tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81508303706361485692023-11-16T04:17:00.946-08:00Hot Air Balloon Express"Purple and orange sails to set me across the sky, with this hot air balloon express, close to the clouds I'll fly"Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-64131046758198255332011-05-14T10:11:00.000-07:002011-05-14T10:11:56.161-07:00Days 28, 29, & 30I'm so sorry for not posting sooner! I have been writing a lot of poetry and today I will share with you my last poems; three short verses inspired by the poet <a href="http://www.brautigan.net/">Richard Brautigan. </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9272758529140893" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dentist Acquaintance </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am sure that if we had met</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">anywhere else,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">we would have become great friends.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Forgetfulness </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I promised that I would not forget </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to give back the hair clip,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">but here I am at home taking it off</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in front of a mirror.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Strawberry Jam</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It would be such a great name</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">for a band. </span><br />
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I had a great time with this challenge! I am going to bind a book with all of the poems from this month. I will post once I have done that!<br />
Thanks for reading, and the support!<br />
<br />
~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-19145145106979696802011-04-26T19:05:00.000-07:002011-04-26T19:05:05.776-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 26Today was damp and dreary and I was writing this sort of damp and dreary poem, but decided to write something a bit less damp and dreary and I will stop saying damp and dreary now so you can read the poem:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.00037221859757752274" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On Life</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some lives burst like the blossoming flower,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">full of color and vivacity</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and scented like the sweetest blooms.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lives that ripen and mature like the choicest fruits,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">objects of envy and high regard;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">these lives like flowers lack not content nor joy,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and end surrounded by their admirers.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other lives spring up among the grasses,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">like a simple cornflower, plain but pure, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and toil, unnoticed beside the milkweed </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">taking joy in simple bliss.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These lives fade like the wilting flower,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">slow and without ceremony.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They go unnoticed and depart</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">but leave their seeds to carry on. </span><br />
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~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-35095129142967827302011-04-25T19:34:00.000-07:002011-04-25T19:34:17.153-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 25Hello~<br />
I have recovered from my need to write angsty poetry and as an apology I wrote something to a sweeter and more whimsical tune.<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5212762907923901" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Arachnida</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spindle legged creature</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">who spins her silken thread;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and weaves her silver draperies</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that hang above our heads.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She knits such lovely shawls </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to drape about the arms,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and sometimes I leave out my socks</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and by morning find them darned.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-39254203304667371692011-04-25T19:30:00.000-07:002011-04-25T19:30:30.143-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 24I think it is an unspoken rule that no poet can go through life without having ever written an angst poem. Well, here it is; I severely apologize in advance.<br />
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8641018810329731" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>...<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All the world is full of fire!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">blurred by abomination,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and reeks of self-suffocating ire:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All hate resides within this nation.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh! wretched thing, oh loathed being:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So immune to noble feeling.</span><br />
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~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-48247688978773812402011-04-23T13:39:00.000-07:002011-04-23T13:39:53.811-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 23It is raining today, but it is a sweet kind of rain. Gentle and quiet.<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9745131068747439" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rain</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When it rains in spring, all is quiet. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The farms and fields are hushed by </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">some sweet lullaby that calms and allays fears.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rain falls in the country like a balm to soothe </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the cold and cracked winter earth,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a live-giving drought that the soil drinks eagerly.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The fields become an old world scene, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a quaint pastoral vision, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a landscape from long ago. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Through this antique glass I cast my eye upon </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the wonders brought out by the rain: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lambs prancing merrily in the cooling drops and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bounding though small puddles. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Their black faced mothers chide them from the barn door.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I see the apple orchard over the hill,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the rows of blooming trees, robust and hearty.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In fall their fruit will yield a mighty harvest.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A pair of ducks court in the little pond o’er</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">yonder, fanning and swimming circles around</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">each other, they do not mind wet weather.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I withdraw from my antique view of the world</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and make for the barn for eggs. My footsteps </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">are muffled in the sodden earth. Yesterday</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I would have started with each step,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">but now I plod on in silent reverie, my thoughts</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">lost in the quiet of spring rain. </span><br />
