Motivational Monday: Depression Bugs Me

Motivational Monday 

The mood that bugs me most 

The depression that sets in 

Line Count: 3 

Form: American 767, created by Dennis L. Dean, a three line form with 7-6-7 syllables with a bug as the theme of subject. In this poem I have exercised my poetic license and written about something that bugs me. 

I've been afflicted with bouts of depression all my life. I'm not going into the details of why I think I deal with depression. I will list the things that help me deal with the depression. There are five t hings t hat help me deal with depression and usually cause it to dissipate. Those five things are (1) writing, (2) prayer, (3) meditation, (4) coffee, and (5) chocolate (either dark chocolate or white chocolate). 

Midweek Reflections on Summer Poetry

The writing.com newsletters arrived in my inbox this morning. The title of this week's edition of the poetry newsletter is "Summertime Celebrations with Poetry". In this newsletter the editor covered several different  poetry forms that can be used to write poems that celebrate events in a person's life. Covered in this newsletter were wedding or marriage poems that intended to be sung, which focus mainly on the bride and the groom. 

Also discussed in this newsletter was Joseph's Star and Music Poem. The Joseph's Star appears to be a good Father's Day poem, so I will discuss this poem on Sunday, June 12, which is Father's Day. I will write a poem about either my father or grandfather. Probably my grandfather because he is the father figure I grew up with. 

What Shall I Write?

I have two poems to write today. One of them I know the form, theme and the subject, but the other I am not  sure about either. The first one  is a free verse poem about self-knowledge. The second poem is one of a series with the theme of paradise or garden and it has to be a specific form. The second poem goes into a document called "In the Garden" which is composed of several different poetry forms. 

"In the Garden" is twelve poems using specific forms. These poem are inspired by the Twelve Day Celebration of Ridvan. I started this group of poems on April 21, 2016. I have managed to write nine of the  twelve, but now I am stuck as to what the tenth form should be. Maybe I will write a Minute poem, which is a 12-line poem with specific syllable counts for each line and a fixed rhyme scheme. Sometimes fixed form poems are more difficult to write then free verse. 

I have written minute poems before. It is both a difficult and easy poem to write. While I am writing the poem, I think it is difficult. However, when I finish the poem then I forget how difficult it was. This is why writing poetry is similar to giving birth. During labor you feel the pain and stress of the child exiting your womb through the birth canal, but after you see the baby you forget about the pain. That is how it is writing form poetry. 

Sunday Speculations on Poetry, Fear and Death

Death will take us all 

Eventually 

Fear is a 

Form of 

Death 

Fear stops the poet from writing. Fear kills the muse. Fear is not something a poet or a writer can afford to remain in the mind. This thought has haunted my mind for the past several days. I have been writing poetry, short stories, and essays for some time and posting them on a writers website. I even do a fantasy newsletter on that website, but that is as far as I have gone. I have not attempted to submit anything in several years. Last week I realized why. 

A few weeks ago, I subscribed to Poets & Writers magazine. On Friday, April 22, I received the May/June issue. I immediately began looking through it to determine which article I wanted to read first. I came across some websites for submissions and I immediately began feeling stressed, nervous and fearful. I realized then that the only thing that has been stopping me from submitting my work is fear. 

I know that I have issues with some  technical aspects of writing, which can be dealt with by consulting grammar websites or books. I also have a bad habit of attempting to edit a story in a document instead of printing a copy off to edit. This is a habit that I can break by printing a copy off as soon as I finish writing. When I edit online, I miss obvious typos. All right, typos are as obvious when looking at a computer monitor as they are on a hard copy. The typos I usually encounter concern words that are spelled right but are not the words I intended to type. 

Evening in Las Vegas

Sunset approaches
transforming blue afternoon
into black velvet.

Evening in Las Vegas is always an interesting experience. I live in one of the poor areas of town where we do not get a lot of tourists. If I walk into the middle of my street I can look west and see Mount Charleston, but I do not do this very often. It is dangerous to stand in the middle of the street because cars speed the wrong way down this residential neighborhood.

I live on a one way street with of speed limit of 25 mph, at least I think that's the speed limit. I do not remember seeing a speed limit sign on this street. I have seen one-way signs, but no speed limit sign. The speed limit in all residential neighborhoods are 25 mph, not that anyone ever pay attention to speed limit signs or one-way signs. So it is probably just as well that we do not get many or any tourist in this neighborhood.

I love evening in Las Vegas.
It is a time for me to relax,
take a deep breath
and recount the good events
of the day.

 

Welcome March 2016

Welcome March 2016
a month of celebration
and writing.

Because of my stay in the hospital, I still have a couple of stories to finish. I'm not sure what else I need to catch up, but whatever it is I'll do it by the end of March. One of my goals for March is to write a poem each day between March 2 and March 20. Those are the day of Fast; however, due to medication and recovering from my hospital stay I can't Fast. Instead of Fasting I'm going to write a poem each day plus give up something that I like to eat or drink.

Vernal equinox
begins another New Year:
What are my writing goals?

