Sunday Muse # 58

Photo by Tatiana from Pexels

Thank you for stopping by and participating today.
  Let the photo be your muse, link up, and visit others. 
 Oh yea, and one more thing:
Have Fun Everyone!!

Wednesday Muse #10 : Shinrin Yoku

Hello Wednesday Musers!  Today, we are going to take a forest bath.  A what???  Shinrin Yoku - the Japanese term for forest bathing - immersing oneself into a  a green experience, a tree experience.

We don't all have access to a forest.  We might have access to a park with trees, a walk we take with a tree or trees along the way, a tree seen from our window.

We talk to trees, hugs them, climb them, stroke them.  We look at them from afar or close up.  We look at trees in the mountains, by the ocean, in a city.

Shinrin Yoku - This is the healing way of Forest Therapy.  It is the medicine of simply being in the forest.  So write about tree healing.  Write about how trees soothe your spirit.  Being among trees heal us.  Write about imagine being healed by a tree or made happy.  This is a simple prompt for you all.  It is about healing, it is about peace, it is about calm.

Sunday Muse # 57

"Protector" Photography by Susie Clevenger

To see her other beautiful photos click here

Thank you Susie for providing wonderful inspiration! You are talented in so many ways!


So glad you stopped by today!  You know the shpeel:

 ~Link up, comment and visit others along the way~
  Have fun everyone!
I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend! 

Wednesday Muse # 9 Anniversary

Hello Musers!  I have been thinking about things that occur on an annual basis - anniversaries of a sort.  We all have them.  Wedding anniversaries, birthdays, the time we became engaged, the death of a loved one, pet, friend; the day we received a degree or got the job of our lives, the day we published a book.

So I am making this short and sweet:  write about an anniversary or several in one poem.  Let's try our best to make this true poetry instead of prose broken into lines.  Fireblossom wrote a wonderful article about writing poetry and it woke me up a bit.

I remember when my husband asked me to marry him - to the day!  I think of the day my mother died and the day a friend committed suicide.  I look back on the day I was hired for my first job.  Especially I remember our wedding anniversary!

Some of us even celebrate the day we adopted a pet - a Gotcha Day!  

I think we all remember the day we got various degrees as well.

We remember the day we lost a loved one to another.  We remember all kinds of things that affect our hearts.

So please, share with us an anniversary.  And make it poetric and make it no more than four stanzas.

Enjoy the write!  

Sunday Muse #56

Fireblossom here with your weekly picture challenge! Just train your goo-goo-googly eyes on the picture, cogitate as needed, and then write a poem! Link, visit, feel good about the whole thing. ;-)

Sunday Muse: Wednesday Muse #8 Garden Spot

Hello Wednesday Musers!  I hope you all are having lovely weather!  It is moving into summer and with the thought of summer comes...Gardens!  Large ones, small ones, container gardens, gardens on terraces and porches.

I have moved from a large veggie garden to a small container garden on my back steps.  I grow tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, and squash.  I am a practical, not decorative gardener.  Herbs and a few marigolds to keep the bugs away.  A container of different radishes and lettuces.  I used to plant a huge garden and can tomatoes and freeze summer corn.  Now I drive out to the country to buy a couple of boxes of tomatoes and dozens of ears of corn.  I also buy peaches to freeze for during the winter.

Besides veggie and flower gardens, there are also large (0r small) water feature gardens, rock and gravel gardens, parks in the city with flowers, and neighborhood gardens.  This year I am going to stop working in a local food bank and volunteer for a local organization that has gardens in the inner city, in food deserts.  They teach kids and adults how to grow veggies and then how to prepare them.  A wonderful group of people!

I would like you all to write a poem about your garden - whether it be one container of a tomato plant, flowers on a terrace, or your entire back yard filled up with statuary, flowers, and roses.

So get out there, and garden!  or write a poem about memories of a garden or gardening, walking in the warm soil of a veggie garden, the smell of roses - anything pertaining to a garden!  How you work out your frustrations or how you find peach - share with us!  BONUS!  Share a pic of your garden, even if at this point it is just a few sprouting plants.

Muse # 55

"Fruition"  Painting by Autumn Skye
Artwork Website

“Note to Autumn: I try to properly credit all artwork, but if I made a mistake and you want your work removed, just let me know. Thank you for brightening the world with your art. Autumn."


So glad you stopped by for the Sunday Muse!
As always; link up, visit others, and comment. We all appreciate being heard. Do not forget that Toni will be hosting Wed Muse # 8 this coming week and I am sure it will be something fascinating and poetic.
Also Shay will be hosting next week's Sunday Muse # 56 and I cannot wait to see what wonderful image she brings us.