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~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-63878959240235644802011-04-22T07:49:00.000-07:002011-04-22T07:49:24.302-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 22Happy Earth Day!! (but really, shouldn't Earth day be every day?!)<br />
<br />
This morning I woke up to the sound of birds singing and the moment was so pleasant that I wanted to capture it in words. You know how when you wake up early and it is all quiet in the house and you hear the birds outside, and slowly the house and it's occupants wake and begin to move around? But the birds keep on singing.<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9337291732044689" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">morning</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the birds are singing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">morning breaks</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">all the house is still-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the birds are singing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the house now stirs;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">someone the kettle fills</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the birds are singing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">daylight reins </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">gone is the morning chill</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the house is full of noises</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and the birds are singing still</span><br />
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~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-30540645738305535232011-04-21T17:38:00.000-07:002011-04-21T18:09:11.739-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 21Today is Charlotte Bronte's Birthday!<br />
A poet and novelist, she wrote Jane Eyre (you should all read this!!!) which I am re-reading in preparation for the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8PLpXvhtlc">movie!</a> I think I'm going to see it with my mom tomorrow! Here is a <a href="http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/bronte_charlotte.html">link</a> to some of her poems. (Lost of them are quite long so I didn't post one here)<br />
<br />
And here is today's poem. If you write letters, you might be able to relate to this...<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9431353273098372" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">P.S.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I lingered on niceties that are not necessary with us,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I remarked upon the weather,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(which was not really a must)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">so now all I have to say </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is left at the bottom of the page</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Corsiva; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">nicely-written</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">small-lettered</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> postscript.</span><br />
<br />
~Maya<br />
<br />
P.S. I have had 'Think of Me' from the Phantom of the Opera playing over and over through my head all day!Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-10945329999006187902011-04-20T13:20:00.000-07:002011-04-20T13:20:34.408-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 20Day 20 already! How the time flies! We will be into May in no time.<br />
<br />
Today is very damp and drizzle-y, hence today's poem:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.15941155125984696" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Drizzle</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The clouds stretch out-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">neutral, gray, homeless;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">wandering across the damp horizon</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in search of a place to sleep.</span><br />
<br />
~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-65385924152315930992011-04-19T15:47:00.000-07:002011-04-19T15:47:02.171-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 19I've found that I have been noticing crows around a lot recently. Yesterday I was walking next to the car and caught sight of a flying crow's reflection on the tinted windows.<br />
This poem was sort of inspired by <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15746">Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird </a>by Wallace Stevens.<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.10936081645414297" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Observing Crows</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cawing in the garden</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">they make a handsome bunch</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">of bachelors</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My footsteps scatter</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">them from their morning</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">meal.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hunched and dark,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">they brood on the picket</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fence amongst the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">raindrops and ravens</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A reflection seen in the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">dark of a car window,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I turn to snatch a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">glimpse</span><br />
<br />
<br />
~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-90586678914999972182011-04-19T15:39:00.000-07:002011-04-19T15:39:25.540-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 18Day 18's poem will be brought to you visually! I wrote these silly verses yesterday and drew the comics today, hope you enjoy!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Mellow Yellow</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I bought a yellow bicycle last week when I went to town,</div><div style="text-align: center;">but I fear I'll never ride it for the rain keeps pouring down.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhP2jPeOauKIzHpx2RYOdpBQfrqr9HsSmczeqdQKRjlf6rGSVyXy-u5WWl0GEbCZ0ldO6C4TVOdZ68bwSPJRCwPc3oJbeusr9IkGEXrDUoCrgRvgmVmRqqJ3VCAdrF86A7zZQOL3FxoBM/s320/Photo+on+2011-04-19+at+17.50.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">I made a yellow sundress yesterday in my spare time,</div><div style="text-align: center;">it didn't fit me so I sold it for 2 quarters and a dime.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4E_yD5nBDbzT92JPE_t6H7LuEYWZceLvlPUC7Vw5uqKPxAy4t6r1Xd3J3_KBz-mYXI8wri1cfMLu2RMpQX8si-7bAe03JhkuLPVF2_tVLuSB972p49xJczuGPc3pRz9_YbvbqUSCC-Q/s1600/Photo+on+2011-04-19+at+18.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4E_yD5nBDbzT92JPE_t6H7LuEYWZceLvlPUC7Vw5uqKPxAy4t6r1Xd3J3_KBz-mYXI8wri1cfMLu2RMpQX8si-7bAe03JhkuLPVF2_tVLuSB972p49xJczuGPc3pRz9_YbvbqUSCC-Q/s320/Photo+on+2011-04-19+at+18.10.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I found a yellow pencil today on my daily walk</div><div style="text-align: center;">and traded it and a piece of gum for a blackboard and some chalk.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tNHXoSxr2RiJ1qQ0jxheROwUQCuMhq6taZGlus1WbfuyfBRIL9OwgMc_Nx_vJpdAQNqOzgkjwTC3Wg-aPngZhsngF0CIvkDaql_TySVk2emVyznRhIwQ_lpgIIdRJwKr64RMLxCRoOM/s1600/Photo+on+2011-04-19+at+18.03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tNHXoSxr2RiJ1qQ0jxheROwUQCuMhq6taZGlus1WbfuyfBRIL9OwgMc_Nx_vJpdAQNqOzgkjwTC3Wg-aPngZhsngF0CIvkDaql_TySVk2emVyznRhIwQ_lpgIIdRJwKr64RMLxCRoOM/s320/Photo+on+2011-04-19+at+18.03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And there you go! Sorry that the photos were not in better shape...I did this sort of on the fly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">~Maya</div>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-19841024652991250712011-04-18T10:01:00.000-07:002011-04-18T10:01:16.741-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 17I just want to mention that this vacation week I am dressing up in outfits from different time periods. I was inspired to do so after watching 'A Room with a View' (sooo good!) last night and dressed up in clothing from that time period today...And it's super fun!<br />
