Mainely Write

It's a good time for poetry! I took a Greek philosopher again this week - the suggestion of Irene Latham.   Last week I did an eclipse/dandelion poem from a quote by Odysseus Elytis: "You'll come to learn a great deal if you study the Insignificant in depth" . This time I have the quote from Theophrastus (370 BC - 285 BC Greek philosopher): " Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. " And with this quote, I wrote a form of "Golden Shovel", though with a quote instead of a line of poetry.   Each word in the quote is used in order and placed as the last word in each line of the poem. Time Ahead, shiny time ; Behind, each withered moment is Slipped into the Memory banks, most Foolish; valuable Time used for a flighty thing , Slight remembrances of a Time past, acquired by man Who can Never save, but might wisely spend . by Donna JT Smith, 8/14/2017 As I read this a couple of days later, I thought - hey, how

Instigated by Laura's 15 Words or Less today with her picture of a beetle on a dew laden petunia... Hit the Showers Hail, hairy flower, Beautiful shower Where dew and feet Meet Scrubbing power; Polished neat - Sweet! by Donna JT Smith, Aug. 24, 2017 Have a sweet day! I'm off to a meeting and then the dentist...a great day to take the motorcycle. Catch you tomorrow for Poetry Friday, where I'll have a quote by Theophrastus that I've poemized as a Golden Acroshovelstic.  I made that name up, so don't Google it; it will only get you Golden Retrievers.  I'll explain it tomorrow.

As the years have slipped by in the past 5 or 6 years I've been blogging, I've noticed that the  Poetry Friday offerings and Tabatha's Poem Swaps have matured and grown in depth and beauty - as I guess they would. Wouldn't it be fun one of these Friday's to repost one of our earlier works with a new one - side by side, to see the growth?  Maybe that will be a post for another week. Today, I have a poem in response to Irene Latham, who last Friday , inspired me to look at the Greek philosophers and use a quote as the basis for a poem.  I settled on a quote by Odysseus Elytis: "You'll come to learn a great deal if you study the Insignificant in depth" . Thanks, Irene, for inspiring me to squeeze out another bit of a poem!  It started out, just a study of a dandelion - that insignificant flowering weed.  I was going describe parts of it, but its small voice spoke to me.  It did not see itself as insignificant, nor a weed.  Perhaps we need to put

I have been busy with grandchildren this week.  They are leaving just after lunch, so the legos, stuffed animals, crayons and gluten foods are all being put away until the next visit! I have been writing some when I get the chance - mostly early morning or during nap time. I wanted to share one of the days: We went to the playground behind our local school where the kids climbed, swung, slid and ran, and ran, and ran.  And then they discovered a little house on a pole.  It was a Little Free Library .  I explained to them what that was, and how they could each pick a book and we'd put two back on our next visit. My grandson, soon to be six, picked Chris VanDusen's "If I Built a Car" to take home.  It is an awesome book, written and illustrated by VanDusen, and the rhyming is just the way I like it!  And just right for my grandchildren, too!  Yay! By request, his mom read it that night before bed.  The next day he had determined that he would design some cars h

Today is Poetry Friday, and I am hosting the party!  Yay!  Post your link for the party here: Poetry Friday Padlet Linkups It is summer.  Why, I remember it as if it were only yesterday when it was raining and I heard a robin's sweet song and I saw the first sweet rosebud on my rosebush by our house... Sweet, huh? So speaking of roses and sweet, my poem for today is about the beach rose - Rosa Rugosa - that can be found along roadsides and along beaches here in Maine. They are the absolute best smelling rose ever!  There's nothing like them for filling the air and surprising you with their sweet aroma as you pass by.  I have some roses given to us in memory of my parents, and from our church when we moved. When Joy shared Jone's postcard and challenged us to write a poem about a little insignificant thing, I started writing this poem, and remembered I'd taken this picture a couple of days ago at the beach: And after writing and posting the poem,

Today is Spiritual Journey First Thursday and is hosted by Julianne at To Read To Write To Be .  The topic is New Beginnings. I am a little bit unfocused on this topic, as I begin to write.  I have been ready for a new beginning that was to have happened this summer, and had it "called off" or at least "delayed for an undetermined length of time"... Because the move was supposed to be happening on May 1, we packed most everything we thought we'd need at the new house; and made piles for Goodwill, for a yard sale, to give to our kids, to give to church, of trash, to keep, and of "I don't know about this stuff yet". We started attending our new church just over an hour away from our present home, but closer to our new one...if we were there, that would make it convenient...but we aren't, so it isn't. Kitchen in a Box... an ending or a beginning? Then the hold-up occurred on the house.  Kitchen cabinets were kind of massacred and nee