I'll have to think about that question. Every year I make a goal of writing 2,000 words a day. Sometimes I accomplish this goal and sometimes I fall short. I have about nineteen days to consider the writing goals I want to make for Naw Ruz.

Sunday Speculations: Can I finish writing these form poems this week?

1. An ekphrastic poem which is a poem written about a work of art.

2. A Blitz poem has a total of 48 lines.

3. A diminished hexaverse has an interesting stanza pattern.

4. A monchielle poem which is composed of four five-line stanzas with six syllables per line.

5. A Lipogram poem which is a poem leaving out a specific letter.

6. A double diminished hexaverse another form with an interesting stanza pattern

I still have to do a little more research on these forms before I write more about them in this blog. I will decide later today which poetry form I will attempt first.

Success Saturday: At the End of a Successful Writing Week.

It's Saturday, September 5, 2015, with three more full weeks in September. This week I successfully wrote one story, five poems and learned a new poetry form. The new form is called SciFaiku, which uses the haiku form with a science fiction theme. To learn more about this form see The SciFaiku Manifesto.

Andy the Android
Practiced The Robotic Laws
There are three in all.

That is the third SciFaiku poem I've written this week. I like this form, not because it easy to write, but because it helps me focus on only the necessities of the poem. I know the poem I've written here isn't my best SciFaiku, but with practice I'll get better.

Success Saturday: The Third Week in August 2015

I have composed several blog entries, one flash fiction, and one poem. I also mailed one birthday greeting. All in all this week was a successful writing week.

Today I purchased a new pushcart to transport my groceries from the car to the house. It is easier to put all my purchases in a cart and push them to the house instead of carrying several different grocery bags. If I did not use a pushcart I would have to make several different trips to the car to carry everything in the house. While this would probably be good exercise, it is a waste of energy and time.

This week I discovered that if I do not put a task on my appointment to do list it does not get done. Therefore, I put the this blog on that list so that I have to do the entries.

A successful week
A week of discovery
A week of writing

I posted something almost everyday to Facebook. I don't post long status update unless something unusual happens. I think short status updates are better because people can respond to them easier. I also managed to make a fresh carafe of coffee everyday because I have only a five cup coffeemaker.

Saturday Morning

Lazy Saturday
Another cup of coffee
A second breakfast

It feels like a lazy Saturday. I know I have more to do then just wash the dishes, but I don't want to do anything except write and eat. Fortunately, I can't eat by the computer until I get some equipment moved around. In the mean time I think I will check to see if I have any trash bags so that I can fill one to take to the trash on Sunday morning.

Busy Saturday
Finish washing the dishes
Wait for them to dry

I take the trash out between 6:30 and 7:00 am because it is cooler then. This morning when I took out the trash I only encountered one person. Perhaps tomorrow I will take it out closer to 7:30 to see if there are more people up and moving about. I enjoy talking to people when I am out, but the person I met this morning did not want to talk. I think he was going to work.
 

Form Friday: What is my favorite poetry form?

What is my favorite poetry form? I do not have one. I write a lot of free verse, senryu, and haiku, but that does not mean they are my favorites. Even though I have not written very many prose poems, II enjoy reviewing them. Today I reviewed a beautiful story written in prose poetry form about an elderly woman on her deathbed. The poem, which was written in line phased form, had the rhythm of natural speech and used internal rhyme to emphasize the theme and subject. I usually write prose poems in paragraph form; however, after reading this poem I think I will attempt a prose poem in line phased form.

whispers from my soul
reverberates through my mind
creates poetry

What types of poetry forms do I like when I write? I like haibun poetry, which is a combination of prose and line phased poetry. I like to use haibun because it pushes me to write short descriptive paragraph, which helps when writing short stories. Haibun is difficult to write because it requires me to include other types of short poetry forms. I usually use senryu and haiku, but not always. Sometimes I include short free verse poems in my haibun entries.

Wednesday Word: Poetry

Happy National Poetry Month!

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.
Carl Sandburg

What is poetry? This is a question each poet has to answer while writing a poem. Every poet has a different answer and the answer changes with each poem. I can answer this question from my point of view, but I cannot answer it from the point of view of another poet.

Poetry a bird
singing in the Tree of Life
proclaiming sunrise.

Today, at this moment in time, I visualize poetry as a bird nesting in the boughs of the Tree of Life. I see poetry as a nightingale announcing the approach of dawn, as it raises its song into the air.

Yesterday's poems
a wind blowing through palm fronds
scattering laughter.

On Tuesday, March 31, the wind started to blow. It scattered little alone the curbs and blew through the boughs of olive, pine, or oak trees. It caused the flag in front of the apartment building to wave and it move palm fronds both living and dead. Yesterday, the wind generated poems, so yesterday poetry was a wind.

Tomorrow's poems
generated by birdsong
or an unknown wind

I do not know what will generate the poems I write tomorrow. The only thing I am sure of is that I will write poems. Since I have an appointment with my optometrist I might write a poem while sitting in the waiting room. I am also going to the grocery store tomorrow, so I may write one about that experience after I get home.

