Ways We Perceive Our World

Hello Dear Ones!

This has been a fascinating week of revelations.

It all began while reading Kate Clayborn’s book Love Lettering. (A charming book about the complexities of relationships, all types of relationships. Well written, it has great characters & a well thought out and designed storyline.) Kate’s prime characters each have, as do we all, their own unique ways of perceiving and responding to their shared world. His passion is for numbers. He sees, thinks, defines, even eats and breathes numbers ~ their shape, use, complexity, simplicity, malleability. Her passion is for letters ~ the structure of them, colours, textures, fluidity, use. She sees them everywhere: in books, on billboards, store signs… Not the compilation of letters into words, but as a standalone piece of art when shaped into a uniqueness all on it’s own with a variance of font shape, design, thickness, even emotion. For example, have you ever read a book where the opening of each new chapter has the very first letter larger than the ones following it, often bolded with swirls & curlicues, some shaped like balloons perhaps interwoven with vines? That letter sets the stage for the emotions and the experience you’ll have as you read that particular chapter!

Anyway, to get back on topic here… all of this had me contemplating how I perceive my own world. After much thought but no resolve, I let the idea go. Then one night through the week a dream woke me up ~ the answer right there. My ways of perception are through curiosity, satisfied through the use of the camera lens and my own eyes, and presented back to me in the words of poetry. What a precious revelation! I think, eat, read, play, perceive everything as a poem – usually the potent brevity of a haiku style. And you’ll often find me tapping out syllable counts with my fingers. I have to keep a notebook & pen with me at all times!

Once I was comfortable with my own method of perceiving my world, I began to look around me. My husband and I talked about it, and he shared that he sees his world through patterns. My best friend sees her world through connections or links that flow one into another. I can imagine that Vincent van Gogh saw his world through colour. Leonardo da Vinci likely through function and structure.

Each one of us unique. All of us see our versions of this world from our own perspectives. With each perspective we have our own unique perceptions. And that makes for a rather complex world if we are all seeing things so very differently. There’s a tale about the perception wheel worth reading. My husband Mike tells it simply and well here.

So I bring my post back to you, Dear Reader. What are the ways you use to perceive your world? When and how do you find yourself happily obsessed with the world around you? Anything you’d care to share? Do drop a line to let me know. I’d be delighted to learn of your particular style!

In Light & Laughter

Marcia

 

Poetry at Play

Hello Dear Ones!

Recently I’ve had the privilege of expanding my poetic skills with the coaching, guidance and inspiration of several fellow Twitter poets. I was encouraged to commit to writing a poem a day through 2020. Well, we all know how that year unfolded! For me, it was a series of lessons, of deep diving within my own being. Powerful! Not only did I succeed at the commitment, but I have continued to do so daily  since! And it wasn’t all doom and gloom. There has been a great deal of play in reading the works of others as well as in my own writings. Especially the writing of my favourite ~ the haiku: a Japanese-style poem of 3 lines &17 syllables, usually in a 5/7/5 format. 

Just yesterday an online friend challenged me to write a 3-word, 3-line haiku with the required 5/7/5 syllable count. Three words! Yikes… it meant I had to come up with two 5-syllable words & one 7-syllable word and to make it actually sound like a coherent thought or series of thoughts!

Here is what I published after much playful deliberation:

incongruencies
infinitesimally
extraordinary

You know, it actually was really fun to do! The fun aspect is what encouraged me to use that theme as my topic today.

Referring back to a post written by me several years ago. I chose a snippet of that article as an example of Poetry at Play. Though not haiku, it is a technique I’ve often taught to youth and to folks new to writing their own poetry.

Here’s the description:

Envision an 80 something woman with long ringletted hair, wearing a sun-faded yellow, broad brimmed hat with wilted blue silk flowers. She sports an aged gingham print summer dress hiked to her knees, showing off her rolled-down support hose while riding a rust-red bicycle. She hums a tune that has her smiling. Though you do not recognize the tune, imagine it to be … any tune you choose. Possibly: “K-K-K-Katie, Beautiful Katie, You’re the only G-G-G-Girl that I adore” … Or maybe: “Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googly eyes, Barney Google with a wife who’s twice his size” … ( yes, those really were songs that were popular in her day!)

Now, make a poem from the above as it inspires you. Make it playful, fanciful, light, loving. Yes, you can make it sad if you are so moved … yet my hope for your expansion today would be to show you how easy it can be to become poetic – in every aspect of your life, from the frying pan’s sizzle to the awe of dew drops on the first crocuses of Spring – and to do it playfully as a child might.

Here are a few examples from my own inspiration:

The yellow hat brim flapped and flapped
Against her cheek it slapped and slapped
The bicycle chain it tapped and tapped
As the old woman hummed a tune.

Or how about?

The blue flower wilted, drooping sadly
Rolled support hose retracting badly
Little old lady peddling madly
Humming gladly.

Or this one?

Yellow hat and wilted flower
Hair in ringlets a winded mess
Support hose rolled beneath the knees
Above the knees a gingham dress.

