Friday, November 30, 2012

Giggles and Ashes



Hannah Gosselin's Flashy Fiction Prompt 



They walked the way only young teenage girls can walk - bumping into each other through the dimly lit doorway - giggling under the yellowed "Physic Reading Sign." "Maybe we'll be given a laxative" one of them said and they fell onto the faded purple couch in what seemed like the waiting room, laughing so hard that they didn't hear him enter. In fact, they were curled up into one another like one four limbed soft creature when they both felt a hot burst of energy and looked up to see the man holding his face between long fingers, his hair spilling onto his shoulders, leaning on the black marble counter staring at them with burning eyes that charred their laughter into ashen silence.

I have been awarded and in turn have nominated 7 others for the newly created Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award






I am delighted to announce that I have been selected as one of 7 recepients by Patricia Anne McGoldrick to receive this new award created by Hannah Gosselin. 
Thank you to Patricia Anne McGoldrick
Patricia Anne McGoldrick is a Kitchener Ontario writer whose poetry and reviews have been published in the Christian Science Monitor, The WM Review Connection and, most recently, at ChapterandVerse.ca, a review of the award-winning, Plain Kate. Poems published recently include these titles: Neighbourhood Find, Spices of Childhood, Haiku on Winter at CommuterLit ; Girls and Green Apples in taking a bite of the apple--revelations anthology; Lockdowns in Verse Afire, volume 9, Issue 2, 2012. History, literature, the environment and upcycling resources for bookmaking are active interests, as well; often, the focus of blog posts. Patricia is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society and the League of Canadian Poets. Completed the 2009 & 2011 November PAD challenges plus 2012 January Challenge with A River of Stones! W E B: Patricia-Anne-McGoldrick  BLOG: PM_Poet Writer http://www.patricia-anne-mcgoldrick.com/
TWITTER: @pamcgoldrick 




In addition to these wonderful achievements I am proud to claim Patricia as a "poeming friend" with whom I have written side by side for many years. Additionally Patricia shared some particularly profound and touching poems in our latest anthology Beyond the Dark Room. Patricia is a wonderful poet as one can easily see by her public acclaim - she is also a fine, gentle, compassionate and empathic soul and I am delighted that she thought of me as a recipient.

Stay tuned for my selected list and seven things that you might not know about me.
Once again my thanks to Patricia and for the opportunity to highlight her here on my blog.


***************************************PART 2. **************************************************

The Saga of the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award continues...

As mentioned above, my good poetic friend, the talented Patricia Anne McGoldrick was kind enough to nominate me for The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.  I in turn have nominated seven others. It could have been very difficult, if not impossible, to pick just seven, but I am cheered by the fact that in being so limited I will not be creating an undue burden on those I did select to find another seven– as so very many wonderful names remain to be chosen!

(If you choose to decline, and I do understand the inclination to decline such awards – your name will remain as having been selected and certainly and absolutely no offense will be taken.)

And now, I hear a small marching band playing as I announce my list of seven in alphabetical order:

Barbara Ehrentreu             http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com/
Ina Roy-Faderman             http://inourbooks.com/ (with Andrea Heiberg)
Richard Fenwick*               http://www.ruiningsterner.com/
Laura Hegfield                     http://www.shinethedivine.com/
Sharon Ingraham                http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/poet-treehouse
Madeline Begun Kahn*       http://www.madkane.com/humor_blog
Meena Rose                          http://2voices1song.com/

*declined with appreciation

The rules that accompany this award are quite simple . 1) thank the person who nominated you. 2) pick 7 others to receive the “Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award” 3) write 7 things about yourself.  Easy peasy.  Have fun visiting other blogs and getting to know one another even better than we think we already do!

And so, just when you thought you knew more about me than you would ever want to know...


???????
Seven things about me…that you might not know:


1.         I spoke in full sentences at 8 months old.
2.         I rode a trike at 10 months, prompting some to think I was a “little person.”
3.         I read complete books at age 2, wrote short stories and poems by 6 or 7.
4.         I peaked at 9 when everyone else could also speak, read, and write.
5.         I feel a moral imperative to bear witness and/or to attempt to stop injustice.
6.         I am vested in maintaining a good name and being thought of kindly.
7.         I finally accept that I am not likely to live either in a palm braided shack on a deserted beach nor in another age in a fully appointed and staffed castle.



            

Thursday, November 29, 2012

PAD - Day 29 - Birth of Humility





Birth of Humility
They lived on a sandcastle
decorating heedlessly
as the sea snickered
and finally in unendurable
insult reclaimed her
rightful place
as their toys floated
away




PAD - Day 29 - Birth of a Mother


  1. Birth of a Mother
    A yellow ducky pin
    pushed hard
    harder
    until the babe
    holds breath in
    unexhaled pain
    and she leaning
    over hair brushing
    his bare belly
    feels the stick
    and births a
    mother in her
    shivered gasp



Wednesday, November 28, 2012

PAD - DAY 28. Standing Up to Adversity in the Workplace


No Joke

Around the coffee machine
The drip
Of caffeinated talk
Manic
And malignant
Laughter
As one silent
Drinker puts down
The cup with a trembly hand
And asks – in a voice rippling
Loud in the sudden silence

“What – is - funny – about - that?”




Tuesday, November 27, 2012

PAD Day 27 - Heroes and Villains





Heroes and Villains
My father told me
there are no white
hats and black hats
just tons of gray
galloping into the horizon


PAD Day 27 - Heroes and Villains




  1. The “man”
    There he is
    the “man”
    no boy he
    pays his own
    bills with money
    he makes after school

    Swooning
    she flutters eyelashes
    without will
    just a girl dressed
    in a woman’s body

    Proudly permitting
    his heroic hands
    to roam stirring
    her blood

    Until it pounds
    in her ears
    and blocks
    the sense and
    sound of that
    first slap
    that splits her lip



Monday, November 26, 2012

Catch Up PAD - Days 21, 22, 23,24, 26 Whewwww



DAY 26.  A "Something I Would Collect Poem"
Dreams and Wishes 


If I could collect dreams and wishes
I’d keep them in a horizonless aviary where they
Could fly free and safe from the winds
Of ever realized limitation’s lament


~ DAY 25. Opposite Poem
(opposite of )
Gathering our minds
Letting go of possessions
Hurricane Sandy


Loosening our grip they
Hold tight to mouse pads
And faded pictures - all sorts
Of stuff – clutched in clenched fists
Refusing to move – determined to hold
Back the encroaching tide
As waters rush inexorably forward  


~ DAY 24.  The Truth About 
The truth about truth
Unfolding orgami
Dependent on hands
~

DAY 23.  A Deep Poem

The Pebble


In the tumbled clink
Of a pebble
Dropped
Down an empty well
I hear
Love
Echo
~

DAY 22. Paradise Poem 
Bird of Paradise 

In crowning orange topiary
Craning as though readying for flight
It blooms

~

DAY 21.   5 Song Poem
Freedom



Imagine
that you are 
closer to fine

“Hey, Soul Sister” 
kick that prince of darkness
to the curb
and secure yourself 


        (Imagine, Closer To Fine, Hey/Soul Sister, Prince of Darkness, Secure Yourself).  

~