April has risen to prominence as National Poetry Month, but there’s no need to put our poetry books and notebooks away any time soon! There’s a huge amount of poetry for May, largely, I assume, because many of our poetic traditions come from northern regions in which spring wasn’t sprung until May. The “Lilac Time” celebration at Lilacia Park in Lombard, Illinois is going on right now, about twenty miles west of Chicago.
I grew up in northern Vermont where we waited yet another month for lilacs. If they were in bloom by the day school let out — around June 21 — I could lie in bed with my windows open and smell the lilacs in our yard! By then, June was really bustin’ out all over!
Here in California, spring has been happening for quite a while. Green hills, blue echium and ceanothus, wisteria, iris, fruit tree flowers, fresh kale, maybe the last of the lemons, limes, and oranges. And, I heard at the Pinole Artisans Gallery a while back, at least one family in the area has home grown dragon fruit!
With the rain slacking off early this year, we may soon be propelled into a dryer season. All the more reason to make sure we have some time for rhyme, for writing a line, for being kind to ourselves. Let’s start with sitting in the shade with our feet up, a cool or warm drink in hand, a snack within arm’s reach — healthy snacks are fine, mind you. It all serves to get the creative juices flowing.
Last month Eric Carlstrom sent the following. It has some fun, some provocative notes, and comments from photographer-poet-hair stylist Angel. Here goes the multi-faceted art.
There’s a bone in the beans and buds on the lengua.
The winds
The winds
They sing
And sing
And bring
About
All the chaos
Every sting
Soothing breeze
Wafting air
Of
Everything
Two small thoughts she [Angel] had written down and just shared with me [Eric].
************************
Anegel says
“Lol, my permission is granted…with glee”
“When True North eludes you,
Go East” -Angel
Eric
****************************
Angel’s Preview of April Column
Classy Dame
Fabulous!! I love this
It’s a short lesson
in poetry
So right on
(tan thumbs up)
Right up my alley in so
many ways
(blue thumbs up)
I learned stuff from it
(blue thumbs up)
I’ve never been one to
A a
Let what you have just read mean the evening breeze as you sit comfy in the May days haze. Use a preposition as a whole line.
Let time escape. Listen for birdsong. Does that car passing sound like it still has snow tires on? Maybe spring skiing.
Maybe letting the wind blow. Maybe letting the day go, the sunset glow, the tunes you know play in a new key, May BE!
Tanya Joyce
Poet, Painter, Pinole Artisan
I grew up in northern Vermont where we waited yet another month for lilacs. If they were in bloom by the day school let out — around June 21 — I could lie in bed with my windows open and smell the lilacs in our yard! By then, June was really bustin’ out all over!
Here in California, spring has been happening for quite a while. Green hills, blue echium and ceanothus, wisteria, iris, fruit tree flowers, fresh kale, maybe the last of the lemons, limes, and oranges. And, I heard at the Pinole Artisans Gallery a while back, at least one family in the area has home grown dragon fruit!
With the rain slacking off early this year, we may soon be propelled into a dryer season. All the more reason to make sure we have some time for rhyme, for writing a line, for being kind to ourselves. Let’s start with sitting in the shade with our feet up, a cool or warm drink in hand, a snack within arm’s reach — healthy snacks are fine, mind you. It all serves to get the creative juices flowing.
Last month Eric Carlstrom sent the following. It has some fun, some provocative notes, and comments from photographer-poet-hair stylist Angel. Here goes the multi-faceted art.
There’s a bone in the beans and buds on the lengua.
The winds
The winds
They sing
And sing
And bring
About
All the chaos
Every sting
Soothing breeze
Wafting air
Of
Everything
Two small thoughts she [Angel] had written down and just shared with me [Eric].
************************
Anegel says
“Lol, my permission is granted…with glee”
“When True North eludes you,
Go East” -Angel
Eric
****************************
Angel’s Preview of April Column
Classy Dame
Fabulous!! I love this
It’s a short lesson
in poetry
So right on
(tan thumbs up)
Right up my alley in so
many ways
(blue thumbs up)
I learned stuff from it
(blue thumbs up)
I’ve never been one to
A a
Let what you have just read mean the evening breeze as you sit comfy in the May days haze. Use a preposition as a whole line.
Let time escape. Listen for birdsong. Does that car passing sound like it still has snow tires on? Maybe spring skiing.
Maybe letting the wind blow. Maybe letting the day go, the sunset glow, the tunes you know play in a new key, May BE!
Tanya Joyce
Poet, Painter, Pinole Artisan