Category Archives: Essays

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 17 April 2016

A familiar sunny Sunday morning scene…lounging in while my cat, Casey, waits patiently for shadows of squirrels and birds to flutter by. Routine is a wonderful thing. Once entrenched, you hardly even notice it, and when you do it’s beauty and simplicity has a way of calming us amidst the chaos of life.

This week like so many recent weeks has presented with political undertones. But unlike some election seasons peppered with idealistic aspirations for the future, this cycle has been just plain angry.

And I get it. Things are not as rosy as we’d like them to be. Anger is a natural response to disappointment. But sustained, unchecked, venomous, fear-fueled anger accomplishes nothing. Like a raging fire it eventually burns out, but not without casualties.

Our better selves know intervention is called for to minimize the damage. Pure lunacy is adding more kindling and logs to the pit, which current politicians are loath to do. Alas, are beset with lunatics!

This week’s ReVerse is smattered with sparks of this hotbed of incessant blustering. Embers sucking air. But come Sunday I rely on the cool balm of routine. Casey chasing shadows. Sun-streamed bliss on a mattress. A call to pause and breathe. I live for moments like these! And I hope you have a Sunday time and place where you can rest and recharge too!

I would be remiss if I did not pause to remember the victims of recent natural disasters this week…Japan…and now…Ecuador. Peace and healing all.

And so…be safe this week my fellow word-pressers. Flex those word-bending super powers of yours, penning the light as well as the darkness. Each have their place; the light to warm and inspire us and the darkness, exposed, allowing us to release and to move toward healing. And one more thing…don’t forget to breathe.  Peace.

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 17 April 2016

This I can’t deny
Truth settles on shuttered minds, spinning in sound bites
suffer(ing) no regrets
promises to keep
each twisty turny
I remember when
Sowing seeds, midst fussy plots of weeds, their empty plates to fill
…because EVERYTHING is better with a little Sriracha!!!
It’s too late to regret
There’s nothing left to do but rise
There were a few brave souls but even fewer customers
Intrepid trekkers
engaged in trysts with metaphors
drunken noodles sweating steam
When the rose bush bursts in bloom
Sometimes fear is good.
Politicians count on this.

~ kat


April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day # 15

It’s Friday!   A special treat each week is going out to a great little Asian restaurant that features Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisine. It’s become my favorite place. And so for this day’s poetry form I am sharing the Epulaeryu with you. It’s an obscure little form developed by one Joseph Spence, Sr. inspired by the memorable foods he experienced on his Mediterranean and Far East travels. There is literally a poem and poetry form for everything it seems!

Here’s are the details of a proper Epulaeryu:
-First and foremost it is all about delicious food!
-7 lines with 33 syllable
-The syllable scheme is: 7/5/7/5/5/3/1
-It may or may not rhyme
-Each line contains one thought describing the featured course with the last 1 syllable word expressing the writer’s feelings about the dish. To add drama, an exclamation point is always called for at the end.

I dedicate this one to all my foodie friends! 🙂

my-drunken-noodles-ivillage_380

This photo is from Pinterest

Drunken Noodling

Pepper infused, savory
veggies lightly tossed
drunken noodles sweating steam
aromatic pot
culinary treat
slippery
hot!

kat ~ 15 April 2016


Wafflestompers – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

wafflestomper

Happy Friday!

Well…here’s a word for you…WAFFLESTOMPERS! Today’s dictionary.com word of the day hails to us from 1970’s Americana.

This late middle-aging flower child of the 70’s must admit, I have never heard this word before. It could be that I spent most of the 70’s barefooted; tripping through fields of daisy’s chasing butterflies…or it may be my insane fear of heights! Either way, it is no wonder I never had a need for a pair of wafflestompers!

But given that it is today’s word of the day…and a very high-in-syllable word at that…I shall do my best, despite my obvious inexperience, to render the wafflestomper its proper homage in a contrived haiku. Three lines, syllables 5-7-5…anything but profound with a touch of thesaurus mischief!  Have a great weekend folks!

Wafflestomping

Intrepid trekkers
don high-top wafflestompers
To reach a climax.

kat ~ 15 April 2016


Echoes of my Neighborhood

So…I don’t get out much! I know, I know, I admit I work too much. When I finally did manage an outing this past weekend we had a mini blizzard! So I am afraid the lovely downtown farmer’s market photos I had planned didn’t happen. In fact, the farmers barely showed up! There were a few brave souls but even fewer customers.

Not to worry, in my attempt to escape the elements I happened upon a new shop of metaphysical trinkets and curiosities! And I found a new inside toy! A sand photo box! I can watch these for hours, and have, since I brought it home!

So, I am moving it inside this week, into a dreamy corner of my nest to “listen” to floating drifts of sand, streams of tan and brown with a flash of gold. They have quite a lot to say! Have a wonderful Thursday!

ZenScapes 

  
  
  
  
If you would like to visit other neighborhoods, visit my friend Jacqueline at a cooking pot and twisted tales by clicking HERE!


April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #14

Today I’m giving the Luc Bat a go. This poetry form is Vietnamese in origin and means “six-eight.” In fact, the poem consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables. This poem is interesting in its rhyme scheme that renews at the end of every eight-syllable line and rhymes on the sixth syllable of both lines.

Here’s a diagram of how the first few lines of luc bat poems should rhyme:
xxxxxA
xxxxxAxB
xxxxxB
xxxxxBxC
xxxxxC
xxxxxCxD
xxxxxD
xxxxxDxE

I managed a few luc bats. The rhyme sequence is a bit tricky B but once I got the hang of it I wanted to keep going! Hope you will give this one a try! 😊

creeper 1

Sleep Interrupted

Here at the cusp of dawn
as dark of night moves on, I sigh
half asleep, buying time
Hit the snooze, close my eyes, distressed,
Toss and turn, try to rest
And then the sun, that pest, peeks through
The day awaits anew
There’s nothing left to do but rise.

No Regrets

It’s too late to regret
a deed once done and yet we try
“A do-over!” we cry,
as if we could deny our part
It cuts us to the heart
Releasing is an art, you know
the only way to grow
choose to learn, let it go, move on.

kat ~ 14 April 2016