So anyway, that little side note was brought on because the poem for today is about this certain article of clothing (shirt) that I always wore when playing dress up when I was younger, and I had to wear it today for my 'room with a view' costume. SOOO, without further ado, today's poem:<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.30614497045928246" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Costume </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was just a shirt;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">White, high-necked</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">button up, with torn shoulder.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I wore it</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I became </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a boy, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a sailor,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">traveler,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Victorian lady,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">merchant,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">gypsy,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anything that our play required.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was fit to travel </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">oceans, and</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">mountains,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">on steam trains,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">horses,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">camels,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">carriages.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A costume essential of mine,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">always in need of repair </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(and maybe a little grimy </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">from constant use).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don it now, (too small</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and missing buttons on the sleeve)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and return</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to who I was </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">somewhere years ago,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">when all I needed to become someone else </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">was an old white shirt,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and a little imagination.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-64847266946975955082011-04-18T09:52:00.000-07:002011-04-18T09:53:47.184-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 16So today, I was excited to see the first of the crocuses spring up in the garden! There are not as many as past years, but the very sight of them made me so happy!!<br />
I was also feeling a little like Emily Dickinson in the poetry world and wrote up a short blurb about the crocuses that went something like this:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5493793516112531" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To the Crocuses </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh! would I were a crocus!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yellow, white, or purple,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">such sweet cherubs of the garden</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">are they!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I do envy how they </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">buoy one’s spirit!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To bring such vernal joy to those </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">who cast their eye upon them,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">would I were a crocus!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Resilient flowers be they; </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">each spring, above the snow</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">they peek their heads, against</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">all odds!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dear, enchanting crocus,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">you are much admired!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
~MayaMayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-46863120912023248552011-04-18T09:47:00.000-07:002011-04-18T09:47:03.322-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 15Hello, hello!<br />
My dear friend Emily's birthday was today and being the friend of a poet, she was gifted with a poem!<br />
(don't worry if a lot of this is lost on you, reader, for we have some crazy jokes between us)<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9543934492386154" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is Not Your Only Gift (aka Emily’s Birthday Poem) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cheers to Emily! All raise your glasses!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Her wit is a sharp as a cuttlefish flashes,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">she surrounds herself with things like mustaches</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and pine cones and breadfish and double rainbows!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She loves Japanese culture and music and clothes,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m practically positive she won’t wrinkle her nose </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">at purple ties, striped socks, or even banjos</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(and when I get one I will write her a song!)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She spends her time reading and drawing and fencing,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">practices the fine arts of sewing and dancing,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the girl is quite good at just being amazing,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a more eclectic companion could never be found!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now every year, somewhereabouts Tax Day </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We gather to somewhat rambunctiously say:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Happy Birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday!!”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I hope you enjoyed your birthday poem, Emily!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Happy Birthday Emily!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya</span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-85949825638414965282011-04-14T18:05:00.000-07:002011-04-14T18:05:14.686-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 14Today my mind was full of snippets of poetry, though, none of them coming together into one complete poem...But driving home this evening I noticed the way that the trees were so dark against the pale blue sky... a nice mental image so I scrawled out this poem on the drive.<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.7893352589334698" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gloaming</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the gloaming </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">trees and houses are silhouetted </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">against the gray blue sky;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the last traces of sunset </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fade into the horizon-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Soft hints of yellow disappear </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">behind the stately clouds </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that slowly move across the sky.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And now a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a Maine poet who grew up in Camden. I just love this poem and have it committed to heart. :)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="80%"><span class="TITLE"><br />
</span> </td> <td align="right" colspan="2" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top"> </td> </tr>
<tr><td colspan="3">Recuerdo </td> </tr>