Have fun everyone!

Wednesday Muse #7 A Beautiful Mess

Hello Wednesday Musers!  today we are going to explore the Japanese art of Kintsugi and how to make the most of breaks, cracks, mistakes.  Kintsugi is the repairing of a break or a crack with gold. It was created in the 5th century when a shogun broke his favorite tea cup.  He didn't want to throw the cup away but he wanted to continue to use it.

In the 16th century , Japanese tea ceremony users rebelled against the taste of  opulence instead of prizing  simple items marked by time and usage.  The glue or epoxy had been used for centuries - mixing gold with the sap of the rhus tree. Instead of discarding marred or broken objects, the cracks and lines were filled with gold, thus calling attention to the lines made by time and rough use. the art of kintsukuroi emphasizes the beauty of the breaks turning the problem into beauty.

It puts the item into reuse and keeps it from being wasted.  Kintsugi corresponds to the Japanese notions of "mottainai" an expressions of regret and waste and "mushin", the need to accept change.  You don't expect other people to be perfect  It's evidence that we are all fallible, that we heal and grow.

It is absurd to be embarrassed  about missteps and failures. Basho said, "Again and again I think of the mistakes I've made in my clumsiness over the years". .Errors can be the most m most important experiences of all. Things fall apart - life, relationships, jobs...a life well lived can be a source of pride rather than shame.  We don't have to be flawless like we are all brand new objects manufactured for Instagram.  White hair, lined skin, scars, the extra pounds that show your gusto for life. -these things can be seen as signs you're doing something right, that you persist.

The kinstugi approach  makes the most of what already is, highlights the beauty of what we already have, flaws and all.  I would like you all to write a poem in any form about the healing in your life - how you have repaired the cracks and breaks, about your scars, how you have triumphed or are trying to persist.  How you let the light shine through the cracks, how you grow stronger.  Be sure to slink up on Mr. Linky and visit the others who post! Show us the gold holding us all together!

Muse # 54

Fledgling American Crow on Hand  

photo by Robert Langham

Hello everyone, so glad you stopped by today!
 Here is another photo for your musing.
You know the spiel:
link, and visit others along the way.
There is only one demand,
Have fun everyone!!

The Night Sky

Hello fellow musers! Happy May Day!  It is again Wednesday and I am delighted to prompt you all with The Night Sky.  I love the night sky - watching for meteors during meteor showers, sitting on my back steps looking up in wonder and amazement, when I was single driving out to the country in NC and parking somewhere and breathing in the lush summer darkness and the sky.

Write whatever you want and in whatever form you desire about the night sky - gazing at it blurred with city light pollution, in the country when it is black and looking up at the stars, watching the moon rise...anything that pertains to the night sky.

I have a funny story to share.  Years ago when we first moved into our little neighborhood, I would take my telescope and set it on the front lawn and look at the stars.  One night a police cruiser came by and stopped and asked, what are you doing?  I told them honestly I was looking at the stars, an old hobby since childhood.  I invited them to look at what I was looking at.  they both looked and laughed and went on their way.  Apparently some of the neighbors were afraid I was looking at them!!  I visited around the next day, introduced myself and my hobby.  The next night, two neighbors joined and confirmed that I was indeed looking at the stars.  Twenty years later, they have gotten used to my insomniac habits and no longer notice me walking about at all hours or looking through the telescope.

if you have a similar story you would like to share, I'd love to hear it.  So...write away friends.  Visit the other writers as well.  Have fun!

The Muse # 53

Photo by Josiel Miranda from Pexels

Hello writers we are glad you stopped by to take a peek and participate!
 You know the drill:
write anything of your choosing
link
comment
visit
and above all........
HAVE FUN EVERYONE!!

Let's Dance

Hello Musers! Today I am going to introduce you to an easy form: the Quadrille. This form was created by the poets at dVerse Poets Pub in honor of their sixth anniversary.  Also as a side note and an apology.  I have clinical depression and it has jumped on me bad.  I am in the process o reading your poems from last week.  I do apologize for not getting back to you all sooner. I can't imagine how it makes you all feel.  I am truly sorry.

A quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words exckuding the title. It can be of any style as long as it is 44 words exactly. It can rhyme or not, it can be a haibun, it can be a tanka. Usualky the quadrille prompt includes a word for the day. I am just going to let you all write to your choice.

Below is a haibun ( a Japanese prosimetric form, tight prose followed by a seasonal haiku):

Haibun:  The Balloon
The day I buried my mother's ashes was a hot summer day. I untied the balloon from my wrist and let it go. I watched it rise quickly to the sky.
balloon rises to heaves
and clears the trees -
my heart goes with it.

