Free Hugs Poem

Hi Folks:

A wonderful gift from our friend Glennis. We are both awed and honoured!

Free Hugs
_________

Free hugs…
by the edge of the Harbour
on a Summery Sunday.
Open arms
that have
crossed oceans and continents.

Arms that…
have cradled infants,
fought wars,
prayed
and driven cars.

Arms that…
have held ice cream cones,
have stolen
and given
and written letters of love.

Arms that…
are strong,
tanned…
frail arms.

Arms that…
swim in warm lakes,
held books,
planted crops
and picked flowers.

Arms that…
have loved,
felt hate,
rested
and toiled.

Arms reaching out
for a free hug
by the edge of the Harbour.

Free hugs…
imprinted on the soul,
carried home
to
every corner of the world.

How beautiful.

Glennis Taylor, 2019

Hugs back!!
M&M

Victorious Voices, 2017!

Victorious Voices 2017

Hi Folks:

Last week marked the 8th annual Victorious Voices Festival here in Victoria! We missed the first two years, but we’ve been stalwart supporters of the event ever since. If you want to read our previous posts on this amazing creative blending of people and talents, you can find them here. Back in 2013 Mike wrote his first (and so far, only) slam poetry piece in honour of the courage of the many young people who perform during this event. If you’re interested, you can find that here. Continue Reading →

Victorious Voices 2016

Victorious Voices

Hi Folks:

April 13-15 marked the seventh year for Victorious Voices, and our fifth year of being able to attend! A part of Raising Voices, hosted by the Victoria Poetry Project, Victorious Voices is a spoken word poetry competition for high school students in the greater Victoria area. It’s a way of giving students a voice and showing them how to use it, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s about writing, creativity, cooperation, teamwork, literature, presence and so much more, and Victorious Voices is a competition in the original sense – from the Greek competere: “to strive together”. Whether performing individually or in teams, the poets are encouraged to bring forth the best in themselves and each other. Continue Reading →

Victorious Voices 2015

Hi Folks: This is the third of three posts on recent cultural events we attended here in Victoria… last (for now) but definitely not least! As we’ve written before, the range of activities available here continually amazes us. Last Saturday for example one could choose from:

  • Creatively United for the Planet Festival
  • Taking Poetry to the Streets Walk
  • Seed Exchange at the Central Library
  • Swan Lake/ Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary Annual Native Plant Sale
  • Astronomy Day at the Royal BC Museum
  • Weekend Market at Bastion Square and the Saturday Market at the Hudson Building

and those are only a few examples.

So, in that spirit… Continue Reading →

Victorious Voices, 2014!

Hi Folks:

Earlier this month Marcia and I were pleased to attend the 5th Annual High School Slam Poetry contest known as Victorious Voices. Started by Jeremy Loveday, this fifth year had contestants from more schools than ever before, and this is wonderful news!

Slam poetry was founded by Mark Smith (So What!) in the late 1980s. For those new to slam poetry, the competition rules are fairly simple. Each poet (or team) has three minutes to present their poem. Following that is a short grace period, but going over that time results in a time penalty. All poems must be original and poets can read their work, but props and costumes are not permitted. A few poems this year (or rather parts thereof) were sung, something we’ve not seen before.

Continue Reading →

Small Stones

Hi Folks:

Friday November 1 was Mindful Writing Day according to the people at Writing Our Way Home and it was also our introduction to a form of writing known as small stones.  From the site,  “A small stone is a short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment.”  As photographers, our photographs for the most part are momentary vignettes, small slices of time or experience captured in an image and this style of writing attempts the same only with words.  Some styles of poetry – micropoetry or haiku for example can use this approach, but they need not do so and small stones need not be written in poetic style.  Some excellent examples of small stones can be found on the blogzine a handful of stones.  As for us, we’re still learning this style and so it may be that some of our stones need some polishing, but we’re having fun with it so far.  Here are a few examples from us:

Marcia:

moon roof opens
plump fingers slide into view
as the son rises
blond haired toddler
the light of their lives.

last breath of scent
in blossom full
as leaves release their lives
to flash their own glory
one last time

Autumn leaves masked her path. Rain pelted down as peacocks preened under cover of the gazebo.

