Day 30 NaPoWriMo 2022

I didn’t get the new plants potted in their big pots but I did go out and sit with them this afternoon. In front of me was the warm yellow of the daffodils still holding court in the front garden.

April is ending
surrounded by daffodils
waiting for peonies

the local plant place
sorting annuals friday
we eagerly buy

geranium pots
waiting to be transplated
to their bigger pots

this afternoon I
splashed watercolors around
red, pink, green for May

Day 30 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 29 NaPoWriMo 2022

The penultimate day of NaPoWriMo has arrived. It’s time. We’ve all got things to do. But it’s still a little sad to see NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo wind down for another year. We might be nervous on March thirty-first but April always finds its groove.

Good news though – Mom and I went to a local nursery and came home with some beautiful annuals. Specifically I got a good supply of geraniums and will get those potted up and ready for those days when I need something close by to paint. Also got some catnip plants and pinched the tops of them much to the cats’ delight.

March into April
<much poetry happens here>
April into May

April almost done
we have nibbled all the words
and drunk all the things

just one more bite then
and another before May
turns us toward spring

Day 29 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 28 NaPoWriMo 2022

I went to see a talk that was supposed to happen in April 2020. Then it was rescheduled to September 2020 and then April 2021 and then… Well and here we all were at Proctors in Schenectady and out came Neil Gaiman and said – this feels so weird. Indeed when he asked how many had bought their tickets for April 2020, it seemed most of the audience put their hands up.

We were his first stop on a tour to make up all those postponed and rescheduled tour stops (except one at the NY Public Library). He read stories and poems and chatted and answered questions that had been submitted on white cards.

God speed you Neil Gaiman as you “ricochet across the country” many times. Thank you for making it to Schenectady and you’re welcome back any time.

The theater is loud
then a nervous surge passes
Waiting for speaker

Two men behind me
Pontificating on jazz
And dueling concerts

No speaker has appeared
The crowd buzz continuing
So glad to be out.

Afterwards two men
walking behind me dueling
over other talks.

PS someone somewhere in the audience tried to make some weird announcement about having created an algorithm to do something or other. At first I wondered if it was part of the performance – Neil hardly flinched. A couple people allowed loudly that we didn’t care. She started to repeat her message starting with her name and Neil said – look, I’ll be honest, if you do that, you’ll be torn limb from limb… No one laughed and silence resumed and Neil resumed as though nothing had happened.

Pretty amazing stuff right there.

PPS. I got my new fountain pen. It was indeed the one that had been sent to someone else by accident just as I’d gotten their pen by accident (just a mix up in outer sleeve on the packaging). However the other person, once having removed the pen from the plastic wrapper realized the problem and didn’t proceed. My apologies to you unknown zoom nib writer – I was too excited and didn’t know what “Z” stood for.

Day 28 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 27 NaPoWriMo 2022

Ooops! Night slipped away and I almost forgot to post!

visitors to the
front yard garden in the night
toppled bird feeder

Hoof prints by new plants
covered up with chicken wire
and some hair trimmings

the deer have eaten
bushes, hosta, daylilies
garden as buffet

If you look at yesterday’s post you’ll see some of the hair I scattered in the garden to deter the salad bar fans. First picture here, is one of the new primroses just after planting. It lost probably three quarters of its leaves. The second photo shows the other fancy primrose (must be extra tasty!) after the first night. It lost more the next night until I rummaged up some chicken wire to tent over both of them.

In other news, I got my palette ready for painting whatever geraniums come this way this year!

Day 27 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 26 NaPoWriMo 2022

Hey now, I did try to sort out some small brown birds at the feeder, some stripey and some not. I did my Welsh lesson. I started to clean out a palette. I listened to Billy Collins. You know, I did stuff. I checked to see if the new deer deterrent was working (yes). Oh and I found the tag for one of the new cat “beds” and found out it’s a **bolster** and may not be suitable for all pets… ok.

today – didn’t do much
nothing much important
now night rescues me

pillows all arranged
a small stack, a glass of wine
and then it’s lights out

tomorrow – I’ll see
what happens as the day goes
words or watercolors?

Day 26 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 25 NaPoWriMo 2022

Guess what I did today.

Tell me what you see
and now? now is just a guess
too small, far away.

look straight ahead now
now right, left, up, and now down
now the other side.

in a darkened room
small space made large with mirrors
my eyes wide open.

Day 25 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 24 NaPoWriMo 2022

sweater from the car
warm from spending the day there
now I’m the warm one

was warm in my hands
warm going over my head
warm as a lover

blue cooling twilight
i’m wearing back to the house
the sun’s remainder

Day 24 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 23 NaPoWriMo 2022

I did a quick survey of conveyors of Indian food today – and drove, thinking to do take out, which meant I should have also done a search for nearby parks but when I got to this little place in a small strip mall, it was actually very nice and not quite empty so I sat down and ate. And ate. And went home with two bags of naan!

Looking for Indian food
I try to remember my first,
how and where,
who would have convinced me
to join them in
something so exotic.
Later, I bit
into a cardamon pod
tasting only gratitude.

Day 23 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 22 NaPoWriMo 2022

Took the long way home from getting a bag of sunflower seeds today. The birdies seem to have forgiven me already.

Two yellow rivers
Echoing forsythia
Along curvy road

Two yellow rivers
Curving in time to the road
Forsythia time

Two yellow rivers
Bank off the forsythias
Ricochet way home

Two yellow rivers
Jumping bend to match the curves
Forsythia time.

Day 22 NaPoWriMo 2022

Day 21 NaPoWriMo 2022

Often there is a day or two in April where I write a poem but don’t share it. Hasn’t happened yet but this was close.

i will make a place
in my heart, a quiet place
where we both may rest

disregard my fear
speaking in such angry tones
let me set it down

where shall we be when
we have released everything
and we sit with fear

let me live this day
without knowing how it ends
i will take your hand.

Day 21 NaPoWriMo 2022