I’ll leave you now with, hopefully, inspirations floating around in your own mind. Go find that pen and some paper or open up your word processor and have fun!

So today, this 19th of February 2021, I wish you a play-filled weekend!

Happy poeming…

In Light and Laughter

Marcia

A Year in the Life … revealed …

Hello Dear Ones!

Two years ago today, on the Sunday of Canada’s Victoria Day long weekend of 2009, I stepped onto the retreat grounds of Queenswood and an incredible journey began … leading me to write my first book:

A Year in the Life of a Bus-Traveling Poet

It has been – and is still – a magical journey, one in which you, Dear Reader, took an active role … as one of my dearest inspirations! That’s why I thought to stop by today to share this exciting news with you … my book has been published and is now available for sale!  You can check it out here: http://bit.ly/buspoet (paperback) or here: http://amzn.to/buspoet-k (Kindle version)

And, as a tantalizing little bonus for you, a glimpse of one of my very favourite sections: Continue Reading →

Poetry ‘n’ Pics III

Hello Dear Ones!

My book  – A Year in the Life of a Bus-Traveling Poet – went to the printers on June 29th. Blessings be, we beat the deadline! Since then I’ve been filling all my spare time writing poetry galore! Lots to include today … enjoy! Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – Poetry ‘n’ Pics II

//poetry and pics / the perfect combination / revealing one’s heart//       (senryu)

***//origami gift / crafted by my husband’s hands / and his loving heart//       (senryu)

*****//music from teen years / saddle shoes and bobby sox / worn out from dancing//     (senryu)

*******//moss and river beds / happy childhood memories / sense of scents recalled//       (haiku)

//listen carefully / revelation of  wood lore / songs of the faerie//       (haiku)

***//candy apple red / country fair transport to buy / candy floss pink//       (haiku)

*****//loving intention / energy expended then / tossed away like scrap//       (senryu)

*******//patio table / only patron a wee bird / any scraps for me?//       (haiku)

//sunlight reflections / car windshield captures brilliance / kisses passersby//       (haiku)

***//beautiful sun dogs / early evening summer gift / divine rainbow arc//       (haiku)

*****//summer night cruising / revving/ antique car engines / not for girls / for grills//       (gogyohka)

*******//deep breath draw to me / scents of summer fragrance lush / exhale winter thaw//       (haiku)

//simple village life / ensconced amidst gentleness / neighbour / greets neighbour / with smiles//       (gogyohka)

That’s all the poetry I have to share for now, Dear Ones! Create an incredible week for yourselves!

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

(Note: new to this post? Please go here to learn more about my apophysis fractal art work and the various poetry  styles shared today.)

Poetry Corner – Poetry ‘n’ Pics!

Hello Dear Ones!

Today’s Poetry Corner is being dedicated to a new category within M&M’s Musings: Poetry ‘n’ Pics.

Seems that two creative passions vie for my time and attention each day – poetry and fractal artwork. Many of you who know me through Twitter will be familiar with my micropoetry.  Individual tweets of my poems get sent out in that fashion on occasion. Yet there are days – like today – when I write six, nine, a dozen or more! I don’t like overloading inboxes with tweet after tweet of my verse.

The majority of you would be unaware that I also do art work through the computer. Many of my pieces have found their way to our Flickr site (click on Fractals: my work shows up under Marcia’s Apophysis Galaxies). Here are two of my favourite pieces – the Beribboned Buddha plus Mother and Child: Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – Haiku Galore!

Hello Dear Ones!

If I submitted a tweet for every haiku I write, everyone who follows me would see my smiley-faced avatar umpteen times a day. It also means I’d not have time to do much other than write haiku and enter tweets in to Twitter! I tweet enough as it is without adding an additional load to my followers’ HootSuite or TweetDeck or other such options!

As a result, today’s Poetry Corner will offer a compilation of the haiku and related styles of micropoetry that I have recorded the past week. They are provided here in the order in which they came to me.  Haiku subjects vary moment by moment in topic for me – just the way my mind works and my heart connects to all that is in my life. You’ll notice there is seldom a common theme: with one exception – the Progressive Haiku poems (seen as #progressivehaiku in Twitter) that have an emotional series or chain of thought over several stanzas from sadness to joy.  Enjoy! Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – One Breath Per Line

Hello Dear Ones!

An dear e-friend and great micropoet through Twitter: Tina Nguyen has recently inspired several of us to get into a more extended style of Haiku – known as Gogyohka:

Gogyohka is a new form of Japanese short poetry, founded and pioneered by Japanese poet Enta Kusakabe. Gogyohka is pronounced go-gee-yoh-kuh (the “g”s are hard as in “good”), and literally translated means “five line poem”. Gogyohka is five lines of free verse on any subject matter. There is no set syllable pattern, however the poem should be short and succinct. The goal is to compellingly capture an idea, observation, feeling, memory, or experience in just a few words.

Gogyohka is a fun and easy form, making poetry writing accessible to everyone, including children. Yet it is challenging as a method of practice for self-reflection, contemplation, and distilling one’s thoughts. Continue Reading →