Showing posts with label Sepia Saturday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sepia Saturday. Show all posts

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Milling About

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The Maid of the Mill/Helen Kendrick Johnson, 1900
Public Domain

Homecoming

It’s been nearly fifty years since I’ve been to this old mill.
And yet, those past fifty years rushed right by me.  In a heartbeat,
whirling dust and wood and dappled sunlight streaked, until
everything including time ceased, as I glanced at an uneven bit of floorboard.
It’s where I left a note for you, with all the words my heart could spill.
I pledged my teenaged love to you and agreed we could run away.
But then you never replied. Your voice was silent, still.
So I lifted the board, and with a special sadness, saw the yellowed vellum sheet…
timing is everything, or what you will.

###

The form is Magic 9.
The poem was inspired by Sepia Saturday's prompt of

Monday, May 30, 2016

CanaLife

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
A Venice Canal, 1868/Eugenio Lucas Velazquez (1817-1870)
Public Domain

Canaliculi

What secrets bridge the span as they stand, bestridden
across the damp, ancient sandstone façade?
While the view may appear handsome, it is still forbidden,
since its face, its veneer, remains impenetrable and unsolvable.
Perhaps, in the aged mortar, someone slid in
a secret message or a cipher,
locked within the seams because that person didn’t
want the significance known by man or god,
and so, for all eternity, it shall remain hidden. 

###

Notes: The form is Magic 9, a very fun, addicting form.  It was recently featured at Poetic Asides, as the latest in their Forms Challenges.  The poem was inspired by Sepia Saturday's picture prompt: 



Saturday, August 11, 2012

Bicycle Built for Two

Image courtesy of Magnificent Revolution


Bicycle Built for Two

Be mine, he said,
Because I love you.  We
Belong together.  This is not
Boutade – oh no,
But rather,
Backdrop for a billion brilliant bons mots…
Billet-doux.

###

Notes:  The form is Pleiades.  The poem was inspired by Sepia Saturday's prompt having to do with bicycles and tandem rides, couples, balancing and fun.



Friday, May 25, 2012

At the Market at Ballybricken Green in Waterford, 1910

Image courtesy of Sepia Saturday

At the Market at Ballybricken Green in Waterford, 1910

The tea and coffee van is there.
A day at market.  Cattle roam.
There’s lots of people everywhere.
The tea and coffee van is there.
They’re serving cuppas in the square.
I like my tea with milky foam.
The tea and coffee van is there.
A day at market.  Cattle roam.

###

Notes:  The poem's form is Triolet.  The photograph seen above is the prompt this week from Sepia Saturday.  They provide some really amazing antique and vintage photos for their prompts.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Grasset's April

'April' - from Eugène Grasset's Calandrier 'La Belle Jardinière' 1896

Grasset’s April

April’s surely the sweetest time,
where flowers bloom and tendrils climb.
In my mind’s springtime eye, I see
you…with a nosegay of sweet pea.

Meandering rills frame a scene
that’s dotted with pink and soft green
but the fairest of all must be
you…with a nosegay of sweet pea.

And, oh, how I find myself spun
in pastoral dreams, with the sun
spreading its warmth.  Beside a tree:
you…with a nosegay of sweet pea.

O in this garden, by Grasset,
the centerpiece this April day
is just the one who’s dazzingly
you…with a nosegay of sweet pea. 

###

Notes:  The inspiration for this poem originally came from Sepia Saturday's prompt of a black and white World War II era photograph of some people working in a garden.  Now, as you may have already guessed from earlier posts, I'm a huge fan of the poster art of La Belle Epoque, so this Grasset poster worked really well for the words that were playing in my head.

On another note, most of the other poetry I'm penning this month can be found at Robert Lee Brewer's April PAD Challenge.  In case you might wonder, for the most part, I've 'challenged' myself to write in the form Kyrielle.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Propeller Tales

Image courtesy of antiqueairfield.com

Air Mail

Postmaster, here’s another dime.
Please get my package off in time,
and tell my Bobby, ‘Yes, I’ll wait!
With hugs and kisses.  Love you, Kate.”

This faster service, this ‘air mail’
I hope will, in the end, prevail.
Five cents is worth it. (I’d pay eight.)
With hugs and kisses.  Love you, Kate.”

Dear Bobby, here’s your 'Miss You' box
with goodies like some hand-knit socks.
I’ll gladly pay the extra rate.
With hugs and kisses.  Love you, Kate.”