So. Please write a poem of exactly 44 words. Easy peasy!

The Muse #52

Hello Sunday Musers and

HAPPY EASTER!

This is Shay (Fireblossom/coalblack)

with your weekly picture inspiration.

No required form or length...

just write what you are inspired to, from the image,

visit,

link,

have fun!!!

The Wednesday Muse #4 - Busy Body

Hello all!  Down here in the south, it is warm and sunny.  All around me my neighbors are busy doing work on their yards, getting their flower and veggie gardens in shape, biking, walking a running.  Most of the folks in my neighborhood still work at a job.  I blessedly retired three years ago.

When I worked, I was constantanly busy.  I licensed the professional engineers for the state which meant I constantly was reviewing applications, verifying credentials, etc. etc. When I got home all I wanted to do was rest.  I am retired now but I still like a change in my routine.

Speaking of which, what do you all do to rest?  do you sleep, take naps, take walks, ride a bike, got to the beach, climb a tree?  This prompt is all about what you do to rest.  If you meditate to rest, that is fine but mainly, this is about resting, of changing your routine.  This is a simple prompt.  Write about resting.  That is all - let it rest, let it be.

People Resting - Cezanne

The Muse # 51

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

Welcome to the Sunday Muse, we are so glad you stopped by! Do not forget that Toni will be hosting the Wed Muse # 4 this week, so keep a look out for it.  Her prompts are always fascinating and you learn something new and wonderful every time.  Also, next week Shay will be hosting the Sunday Muse # 52 and I am looking forward to her photograph of choice.  Now that I have given you information over load, let us begin.
 Have fun everyone!

The Wednesday Muse #3 - 50 Shades of Rain

Today the prompt  is “rain”.  We all have rain in common – too much, too little, gentle spring rain, torrential summer rain, rain mixed with snow, soaking cold rain.  Walking in the rain, singin’ in the rain, dancing in the rain, playing in the rain.  We stay inside and drink soup or tea or something cozy with alcohol, read while it rains, listen to the rain on the roof before we go to sleep.  We groan at the rain when we have to walk in it to a bus or train stop and curse up a blue streak when a car goes by and SPLASH! thoroughly wets us through.

Basho wrote of rain:
spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasp’s nest

The Japanese actually have 50+ words for rain unlike the Inuit which really do not have 100s of words for snow.  Being Japanese, their words for rain are seasonal and specific and at times, extremely artistic.  We Westerners look at rain as rain – the same rain that falls in the morning in spring is the same rain that falls at night in autumn.  Right?  Nope. The Japanese are so in tune with the changing of the seasons around them and how those seasons affect them, they created haiku – a poetic form about changing seasons, nature, and the now.  The melancholy felt when the seasons changed and climate changes took place are part of their concept of mono no aware. Here are some of the “rain” words for you:
ame –  rain
kosame –  light rain
kisame – rain that drips from tree branches
enu – misty rain
ooame – heavy rain
yokoburi – driving rain
kanu – cold winter rain
shun rin – spring rain
shun u – gentle spring rain
shuu rin – autumn rain
nagame – long rain
yuudachi  – sudden evening rain
shinotsukuame – intense rain
yulimajiri  – snow and rain
uhyou –  freezing rain
hisame – very cold rain or hail
ryokuu – summer rain
touu – winter rain
houshanouu – radioactive rain

As you can see from the brief list, the words truly do specify the rain of the moment, the season. Write a poem about rain. You can use one of the Japanese words in your poem or you describe the rain.

For inspiration I give you this music video from Darryl Hall:
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The Muse # 50

Photo by Lukasz Dziegel from Pexels

Hello writers, welcome to our 50th Sunday Muse! So glad you stopped by today! Also, do not forget, Toni will be hosting another prompt on Wednesday
 for Wed prompt # 3. So come back and join in. 

Have fun everyone!

Wednesday Muse #2 Hanami

Hello Wedesday Musers! I hope you enjoyed last week's prompt. A little bit of business first...The Sunday Muse and the Wednesday Muse are two separate muses. Cousins if you will. Related but with different parents. Sunday Muse does not post on Wednesday and Wednesday does not post on Sunday. Confusing? Oh my yes! Let us get to this Wednesday Prompt. The Japanese love their cherry blossoms. It is A.Big.Thing to view the cherry blossoms. People take pictures, pose with the trees, have festivals and many times, have picnics beneath them.

There is even special food for the hanami. All themed in in colors of pink, white, and green! At night, there are lights in and on the trees as well. The Japanese consider the cherry blossoms as renewal and of death. The blooms las maybe a week and then they are gone. So quickly they die. The samurai also took the cherry blossom to be the symbol of their profession. Whey they lived they were beautiful and glorious but when they died, often by suicide, they were simply....gone. Spring flowers I think make us all feel the same. They are beautiful and glorious but when they are gone, they are gone.

