The Eve of NaPoWriMo

Yes, we’ve circled back to the end of March, which means tomorrow is April Fools Day and YES National (Global) Poetry Writing Month.

NaPoWriMo headquarters has issued an early bird prompt and it spoke to me.

You can do this. All the days, some of the days, post them publicly or not. It’s all up to you. Just do it!

A Window

Through the window it all came
the many stories of birds
the reminders of wind and
forgiveness of rain or
its sudden brutality.
At night a distant train
called to remember the
railroad men who lay at rest
In season, the peepers,
the crickets, the katydids
In came the sound of owls
calling to each other
as though no one else heard
At times a fox yells
for the sake of yelling
or a lonely cat for the
sake of its wanting.
Come morning and the light
slices in through the blinds.
Comes a night and there’s the
ringing of snow on the glass.
Come another night and
the air can only be perfect
then moving on to rustle
the leaves outside of sleep.

The Eve of NaPoWriMo

The Wine of Blessedness

“And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the Elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien

The Wine of Blessedness

2023 Poetry Postcard Fest Thoughts

I started the postcard poetry fest early this year, about a week after receiving my list of addresses. Thirty-one names plus my own in group one (those over-eager, sign-up-right-away people). After a few years of hearing encouragement to start anytime after getting the list, for some reason this year I took it to heart.

In theory, it shouldn’t matter when you start, as long as you finish by the end of August. Originally the fest was all of August and that’s how I did it – one postcard a day with a newly written poem for each. I often started a few days early in hopes that the August first recipient might get it about on the day. No mail on Sundays of course so either two on Saturday or on Monday. I try to send the international cards early to account for long travel times.

This year, I started writing out my cards and off they went, one most days like normal. The only difference is that nothing arrived in my mailbox for days. I gave myself a pep talk, because I often am saying that the festival is all about the writing and sending, and the dailiness and the cards you receive are bonus. I strongly believe that. So I kept writing. Eventually August started and there was facebook chatter about people starting as there often is. Cards started arriving. I was a few weeks ahead though. I wrote some bonus cards. I wrote some response cards. I didn’t worry so much about sending the Sunday cards early because I was so far ahead. I just stuck with the plan of writing every day.

My own August tradition has been to send one card of my own design to everyone on the list – a day thirty-one card. It’s often something to do with my mailbox and mailboxes in general. I started thinking about this, but without the pressure of the end of August looming up close at hand. Got my card ready and now what?

I started hand-writing the cards a few at a time (rather than printing out the back with the same poem(s) to all), looking at what I’d received from people and writing a note and a response if I could. If not I chose from a handful of haiku I’d written for this. And so I finished a little before the end of the month and in the full swing of things, and feeling pretty good about it.

I think in the future I’ll stick with my normal timeline of starting just a day or two before August first. I was surprised that I missed the sense that I was one of a mass of people writing and sending poems. That mattered more to me than I’d known. And I’ll continue on keeping track of cards received so I can easily look to see what someone has sent me, in case there is a poetic response to be sent. Even if nothing pops up, it’s still nice to re-read at the time of writing and send thanks and acknowledgement.

So thank you Group One and all my bonus card friends!

my postcard to you
was magically changed to yours
by the mailman

2023 Poetry Postcard Fest Thoughts

TGIF painting

I went out this morning thinking to paint at Hand Hollow. I stopped and finished my coffee there but it was too hot to paint. Listened to the birds awhile and then went home and painted from my porch. I had my bubba packed with ice and a cool beverage.

Then I had a bit oƒ dinner and went off to Claverack for the opening reception of an exhibit, paintings of the Columbia County Plein Air Artists. This was at the Claverack Free Library. Very nice drive and nice exhibit room.

Came home and looked at the three peppers I’d gotten at the community frig in New Lebanon earlier – very picturesque! So I did a quick painting of them too.

TGIF painting

From the Quote Box

Art to me, is seeing. I think you have got to use your eyes, as well as your emotion, and one without the other just doesn’t work. That’s my art.
— Andrew Wyeth

From the Quote Box

The Eve of April

Here at the month’s end
the night ripples with words
waiting to take flight

grey evening falls
from the shoulders
of waiting April

A yearly tradition of waiting for April and NaPoWriMo to begin. Happy writing everyone!