Mike:

The soft gentle curve
of her body
as it folds into mine…

Sweet scent of her hair
and the quiet even rhythm
of her breath in sleep…

The best place in the whole world.

Under the gazebo a woman in a bright red raincoat chats on the phone while three peacocks stand by, patiently waiting their turns.

The Great Blue Heron on the pier sits and watches the couple who stare past and do not see … while the harbour seal laughs a silent laugh.

If you’ve written some small stones or other prose/poetry we’d love to read them!  Leave us a note in the comments below.

Hugs,
M&M

For Marcia…

Hi Folks:

Eleven years ago today Marcia proposed to me – down on one knee and everything. After much deliberation and careful consideration (all of which took about ¼ second), I said ‘Yes’.

We continue to say “Yes!!” to each other every day.

I wrote this poem for her and wanted to share it with you:

Every morning,
as you awake,
I caress your fingers
with my face…
and know we two are loved.

Happy 11th Anniversary, Darlin’!!

Forever and For Always,
Me.

Victorious Voices Returns!!

Hi Folks:

One of the ‘challenges’ of living in Victoria is that it’s such a culturally rich, diverse place to be that there are times we want to befriend Hermione Grainger.  We’re sure she’s a lovely young woman, but our ulterior motive would be to see if we could borrow her Time Turner.  We’d even invite her along; she could just slip the chain over all three of our heads…  One case in point is that this past week marked the 4th Annual Victorious Voices High School Slam Championships.  Mike was able to be there last year, but Marcia wasn’t: an event we wrote about here.  Monday night was the Semi-Finals, with eight teams from five schools, plus a ‘wild card’ team made of students from other schools.  Monday night was also the monthly Pen in Hand Poetry and Prose Readings at Serious Coffee in Cook St. Village.  Tuesday night was the Youth Slam at Solstice Café, but there was also a talk at the Royal BC Museum (with Sierra Club BC) on the ecology and preservation of the Flathead River ecosystem in southeastern BC.  However, nothing was going to keep us from attending the Victoria Event Centre on Wednesday night to attend the Victorious Voices Finals.

Continue Reading →

The Land of ‘Up’

Hello, Dear Readers!

Marcia here.  I’ve been having a delicious conversation – in poems – with a friend and I wanted to share one segment of that with you!  Enjoy!

wiggles & jiggles & giggles galore
laughed ever so hard & still wanted more
so in order to keep the momentum flowing
i thought to record what i thought to be knowing
as i reached for a pen something soft i did touch
it startled me ever so, ever so, ever so much
that i started to giggle all over again
realizing where i was now & where i had been
my feet had been planted quite firm on the earth
yet with all of our banter, camaraderie, mirth
bubbles of giggles expanded inside
and with highest vibrations taken me for a ride
with my head in the clouds and my toes in the sea
what touched me was water, yes water! you see
and i know that you know what i know to be true
’cause we live magic lives, we decidedly do
the water of life fills our glorious cup
for you see we are blessed in the world of UP
In Light and such glorious Laughter!
Sending Rainbow Hugs your way!
Marcia 🙂

Being Poemed

Hi Folks:

Our good friend (and amazing poet) Wendy Morton can sometimes be found at the various branches of the Greater Victoria Public Libraries, ‘poeming’ people.  Basically, she engages the individual in conversation for a few minutes and then she writes a poem about him or her.  We caught up with Wendy at the main library downtown on April 28 and had the chance to be ‘poemed’ by her.  We thought we’d share what she wrote about us, with you…

Marcia

Now that I’m retired
I have more time to write,
more time to watch the golden finches
fly from the branches of the cherry trees.
And time to walk
time to be quiet.
I go to art galleries,
go to art walks.
What we love most,
is giving away Free Hugs –
we go down to the inner harbour,
give away hugs to people at random.
I’m learning slam poetry.
I’m learning everything!

Wendy Morton
April 28, 2012

Mike

We live in a world where people are
so afraid of touch.
How can we live without contact?
We went to the inner harbour.
Two guys on standup paddleboards
came up for free hugs, then
paddled off.  Once a guy got hugged,
went back and got his whole family.
We’ve hugged the whole world.
We’ll keep doing it.

Wendy Morton
April 28, 2012

Thank you, Wendy!

Hugs,
M&M