Fairies and Flowers
A fairy sleeps, dreaming of summers past and the summer yet to come. While at the window a fairy waits to join again the garden. Join our merry band of colour and scent. Hear the birds singing and the bees buzzing in anticipation of another sweet harvest. The warm sun spreads out the blanket of freedom on which we dance with the breeze, while leaf and tree keep time.
Lily Literacy
Consider the Lily. Read between the lines of stem and petal. Gather meaning from the stamen. Stain not your tongue with harsh words.
Interpret the colour and texture that blazes with news. Notice the scent ? It advertises secret desires. Be beguiled by subtle meaning and allusion. Beware of the illusion of love. Nectar can come with a sting. All wares come with a price. The bees know when to take flight. The birds hum the tune; you supply the words.
Impressions of Hyper-Reality
enlightenment
heading north
making connections
Recycling
big yellow sunshine
Existential Friday: Hoo Are You?
Hoo are You?
The trees are blue
The sky is square.
Hoo Hoo, Oh who are you ?
The pebbles are soft
The corn swims
With the B.
There is a shoe
In the ocean
And a giraffe on the sea.
Who Oh Hoo are U trying two B?
The stars are green
The sea is stone.
Have you a song?
Are you alone ?
Hoo-hoo are you today ?
Watch the fish fly away.
Hoo Oh Hoo , where have you gone ?
The moon is singing
All day long.
The sun is dancing
The owl is two.
So Hoo who Hoo are you ?
Monday: Moon & Wires
The moon suspended between wires.
Who is the prisoner ?
Above the hill the pale moon rises.
Signs of Spring Awakening
Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men. ~Chinese Proverb
SPRING, DANCING
Here April wanders from the rainy Sound—
Ethereal Beauty in her shining veil,
Like a slow-dancing Sibyl comes with joy.
Enraptured we behold her mystic form
Gleam through the silvery showers against the hill,
And must forever follow on her trace,
Enchanted as in some old fairy tale
By the enthralling sorceries of the earth.
And hark, what music for her pomp is made
In the awakening meadows, where the stream
Murmurs at twilight when the moon is large,
And through the alders in the marshy ground
Rises the watery treble of the frogs—
The eerie and haunted Pan-pipes of the Spring.
A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
~Emily Dickinson
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Antique Impressions: North Ontario Trees
North Ontario Trees
Clinging to dreaming old rock.
Spring slowly returns,
Trembling roots await the sun;
Chilled stone recalls summer.
North Ontario, Trees
Suspended between seasons,
Trapped on a page.
Time taped at the corners,
Old photographs recall spring.
On my way to work,
Passing those trees so often.
They have grown taller.
Spring slowly returns again.
My bones, like the chilled stone,
Recall the summer.
Should’ve I tarried longer ?
Note: More photos of current area just beyond the school parking lot. Poetry form - mostly Tanka.
Captain There Be Bubbles Here
Bubbles shine, reflecting the world,
Empty of worries & strife.
What is the sound of one bubble floating ?
It is the same sound as many bubbles floating.
Bubbles are floating laughter.
Smiles rise like bubbles.
They float and drift on invisible waves.
Monday: Moth, Moon, Mountain & Flower
Moth, Moon, Mountain & Flower,
Moth flies to the Moon;
Moon flies to Mountain Tower.
Follow the road,
Follow the bend,
Seek the beam
That never ends.
Open your Heart
To soft music
Playing
In a misty room.
Watch the Moon-light,
Like a flower bloom.
Silver strands in shadows,
Reaching for the sky,
Dance with the dreamers,
As the players pass by -
Moth, Moon, Mountain & Flower.
Note: The first image is a combination of a shot of a Luna moth that was taken by my son a few years ago and a recent moon shot of mine – I will return to earth eventually.
Just Around the Corner
Just around the corner,
Another world awaits.
It could be ever so near,
Or so very far.
It may be around the next bend,
Or through that door ajar.
You never know what is coming your way;
Will it just pass,
Or will it choose to stay?
