NaPoWriMo 2016

Sing a Song of Age with Me

lillian32 Comments

I am eight syllables of rhyme.
A wannabe decimista
addicted to my barista,
tap dancing through life double-time.
Old age is not a paradigm.
I wore polka-dot underwear
during yesterday’s love affair
with life, eating savory tarts,
cotton candy and red hot hearts.
Life’s too fun for a rocking chair.

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Gayle hosts dVerse today and asks us to write a Decima: 10 liner, 8 syllables per line, ABBAACCDDC rhyme scheme. Popular in Puerto Rico, many times decimas are created and sung on the spot in competitions. Think duelling banjoes only with words! Performers are called decimistas. Humorous decimas usually satirize an individual’s weakness or something silly they did. Photo: me a number of years ago at the Boston Pops 4th of July concert.  I do love life! 🙂 Also used for NaPoWriMo Day 21.

Snippets of High School French

lillian7 Comments

Patisseries,
le chocolat and savory too.
Do not knead de pain,
only le fruit
from le menu please.
Modeste? Ordinaire?
Moi?
I choose le joi de vivre.
Life can be
as the saying goes
a piece of cake
or, in my way of thinking,
le gateau and
the entire boulange!

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A “Kenning” poem written for NaPoWriMo Day 20. A kenning is a riddle-like metaphor….a circumlocution. In this case — life is like a boulanger (a bakery) — step right up and choose! 🙂 I last took French in 1965 — intersting the phrases I remember. And for those of you who are Christmas lovers, I can still sing the first verse of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in French. Ah, my teacher would be proud 🙂  Photo credit: Jendo Reversal

Celebrating 241Years

lillian29 Comments

O ye daughters and sons of liberty,
these stairs do creak
neath the weight of history’s tale.

Paul Revere didst wait that eve
to see the revolution’s wick,
waving light from Old North’s spire.

Two lanterns carried high
two horsemen urged on with alarm,
signals all to freedom’s dreams.

Gather ye now and every year,
honor patriots of battles past
and those who hero now.

Raising voices strong
in songs of country’s pride,
our enduring land of liberty.

A “folk poem” for dVerse. Written April 18, 2016, exactly 241 years after the occasion immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. The Lantern Ceremony has been held for the past 139 years at Boston’s Old North Church, an active Episcopal congregation to this day.  Paul Revere was a member and arranged for the sexton Robert Newman and vestryman, Captain John Pulling Jr., to climb the steeple stairs pictured here and signal with two lanterns, if the British were approaching by the Charles River. This sparked Paul Revere’s infamous ride to warn militia and ultimately, the first shots of the American Revolution. Also counting as NaPoWriMo Day 19.

Photos: my spouse climbing the steeple’s stairs at Old North. We are fortunate to be members of this historical church and attended the April 18, 2016 Lantern Ceremony: fife and drum corps, historical reenactment, recitation of Longfellow’s poem, a featured speaker, lighting of two lanterns at the altar. The lanterns are then processed through the church and carried up the steeple as they were that night. The ceremony concludes with the singing of America and America the Beautiful. I can truly say it is a magnificent evening — for me, more moving and inspirational than the 4th of July. And I love the 4th of July! If you’re ever in Boston on April 18th, I urge you to get tickets in advance and attend! Last photo is taken from Copps Hill after the ceremony last week.

Videos: Both from the 2015 ceremony — they are always similar except for the featured speaker and those honored to be the lantern bearers up the steeple.  The first is from outside the church.  The second (church is lit by candlelight and this is an amateur video so it is somewhat dark) shows the rousing conclusion of the ceremony — with just the first verse of America — all verses are sung.

 

 

 

This Ain’t Kansas

lillian49 Comments

You blew into town,
slicked back hair, muscle shirt.
Swaggered in with a cocksure grin,
ordered whiskey shots.
Tom Jones dropped in the jukebox,
pulsed heart throb beats.
Women groveled, blushed and fawned
Me? I dropped the cue,
clicked my heels and sashayed out.

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A quadrille (44 words) written for dVerse Poet’s Pub. Grace is tending bar and asks us to think about the word twister.  Also applying for day 18 in NaPoWriMo. Photos are two free images fused together.

Psalm

lillian6 Comments

Sing
out
this psalm.
Faith is bold
in voiced melody,
a joyful noise unto the Lord.
For we are humble in means and raucous in belief,
sing praises now and forever.
We are one in prayer
one in voice.
We hope
trust
love.
We
believe
in power,
the healing divine.
In our hands the tools, the science
in yours the guidance, the wisdom, all spirit and love.
Your miracles walk among us
and we are grateful.
Sing boldly
unto
the
Lord.

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This is a Fibonacci Spiral Poem. Both the number of lines and the number of syllables for each line are dictated by the form. The poem is meant to be centered in presentation. Written for day 16 NaPoWriMo. Dedicated to Louise, Tom and Carol; and in thanksgiving for every day. The photo is from a beautiful church in Tallin – taken on our Baltic Cruise several years ago.

undone one

lillian25 Comments

Double bed
two crowded,
they shifted to a king.
Never to touch again.

She said double or nothing,
hoping to return
to their double standard
sheets and colorful duvet.

He walked out the door,
double helix done.
One line veered off the path
unraveled, broken, gone.

Double-paned glass installed
shut out shout outs.
Final jeopardy achieved
immunity from pain.

Doubles life, double downed.
Left alone she was.
No one else.
None, no one but one.

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NaPoWriMo Day 15: a poem that incorporates the idea of doubles.

Life on the Wall

lillian41 Comments

Can the rough stuff on the wall.
Spray it rough, slingin’ words. Crap tough graffiti.
It’s me sprawled here. My stuff. My hustle.
Sling the crap y’all. This ain’t no conference call.
Life sucks, no shit. And you’re no prize, sweetie.
That paint’s my soul. Hands rough from slingin’ shit.
Are ya listnin’? I can scrap the words and shift to muscle.
Shit happens and guess what? I’m still here takin’ the hit.

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Photo Credit: Audrey Johnson. A San San (means three three in Chinese) written for Day 14, NaPoWriMo.  A San San is a seven line poem, ABCABDCD rhyme scheme with three “terms”  repeated three times. Also written for dVerse Open Link Night!

Forecast Error

lillian12 Comments

Once delicately balanced
upturned to the sun,
finely veined plumeria petals
lie strewn across the path.

Last eve’s maelstrom winds
unexpected. Wreaked havoc.
Battering, felling
these blushing blooms.

Perfumed scent mingles
with rotting leaves.
They shall decay
and disappear.

I trusted you,
until you became another.

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National Poetry Writing Month continues with day eleven’s prompt: write a poem in which you closely describe an object or place, and then end with a much more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does. Photo Credit: Bert Grantges.