Are You a Pluviophile?

"To be a poet is a condition, not a profession."
Robert Frost
 
Here is a poem for Poetry Friday!  Thanks, Karen Edmisten, for hosting today!

Rain

Fresh the drops that slowly soak
Into earth with gentle quenching
Crash and suddenly it pours

Kettles, buckets in great

Loads

Electric flashes pierce the sky

Then just as quickly as they came
Rumbles pass

Into the night and

Cease their
Knightish horseless battle

Leaving merely an

Esoteric essence,
Sweet tattle of spring

By Donna JT Smith


The prompt for Saturday, Feb. 29: 
Here's a heads up for tomorrow - the last day of Laura Shovan's birthday month treat of poetry writing about all things "water".  If you are not a member of this group but would like to try this, let me know where you have posted it on your blog or FB so we can all go read it! Or put it in the comments here.

Some new(?) vocabulary and music to "get you into the spirit" with the "rain" theme:

Are you a Pluviophile?  I did not know about this...

Pluviophile = a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.

 

Step 1: Write a form of poetry you have never tried before.  Here are two links to a bunch of poetic format descriptions:

Writers' Digest 100 Poetic Forms for Poets
Poem of Quotes: Types of Poems

Or if you don't like "going places", here are a few formats with their descriptions:

Tanka: The tanka is a Japanese form with five lines. The first and third lines have five syllables and the other lines have seven syllables each. The subject of the poem can be nature, as it is for haiku, but this isn’t required.

Ode: An ode is a poem addressed to a particular person, event, or thing, often meant to praise or glorify its subject. The ode is from ancient Greece. If you are addressing something/someone directly, you are writing an ode.

Epitaph: The epitaph is like the elegy, only shorter. It’s the kind of poem that might appear on a gravestone, although it doesn’t have to. It’s brief and it pays tribute to a person who has passed away or commemorates some other loss.

Ballad: A ballad tells a story. It’s an old, traditional form that was passed down orally from one generation to the next. Strictly speaking, ballads are written in quatrains, groups of four lines, and have a rhyme scheme of ABAB or ABCB. The lines alternate between having eight syllables and six syllables. But the ballad is a loose enough form that you can stray from the strict.

Epigram: An epigram is short and witty, often satirical, and have a surprising and funny ending. Epigrams don’t have to be poems, but they often are.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Epigram“:

Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.

Step 2: Pair the poetic format with one of the famous quotes below, your poem #29 Saturday.

OR simply pick a quote you already have about rain and write whatever you like!
The main goal is to use a quote about rain as inspiration and try something new!


Quotes about rain:

• A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.
  Henry David Thoreau

• We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.
  Jacques Yves Cousteau

• Only when the sky cries can we publicly shed our tears.
  Kanashimi Raven

• Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.
  Bob Marley

• If the rain spoils our picnic but saves a farmer's crop, who are we to say it shouldn't rain?
  Tom Barrett

• On a sunny clear day, you can improve your body; on a rainy fogy day, you can improve your mind!
  Mehmet Murat ildan

• Only a select few are able to see the true beauty that lies behind what just might seem like a rainy day or a grey sky.
  Jessica M. Laar

• I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny.
  Dr. Seuss

• I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
  Maya Angelou

• I wonder what ants do on rainy days.
  Haruki Murakami

• A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods.
  Rachel Carson 

• Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.
  Bill Watterson 

• A rainy day is a special gift to readers.
  Amy Miles 

• The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And remember -
"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."
Louis L'Amour

What's Up, Doc?

My last post and first of the new year was my OLW, Faith, post.  remember how I was a little afraid to claim that word?  I really wanted it as a reminder of how God has seen us through so much in the past two years, and having clear, calm faith was hard to come by at some points.

Well, I've tried to focus on Faith ever since that post.

Having taken a serious fall on January 9th - a tumble headfirst down the stairs of my apartment over the garage.  I broke my right ankle and right wrist, and damaged tissue in my left wrist. It meant i would have to use a wheelchair carefully.  I had one good limb. My ankle required surgery for pins.

I have tried to stay positive and trust that all would go well, keeping my faith strong throughout the ordeal.  I have since then been in the hospital for 3 nights, a rehab facility for 2 weeks and a respite care facility for 9 days.  I have now been at my daughter's staying in her livingroom for 5 days, and looking forward to 4 more weeks here.

I have kept busy with poetry writing, ukulele, and on-going rehab.

Laura Shovan has her birthday month of poetry challenges/nudges and here are a few that I have written which have kept me focused and faith-full this month so far.

An Acrostic to go with Jessica Bigi's image:

A "how to poem" featuring water given as a prompt by Lisa Vihos:

How to Make a River

Wait for a rainy day,

This may take awhile,

So while the sun shines

Gather small sticks in a pile.

Wait for a rainy day.

If it hasn’t happened yet

Put your boots by the door -

You don’t want to get feet wet.

Wait for a rainy day.

If clouds form, then drops,

Give it time to gather steam.

Watch for puddles catching plops.

Wait for the rain to quit.

Put on boots, grab a stick.

Start at the top of a gravel hill,

Puddle to puddle join them quick!

Don’t wait any longer,

Set the tiny sticks to float.

Start at the very first puddle,

Let each stick become a boat.

Wait for the river flow.

As puddles start to drain

Your stick boats on a journey

In your puddle-jump river of rain. 

Then

    Wait for 

         a rainy day. 

Another’s 

     around 

          the bend

With boots 

     and sticks 

          and puddles

The rivers 

     have 

       never to 

           end. 

By Donna JT Smith

And this, in response to Susan Michelle Brisson's photos of frogs:

Creatures in the Night

I opened the windows
To let in a night breeze.
“Close the windows, Mommy.
Please, close them, please.”
“But it’s warm up here, hon,”
And I turned down his bed
“I don’t want them open.”
He repeatedly said.
“Why? What is the matter?
It’s so warm tonight.”
“The creatures will get me.
They might even bite!”
“There are no creatures out there
That will get you,” I said.
“Yes, there are. Shh! Listen!”
And he jumped into bed.
Then I heard the sounds of
Sweet peepers singing
He’d misheard me say creatures
So the thoughts they were bringing
Were visions of armies
And armies of creatures
With certainly scary and
Alien features
No talking about it.
I tried to explain.
But he already had “creatures”
Raging wild in his brain.
So I closed all the windows
No breezes for sleeping;
Tomorrow we’d talk
About frogs and their peeping!

By Donna JT Smith

I just got my staples removed yesterday, and I'm working on putting a small amount of weight on my foot always in the boot, increasing weight gradually over the next 4 weeks.  I have a walker now to supplement the wheelchair and scooter use - house is getting crowded!

Foot up and nap now!

But you can go read more poems to celebrate Valentine's Day and Poetry Friday at TeacherDance with Linda.