<tr><td colspan="3"><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"> <pre>We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed "Good morrow, mother!" to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, "God bless you!" for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.</pre></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Recuerdo in Spanish means (loosely) a memory, a keepsake, memento. I never knew what it meant until recently, but now it really makes sense to me. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">~Maya </span></span> </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-20973509680238726812011-04-13T18:20:00.000-07:002011-04-18T13:45:34.281-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 13This evening I went to a poetry reading at my library, and I read Day 2's poem, This Poem Does Not Exist, and a favorite of mine by Edna St. Vincent Millay which I will share with you tomorrow. :) I had a wonderful time (there was cheesecake!) and heard a few really great poems! One poem that was read during the evening was a poem by Ezra Pound which I just loved!<br />
<br />
<b>And the Days Are not Full Enough</b><br />
<br />
<b>And the days are not full enough</b><br />
<b>And the nights are not full enough</b><br />
<b>And life slips by like a field mouse</b><br />
<b> Not shaking the grass</b><br />
<br />
Anyway, I loved it, it sort of puts things into perspective...<br />
And now here is today's poem:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5228491604227188" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Doubt </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It starts, a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">hairline crack that</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">runs up and down</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">your consciousness,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">barley noticeable,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">but there, an</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">infatigable notion.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You push it away</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">again, and again</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">until it breaks, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">opens up beneath you </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and you are falling-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reality a hungry mouth</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">opening wide,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ready to swallow you </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">whole.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I just realized these two poems are sort of downers...I'll try to write a happy one tomorrow!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh! and tomorrow is <a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406">'Poem in your Pocket day'</a>! Carry your favorite poem with you all day and share with friends!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-16830086675380389752011-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:002011-04-12T13:22:24.127-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 12Hello!<br />
Today's poem is sort but sweet, about a very familiar observation for me in the spring...<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.495931942725487" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Peepers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These harbingers of Spring</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sing their shrill and restless</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">song,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tempting me into the warm</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">evening air;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">their voices fill the night. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-37050406926592229172011-04-11T13:29:00.000-07:002011-04-11T13:29:11.264-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 11There was a crazy thunderstorm last night into the morning, and it woke me up and was quite scary at times! I was going to write about that but could not conjure the words for it. Instead, I read my<br />
'Poem a Day' email (sign up for daily poems at Poets.org) and was inspired by a <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22196">poem</a> by Dean Young.<br />
I'm not quite sure how I was inspired by it, I just read the poem and found words for my own.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6264439903780471" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thoughts</span><br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6264439903780471" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thoughts, haphazard, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pasted on the brain in no</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">particular order, like some collage</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">created in 3rd grade;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reaching perfection </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is hardy the goal,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">it’s more like reaching</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a balance, though difficult</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in this helter-skelter world </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that operates at full tilt, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">racing pell-mell, headlong</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">into the next moment</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Just muddled, jumbled and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">cluttered, with knick-knacks</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and brickabrack, what a mess!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spring cleaning otta fix it,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Racing running, forgetting </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fixing, swerving, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jotting mishmash chaos,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There! and I almost just</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">forgot.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
~Maya<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-67739600989772984502011-04-11T13:20:00.000-07:002011-04-11T13:20:51.406-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 10Sorry for not posting yesterday, it was late and I was exhausted!<br />
Anyway, yesterday I went out to the Beaver Pond behind my house and ended up seeing a flying squirrel!<br />
It was so cute, and its eyes were sooo big! See for yourself:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyhOnjhyX2s8mJ-3VhpMO3FPDabZApnPDXWrQCfGF2lglum5tyIMBQ-SbuQkNxz3Al9CvvPImcYCEtxSy8kp9KqTKgQVYM3SY_qxKZ5uRjoZYrL21wAIjI9KkHPr-JrSO-kywfQw3fIXI/s1600/DSCN0001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyhOnjhyX2s8mJ-3VhpMO3FPDabZApnPDXWrQCfGF2lglum5tyIMBQ-SbuQkNxz3Al9CvvPImcYCEtxSy8kp9KqTKgQVYM3SY_qxKZ5uRjoZYrL21wAIjI9KkHPr-JrSO-kywfQw3fIXI/s320/DSCN0001.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
And now the poem inspired by this darling little creature:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.47102254837275515" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Flying Squirrel </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The creature,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">quiet and still, staring </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">with black, round eyes</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that hold my eager</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">gaze,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">shifts down the decaying</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bark of the dead tree,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">just an inch-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No more.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cautious,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> curious.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tiny claws grip the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">dead wood,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fighting</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the urge to remain still</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">yet</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">intent on fleeing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">from his lofty position...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And I wonder wha- </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There! He goes - </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">limbs spread</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">gliding,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> flying,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and into the dead leaves,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">scampering up a pine,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">out of sight.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Quick</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">quiet </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">creature.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-4916403729265059102011-04-09T14:25:00.000-07:002011-04-09T14:25:14.289-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 9Good afternoon!<br />
