poetry

The Art of Painting a Picture

staying on task 041219
Art Work by Lisa Tomey

The Art of Painting a Picture

First: you find a place
clearing of the dining table
placing a protective cloth
feeding the dog

Second: get your supplies
sorting through the art closet
moving the ironing board
piling up the non-art stuff

Third: you put all supplies on the table
sitting down, you realize you did not make tea
making tea you look at the art table
watching the cat drinking from your water bowl

Fourth: you sit down with your tea and proceed to paint
focusing on your subject matter, you start
before your brush finds the canvas
you are blowing off cat hairs

Fifth: sitting back in your artist’s chair
resolving to put your brush to the canvas
you hear that familiar sound
tapping at the door, the dog wants out

Sixth: do not, under any circumstances
give up
dip, move, dip, move,
soon it will be done


Today’s National Poetry Day Prompt comes from Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides Blog: “For today’s prompt, take the phrase “The Art of (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “The Art of Writing,” “The Art of Painting,” “The Art of Showing Up to Parties Fashionably Late,” and/or “The Art of Being Awesome.”

poetry

Treasures of Life

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Art Work by Kayla

Treasures of Life

Folklore and such regard the number 13 as cursed but I say it’s not.
Have you ever found anything justify this to be true?
We had to write an essay about Friday the 13th and this was a mystery.
My baby brother was born five years after me; Mom bought him a t-shirt with the number 13, so there you go.
He was never less than anybody.
He was my heartbeat and each day with him was a treasure.

May I tell you about this boy I treasure?
When he was born, they gave me a choice to go to kindergarten or not.
I made the best choice of anybody.
The thought of having my little baby brother all to myself brought me such joy.
Nowhere was where I wanted to go.
Why anybody would not want such pleasure would be a mystery.

Something happened after my baby brother was born and it is a mystery.
While it was one of those unknowns of nature, it only made us realize that life is a treasure.
He had to have an operation to survive and give life a go.
There never was a negative, doubt or belief in the word of: not.
We all celebrated this precious boy, brought to this world to bring us such joy.
We would have loved if he didn’t have challenges, not to be wished on anybody.

All I knew is that I was as fortunate as anybody.
Although it would remain for us to solve the mystery.
It was important to celebrate each joy.
You learn just how much to treasure.
And deny those things which mean not.
For all the things that give you the go, go, go.

Mother had limits on how she could go.
She did not want to trouble anybody.
Complain, never one time did she, not.
Somehow it all worked like a mystery.
She taught us to care for children was a treasure.
She sang when she cleaned house, keeping time with her flip flops, such joy.

They taught us that life and children brought joy.
We learned that if we wanted to be somewhere, we had to find a way to go.
To have a soul in our hands was a treasure.
We were role modeled not to complain or brag about our lives to anybody.
To live is to accept that life has many a mystery.
And to give up on life is a great big not.

To treasure your life is to know perfect joy.
To never hear not is to know it’s all a great go.
If you ask me now if I could ever love anybody I can tell you that love is a mystery.

—–

Today’s National Poetry Month prompt is from Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides: for today’s prompt, write a lucky number poem. Some people have lucky numbers, some don’t. Wherever you fall on the lucky number spectrum, you can still write a poem about the phenomenon of lucky numbers and/or luck in general.

Inspired by Aruna Murumurthy and her lovely book of Sestina Poetry: Puppet Dolls, having participated in her Sestina workshop, I am trying to pen my first Sestina. To learn about Sestina you can go to Poetry Foundation or to Poetic Asides Each site has a slightly different point of view about the Sestina.

poetry

Monet at Night

My Post - 2019-04-04T214836.517Monet at Night

Restless in his sleep
dreaming of pastels and muted seams
lasting into the night
as he chases away the darkness
holding for the light of day

Needless to wonder
when you see the creations
those dreams become masterpieces
from the master’s restlessness
ever charging his mind
into the day of light

Is it any wonder
when I first saw his works
Monet made me cry

…..

There you have it! This is my Poem A Day Challenge completed for Day 4 of National Poetry Month.
Prompts come fromRobert Lee Brewer’s Asides Blog

For today’s prompt, pick a painter, make him or her the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Uncategorized

The Golden Mean – I think I got an A

man standing on rock during sunset
Photo by Mathew Thomas on Pexels.com

Taking notes in his class
was much like drawing pictures
diagramming the thoughts Father Figge expressed
was the best way of understanding
in my opinion
or so I think it was
Why do they give tests in philosophy?
Think about it
if you dare
Somehow
I managed to explain the Golden Mean
and passed his class
but
I heard that the best learning
was in the after class gatherings
at the local pub
Not one to imbibe and shy of wheels
sadly
I had to learn another way
to make the Golden Mean
uh
mean something

…..

This weeks prompt was to write a philosophical poem. Here’s the Monday Poetry Prompt

Of course, I had to look up what exactly was meant so I looked up what a philosophical poem is. Here is what I found: What is a philosophical poem?