Poetry Corner – Description as Mood Food

Hello Dear Ones!

Last week on Poetry Corner I wrote about each of us being the poem in our everyday lives. Expressing our individuality through our uniqueness. Taking pride in all that makes us special, allowing us to stand out in a crowd – even if only a crowd of one – ourselves.

I also touched briefly on my pleasure at reading quality description – stand alone paragraphs, phrases and poems that ignite the reader’s senses to flare into action. A well written piece can actually activate a physical response as though the body itself was experiencing the event first hand. Craftily complied phrases about food should have the mouth juices flowing. Expressions of tactile origin can have you scratching an itch or brushing an invisible spider from your shoulder or rubbing your fingers and thumb together as though that rose petal truly lay between them. Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – Poem or Poet?

Hello Dear Ones!

What do you think of when someone mentions poetry? Love? Longing? Beauty? Pain? Maybe even humour – particularly if you think of limericks:

There once was a man from Tumeric
Who liked his stew spicy and very thick
He sprinkled in some hot pepper, then more
Took a swallow, then swore
What he said can’t be used in a limerick.

The use of words is the storyteller’s and the poet’s craft. The tools of the trade are a writing instrument and a source on which to write. No expensive purchases or overhead costs are needed. The heart, the brain and a goodly skilled ability to utilize language is fundamentally all that is required. That’s it.

A storyteller uses his or her skills to weave a tale that captures the reader/listener and hold them spellbound till the final word. Description and storyline are essential. Believable characters are mandatory. Dialogue is optional. There is a beginning, most often a climax and then an ending to each story.

A poet has two options: to tell a brief story using the same structure as the storyteller, but in fewer words; or to take one descriptive element – what would be a paragraph to a storyteller – and grant it the grace of standing alone. Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – moving into 2010

Dear Ones,

Last week’s Poetry Corner honoured women poets and their Christmas poems. This week, so close to New Year’s Eve, I thought to offer the same honour to the male poet counterparts. Alas, there were such sad, depressing and angry poems written by the men that I had a hard time finding any poems at all that resonated with optimism and the love of the past year going and expressing excited potential of the year newly to arrive. All, that is, but the one I’ve recorded below by Robert W. Service – whose last stanza fit the very mood I hoped to create as the baton of love changes hands to another year of possibility:

The Passing of the Year

 

by Robert W. Service
Jan. 16, 1874 – Sept. 11, 1958

 
My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,
My den is all a cosy glow;
And snug before the fire I sit,
And wait to feel the old year go.
I dedicate to solemn thought
Amid my too-unthinking days,
This sober moment, sadly fraught
With much of blame, with little praise.

Old Year! upon the Stage of Time
You stand to bow your last adieu;
A moment, and the prompter’s chime
Will ring the curtain down on you.
Your mien is sad, your step is slow;
You falter as a Sage in pain;
Yet turn, Old Year, before you go,
And face your audience again.

That sphinx-like face, remote, austere,
Let us all read, whate’er the cost:
O Maiden! why that bitter tear?
Is it for dear one you have lost?
Is it for fond illusion gone?
For trusted lover proved untrue?
O sweet girl-face, so sad, so wan
What hath the Old Year meant to you?

And you, O neighbour on my right
So sleek, so prosperously clad!
What see you in that aged wight
That makes your smile so gay and glad?
What opportunity unmissed?
What golden gain, what pride of place?
What splendid hope?  O Optimist!
What read you in that withered face?

And You, deep shrinking in the gloom,
What find you in that filmy gaze?
What menace of a tragic doom?
What dark, condemning yesterdays?
What urge to crime, what evil done?
What cold, confronting shape of fear?
O haggard, haunted, hidden One
What see you in the dying year?

And so from face to face I flit,
The countless eyes that stare and stare;
Some are with approbation lit,
And some are shadowed with despair.
Some show a smile and some a frown;
Some joy and hope, some pain and woe:
Enough!  Oh, ring the curtain down!
Old weary year! it’s time to go.

My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that’s true,
For we’ve been comrades, you and I —
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now!  Old Year, good-bye!

 

And since this is my blog spot I get to choose one final poem of the year. One of my own, commemorating the departure of the old year and the honouring of the new:

Ode to New Year’s Day

by Marcia Mae Nelson Pedde

Today we smile in celebration of the new
Let go the past to better see the future view
Behold what can be, shall be, will
Emblazoned by desire beating still
And fearing failure never more
Stepping boldly through the door
Into the realm of quantum realm
Perfection

Happy New Year Everyone.

May you bring to 2010 every opportunity for the most amazing year … filled to overflowing with not merely the potential but the realization of dreams come true. Allow in all that is good. Live your highest excitement each and every moment of your day. Laugh and love and play and create. Be the best you in all your precious moments.

In Light & Laughter & Love,

Marcia

Poetry Corner

With Christmas just days away, today’s Poetry Corner honours three women who have written poems about this particular topic. I went straight to the top – the cream of the crop. These women you already know by name, but you may not be familiar with their seasonal writings.

