Thing-a-day.com

Well, here we are, Day 29 of Thing-A-Day. I’m feeling a little “verklempt.” Wish I could say I  posted every day, but I did my best, 23 out of 29. It has been really fun, really stimulating, really challenging, really welcoming. I’ve enjoyed sharing ideas with all you creative people out there, and I look forward to taking the coming year to try and read ALL the posts from this year as well as from 2007. I’ve picked up some yummy recipes, enjoyed some fantastic artwork, giggled at some quirky ideas, gotten misty-eyed at some beautiful poetry, and made some tentative e-mail acquaintances. February, the month that usually drags on and on here in northeast Pennsylvania, a gray, depressing month of never-ending cold (can I tell you it’s snowing as I write?!), became a daily source of wonder and inspiration. Gotta say, I’m sad to see it end. But hey, at least we had one extra day this year!

The tradition of Leap Year in general and Leap Day in particular is that the rules of romance are overturned, and women can take advantage of the extra day to propose to the man of their dreams. This apparently stems from the patriarchal Middle Ages, when men were the pursuers and women the prizes to be claimed. Things have equaled out a bit in our enlightened age, but it’s still kind of a fun concept. How about if each of us takes this day as an opportunity to throw caution to the February winds and LEAP in and tell someone we love them…

Till we meet again,

I’ll miss the camaraderie…

Farewell, Thing-A-Day!

                THANKS EVERYONE–IT’S BEEN WONDERFUL!!!

Hope

It comes to me

like the green push

of a wave

wrapping around my legs,

and I know

I should let go

and give myself

to this unfamiliar sea.

Tonight, I wrote a series of haikus in honor of my Acer Aspire laptop.

I have been doing things, but I’ve just been lazy in posting them, so here goes:

Day #24: Fried Rice with Bok Choy and Scallions

Day #25: Hummus and Pita Chips

Day #26: Steamed Kale with Miso-Tahini Dressing

Day #27: Commonplace Notebook

(Traditionally, a commonplace book is a notebook where people copy reading quotations as they come across them. This, however, is a book where I’m hand-writing my favorite poems, and perhaps some prose quotes, so I can carry them around with me.)

x-posted

Talking to the Birds

I know they have their own language–

the cardinals carol in their perches,

a thrush twitters away,

and the blue-faced doves

coo over any little thing.

Meanwhile,

I stand on the porch

like a fool,

lips pursed,

trying desperately

to join in.

Another gray, rainy day here in eastern Pennsylvania. I think the sun has forsaken us. It was a great day to stay inside and curl up with a quilt, a cat, a cup of tea, something new-agey on the stereo, and an excellent book. Unfortunately, that was not to be…had to go to work. On a brighter note, though, as I was leaving the house this morning at 7:15, I actually heard birds singing for the first time since winter set in. A truly hopeful, spirit-lifting sound! Can it be that spring really is on the way? How long till we spy the first robin hopping across the lawn? See the first crocus poking up shyly through the ivy? Notice tender buds on the red maple trees?

Spring–it’s on its way,

Returning warmth to the land

And hope to the heart.

Mist

When I woke from my nap

the world was somehow softer

like a watercolorist

had smudged the sharp edges 

with a final wash of gray.

Evening

Long after

the sun has taken leave

of its lofty place

in the afternoon sky,

there is a new beauty

in the stark outlines of trees

sketched against the failing light.

So begins the final week of Thing-A-Day. While I haven’t been as diligent as I would have liked to be (missed a few posts here and there), it has been a really stimulating experience. I’ve so enjoyed seeing everyone’s creativity and ideas and thoughts and images, and I will miss the internal prodding to get my post done before midnight! I’m feeling a bit inadequate and antiquated today amongst all you talented people and hope that by next year’s T-A-D I’ll have the computer chops to upload some photos or videos myself. Yesterday on a whim I decided to make homemade macaroni & cheese for dinner (haven’t made it in years). My daughter was going to take a photo and upload it for me, but we forgot and ate it all up! It was the perfect hearty meal after a tramp in the snow-covered woods! So here’s to mac & cheese:

Homemade mac and cheese.

Creamy and heartwarming and

homely and YUMMY!

Ohia Tree

It is so strange

to see you rooted

in the old, wooden gutter

where you don’t belong,

and yet I am charmed

by your tiny arms reaching

with nature’s steady push

toward the light.