Surreal Thursday: Lachrymose or Hard-Boiled ?
Another Surreal Thursday, you can choose to be Lachrymose or Hard-boiled.
Lachrymose eye
Like an onion , sheds layers
Of moist emotions.
Hardened shells float,
Emotions bubble, surface -
Recognition smiles.
Lachrymose : 1. given to tears or weeping – tearful
2. causing or tending to cause tears – mournful
Hard-boiled :
1. to cook an egg in its shell until both white & yolk solidify
2. ungiven to tears or sentiment – tough, unsentimental nature
3. a literary style, most commonly associated with crime fiction (especially detective stories), and distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sometimes sex . The central character in such a narrative is a hard-boiled detective, Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon.
Today has been a hectic day for a number of reasons. I had some upsetting news late in the day. When I am stressed, I either cook, bake, take photographs, manipulate photographs, scribble thoughts in a global stream or some combination of these activities.
I was planning today’s post, but the emotional charge modified the trajectory. I decided to see how many tags I could legitimately connect to this post.
Also, I noted that the BBQ season has started on the blogs, my BBq perogies post is getting hits again.
The poem is a linked haiku. Wanted to see if I could use the terms and tie it to the images. Did I mention how I handle stress ?
Antique Impressions: Birch Trees in April
The Birch Trees in Spring
Sing without the breeze’s voice.
Eager green buds swell,
Ready to be embraced
By the Sun’s hot promises.
The Tanka poem has been considered the most important form and the oldest style of Japanese poetry. It dates back to the 1300s. This verse consists of five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables whose intent is to focus the reader’s attention on a single event, or image and the mood that is associated with it. In it its Japanese form it is considered a lyric poem. While sharing some of the same concerns as haiku verse, Tanka poems often are romantic in nature or concerned with the temporariness of love.
Click images for enlargement & detail.
Chili in The Pot
Chili in the Pot -
Some like it Hot,
Some like Cool.
Add enough Spice,
Have it with Rice.
Use a Spoon,
Then fly to the Moon
In a Chili Hot Air Balloon.
The poetry may not be too hot, but neither was the chili.
In the Corner
Spring sits in the corner,
Waiting to clear away
The grey and brown
Remnants of Winter.
Antique Impressions: Heads Up
Heads Up !
Just a Heads up, this little phrase has several meanings -
An advance warning -
Keep an eye out for this meaning: being wide awake and alert -
As a fore-warning , are you Being ?
the head of – Something ?
Or have you seen a type,
Is it a display screen ?
Or the truck that carries gasoline ?
look alive! – watch out !
Washington Post – from November 1914:
“Heads up”.
A baseball and football term signifying alertness, action,
So keep your eye on the ball,
The Eye on the Prize
Can come in any size.
Collier’s Illustrated Weekly, 1914:
“Heads up, you guys”… We ain’t licked yet.”
Just adjust the vertical & the horizontal
on the display screen.
Toronto Globe & Mail, 1978:
“There are experiments with what pilots call a ‘heads-up display’ that projects vital information on to the windshield.”
So if you have your head in the air
Keep your feet on the ground
&
Put your nose to the grind stone
&
Your ear to the ground
&
You might get
A Heads Up
As to what’s on the Horizon,
Before it is Lost
&
End up
Heading Up the Company,
If you can keep
Your footing
On firm ground.
Note; A bit found poetry from the following definition page: HEADS UP .
Fibku: Balancing blue & grey
break
grace
balance
Mist Picture -
Stroke the young cat – white
Rain cloud purrs, grace in the sky -
Balancing blue & grey.
Model Fades
corner
wood
end
Note: The list of random words and the painting by La Morena McConnel was the basis of this Fibku was offered by POETARTon the post Day 13/ NaPoWriMo 2012/ Poem Prompt. For more information on the Fibku and the related Fib see the Fibku Page.
Lilac Dreams & Poppies
We are still awaiting the arrival of flowers.
The unseasonably warm weather spoilt us.
As the temperatures returned to normal,
We became impatient.
