Saturday, March 23, 2019

Poetry Friday and #AtoZChallenge

I am gearing up for April's AtoZ challenge (my 8th year participating), attempting vanity license plates in Maine again.  We haven't been there for a few months, and everything has been up in the air, so I don't have every letter I need.  Vanity plates are rare in PA, so there will be no filling in with those!  I did however find a great site to generate a plate...Acme License Plate Maker.  It's fun; you should try it!
Here's the link to the AtoZ Challenge if you think you might want to try or at least read some alphabetical posts!

I am filling in with the 7 I am missing this year, with generated plates or plates from a previous year for which I didn't write a poem previously.  I'm all set to write.  Wrote my first - A is for... - and set it to automatic, so I don't have to worry about starting!  Usually by now I have most all of them done and set to publish without me giving it another thought.  Too many thoughts lately, to get to autopilot yet.

I am doing Laura Shovan's birthday month challenge each day, so that has taken me in directions away from license plates and alphabets... but lots of fun!

For today, here is a poem I wrote this week.  It's one of the rare ones I haven't done for a challenge lately...just for me.

I am late, of course, for Poetry Friday over at Sloth Reads.  Meant to post this yesterday, but I'll link anyway.



Remembering Blue

The sky was always blue, it seemed to draw deep from a well;
then, too, the ocean gleamed cobalt as far as I could tell.
Blue willow plates, blue checkered drapes, and even music's swell
was Blue on Blue and Blue Danube; and where the lupine dwelled
she tapped the stone and called for me to listen for a spell
to Bluejays and the Indigo; she knew their calls so well.
Her eyes of Celadon were fierce, but the dreams she had came true,
for she could sit mid sapphire patch, and eat the sweetest blue.
How can it be that artist's hue is cold or shedded tear?
Every clear sky day I spent was watercolored cheer.
Cerulean waves of memories wash over where I played.
from Haint blue skies above the fields to muted Glaucous shade.
Royal blue my bicycle, Navy ribbons tied my hair,
Alice Blue Gown was her song;
still her blue is
everywhere.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

12 comments:

  1. I love all your blues in your poem!

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    1. Thanks, Ruth. Wrote this for my mother... don't know why it came to mind. It isn't any anniversary, just the blue image I took set me to reminiscing.

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  2. You know that I loved this poem, Donna. And it is fun that you're continuing the license plate phenonenon poems for April. I've enjoyed them, & still watch for plates here, but they are rare. I'm still trying to decide what to do! Have a great rest of the weekend!

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    1. Some just do random writing about something they like. I've done book titles. And it isn't usually poetry that people do. Lots of people are writers, and will pick out characters they have in their writing and just describe them. The topics are all over the place!

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  3. Donna, talking about posting late: I totally forgot to place my url in the link up spot so even though I had my book review for Laura Purdie Salas' Blog Tour completed and replied to Rebecca. I guess I got caught up on overload this week. Anyways, it's up and at the end of the PF posts. Getting back to your post, the poem is so lovely with all its many shades of blue. I thought it might be a memory and then I read in your comment to Ruth that it was for your mother. Sometimes, images or thoughts come into our minds and they just need to be places on paper. I am glad that you continue to write for challenges. This month has been filled with too many commitments and deadlines so I cannot write for Laura's Feb. Poetry Project like I have in the past. I am reading the poems when I can. I like what you have posted at that site.

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    1. Blue was my mother's favorite color, and I have been forever influenced by it.

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  4. There's something about blue, and blue-themed poems that are so soothing as they wash over you. This one's beautiful, Donna! Next week you should post the letters you're missing for vanity plates. Maybe all the poet eyes and ears in other states can be on the lookout as well? Then again, generating plates sounds like an awful lot of fun!

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    1. Good idea, Michelle...I usually get them all, but this has been a bit of a topsy-turvy year.

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  5. Gorgeous poem Donna, so many intriguing layers of blue, thanks!

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