Two on summer

first one

and then another —

cicadas

 

dutch door —

the dog noses open

the bottom half

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Published in Akitsu Quarterly: Summer 2016 (http://www.wildgraces.com/Akitsu-Quarterly.html), 6/16/16.

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12 radical reasons to write poetry

Returning for an encore, my “virtual guest-blogger” today is Kelly Belmonte with another thought-provoking, poetry-related list! :- D

All Nine

For most of the first two decades of my business career, I bifurcated my interests between “professional” and “creative.” In retrospect, this was a big mistake and a root cause of much unnecessary tension in my life.

I am a poet and a business professional, and only recently have I realized the benefit of crossing these streams. Now I am a shameless and impassioned advocate for the poetic voice as an integral player in an integrated life. Even those who think they are incapable of writing more than a text message might benefit from a little mingling of right brain and left brain.

Here I would like to offer just a few of the best reasons to give a go at writing a poem every now and then.

1. Brevity

Poetry, in most cases, is a shortened form of expression. What may take pages of prose, you attempt to do…

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June evening

June evening . . .

the music of birds

getting ready for bed

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Rhododendrons

head in the clouds . . .

without warning

rhododendrons

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2017/06/haiku-about-ways-we-experienced-may-23.html), 6/1/17.

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Country airfield

country airfield

formation of geese

coming in for a landing

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“Haiku in the Wild” at Llamapaloosa 2017

Each spring, Aurora Alpaca and Llama Farm in Ottsville, Pennsylvania, has a day of llama shearing called Llamapaloosa. In addition to vendors and craftspeople and llama cart rides, this year’s event included two dozen of my small haiku signs (mobiles? mixed-media sculptures?) that are part of a project I call “Haiku in the Wild”. (By “wild” I mean outdoors — haiku that has leaped off the page and gone outside for the public to enjoy al fresco. To see a haiku in nature is to see both haiku and nature in a new way — or so I believe.  ;- )

Of the 24 haiku I installed, here are a bunch of my personal favorites, to give you a sense of what “Haiku in the Wild” looks like.  :- )

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos!  :- )

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For more about Aurora Farm: http://www.auroraalpacasllamas.com.

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Rainy week

rainy week . . .

lawns become fields

of buttercups and violets

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12 practical excuses for reading poetry daily

My “virtual guest-blogger” today is Kelly Belmonte, an insightful poet who shares 12 very good “excuses” for making poetry a part of your daily life! :- D

 

All Nine

For many busy professionals, reading poetry is not up on the daily to do list. And if it is, it is somewhere down in the “nice to do” part of the list, around number thirty-seven perhaps, somewhere after “take out trash” and “file nails.” Even if you like poetry (or love it, as I do), it may be more of a guilty pleasure than a “must do.” It is on your vacation list, your beach book list, your when-work-life-balance-gets-sorted-out list. If that is the case, the “12 Most Practical Excuses for Reading Poetry Daily” list is definitely for you. Here you will find all the excuses you might need to respond to those inner or outer critics who do not understand why you would want to make poetry one of your everyday “to do’s.”

1. I’m working on the brand called me

A book of Basho’s haiku casually placed on…

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Colorful haiku

my mug sky blue

and hers lime green

. . . this steaming berry tea

 

she pauses to twirl:

the little girl

in the raspberry dress

 

like five sisters:

a row of orange maples

tall and strong

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2017/05/colorful-haiku.html), 5/1/17.

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Mann Library: jazz musician

Mann Library’s Daily Haiku, 4/30/17.

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