27 Sunday Nov 2016
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Love, Philosophy
Tags
art, inspiration, love, philosophy, photos, soul
I looked into your eyes
and felt as if you knew me,
even though we’ve yet to meet.
Feeling rude, I quit staring,
but your eyes followed me,
causing me to look again.
Kindred spirits, by chance?
Or did you see my raw soul,
and know you could help?
I may never meet the eyes
from that photograph, but
I thank you for reaching me.
25 Sunday Oct 2015
Posted in Art, Inspiration
Flowers budding off the page,
curlicue swirls in margins,
words interspersed with scribbles,
drawings fit for the wall.
That’s what teachers collected,
but not with a smiling face,
for doodling was called inattention,
and as such, considered poor taste.
But research has since been conducted,
and as strange as it is to believe,
attention is often enhanced,
if we’re doodling while listening at length.
Now they’ve taken something intrinsic,
labeled it teachable art, produced
hundreds of books and videos
illustrating just how it should be.
But it’s like my tennis game,
learned entirely on my own;
when I took lessons from the masters,
I fell flat, not making the score.
If there’s a lesson to be learned here,
it’s to have faith in what you know,
and passionately doodle away
while listening to what you don’t know.
24 Thursday Sep 2015
I’m standing in the middle of my story,
writer, actor, and director.
I choose the words carefully;
They are not scripted for me, but by me.
I choose how to play out the scenes,
Knowing I’m my own stuntman and could get hurt.
And I choose how to direct my energy,
How to live day by day, each day a gift I give myself.
23 Wednesday Sep 2015
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Life, Love, Nature, Philosophy
Tags
ancient ruins, art, compassion, inspiration, life, love, Nature, philosophy, poems, Poetry, wisdom
You need not fear the
appearance of the world
crumbling around you,
if you live your life with
compassion. There will
always be a door open to you.
Stand tall among the ruins.
09 Tuesday Jun 2015
The mail-order bride catalog
said my wait was nearly over;
my station in life could be found
just around the corner. Which,
of course, I took literally and believed.
I thought it meant I was
to wait for you by the train station,
the one near my house. But…..
I’ve stood, waiting endlessly, for you to come.
I won’t vacate my post; I don’t want to miss you.
I hold my head high, hat perched slightly askew, and
watch as my threads are scorched by the sun and
dehydration turns my bones inside out.
Should I give up on you?
Prideful, I know I can’t have been wrong;
You just took a wrong turn. You’ll be here soon.
With fortitude of steel, I straighten my back,
and wait some more.
*********
Lafayette, CO has impressive Cultural Arts and annually displays sculptures throughout town. This particular one was begging for this poem!
Artist: Victoria Ross Patti
Arvada, CO
Location: 211 N. Public Road; Mojo Coffee
Materials: Steel
Price: $3,800
06 Saturday Jun 2015
Tags
art, arthritis, children, family, flowers, health, heart, humor, inspiration, iris, life, love, mountains, Nature, philosophy, seasonal, weather, writing
I’m excited to share that I now have a book of poetry, Power of a Raindrop, published and available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through the publisher. If you order from the publisher, the first 10 to order will receive 15% off the retail price. http://shop.ravenbooks.net.
20 Tuesday Jan 2015
Posted in Art, Family, Inspiration, Writing
Tags
Countless pages marked,
labeled as favorite,
grouped, regrouped,
synced and shared.
Now, literally hundreds
of electronic bookmarks
clutter my browser,
rarely used, oft forgotten.
Yet ask me about the single cross
Grandma crocheted for me
and I can tell you not only the
favorite passages it marked, but also
where it is at any given moment,
and what bookmarks mean to me.
23 Sunday Nov 2014
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Life, Nature
Tags
acceptance, alcohol ink, art, change, inspiration, life, Nature, poems, Poetry
“If I mention blue,” the artist asked,
“what word or phrase comes to mind.
How about orange? And green?
Now hold these thoughts as you
work with the inks on your paper.
You’ll be amazed at what happens.”
Focusing, a word and color at a time,
I drizzled and swirled, watching
ink flow together as if self-directed.
Each color changed the painting, and soon
green and orange were blending, creating
evergreen and earth-toned mountains while
orange refracted into an arched sunset
against the now azure sky.
Calmness and warmth filled me, and
I settled into a meditative peace as I laid my painting to dry.
A slight miscalculation by my neighbor, however,
and his dropper full of purple ink hit my paper.
I found myself trying to “fix” my painting,
forgetting that I cannot change anyone’s thoughts or colors
but my own.
14 Monday Jul 2014
10 Saturday May 2014
Being a Mother is like a blossoming flower;
it starts slowly, growing hour by hour.
Though budding love for the newborn
is threatened by an occasional thorn,
as the years go by and the petals unfold,
the love of mothering grows to measures untold.
09 Friday May 2014
I blinked through tearful eyes
to see if the yellowed ivory keys
of the old family piano
were really moving.
In my mind’s eye, I saw them
dancing a Sentimental Journey of
Saturday nights growing up;
a special time when we children
forgot animosity and joined together
in harmony, creating memories
more precious than Ivory Palaces.
05 Monday May 2014
Posted in Art, Children, Inspiration, Life
Careful not to cut the creases,
children cut along drawn lines,
creating a fan-fold stack
resembling a man,
albeit a vertical half–
half a head…half a torso…
an arm…a leg.
