Sun and Moon

“Three things cannot be long hidden:  the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
–Buddha

moon eating the sun–
darkness becomes forever–
catch the stolen fire

spell-casting the moon–
branches and leaves weave patterns–
talismans of light

Collages are from my old portfolio, dated 1980.  We will only see a 70% eclipse here today, but should still be worth the view.

And I’m “traveling with the moon” On The Road.

 

Self Portrait #20b (after Klee)

Lune shining through me
like a galaxy
that flies

Wings I can not see
vibrate suddenly
surprise

Caught invisibly
beyond memory
tides rise

This self-portrait uses the same Klee painting for a reference as my last one, but I have done it in collage, as I said I hope to do.  I’ve taken more liberties this time as well.  The round face reminded me of the moon, and that was my inspiration for my choice of collage papers.

The poem uses the lai form, which I saw on dVerse in early June, but did not have time to attempt then.

It’s a New Moon today…start something!

You can see all the self portraits so far here.

Lunar Rays

the power of tides
to lead by following songs
tracking the crescent

eyes beckoning as startled
magnitudes shout waves of light

I couldn’t resist a photo of a cat…photo reference and words from Colleen’s weekly poetry challenge, also using words from the Secret Keeper.

I may visit this cat again. I need to explore that shadow.

 

Moon Gardens

between night and dark
rest secret longings
pure songs
wandering in moon gardens
shaded with ancient air

The NaPoWriMo prompt today is to use a phrase from someone else’s work to spark a poem.  I got the phrase “moon garden” not from a poem but from Michael Chabon’s wonderful book “Moonglow”.  I’ve been wanting to use it somewhere, and here it is (with the help of the Magnetic Oracle).

 

Moon of Wandering

Moon of wandering:
door or window?  Marked by trails
of lingered friends.  Tears.

Untested. Eons before
and after.  Dead reckoning.

Once again I’ve combined the word prompts (or synonyms) of the secret keeper and Colleen’s tanka challenge.  Colleen also provided the mysterious picture, below.

Magnetic Poetry Saturday: Ask These

Ask these tongues
how can my dreams
shine by day
yet ache like storms

together their music rains
symphony and sky
shadowless moon
above

This was another collaboration with Nina and the Oracle that fit together really easily.  We decided to surprise each other today with our artwork and post separately.  I punched holes to embroider on the paper, and then decided just to leave the holes.  The weird light is because I photographed the collage taped to the window so the sun would shine through the holes.

Postcard Fiction: What She Saw, Part 3

Another ambiguous situation in a Jane Dougherty painting prompt.  I decided to go for optimism, even though that’s not my general state of mind these days.  Here’s the inspiration painting, by Iliya Repin:

And my response:

The last Postcard Fiction I did before this one was also a painting by Iliya Repin, “Freedom”, a prompt from way back in September.  I liked it so much I did it twice, and I’ll post both of them one of these days.  I collected Jane’s other microfiction prompts between that one and this one in a folder; time, of course, always gets in the way of intentions.

One thing I did during our blog break was to enter a lot of juried art shows and submit both poetry and art to journals, which I find takes a lot of time, not to mention the fact that most journals won’t accept work published on a blog. Eight of my Postcard Fictions were entered for a show of “art on paper”, but I won’t hear about acceptance or rejection until mid-January.

The Power of Three

concentric circles parallel time
ancient images blurred by neglect
footprints following memory’s trace

photographs taken in black and white
voices scratched into indistinct paths
a present silent and without place

dreaming thoughts walk mysterious lines
orbits that intersect echoed light
shadows waiting in abandoned space

Jane Dougherty gave us three moons this week, and her own invented 3×3 poetry form:  the trilune.  It produces a nice rhythm I think.

Mad Symphony: a collaboration

Despite the bugginess of the Magnetic Poetry website, Nina and I had a wonderful time composing this poem, sending it back and forth for addition and revision many times.  I did one illustration, and Nina did two.

to stop shadows from moaning
whisper to the sky like a rainstorm
petals sing to my dreams

some say music is like a watching wind
mad symphony like a summer moon
red and frantic blowing delirious screams
over a thousand purple seas

still   life soars as love urges us
and together we shine by day

For the Elusive Trope’s Magnetic Poetry Saturday Challenge.  Join in!  It’s fun.

 

Orbiting

moon beamed
 shadow falling
I am calling forward
waiting to parallel myself
behind

Jane Dougherty’s challenge prompt this week is a wonderful painting by Marc Chagall.  The poem form is cinquain.

I have other ideas…well I won’t get to them this week, but I’m sure this painting will be returning.