FF55 3/14/14 From Around a Corner

    " Perhaps      he'd hoped
 so they all crowded  
 onward to-      

At last      he found  
The beauty was
Upheld

Not for sale     sadly,
Could you expect
Really

Another was possibly     they inquired
at the beach    but Mother said
"Adieu"

Afterwards Sally called       to add-
Mystery      you know it was!

The bus was late      If only
 the weather -"


                                    The challenge was to write about hearing parts of a conversation.
                             Not a breathless rush, but continuous!  Hope you can piece
                            the puzzle together roughly!          ( travel +weekend+house+ family )

FF55, 3/7/14, ' Quiet Many Trees, Not Many People'

"I would like to be full of peace in a beautiful place like that."
Young men gathered contemplating a photograph ' Winter in New England'.
               
What could you say to people who feel " Empty as an eggshell"
from spiritual exhaustion, PTSD and living in war ?            
                
 Constant trauma, plague, floods,poverty. System of corruption
from broken people.
               
                   
                      A scene compilation from magazine article :
                      UUWorld ;  Spring 2014.  Living The Faith,
                      Following my moral compass, Erika Nonken
                      Pgs 8-11.

FF55 2/28/14 One Hot Morning

A red and white Pegasus sign
dances outward over  

Two bay doors  .    
 I cup hands to peer in a musty office.
                       
 Oil cans along a shelf
above a punch button register.

 I can see the corner          
 of a covered car                    

like a jewel green Valiant
my Father and brother share

for parades and sometimes Sundays. 

FF55 2/21/14 At the Station

 Bundles of brown air
 turn like heavy fur
 along iron curves
 rising over cement
cyclops engine hums
nose bulging above rails.
A small caretaker
wool figure in jungle green
fitted jacket and hat is turned
to study her charge
When the bell and cry
 for boarding comes
she curtsy's
gathering up her case.

                             
                                             
                       Reading more prompts in the craft poetry book: suggesting we
 " Think cinematically". This maybe a rework from a few years ago- it is a scene
 that felt like it needs/ed, reworking.

                                      

FF55, 2/14/14, Downtown

She reaches an arm across their shoulders
turning the young away from windows of idling cars        
luring them into a diner on 10th
to feed the body
before offering them a job washing dishes.      
Finding them clothes from a closet
showing them a bed to sleep in,
encouragement to stay in and study at night .  




                      Been reading prompts in a poetry book and they were saying
we could look around for an alter ego- that would mean- being urban, and a night owl!

FF55 Drag your Brag laughing

Beyond town of white houses      
friends run aisles of corn
over rat tails, feathers and leaves

Six miles, past the railyard
cackling like cattle bones
about thieves and hobos

Sweat dries like sky
at Sampson's farm
corn turns purple in fall

you swim a bend of river
when corn is high enough to lose people.




                                      Building tension and spookiness was the topic of a chapter in
 this book I am reading on poetry. I just had to try this because tunnels are weird!

FF55 Catch up- How are you ?

Hippity hop- clippity clop,
New Year!

Fresh paint on the kitchen walls-warm yellow.
Deep red freshener on lower cupboards.

Bank still doesn't know what they will do for us
eleven mos. later...
Hubby has surgery pending-he doesn't want it.

I'm walking everyday and riding a little.
Writing, Art and Church,quilts, all happening!

FF55, Aug. 1 '13 Once again

 You trip over the rails of family traditions
gripping the pails of starch required to straighten and whiten shirts
flip stacks and racks of books searching for facts
rip up requests for soiree's in favor of tennis and standings
unzip the history of this family and turn it inside out
exhaustive microscopic studies, may help...

FF55 Laryngitis

What kid had the temerity to shake my hand
or give a hug- and pass on a slippery slimy bug!

What adult had the lack of manners
 to show up and snap at me " I may not stay-"
Instead of "Hello" and "Nice to see you!"

 maybe the end of our  Friends and Family picnic-






                                                 

FF55, Day after Day

90 million blades of grass
weaving in the heat,
spinning underneath a mower
 Whirrr-rrrr-

Gasping in the hot
grasping at the fence
rolling- RRRR- all
the tall metal frames up-

Splash and Ahhhh-
 into warm pool water      
swish you swim, back and forth
 beneath the blue and gold

 15th day of 2013 Summer Heat Wave   !                             