Know that it is good to work. Work with love and think of liking it when you do it. It is easy and interesting. It is a privilege. There is nothing hard about it but your anxious vanity and fear of failure. — Brenda Ueland

The Eve of April

Take Home Quote of the Day

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
? Elliott Erwitt

Take Home Quote of the Day

Happy Mailbox

I’m sending out daily haiku for the annual World Peace Poetry Postcard Festival and had received two cards followed by a pause. Got a fabulous card Saturday and today hit the jackpot with four more!

Today was the first day of post-furnace-blowup-replacement cleanup. I gathered up a lot of cleaning supplies and committed to doing a room or two a day until it’s done enough to move the small (not) furry cats back. I did one room today. I’ll just say it’s a strong argument for no doo-dads!

I had done some cleaning OUT of stuff while the new furnace was being installed and that’s out at the curb for tomorrow’s trash.

Happy Mailbox

Gathering encouragement and inspiration

We all need some encouragement and ideas on how to proceed. From when I was in high school, I wanted to make people pause and see small beauty in the every day world. That sort of fit in with the environmental movement of the seventies, but it wasn’t exactly what forestry college was ready for so I spent a lot of time at college taking photos and keeping on.

Recently listened to a six hour or so audio book interview with Paul Simon about his long career and his work and his process – how he ‘follows his ear’ and isn’t too worried about what will be next. He said you need to have a problem to fix and the problem better be interesting so you want to keep working at fixing it. He had one colossal flop – a Broadway musical. He had no experience with that genre going into the project. Some people loved it. Critics hated it. It ran for sixty-eight shows. Then he had to think – what do you do after that?

After The Capeman, Simon’s career was again in an unexpected crisis. However, entering the new millennium, he maintained a respectable reputation, offering critically acclaimed new material and receiving commercial attention. Simon embarked on a North American tour with Bob Dylan in 1999, with each alternating as the headline act with a “middle section” where they performed together, starting on the first of June and ending September 18. The collaboration was generally well-received, with just one critic, Seth Rogovoy from the Berkshire Eagle, questioning the collaboration.

He went on to collaborate with others and kept recording and trying new things. Like working with Herbie Hancock in 2005, reimagining I Do It For Your Love.

And so when people, artists you admire, talk about their work and lives, take a moment and listen. And like Ted Kooser says – throw a lot of horseshoes.

Passing Through from Straw Hat Visuals on Vimeo.

Gathering encouragement and inspiration

Using Technology to Communicate and Connect

One of the best things to come out of the pandemic was the embracing of things like Zoom, YouTube, Facebook live etc for communicating. We got to be live with people far away and spread out and sometimes who we might never had had the chance to spend time with. Some community grew up around that. Places like museums and bookshops that embraced online gatherings kept the interest of their followers and gathered new ones. During the early months of covid I had a daily and weekly schedule of these which really helped a lot.

https://www.facebook.com/BillyCollinsPoetry/videos

Cocktails with a Curator

Baumgarten Fine Art Restoration

The Metropolitan Museum

Laura Boswell, Printmaker

Udon Noodle Restaurant

I learned a lot from very knowledgeable folks who generously shared with an unseen audience. I appreciated folks who showed what they did or what they were interested in via video or audio online. I can’t really explain so easily while watching people cook in tiny Japanese or Chinese restaurant kitchens is soothing but I went with it. I learned quite a bit about art conservation and how to restore mostly metal objects. I sat daily with a former poet laureate (and a few hundred other homebound souls) and sipped adult beverages like we were in a salon sharing witty conversation and ignoring the world for a half hour. I received close up guided tours of objects I might never visit or be able to view that closely.

Some of that has mellowed as people have ventured back into the world but I’m still taking advantage of things which come around and this week that included this:

An Anniversary Edition of Braided Creek by Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison, published by Copper Canyon.

It’s been interesting to see the use of technology evolve over these past few years, and to see people grow more comfortable using it and understanding how it can be used and best used. Thanks all!

Using Technology to Communicate and Connect