I’m blessed to have poetry and a few photos in this delightful collection, alongside these other wonderful poets.
Category Archives: #bloggingcommunity
Two Arizona Bussokuseki: #TankaTuesday
The challenge for 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 19, 1/30/24, Part II: Deep Cold is to write a bussokuseki poem which is similar to a tanka, but has an extra line at the end: 5-7-5-7-7-7. My kigos are “ground hog day” and “depth of winter” and I used one in each of two bussokuseki. Spring really seemed to have sprung on my walk today, but of course we are supposed to get a rainstorm and cold tomorrow night.
in depth of winter
the sun comes out and warms us
the sweet acacias
blossom, perfuming the air,
birds chirp and trill their anthems
tomorrow chill will set in
***
Friday ground hog day
will determine spring’s advent
fair days came for us
with the birth of our grandson
who will celebrate one week
of life on that holiday
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
Baby Haiku: #TankaTuesday
24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 18, 1/23/24, Part I, Deep Cold (January 20 – February 2) Daikan 大寒
For this week’s haiku I used “bleached grasses” for a kigo.
the bleached grasses
wave in a joyful welcome
to my new grandson
Now you can tell me how adorable he is :)!!!!
UPDATE: I have switched out the baby’s photo with this one of me holding him because I don’t want his photo floating all over the internet. So hopefully it will go away from any searches soon.
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
Sonoran Blossoms Haibun: #TankaTuesday
In the 24-season syllabic poetry challenge for #TankaTuesday we have Poet’s Choice, as it’s the third week of the Early Cold season. My kigos are “Amaryllis” and “cold light,” which can be found in the haiku portion of the following haibun.
***
Sonoran Blossoms
The two gardening seasons in the Sonoran desert are warm and cool. We plant flowers in the spring, which can be from February though May, for summer blooming. In the fall, we plant cool season flowers, which last until May. Our months of choice are generally October and May. My yard is one acre with a wash running through it. On one side of the wash the land is slightly higher than the other, and because cold air sinks, some winters the lower side may experience a slight freeze that lasts until mid-morning, while the other side rarely freezes. The flowers may freeze to death occasionally, if they are not covered by frost cloths. However, many winters we get no freeze at all. Because of the mild weather, we can plant blossoming indoor-outdoor plants outside after they lose their flowers.
amaryllis blooms
fade under winter’s cold light
time to plant outdoors
Sometimes people get creative with protecting plants when the temperature hovers uncomfortably close to freezing in the early morning hours. This person uses Santa hats usually, but this year after New Year’s they replaced them with multi-colored beanies!
Recently, I participated in an Ugly Art Club event and in Care December from Everything Art. I’ve mentioned them both before. This is the Care December journal I finished. Each spread is an exploration in emotions and self-care, rather than being an attempt to create art. So there is a lot of hidden meaning behind each one. And, yes, the idea for me was to create another GRUNGY journal, as they are my favorites. The theme this year was the color blue in all its meanings.
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Arizona, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
Verse Envelope Haibun: #TankaTuesday
In the 24-season syllabic poetry challenge, we are now at Part II, Early Cold (January 5 – 20) Shokan 小寒. The request was to write a haibun, so I decided to try a verse envelope haibun where the prose passage is bookended by haikus. Generally, my haibun are prose passage followed by one haiku. My kigos are bolded. I think the first haiku is stretching the definition of haiku, but it’s what I wanted to say.
***
new year is now old
new beginnings are over
the routine is back
We approach each new year with anticipation, hoping for something to stir us. We want to feel renewed and ready for a spark to keep us placing one foot ahead of the other. But we are only in the second week of 2024 and already we have resumed the labor of our jobs, the routine of our personal care and feeding. For most of us, our relationships have not changed. But divinity willing, within the next 2-4 weeks I will have a new relationship with a grandson.
after we meet, I’ll
introduce you to snow crows
and sweet acacia
***
This tree is in my yard. Notice how its scars are hearts. Can’t wait to show that to the kid!
(I had to go back to classic editor to add the photo because I was getting an error message. “This block has encountered an error and cannot be previewed.” Has anybody else been getting that message and do you know anything about it?
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Arizona, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
Shadow and Light: #TankaTuesday
In the 24-season syllabic poetry challenge, we are now at Part I, Early Cold (January 5 – 20) Shokan 小寒. I suppose even in Arizona this is true. We are now colder than we were. On my daily walks I wear a lightweight neck scarf, a thin cardigan, and a rain-type jacket. It is not really winter wear, but it is a far cry from the heat of our summers when I only want to wear the lightest sundress I can find.
This winter’s cold light,
crisp and startling, throws shadows
on glistening grass.
Have you seen the cat lady portraits by art photographer Brooke Hummer? Gorgeous and smart. https://apanational.org/inspiration/entry/brooke-hummer-cats-women-and-art/
The gardener and I have an anniversary on Friday. We have been married so long the kids need to plan a party for next year! Also in news: grand baby is coming in a little over three weeks! I’ve been working on my grandma name. Thinking of the Dutch “Bomma,” but still mulling.