We dream of flowers,
Over-heightened colour & textures.
Feverish with expectations,
We twist and turn our heads.
We detect ghostly scents of Spring’s arrival.
We eagerly wait for when
We can curse the over abundance of Pollen,
that falls like gently shed
Snow.
Note: George had mentioned in a previous post that I seemed to change styles. “Am I becoming predictable?”, I asked myself. I replied, ” I knew I was going to ask that question”. I took that as a sign that it is time to do something a bit differently. This post started out as something and turned about when I wasn’t looking. The title changed, the visuals were modified further & additional images were added. There was not going to be a poem. I realize I now have to adjust the selected tags. The process of creating and communicating ideas can be organic or chaotic – chaotically organic/organically chaotic ( which of these is healthier and better for the environment? ) .
Antique Impressions: Metallic Visions
A convergence of ideas and mood has me seeing
Metallic Visions through an Antique Lens.
The garden in early April,
Awaiting the Green taste of Spring,
Appears to be adrift in time.
Past mixes with the Present’s rusted hue.
Two bolts diverge on the table-top,
Each equally good of wear;
One will be used by chance,
And that is the only difference.
An Uncertain Nail knows not
Where it wishes to be.
Drifting into a rusted hue,
Like a half-forgotten reverie,
It hides in plain sight.
Note: A mix of ideas came together to inspire my experiments in texture and colour over the last couple of posts. A bit of synchronicity prompted me – see the Refrigerator Magnate post, Kitchen Gadgetry – it fit in with where my train of thought was going and started the idea gears turning. Images can be seen enlarged when clicked.
Haikus: Contemplating Trees in B & W
Snow clings to branches.
Winter, rentals remain empty.
Dreams of Spring flocking.
Tree awaits Spring,
Memories of Autumn cling
As Branches’ Dreams bud.
The Crow sees many levels;
His world is not limited
By narrow perspectives.
Horizon lines
Reveal more than one angle.
NOTE: For those who are concerned with such matters, the last one is not a Haiku, in the traditional sense. I recently read the following related blog posts by Don’t confuse the narrator about the Nature of Haiku: april-Laundry day and fragmented thoughts on haiku . Also check my page on Haiku & poetry for other haiku links of interest, including, “Sixty-five (Conflicting) Rules of Haiku” by Jane Reichhold.
Antique Impressions: Easter Bonnets
Henrietta Buckler 1900's
In your Easter bonnet
with all the frills upon it,
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade
Gladys Unger ca 1910-15
Antique Impressions of Easter Bonnets bring together so many strands and memories parading before my minds eye. Ladies in in corsets , elegant dresses, and beautiful hats, remind of a woman that I really hardly knew, yet have a close connection to, Mary Trylinski, my maternal grandmother, my Baba. She arrived in Canada, less than a year old, with her parents. Her maiden name was Hyrorchuk ( I hope I am spelling that one correctly – see how time twists the memory.) Her birth certificate had identified her as a citizen of the Austria.
My mother spoke of how as a little girl she would help tighten up Baba’s corset. Her favourite dance was The Merry Widow’s Waltz . The Ladies in these photographs were from New York, and had a higher “social status” than my Baba in St. Boniface Manitoba, but they were part of the same North American culture – Late Edwardian period that defined Ladies & Gentlemen, their clothing, music, and expectations.
Mother said that her father, Stanley Trylinski, was a dapper man who wore a “cheese-cutter”; that’s what she called those straw hats that Buster Keaton is iconically associated with. When you look up the name of the hat/cap it does not match the this type. My mother would use both cheese cutter and pork pie to describe/identify the style of hat.
Buster Keaton in a cheese cutter
In your easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.
I’ll be all in clover and when they look you over,
I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter parade.
On the avenue, fifth avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet,
And of the girl I’m taking to the Easter parade.