At one corner of my house, there is a huge clump of white daffodils. The smell wafts across the yard, they are so fragrant. Many of us love all of the blooms of spring: the white pear trees, the golden forsythia, the fragrant hyacinths, the happy daffodils. But in another week, they will be gone. Poof! I want a poem from you all about viewing spring blossoms. Do you take a special trip to view the cherry blossoms near you? Do you have flowers in your yard that you pick and use to decorate your home? When I was a child, I lived in Durham NC and twice every spring, we always trooped to Sarah P. Duke Memorial gardens to view all the flowers in bloom. It was gorgeous! We had flowers all around our home as well. The blooms always made me skip in joy. How do the spring flowers make you feel? Happy? Sad? Do they bring back happy memories or do they make you grief because of sad memories?

I visited several Japan several times during hanami and went to various cities to view the cherry blossoms and to participate in the picnics and partying that went on. So much fun but underneath, the underlying sadness at their passing. Mono no aware - wistfulness or sadness at the passing of things.

One of the best poems written about cherry blossoms was this one by Ezra Pound:
 In a Station of the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Only two lines and yet it has all the elements of life, death, ghosts...Charon rowing people across the River Styx, faces appearing and reappearing, brevity of life...the description of the cherry blossom petals on a black bough is riveting. Pound was a proponent of imagist poetry. This is quite an image, is it not?

Write a poem about the flowers of spring and how they make you feel, memories. Write about enjoying them, waiting in anticipation for them, the last blooming daffodil of the season. Make your images vivid, not necessarily pretty and poetic. But above all, enjoy yourselves. Throw yourselves into flowers of spring.

The Muse # 49

Photo by Isabella Mariana from Pexels

Thank you everyone for stopping by and participating today.  Do not forget that Wednesday Toni will be featuring another wonderful prompt for us.  We would love for you to come back and participate then as well.  April is National Poetry Month and many of you will be doing NaPoWriMo, so all these prompts in the blogosphere will be another way to spark your muse and write on!
Have fun everyone!

Wednesday Muse #1

Hello. Welcome to the first Wednesday Muse. This will be a series of word prompts rather than picture prompts. I thank Carrie for so graciously sharing her blog with me.

To give you a little background, my name is Toni Spencer and I specialize in Japan and Japanese prompts. But not always. Today I am going to introduce you to an easy peasy form known as the gogyoshi. The poem consists of exactly five lines. No syllable counting, no content requirements , No rhythm or rhyme requirements. Just...five lines. Isn't that easy?

The Japanese are into the seasons, change, and something called mono no aware (mo•no ah•wah•ray.  It means, sadness or wistfulness at the passing of things. If you want to use this or the spring as a theme for your poem, please do.

I hope you enjoy this first Wednesday Muse. I look forward to meeting you all.

The Muse # 48

Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels

Thank you for stopping by and participating today! Do not forget that we will have a Wednesday prompt this week hosted by Toni, so don't miss it!
Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 47

Image Source

Thank you for stopping by and participating today!
Have fun everyone!

BIG N E W S

Upcoming News:  We will be having an additional prompt on Wednesday for the Muse starting March 27^th.  Save that date, and check it out.   Some new and cool things are headed our way at the Muse so keep your eyes peeled and join in!

The Muse # 46

This beautiful flower photo was hand picked by Chrissa
If you want a copy of this lovely print you can get it here.

Thank you all for stopping by and participating today.
Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 45

"Be Free" by Magic Love Crow

Image Source

This photo was hand picked by lovely Magaly.

Thank you for stopping by and participating today.  Link up, and don't forget to visit all the others who join in.
Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 44

"Ireland" by Emily Soto, fashion photographer

Latest news for the Sunday Muse:  We will now be posting on Saturday mornings instead of Sunday for the convenience of everyone in bloggerland.  Hope you all will join us!

Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 43

Photography by David Nam Lip Lee

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Thank you for stopping by and participating today.
Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 42

"War Horse and Peace Horse"  by Sue Halstenberg

Thank you for stopping by and participating today.  Hope you have a great week.
Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 41

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Thank you for stopping by and participating today.

Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 40

"In the Middle of Freedom"  by Isabel Mansfield

Image Source

Thank you for stopping by and participating today.

Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 39

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Thank you for stopping by to participate today.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 38

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Thank you for stopping by today.

Have fun everyone!

The Muse # 37

"Guardian" by Chie Yoshii

Thank you for stopping by and participating today.

Have fun everyone!