As if an accordion, a gentle
opening pumps wholeness
into the paper doll figure,
no longer half but complete as his
full body emerges, joined by
many others, all holding hands,
supportIng one another.
04 Sunday May 2014
We have woven our lives together,
tangled threads of two individuals
coming together in smooth fashion,
continuing to love one another.
Each stitch of time was treasured
as the fabric of our family was formed,
knit of love and compassion, and
growing in value every year.
Through all the years, however,
we’ve come to discover that
not all stitches were even, and
the edges have unraveled a bit.
But, as with the troubled oyster,
we’ve been blessed with pearls
added to our family heritage,
a daughter and grandson, jewels
that add sparke to our lives.
01 Thursday May 2014
Posted in Art
Tags
art, Duke Ellington, jazz, Louis Armstrong, music, poems, Poetry
Standing for hours in damp, chilly weather
in a long line in a dark alley was not
something I would have ever imagined doing.
Yet here I was, in New Orleans, doing just that.
The guard controlled the crowd, allowing only
a few in at a time. To Preservation Hall, that is.
Where the roots of jazz meet the modern world.
The cozy old building proved larger than life
when the music started. Smoke stung my eyes
as the short drink burned my throat, but I wouldn’t leave.
I swayed to the improvisation of commingled sounds,
brass and bass instruments juxtaposed in syncopated rhythm.
Edgy yet amazingly melodic, blended voices
of saxophones and a baritone sang along.
Closing my eyes, I imaged what it would have been like
to hear the greats, like Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington, on stage.
Inspired by:
International Jazz Day (http://jazzday.com/2014/04/artists-from-across-the-globe-grace-the-stage-in-osaka-japan-for-international-jazz-day-2014/) and
Grand Junction Art and Musical Festival (http://www.coloradoartisttour.info/members/grandjunctionartandjazz.html)
03 Thursday Apr 2014
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Life, Mountains, Philosophy, Thoughtful Thursday, Writing
“Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.”
Ikkyū (一休宗純 Ikkyū Sōjun?, 1394–1481) (self-named: “Crazy Cloud”) was an eccentric, iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet. He had a great impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals. Wikipedia via Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, entry “Ikkyū” by James H. Sanford
26 Wednesday Mar 2014
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Nature
Tags
art, flowers, impressionism, inspiration, Monet, Nature, poems, Poetry, water
Monet’s quick strokes of intense color
bring impressions of 3-D to his
two-dimensional oil paintings, even without
fiiltered glasses. It’s as if stems
catch a breeze…perhaps a wind,
a dog chase, or even a nibbling bunny.
Or as if water gently flows ’round corners
with reflected shadows dancing along.
Reading between the strokes,
I continue to be moved by Monet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agapanthus, Claude Monet, 1914-1926, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Photo: wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1914-26_Claude_Monet_Agapanthus_MOMA_NY_anagoria.JPG
Branch of the Seine near Giverny, Claude Monet, 1897, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Photo: wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Claude_Monet_-_Branch_of_the_Seine_near_Giverny.JPG
06 Thursday Mar 2014
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Life, Philosophy, Thoughtful Thursday, Writing
Tags
art, Dr. Seuss, inspiration, life, memory, philosophy, poems, Poetry, thoughtful thursday, writing
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.”
Often credited to Dr. Seuss, originally attributed to Georges Duhamel in THE HEART’S DOMAIN (1919). Originally composed in French, the wording in English varies slightly in translations. This is such a beautiful translation.
“We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory. Like the images the photographer plunges into a golden bath, our sentiments take on color; and only then, after that recoil and that transfiguration, do we understand their real meaning and enjoy them in all their tranquil splendor.“
28 Friday Feb 2014
Kaleidoscopes pass back and forth
as if quilters sharing templates.
Mirrored reflections change as the
viewers change, orientation and
visual acuity helping shape the layout.
Various pieces form unique,
colorful patterns as each creator
chooses its structural design,
knowing a slight turn in placement
changes the directional view.
Kaleidoscopes are not stagnant,
nor are the journeys of our lives,
but when pieces are stitched together,
everlasting memories are preserved.
14 Friday Feb 2014
Red is the color of my true love,
a positive aura in adversity. He
balances my pink personality
when mega cautious tries to rule.
His powerful stance and personality
helped his career quickly advance;
whereas my pink, more reticent self
leaned toward intuition more readily.
He’s self-assured and has overcome strife,
Cerebral Palsy and polio, to name just two;
But here is where my pinkness shines,
my nurturing soul yearns to take care of him.
You’d not likely find two more diverse souls.
However, like the colors that represent us,
blended together, we become a richer,
more beautiful version of each other.
05 Wednesday Feb 2014
24 Friday Jan 2014
10 Tuesday Dec 2013
08 Sunday Dec 2013
03 Tuesday Dec 2013
Tags
art, color, landscapes, Nature, poems, Poetry, preservation
Dabs and strokes of selective colors
immortalize landscapes as palettes of
oil paints brush up against canvas,
preservation of nature at its finest.
_________
*Oil painting by George Henry Durrie (1820-1863), an American artist whose rural winter scenes became popular when reproduced as lithographic prints by Currier and Ives.