FF55, 7/12/13 Starting at 7am, On the 4th

The tent frame went up on the sidewalk
It took 1/2 an hour to locate the top!
We carried table, chairs, coolers and soda
to Main Street.
Fortunately we had shade from a maple
and a breeze to ease 93+ and humidity !
We watched a colorful parade 
and sold stuffed baked potato's for Church.

FF55,7/4/13 Surprise!

We set sail on this journey
months ago
a constant lullaby of

"A-nesting -we-will -go"

Duck Mom is small round  
 brown with black flecks.

Duck Dad is upright
blue grey Indian runner.

 I had given up
Until Monday opening the door
out trundled:  

Five black with blond chests
Five grey with yellow feet     !              

FF55, 6/21/13. Pleading for Mercy

To have a kind relaxed eye,
an open mind
and willing heart
after struggling
to undo a lifetime of knots.
" I am just so tired"
A black man says,
"The tension and watchfulness
we hold against
the world each day."
He says." Constantly
being questioned on
purpose and intention."
Our presence,
Who are you and why ?


                                         Another interesting essay from July issue of The Sun;
                                       covering a black Professor and writer.
                                       I can so relate to this on a gut level .

FF55 6/14/13, Please help me remember!

" Stand up straight-" Chucks me under the chin.
"And speak only when spoken to-"

 I was lucky to get a whiff        
of my Mother's perfume, 
or a quick press of hands
as my parents sailed out the door.

Gone were lullaby's
stories, back rubs before sleep ...

"Don't forget to practice on those you love, today!" 


                                      

Believe it or not
 When you were raised by arms length parents, 
You have to try and remember to reach out 
and touch; even ask for hugs!

FF55, 4/19/13, Once Upon An Easter,

I could lie-
and tell you Easter was eating and eating
jelly beans and chocolate eggs!

I was going to Church,
but ended up constructing
a storage cabinet for my sister in law.

At lunch, there was an easel
covered in paper. 2 year old Gabby
and I took turns with crayons,chalk and markers!

FF55 3/22/13, With a Friend,Monday

There was wind, fumes and many cars.
Piles, piled up :14 rims.

Free and clear engines, tipped this way and that. 
The mechanics were only disassembling.

A man carried a door, overhead.
One wagon was chock full of twisted tubes.

The map led us to the right year, wrong make.
No gas pedal assembly here !

FF55,3/8/13, Mystery and Maze

I love the solid comfort
 of numbers you can hold
coins, blocks.
And word problems:

 4 apples at 16 cents-       
Or a car traveling 45 miles an hour
going 90 miles from
Sandyhook to Millersville -

And I liked measuring
more than scary insubstantial
formulas of geometry,
trig and calculus
How did I ever pass them?



                                            Never saw a way out of the maze.
However thanks to many tutors all through College I made it!

FF55 3/1/13 How Many Blacksmiths ?

Grey is down in speckles and stones
A carriage propped for two wheels

A horse foot raised, rasped,
near a fire and bellows.  

A Silo needs its cap,
four yellowy houses are framed.

Church has half its steeple.
Orange fields are begun

Red trees curving,
Blue sign stretches

along a big barn
with white doors.



 
                                                       It has been an exceedingly dingy, wet week.
One thing to detest about the end of Feb....However this puzzle has lifted my spirits
on several occasions! There are two burly Blacksmith's in this picture-maybe they are brothers ?

FF55, 2/15/13, Daily bread

       A handful of beautiful clear colored chips
held out as a fan of playing cards.
Fiery hell to enlightenment                  
and everything in between!
We may pass dark hunger,
anger to rapture. A day interwoven
white tranquility, toned into laziness at times.              
heat from animality to hell,
purple learning into violet realization.
Overlapping kaleidoscope of galaxies
 to inner worlds.



                I cannot say I am attached to this set of
beliefs over another- however I am reading a book called
 "The Buddha in your rear view mirror" Quite appealing
 in the sense this school does not ask you to change your
stripes- or spots- as many Spiritual paths often do- No pretzels!  

FF55, 2/8/13, Under bright blue skies .

A broad road, bordered by scruffy poplars

and pines.Nestled between trees, I find

a large round speckled boulder that I lean

against.A tremor rises violently

behind me and I leap away.

It splits and I face a glossy nose

and huge eyes of a baby dragon .

"What"- I gasp, "Shall I feed you?"