I submitted the second section of my unpublished memoir to the Tucson Festival of Books contest. I received notice that it is a finalist for the contest. Last year the first section was a finalist in the same contest. I have been joking that I’m “always a bridesmaid,” although I am grateful that it is
Trying the Abhanga: #TankaTuesday
This is Part I of 2, Winter Solstice (December 21 – January 4) Touji season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
I decided to try an abhanga, which is an Indian form of 6-6-6-4 syllables with lines 2 and 3 rhyming. Generally, this form is–I believe–a religious poem form. I have bolded the kigo words.
This first poem is about Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women. In the book, Mrs. March shows the girls how to begin their Christmas by delivering food and care to a starving, freezing German immigrant family. In the mid-nineteenth century, Germans were one of the main groups immigrating to the United States. But the March family was living without the father for the time-being, and they were quite poor themselves. The girls ate bread and milk for Christmas breakfast because that was all that was left after feeding the strangers.
DELIVERING THE FAMILY’S BREAKFAST TO THE POOR IMMIGRANTS
Alcott’s Little Women
models Christmasy love
gifting others above
that of one’s self
***
Here’s another poem that uses kigos that fit with my daily life.
THE SEASON OF DAILY WALKS
on my pink sunrise walks
the wren and the robin
sing sweet carols, all in
for the season
***
I submitted the second section of my unpublished memoir to the Tucson Festival of Books contest. I received notice that it is a finalist for the contest. Last year the first section was a finalist in the same contest. I have been joking that I’m “always a bridesmaid,” although I am grateful that it is a finalist
Here’s a fun 101-word story published by the journal 101 Words. Hope you find it humorous!
https://101words.org/small-battles/
I’ve been working on the 5 minute challenge hosted by The Ugly Art Club. These are the first three spreads I completed. The prompts, in order, are CYCLE, LUNAR, and SLOTS.
May your holidays be healthy and happy. XO
Kimos with Kigos: #TankaTuesday
This is the 2nd week of the Heavy Snow (December 7 – 20) season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
The challenge this week is to write three kimos, which are an Israeli form of haiku. Colleen suggested three kigo phrases to use in the three. A kimo has 10, 7, 6 lines and is fairly static. Here are the kigo phrases:
- #1:“buying a new calender” (7 syllables)
- #2:“winter desolation” (6 syllables)
- #3:“trimming the Christmas tree” (6 syllables)
Here are my kimos:
almost at the end of a painful year
buying a new calendar
brings me hope for healing
***
remembering his proposal to her
on the twelfth of December
winter jubilation
***
on my mother’s floor they gather around
to celebrate together
trimming the Christmas tree
The first poem is obvious. This has been a pretty bad year on a global scale.
The second poem is about my daughter and SIL’s engagement several years ago. It was on December 12. Then they married in the courthouse on March 12 during Covid and had a big wedding on February 12 almost two years ago. As Colleen points out in her #tankatuesday post, this is the 12th season. We are also in the 12th month by our calendar. Notice that I turned the kigo “winter desolation” around, making it “winter jubilation.” I wanted to write about daughter’s love of twelve and didn’t want it negative.
The third poem is about my mother’s retirement community.
On Sunday, the journal Roi Fainéant Press and its EIC Tiffany M. Storrs published my new Remedios Varo-inspired tiny story, Mimesis. This one is just as weird as the others, and it does have a cat as an important character. https://www.roifaineantpress.com/post/mimesis-by-luanne-castle?fbclid=IwAR0J2DQ4KmcmG_l1Iw8te2MYMXtAw6ydZfm11MEr68lrlFXVBZIJgVMv0Wk
Of the Season: #TankaTuesday
This is the 1st week of the Heavy Snow (December 7 – 20) season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
I wrote a chōka and followed it (as is the custom) with a short poem called an envoy. I included a senryu, which is like a haiku but about human foibles, not nature. We are supposed to find all the kigo we can in the above painting, but I took it as a very loose guide.
anticipation
the sky more shaded, nuanced
a hawk soars above
what lies in store before end
of year and new times
preparing for Hanukkah
lighting the darkness
winter birds fly overhead
taking our troubles with them
*
Hanukkah candles
are lit in the darkest month
to lead a new path
I focused on Hanukkah because it starts tonight and lasts for eight days. The kigo words/phrases that I used are anticipation, hawk, preparing, Hanukkah, lighting the darkness, winter birds. The photo image I chose was something I see on my walk everyday, the mighty Arizona saguaro. I think they look similar to giant menorahs.
If you remember my bad knees poem from last month, I am excited to tell you that it was in the top ten read poems on One Art in November. Yay!!!! https://oneartpoetry.com/2023/12/01/one-arts-top-10-most-read-poets-of-november-2023/
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Arizona, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
Light Snow, Week 2: #TankaTuesday
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.
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing