This is the 2nd week of the Light Snow season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
Colleen gave us our kigo phrases for this week, as well as the poetic form. We were to write three dodoitsu, a form of Japanese poetry, following a 7-7-7-5 syllable count pattern.
- #1: “early winter dusk”
- #2: “chilly north winds blow”
- #3: “warmth around the hearth”
###
afternoons lose light sooner
coyotes prowl for dinner
gloom collects in my kitchen
early winter dusk
###
chilly north winds do not blow
we balance in luxury
no longer hot, but not cool
air gentle to touch
###
though today’s weather is fair
tomorrow will be chilly
and then we’ll be grateful for
warmth around the hearth
###
Care December will be starting day after tomorrow at Everything Art. Every year, Kasia who runs EA offers this free self-care and intuitive art “course.” Every day we get a video with art prompt and self-care tip as well as a brief nature experience. The only thing she asks is that we donate what we can to Action Against Hunger.
In preparation for the Care December experience, I made myself a little junk journal with a pretty cover. For the journal, I used a New York Life brochure. The staples didn’t hold so I bound it with a shoe lace. The cover is denim from an old pair of jeans, plaid fabric from a dress Grandma made for me when I was twelve, and an applique I had for my daughter’s wedding junk journal that I did not use. I wish the colors came out truer in the photo, but it’s this early winter daylight, I guess. The applique and lace are the same hunter green. The greens in the plaid are rich. And the denim is a true dark denim blue. So this image is a dud, clearly.
Each page is prepped for usage with gesso or collage.
Your cover is beautiful, Luanne. And the backstory for the cover is quite touching. Thank you for sharing it. Loved your poem as well. 😊
Thank you, Gwen! It is so restful to make journals! xo
Love the poetry! The idea of a junk journal is so clever and your cover is remarkable.
Annette, thank you so much! This was a really fun form to work with IMO. You can make junk journals out of all the parts of the mail you usually throw away ;)!
What a cool idea, Luanne. I get the colors in the journal and I love your thriftiness! My stepmother used to say: “Waste Not, Want Not.” I have 50 calenders we’ve received through the mail. I’m going to make a collage… I just have to find the time. Your dodoitsu trio came out fabulous! xx
Oh, calendars will make a great collage! I love the idea of rescuing what will go in the trash! Dodoitsu is so fun. Thanks for this prompt, Colleen. And thank you!
As a journal lover, I love what you did. Beautiful poem, Luanne.
I know you love your journals! There are so many cool ones out there, but it’s so fun to make them. And if you want to write in them instead of art, you can use different kinds of papers that you don’t add collage and gesso to. Binding is super easy, and there are several ways to do it. xo
Maybe you can do a YOUTUBE class for those (me) who aren’t as crafty as you! xo
Hahahahaha, I am trying to imagine that. Me with all my um and uhs. I do watch youtubes like that though and there are so many who are so good at it!
These remind me of haiku, and they’re lovely. But it led me to wonder: why are American kids taught about haiku but none of these other Japanese poetry forms?
Thanks, Amy. Funny about the haiku. Here is my two cents ;). American curriculum is pretty tightly structured and followed. Once haiku was set up it never got changed. I mean, it was part of the 6th grade curriculum in Michigan when I WAS IN SIXTH GRADE. hahaha When my kids were growing up California 4th graders studied the missions. THen in 2017 they changed that because a lot of people didn’t agree with studying the missions as they considered them oppressors. So it takes a lot sometimes to change the curriculum. On a related note: I didn’t realize that only half the states now teach the Holocaust in any form any longer. Look how that’s turned out.
Wow, I didn’t know that either. But not surprising. After all we don’t want any children with German backgrounds to feel bad about what the Nazis did, just like we don’t want white children to feel bad about slavery. What is this country turning into….
I enjoy you showing off your junk journal treasures. They are so clever. I like that you recycle junk mail this way, since it never stops coming. You find pleasing ways to incorporate winter phrases when you don’t have “early snow” where you live.
Thanks, Eilene! Definitely no early snow. And usually no any snow haha. But there are differences, especially the light and the temperatures. So lovely right now to go for a walk sleeveless but with a very light sweater than I can take off if I need to. And I mean a very lightweight sweater. I love using up the junk this way!
“gloom collects in my kitchen”
Perfection.
Thanks, Sheila. Right?! It kind of pools up!
Exactly…such a powerful image.
Love your junk journal cover, Luanne. I enjoyed the poem and you must love the break in the heat.
I love your poem! You do exceptionally we with prompt lines.
Prompts are my jam ;).
😀
Even if the light changed the colors, the journal is very creative!
Up to interesting art and words, as usual!
Thank you, Elaine! I hope all is well!
The idea of memmories holding memmories is so cool. Love it!
Hehe, I like looking at it that way!
Excellent poems and a lovely, memorable, book
Thank you so much, Derrick!
Wow! Your journal is delightful. I like how you pieced the cover together with special materials…all that have personal meaning. Love the poem!
I love surrounding myself with memories like this! Thank you, Linda!
Oh, I so love your three dodoitsu! They evoke softness and peacefulness. Your junk journal is beautiful. Perhaps I should try my hand at it. I have so much junk to use up 😉
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, that would be so cool!!! Let me know if you do it!!!! Thank you, Marie!
Wonderful imagery!
Thank you so much!
Luanne, I very much connected with the first stanza. The gloom enters the house uninvited 🙁 Beautiful hand-crafted book!
Thank you soo much! You know that feeling where all of a sudden you realize the inside of the house is gloomy?!
Wow, that’s so talented and creative, Luanne! <3
~David
Thank you so much, David!
A lovely poem and lovely journal, Luanne (even if the colors didn’t photograph well). Enjoy the art and giving of Care December. <3
Thank you, Diana! I definitely will, although I miscalculated and it doesn’t begin until December 8! That’s ok as I have a lot of other stuff going on right now.
Hi Luanne, a lovely poem. The journal cover is gorgeous. Do you draw in it or write in it for Care December?
Thanks, Robbie. That’s a great question. Neither. I do collage and mixed media stuff in it. Fooling around with junk, paints, etc. A little drawing, but not much. And text is mainly cut out phrases, etc.
That sounds very gratifying.
🙂
Your cover is lovely, Luanne. So creative and each piece a memory in itself.
Your Tanka poems are lovely. <3
Thank you, Carol!!! I love piecing together memories!
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You are always creative, your poem and journal lovely. I’m glad your area has cool off and you can feel nature in a more pleasant way.