Peace

I feel it

right now

as this windless afternoon

slips away

into the blue slumber of evening.

Once a month, the folks at haikuworld.org put together a kukai, in which writers of English-language haiku write and submit haiku that follow specific prompts. Then, if you’ve submitted a haiku to either prompt (there are usually two), you are permitted to vote on the haiku other folks have written.

I submit my own haiku so that I may have the privilege of voting for other folks’. The voting deadline this month is tomorrow, and there were over 250 haiku to read and think about. I have now made my selections.

Some of my thinking about haiku has been shaped by the editors at Simply Haiku, this post by David Giacalone, and the writings of Robert Hass on the subject. I hope to be trying to write haiku for many years to come. It’s harder than it looks.

I confess, I did nothing productive at all on day 21. Well, I got my taxes done, but obviously that doesn’t count as me making anything.

Day 22, today, I have written a poem. My computer is being weird on me so as I try to post this, I don’t know if it will go through, and I don’t have access to the pretty features that let me post the link in a more attractive fashion, so I am sorry.

You can see my poem on my blog at
http://writeoussisterspeaks.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/for-rabia-the-doorkeeper/

Indoor Cat

How could I

not indulge

you

for a few moments–

Go!

Rub your belly

against the warm planes

of this green earth.

I want to see

your tiny frame

overcome with joy.

Some musician friends of ours are scheduled to play a gig in a suburban Philadelphia pub tomorrow evening, and we are planning on being there. HOWEVER, the forecast is calling for snow, beginning in the wee hours and continuing throughout the day, turning to what is euphemistically called a “wintry mix” [read:  ice]. If we are unable to make the gig, it will probably be some time until we see them again, as they are flying back to LA on Saturday. So, with apologies to the children’s skipping rhyme, here’s today’s haiku:

Snow, snow, stay away,

Come again some other day.

Marna wants to play!!!

This is my post for last night, February 20–didn’t get to post it until today:

There is a spectacular total lunar eclipse happening this evening, with full eclipse scheduled to occur at 10:26PM EST. Looking out my kitchen window at an absolutely crystal-clear night sky, I can see the eclipse about halfway along, already taking on the classic red hue, with what I presume to be Saturn shining singularly to the lower left of the moon. This is thrilling, especially because in our part of the world any highly anticipated celestial event is very often obscured by complete cloud cover. Every August my son and I would set up our lawn chairs in the driveway in hopes of catching the Perseid meteor shower, and some 20 years into it we have yet to see them. So for this wondrous event to take place in absolutely cloud-free surroundings is exciting! I’ve only seen it once before, on a summer evening, again the lawn chairs and the whole family in our backyard, kids in jammies, coffee, juice and snacks on hand–a very special evening indeed. The ancients were understandably frightened by lunar and solar eclipses, believing that some heinous monster was devouring the light in the sky and that catastrophic events were sure to follow. Even now, there is somewhat of an aura of foreboding associated with these celestial happenings, so here’s my haiku for the day:

Red orb in black vault–

Total eclipse of the moon.

Superstition?  Fear?

now that i am still young
i frustrate over my decisions-investments in time, etc.
but what if
this is the only time in life when i will get to feel freedom?
if later, decisions having already been made
later, life is living with past decisions. stuck even.
so the not knowing
the wanting to know
could be a luxury of youth, and freedom of democracy and globalization.
not knowing if you made the right decisions
could be the delectable crux of drama
movie, odyssey like dramas
glorifiable, aesthetically pleasing.
the only time i will get to be single
to break up with people
to date the wrong men
to date many men who are right in too many different ways
to be lonely, because i hear moms never get a moment to themselves!
to have infinite possibilities still all open and in front of me
to not know
to be surprised (and disappointed)
and to be in this lifestage
to have these matrices of possibilities
to have elan to pursue many different far reaching crazy unreasonable possibilities
to try it all
to have left no stone uncovered
to be outrageous, audacious, loud
to fully disclosed without recourse or real responsibilities to a public persona
to shine
to not care
to have an audience
to be young!

Father

He wore

his anger

like a six-shooter

fastened

loosely

at the hip.

Ginkgo Tree

You,

marvelous spendthrift,

who have showered us

in gold

each fall,

thank you

for pressing your leaves

into the pages of stone

so we can hold history

in our young hands.

February task:

Make something; be creative -

in twenty minutes