<br />
Today was just lovely to out writing poems in! It was very warm and sunny, so nice...<br />
Here is your daily dose of poetry (another sonnet!):<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9614990266849192" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Songs of Spring</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Spring the air is full of rhymes,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">our laughter ripe with song and cheer-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in these brief months I often hear</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the song of birds and churches’ chimes.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Spring the air is sweet and warm</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">with the scent of roses on your nose-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the garden abandoned by scavenging crows, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">instead, bluebirds and sparrows swarm.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Spring our eyes are bright with love,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">our furtive glances filled with mirth,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and welcoming the world’s rebirth</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">eyes shining from the sun above.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With every day, the songs of Spring abound,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">our glasses filled, we drink the lovely sound.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-59824641001923426772011-04-08T19:17:00.000-07:002011-04-08T19:17:27.415-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 8Salutations!<br />
<br />
Today I spent the whole day learning about one of my favorite subjects: BIRDS! It was a Project WILD teaching workshop so I also got to learn about some good ideas to teach about birds!<br />
It was so cool, and because one of the things I want to study in college in ornithology, it was really exciting for me. :) <br />
<br />
Needless to say, I have birds on my brain, so my poem today is about the winged ones in question:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.26242475945075217" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Birds</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sing you the song the owls sing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that casts away light and the darkness brings.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Play you to the tune that the curlew calls,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that brings howling wind over wave-beaten shoals.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mark you the loon, mark its mournful cry </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that gathers dark storm clouds to cover the skies.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fly you o’er oceans, take heed of white sail,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fly you by vast mountains of grandeur and scale.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mark you the hush of feathers in flight</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">whose bearers bring mornings and play herald to night.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On another note, I am listening to <a href="http://www.lowanthem.com/">The Low Anthem</a> right now...specifically the song, 'Apothecary Love'. So good.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya</span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-36517945844475749832011-04-07T19:51:00.000-07:002011-04-07T19:51:14.232-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 7Hello!<br />
<br />
Tonight was the opening of Annie Get Your Gun and it went great! It was really fun being in the pit band.<br />
<br />
So for my poem today, I began by just writing what was flowing through my head, but then decided to write a sonnet. (which I haven't done in a long while...)<br />
The format of a sonnet (Shakespeare was famous for these) is a poem 14 lines long, in a 'ABBA, CDDC, etc.' rhyming scheme, ending in a couplet which consists of two lines that rhyme with each other.<br />
There is your English lesson for the day. :) <br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.012909894911191766" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These Hands</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These hands, with fingers spread</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">like unfurled petals, have sewn the seed</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in spring and pulled the stubborn weed </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">with grasping fingers from the garden bed.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These hands have cast shadows upon the wall,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">been butterflies and birds some countless times,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">their shadows cast in playful pantomime,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and flew and chased each other down the hall.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These hands have known the winter cold,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and feared the weary feeling that follows age,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the aches and constant stiffness locks the cage;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">feared being trapped in a body growing old.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do not fear dear hands, of the unknown-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">for though you weather, a child’s will grow.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-13306018829403905522011-04-06T19:28:00.000-07:002011-04-06T19:30:31.918-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 6Good evening!<br />
<br />
I had another long play rehearsal today and I'm just about beat...<br />
<br />
In the Art Club at the school, we are folding paper cranes to raise money for earthquake relief in Japan. You can find out more info <a href="http://studentsrebuild.org/japan/">here.</a><br />
<br />
Coincidentally, my poem of the day was inspired by the simple yet elegant paper birds that have so captivated my attention:<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2627514265790035" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paper Crane</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paper Crane, I will write peace on your wings</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and you will fly all over the world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -Sadako Sasaki</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It has a humble beginning</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">for such a noble creature-</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A single sheet of paper entrusted to</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">patient hands whose nimble fingers</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">form and fold and crease it;</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">like the transformation</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">from silkworm to moth,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> a ritual most mesmerizing...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">now not a piece of paper, but a bird,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> with peace written on its wings.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">~Maya</span> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-25821693063948632242011-04-05T19:26:00.000-07:002011-04-05T19:27:23.960-07:00The Poetry Challenge: Day 5Hola, amigos!<br />
<br />
I was gone all day today! Library, Band, Play rehearsal (pit band for 'Annie Get Your Gun') and just got home! Anyway, I am suffering from writer's block; my muse <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato">Erato</a>, muse of lyric poetry, seemed to abandon me.....<br />