Elizabeth Kolb ca1910-15
The song Easter Parade was written by Irving Berlin and was published in 1933. The song was introduced by Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb in the Broadway musical revue As Thousands Cheer (1933), in which musical numbers were strung together on the thematic thread of newspaper headlines. The lyrics describe the singer’s involvement in an American cultural event called the Easter parade. From the 1880s through the 1950s, New York’s Easter parade was one of the main cultural expressions of Easter in the United States. It was one of the fundamental ways that Easter was identified and celebrated.[5] The seeds of the parade were sown in New York’s highly ornamented churches—Gothic buildings such as Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church. In the mid-19th century, these and other churches began decorating their sanctuarieswith Easter flowers. The new practice was resisted by traditionalists, but was generally well-received. As the practice expanded, the floral displays grew ever more elaborate, and soon became defining examples of style, taste, abundance, and novelty. Those who attended the churches incorporated these values into their dress.
Elegant Hats
In 1873, a newspaper report about Easter at Christ Church said “More than half the congregation were ladies, who displayed all the gorgeous and marvellous articles of dress,… and the appearance of the body of the church thus vied in effect and magnificence with the pleasant and tasteful array of flowers which decorated the chancel.”
Hats on the Blvd ca 1910-15
By the 1880s, the Easter parade had become a vast spectacle of fashion and religious observance, famous in New York and around the country. It was an after-church cultural event for the well-to-do—decked out in new and fashionable clothing, they would stroll from their own church to others to see the impressive flowers (and to be seen by their fellow strollers). People from the poorer and middle classes would observe the parade to learn the latest trends in fashion.
Hats & Harem Pants on the Blvd 1910-15
By 1890, the annual procession held an important place on New York’s calendar of festivities and had taken on its enduring designation as “the Easter parade.”
Nelle B. Stull ca 1910-15
As the parade and the holiday together became more important, dry goods merchants and milliners publicized them in the promotion of their wares. Advertisements of the day linked an endless array of merchandise to Easter and the Easter parade. In 1875, Easter had been invisible on the commercial scene. By 1900, it was as important in retailing as the Christmas season .
In 1948, the song, Easter Parade was performed by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in the musical film of the same title. The plot of the movie was constructed around the song and the movie had a compressed shooting time to ensure that it opened in theatres for Easter. The movie is set in 1912 and revolves around a Broadway stars search for a new partner.
One last photograph to close off this post, Mary & Stanley Trylinski on their wedding day. Can you see them waltzing ? I can.
NOTE: Rotogravure (Roto or Gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process; once a staple of newspaper photo features, the rotogravure process is still used for commercial printing of magazines, postcards, and corrugated (cardboard) product packaging. Click the link to learn more details.
The Ladies in their finery came by way of The Library of Congress’ photostream. There are no known copyright restrictions on the original images. I have modified and enhanced them for this post. While they all come from the same general period, only the street shots are specific Easter Parade photos. How I came upon the idea for using this resource is a tale for another post. May all your Easter Bonnets be beautiful.
Good Friday 2012 ~ Black Hollyhocks
Dedicated to those we still hang on the crosses of political, social, and economic expediency.
Those who have been left forsaken in the Mansion of Poverty, the unemployed, the working poor, and their children.
Those who are marginalized, forced into the alleyways to huddle by the shadowy Backdoor of Blind Indifference & Hypocrisy, because they are the wrong race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or age.
Those who are marked in body or mind with differences and are forced to drink from the Cup of Scornful Pity.
And those who Hammer in the Nails of injustice and bigotry,…….,
Remember that each hammer blow tightens shut the door to whichever version of Heaven you would claim.
Rose ~ The Winter’s Tale
Lawn as white as driven snow;
Cyprus black as e’er was crow;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses.
The Winter’s Tale (Link)(4.4.248-50)
Imagination & Mixed Techniques
Open A Magic Door
I mixed some techniques to open a magic door;
I poured Imagination into a plastic bottle to smell the flowers.
It all took a cat nap midst a mess of ideas.
Plastic Bottle Print 1
My Mess, Find Your Own
The cat sleeps;
The kitchen table scattered with thoughts
Begins to purr.
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