And so, I’ll wait for your reply
that comes when e’er the mail planes fly
and bring their cargo – precious freight!
With hugs and kisses.  Love you, Kate.”

###

Image courtesy of asutravelguides

The Swingin’ Stews of 1965

I dream of flying in a plane
to London, Paris or to Spain.
The stews in flight quite happily,
will offer, “Coffee, tea or me?”

The year is sixty-five and I’m
a handsome fella in my prime.
Those swingin’ stews, I guarantee,
will offer, “Coffee, tea or me?”

Up in the clouds, I will applaud
the safety demo.  I’ll act awed.
I know this trick will work.  You’ll see.
They’ll offer, “Coffee, tea or me?”

Perhaps one stew will be ‘the one.’
A guy can dream ‘cause it’s in fun.
But so you know, my choice ain’t tea,
when she says, “Coffee, tea or me?”

###

Notes:  Sepia Saturday provided the prompt of 'flight.'  So...I looked for some vintage (or vintage-ish) pictures from which I could make a couple of narratives which might reflect the mores and attitudes of the times.  

What's odd about me writing for this theme is that I hate to fly!  Yes, I do fly  - because it's the most expedient way to get to a destination that's way far from home, but the strange thing is that I fly to places with my husband, who has his private pilot's license - because I encouraged him and gave him his first lesson as a gift.

And also, when I was younger, I actually considered a career as a flight attendant ('though not a 'swingin' stew.')

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Am I reading something into this?

This image is of the library on the ill-fated Mauritania.  The photograph was provided for by Sepia Saturday,

Synchrony

I sit and read a much-worn tome…
that’s when it suddenly hits home.
I know where I was meant to be:
‘midst silent crowds; the library.

So many words are spoken but
that’s only when books are not shut.
And then I’ll hear the symphony,
‘midst silent crowds, the library.

Each person reads a narrative.
Ideas dance, declarative.
The hushed room’s filled with bel esprit
‘midst silent crowds; the library.

Unspoken conversations stream
while literate companions dream.
We’re all the same, a synchrony
‘midst silent crowds; the library.  

###

Notes:  The form is Kyrielle.  The poem was written based on two separate prompts:  Sepia Saturday's theme of 'library' (because this is National Library Week) and Poetic Asides' prompt about people interacting without saying any words. 

Friday, March 30, 2012

Quittin' Time

Image courtesy of Cowans Auctions, WPA Era Street Scene, by Carl Nyquist, (1888-1959)

Quittin’ Time

We wait along the trolley track:
To work, to home…one way, then back.
We work all day to earn our dime...
right now, you see, it’s quittin’ time.

Each secretary, each shop clerk
all through the week, go off to work.
Sometimes it seems an uphill climb.
Right now, for us, it’s quittin’ time.

The New Deal, says the president,
improves lives of each resident,
so all must do their part, but I’m,
right now, quite glad it’s quittin’ time.

We wait along the trolley track:
right now, you see, it’s quittin’ time.

###

Notes:  The form is Kyrielle Sonnet.  The poem was inspired by Sepia Saturday's prompt of 'work.'  The first thing which came to mind, based on their photograph, was the 1930s Depression and the New Deal.  With that in mind, I looked up posters and artwork from the WPA, an example of which is above.  

Saturday, March 24, 2012

On the Town

image courtesy of Vintage Dancers

On the Town

O Darling, you look so somptueuse.
Your fashion sense is first page news,
but then, you’ve always been très chic.
Let’s do the town – all night…all week!

My watered silks?  They’re from Paris;
the fan’s handmade.  It’s from Capri.
The jewelry’s from Bendel’s boutique.
Let’s do the town – all night…all week!

Let’s ditch this party; find the hub.
Hey, Cabbie.  To the 'Cotton Club'…
then maybe 'Stork.'  We’re on a streak.
Let’s do the town – all night…all week!

We’ll pop a cork and toast ‘til dawn
at ‘21’ and then move on
for breakfast with our little clique.
Let’s do the town – all night…all week!

###

Notes:  The form is Kyrielle.  The poem was inspired by Sepia Saturday, whose prompt theme is 'Going Out."  This was a real fun romp.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

A Bit of Luck to 'Go'



A Bit of Luck to ‘Go’

Board game
we like to play?
Its name

Is ‘Go.’
It’s challenging
and so

my friends
compete.  Who wins?
Depends.

###

Notes: As I mentioned yesterday, I planned on using the marvelous vintage photograph prompt (above) from Sepia Saturday to write a poem. The form is 'Musette' and you can find out more about it at Shadow Poetry.