Notable Women: Christmas

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6, 1806–June 29, 1861)

The Holy Night

We sate among the stalls at Bethlehem;
The dumb kine from their fodder turning them,
Softened their horned faces
To almost human gazes
Toward the newly Born:
The simple shepherds from the star-lit brooks
Brought their visionary looks,
As yet in their astonied hearing rung
The strange sweet angel-tonge:
The magi of the East, in sandals worn,
Knelt reverent, sweeping round,
With long pale beards, their gifts upon the ground,
The incense, myrrh, and gold
These baby hands were impotent to hold:
So let all earthlies and celestials wait
Upon thy royal state.
Sleep, sleep, my kingly One!

Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)

The only real blind person at Christmas-time
is he who has not Christmas in his heart.

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888)
(better known for writing Little Women)

O the Beautiful Old Story

1. O the beautiful old story!
Of the little child that lay
In a manger on that morning,
When the stars sang in the day;
When the happy shepherds kneeling,
As before a holy shrine,
Bless’d God and the tender mother
For a life that was divine.

2. O the pleasant, peaceful story!
Of the Youth who grew so fair,
In His father’s humble dwelling
Poverty and toil to share,
Till around Him in the temple,
Marveling, the old men stood,
As through His wise innocency
Shone the meek boy’s angelhood.

3. O the wonderful, true story!
Of the messenger from God,
Who among the poor and lowly,
Bravely and devoutly trod,
Working miracles of mercy,
Preaching peace, rebuking strife,
Blessing all the little children,
Lifting up the dead to life.

4. O the sad and solemn story!
Of the cross, the crown, the spear,
Of the pardon, pain, and glory
That have made His Name so dear.
His example let us follow,
Fearless, faithful to the end,
Walking in the sacred footsteps
Of our Brother, Master, Friend.

Source: Carol 255, Rev. Charles L. Hutchins, Carols Old and Carols New (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916). Author is listed as “Louise May Alcott” in the original of this book.

Poetry Corner

Poetry Corner:
Each Wednesday of the week Mike & I shall choose a poet to honour, a poem that inspires us or may even share one of our own poetic creations.
Today’s poetry dedication is to one of my very favourite poets – Mattie Stepanek, the young boy who died at the age of 14 having inspired millions of people with his personal Heart Songs – encouraging each of us to find and sing our own. Mattie was one of Oprah’s dearest guests, having appeared on her show several times over the course of his short life.
Today I honour Mattie J.T. Stepanek
Crystal Celebration
ritten in December 1996
Printed in his book
Journey Through Heartsongs
By Mattie J.T.Stepanek
And be sure to check out Jeni Stepanek’s (Mattie’s mother) website: http://www.mattieonline.com/ as she continues her son’s legacy and, in turn, travels her own journey to healing.

Poetry Corner:

Each Wednesday of the week Mike & I shall choose a poet to honour, a poem that inspires us or may even share one of our own poetic creations.

Today’s poetry dedication is to one of my very favourite poets – Mattie Stepanek, the young boy who died at the age of 14 having inspired millions of people with his personal Heart Songs – encouraging each of us to find and sing our own. Mattie was one of Oprah’s dearest guests, having appeared on her show several times over the course of his short life.

Today I honour Mattie J.T. Stepanek with one of his own poems:

Crystal Celebration

Sometimes,
Sunrise is like a heavenly crystal ball.
Everyday,
In the little bit of time between night and day,
The Angels look at the earth
To see how things have been and
To see how things are going and
To see how things will be.
The sky changes from dark
Into Angel-whites and Angel-golds.
The blackness of trees starts to glow with
Pinks and purples and oranges from their hearts.
And during each dawn,
All the Angels gather up and have
A celebration in God’s honor!
And sometimes,
You can even watch
And join them in the celebrating.
Just look out into the sunrise,
Then jump into your own heart,
Float into the air like in a dream,
And pray with love and praise and thank-yous
For your life, for your spirit, for your sunrise…
And for being a part of this heavenly crystal ball!

*******

Written in December 1996

Printed in his book

Journey Through Heartsongs

By Mattie J.T.Stepanek

And be sure to check out Jeni Stepanek’s (Mattie’s mother) website: http://www.mattieonline.com/ as she continues her son’s legacy and, in turn, travels her own journey to healing.

In Light & Laughter & with the deepest appreciation to Mattie,

Marcia

Our Stories

By the way, for those who haven’t noticed yet, at the top of this page you’ll see a link called ‘Our Stories’.  Clicking on that will bring you two options, titled (you guessed it!), ‘Marcia’s Stories’ and ‘Mike’s Stories’.  There are some there now, and we’ll add to them as we get time.  Look for short stories, poems, musings, and other scattered thoughts…

M&M

P.S.  The scroll wheel on your mouse will get you down the list if it goes beyond the page you can see.  If you don’t have a scroll wheel on your mouse, get one!  All seriousness aside, you can use the down arrow on the keyboard as well.