Anyway, today's poem is about that:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.4601229094216944" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Verse on Lost Inspiration</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where hast thou gone,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">my Muse? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Has wanderlust enticed thee</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to leave me thus?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stranded, pen in hand to stare</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">upon a blank page</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">while thoughts cease to inspire? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Canst thou return and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">put end to this maddening lack</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">of creative thought?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Will thou ever return to me?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer, oh Muse!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You will come on your own will</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I suppose...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When you see fit,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">you will inhabit my mind once again;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dear Muse, I await the day!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I can hardly stand the stagnant </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">flow of though that barely runs</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">through my head,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh Muse, remember me!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am still sitting where you left me,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pen poised in hand,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">waiting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-10005268111163384562011-04-04T15:34:00.000-07:002011-04-04T15:34:24.770-07:00Spring...I need you!Day 4 of the Poetry Challenge.<br />
<br />
Today is very rainy and blah out...I really want it to feel like spring...NOW!<br />
Anyways, today I want to share with you a great Longfellow poem (fitting for today) as well as the one I wrote today.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Rainy Day</b><br />
<br />
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;<br />
It rains, and the wind is never weary;<br />
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,<br />
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,<br />
And the day is dark and dreary.<br />
<br />
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;<br />
It rains, and the wind is never weary;<br />
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,<br />
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,<br />
And the days are dark and dreary.<br />
<br />
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;<br />
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;<br />
Thy fate is the common fate of all,<br />
Into each life some rain must fall,<br />
Some days must be dark and dreary.<br />
<br />
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br />
<br />
<br />
Interesting fact: in the Longfellow house in Portland Maine (he wrote a lot of poems there) there is a room called 'the rainy day' room and it is my favorite because it is supposedly where he wrote this poem...pretty cool, you should visit it if you are ever nearby.<br />
<br />
<br />
Here is my poem of the day:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.023021545865351767" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Butterfly</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The butterfly,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">quivering gently on</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">my palm,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is so like a leaf </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that quakes at the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">slightest bit of breeze.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Its copper colors enclosed</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in black, black lines,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">thick and even</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as if a steady hand</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had drawn them</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">with a charcoal pencil.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The simple dark eyes </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">seem to hold a thousand answers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in them;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Live simply,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">they seem to say,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">rejoice in the sweet things,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and tread with light feet.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is as if the wisest guru</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">has come down from </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">his mountain...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">transformed himself</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">into the butterfly </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that now sits on my hand,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">unfurling its proboscis,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">testing its wings,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">readying itself for flight.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And don’t be afraid </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to use your wings,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the eyes seem to say </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as it flashes the copper</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">colors and lifts off. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>~Maya<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150830370636148569.post-89830389360462048432011-04-03T15:20:00.000-07:002011-04-03T15:20:47.009-07:00Poetry Challenge: Day 3Hello! I have a poem for you today, but first I want to talk to you a little about my day: I went skiing (thanks to this new snow) to demonstrate Nordic ski technique for this video my 4-H club is making. Then I went to town to work on my <span style="font-size: x-large;">ukulele</span> that I am making with my friend and her dad (!!!!!!!). It's so amazing!! I will be sure to post about a MILLION pictures of it when I am done.<br />
And then I came home and wrote this poem, just for you:<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.4810322418949907" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">White Walls</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spots of color mark their place </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">like dog-eared pages,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">where our colored pencils touched</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the white walls. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of boredom</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or reason to fill the time</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">we took to the them,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">marking up the pure white with</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">colorful blemishes.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whimsical images </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">flung about the room,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">splashing color on the white,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tiny bits of memory contained </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in a single scribble of blue </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or green, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or pink, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">where our thoughts were once </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">delayed, if only for a moment’s time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Maya </span>Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09015468388142833143noreply@blogger.com1