

Posted in Do the Work, food, gratitude, In the neighborhood, lunch, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, sunsets, the creative process | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 1 redux

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Mary Beth Frezon

Went for a long paint this morning and then a drive this afternoon. The place I’d hoped to paint near sunset was packed with people. People! Stop that! Stop that right now! so I kept going and took a few unfamiliar turns until I saw some new stuff and then I’d found familiar roads again and was home. I balanced listening to press briefings with watching a live reading of two poems by Billy Collins on facebook.

How you doing?

Threat of snow is past –
fences rolled and tossed
on unkempt roadside hills,
left to pick up another day
perhaps at first mowing.
Think we all could use
some fencing these days
wobbly or rickety maybe but
set with good intent
to keep the world from blowing us
clear off our feet
clear into some next county
of anxiety and news overload.
In the meantime, may I offer
a field of rolled hay bales
left to moulder by a
gentleman farmer,
golden in the late sun?

Posted in clouds, Do the Work, en plein air, In the neighborhood, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, taking time to look, the creative process, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

April the First – Day One NaPoWriMo

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Mary Beth Frezon

I’ll be sending off poems on postcards this April but I’ll still be posting a poem a day here. That’s the plan! So here’s the official start.

the tears start up and
so fly up the hands
the northern palm
fitting precisely,
one for each eye.
are tears secret?
are tears secret
no matter the cause?
kind words, fear
the endless uncertainty
the grace of sun
the blow of daily
yet up fly the hands
to hold back tears
strength of walls
will of rocks
what of the river?
what of the sea?

Posted in cats helpful cats, Do the Work, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, the creative process | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment