Category Archives: Digital Art & Photos

bananas for bananas

bananas for bananas

a banana is
the perfect fruit

ask anyone
and they’ll tell you

literally anyone...
what is it about bananas
and why are they so special

oh i can list a few reasons
how do i love thee, fair banana...

almost ripe, firm, smooth on the tongue,
a tinge of green, bittersweet

in smoothies, puddings and
in muffins and cakes and

quick breads (warm from the oven, sliced thick, slathered with fresh butter) too,
long, lean, and luscious, perfect

to eat raw, sliced or mashed,
to take along anywhere

already wrapped, delightful to peel
such a fine fruit...the banana

who wouldn’t love them

~kat
———————-
For NaPoWriMo2021 Challenge - Day 5: Find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem. I chose Rita Dove’s poem, “Flirtation” (see below).

Flirtation
BY RITA DOVE
After all, there’s no need
to say anything

at first. An orange, peeled
and quartered, flares

like a tulip on a wedgewood plate
Anything can happen.

Outside the sun
has rolled up her rugs

and night strewn salt
across the sky. My heart

is humming a tune
I haven’t heard in years!

Quiet’s cool flesh—
let’s sniff and eat it.

There are ways
to make of the moment

a topiary
so the pleasure’s in

walking through.

Rita Dove, “Flirtation” from Museum (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1983). Copyright © 1983 by Rita Dove. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Source: The Poetry Anthology 1912-2002 (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2002)



Sunday’s Long Overdue, Long-Winded ReVerse Poem – 4 April 2021

Hello dearies...it’s been a long dry spell, with only intermittent blips of light peeking through the dark of winter...and me taking time to breathe after holding my breath for so long. I have missed this place and you, and the Muse has been an elusive imp for several seasons now, giddy I suspect with the woods that surround my house and weary of my rote tiny existence behind these walls of COVID-induced shelter.

You may have heard. We had an election here in the US. Sanity won, but only by a heartbeat. The losers, sore and swift to cry foul, attempted a coup, failing, still loom, waiting for their golden god’s next marching orders. I am happy to say that I am learning to breathe again...big breath in...big breath out...my head filling again with words, tossing around and jumbled, ready for the picking. It feels good to be back...slowly but surely I am.

Sunday’s Long Overdue, Long-Winded ReVerse Poem - 4 April 2021

and me breathing...
thank you dear strangers
do not linger
compassion prevailed
their footprints in the dust long disbursed to the wind
age of Aquarius dawning
tick tock tick
full cold moon on ice
wash away the pain
when the air swelled, when time shifted,
words upon beautiful words whispering,
the clouds fell to earth tonight
it shouldn’t surprise us
how you dance with the wind when tempests roar
my weary bones need no persuading;
liberated only in name
bound in symmetry
here on the brink
only to be nipped
now heartless, empty
weary of promises, promises impossible to keep
the irony of it not lost

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week...or in this case, the past several months.


NaPoWriMo 2021 – Day 3 – old tree

old tree

on the forest floor
lies the shell of an old tree
stubbly roots exposed, its core
now heartless, empty
grist for grubs, in death humility

~kat

For NaPoWriMo 2021 - Day 3...Off topic, but I promise to work on my personal deck. It seems like a worthwhile project to inspire future poetry. For today...a Horatiodet (my own short version of the Horatian Ode...a Form i came up with when i was doing daily micropoetry.) A Horatiodet is a total of 5 lines, syllable count: 5-7-7-5-9 / rhyme scheme: ababb. In other words, it is a short Horatian Ode (only one stanza), a form based on the style of Horace, Quintus Horatius Flaccus (December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC), the leading Roman lyric poet.

Haikus & Senryus

muddy
ecstasy
spring rain

lingering
winter, frosted gloam
peepers mum

fair dandelion
golden face turned toward the sun
to frost at dawn fades


footprints
rain remnants
to mop

such stillness
peepers choked by frost
in hiding

only to be nipped
by latent cold snaps at dawn
first flowers still rise

~kat

For Tanka Tuesday Challenge to explore the haiku and the senryu, a handful of each in various metered forms: 2/3/2, 3/5/3, 5/7/5 . I love writing little poems!


NaPoWriMo 2021 – Day 2 – in retrospect

Two variations of the Rhupunt...

Broken into Lines:


in retrospect

when I was young and still unsung, with dreams far-flung, nothing but time
life’s harsh demands spoilt all my plans, setting my hands to earn a dime
my family kept me busy, no longer free with no downtime
in just a blink here on the brink, no time to think regret, I find
in retrospect my thoughts reflect a life, perfect, ev’ry choice mine

Broken into Stanzas:

in retrospect

when I was young
and still unsung
with dreams far-flung
nothing but time

life’s harsh demands
spoilt all my plans
setting my hands
to earn a dime

soon family
kept me busy
no longer free
with no downtime

in just a blink
here on the brink
no time to think
regret, I find

in retrospect
my thoughts reflect
a life, perfect
ev’ry choice mine

~kat



Tried a new form, the Rhupunt, for Napowrimo 2021 Day 2 Challenge: Today’s (optional) prompt. In the world of well-known poems, maybe there’s no gem quite so hoary as Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about your own road not taken – about a choice of yours that has “made all the difference,” and what might have happened had you made a different choice.

The rhupunt, a Welsh poetic form, has some variability to it, but also some rigid rules as well.
Here are the guidelines for the rhupunt:
· The form can be broken down into lines or stanzas
· Each line or stanza contains 3 to 5 sections
· Each section has 4 syllables
· All but the final section rhyme with each other
· The final section of each line or stanza rhymes with the final section of the other lines or stanzas