Poetry is food
feeding humanity's soul
with stanza and line

Form Friday: I Write Haibun

I write haibun
prose combined with poetry
precise expressions

I write haibun! Sometimes I combine prose paragraphs with haiku or senryu because the syllable counts require precise words. At other time I combine the paragraphs with short, three or four line, free verse poems. My haibun blog entries are continually evolving because I experiment with the form.

I write haibun!
I listen to birds singing
on Sunrise Avenue
and I write.

I like the haibun form because it is versatile. I can use it with any subject and with any short poetry form. I can describe an early Las Vegas morning or a trip across the city. It is especially good when I want to sit with my front door open while I am writing. I can write a short paragraph, glance out my front door, and then write a poem

Early morning sky
Black transformed to powder blue
A rooster crows

Haibun is also good after meditation or prayer. When I write haibun I feel as if I am writing a meditation. A paragraph is inhaling a breath and the poem is exhaling the breath. Perhaps this is why I enjoy writing this poetry form.

Paragraph inhaled
Poem exhaled
Focusing on the words and lines
Counting breathes

Thursday Thoughts: Writing on Thursday Morning in Late Winter 2015

It is still winter. Spring does not officially arrive until Friday, March 20, at 22:45 UTC (3:45 PM PDT). The temperature feels like spring and people in my neighborhood are wearing light sweaters or long sleeved shirts because of the slight spring chill in the air. It looks as if today will be a beautiful and pleasant day.

A charcoal gray cat
Wanders through the neighborhood
Going home to sleep

I have to door open on this cool early spring morning. Beautiful whitish clouds decorate the pale blue sky. The sun cast weak shadows through the clouds. It is not too cold and it is not too hot. It is a nice day in Las Vegas.

Birds nest in pine trees
Songs of gratitude greet dawn
Children walk to school

It is easy to write on this third Thursday morning in March 2015 because the neighborhood is quiet and serene. The sun ascends into the mostly cloudy sky casting weak shadows across Sunrise Avenue. Children walk past my apartment on their way to school. Adults walk past on their way to the bus stop on Eastern Avenue. A school bus drives past transporting its load of enthusiastic children to their morning classes.

Spring celebrations
The vernal equinox
Followed by Naw-Ruz
Followed by Easter

Monday Motivation: March is for Motivation

The wind blew all day trimming the palm trees. Dead palm fronds lay in the street and make some very weird sounds when cars run over them. The first time I heard a car drive over a dead palm frond it startled me because it sounded like a hallow cough, but now that I am used to the sound it does not bather me.

A palm trimming wind
blows through the streets of Las Vegas
shivering tourist.

The late winter wind of early March is cold. Today it feels as if it were blowing off an iceberg sending chills down my arms. I took the trash out before noon today. I had to throw away a dead mouse, so I thought I would go to the alley before it started raining again, so about 11:00 am I put on a sweater, a sweatshirt, and a hoodie. They kept me warm while I walked to the alley and back to my apartment.

The arctic express
blows down Sunrise Avenue
freezing exposed skin.

March is for motivation. It is a fickle and inconsistent month that some years comes in like a lion and other like a lamb. This year March changed its mind and came in like a Siberian tiger stalking its prey across the frozen tundra. That is how the wind chill factor makes me feel. I am thankful for the motivation that the fickle month of March brings into Las Vegas.

March motivation
early springtime's fickle winds
sometimes cold and sometimes warm.

Sunday Speculations: This Week's Assignment is to Write an Epitaph

This week I have to write an epitaph. An epitaph is a short rhyming poem that appears on a tombstone. I do not think the poem should be more then six lines long or less then two. Right now, I am planning to make it either four or five lines in length, but I could change my mind by the time I write it. The problem I am having is with the subject. Should I write the poem to a family member or friend who has passed on? Should I dedicate it to an historical figure? Should I write it about one of the my pets that has passed?

You would think that writing an epitaph would me easy, but it is not. It is not easy to write any poem and the form does not matter. Once the poem is written then you have to read it over to determine if you have chosen the right words. Finding the right words for a poem is difficult; however, it is worth the difficulty when the poem is finished.I think this is the first time I have written an epitaph; at least I do not remember writing another one.

I could write it to Mittens, the first cat I ever had.

Mittens was a good tom cat,

He could always catch a rat.

At least, I have started to think about the poem. It needs to be longer then two lines and I cannot seem to come up with a good rhyme for either of the following line.

He now waits at the rainbow bridge.

He liked to roam the neighborhood.

Both of those lines are good, but I cannot think of a rhyme for either line.

Form Friday: I Write both Haibun Haiku and Haibun Senryu

Haibun, haiku, and senryu are all Japanese poetry form. A traditional haiku is a three-line seventeen syllable verse with nature theme, while a traditional senryu has the same number of lines and syllable as a haiku, but its theme is about some aspect of human beings. Haibun combines prose with poetry; it usually begins with prose and ends with a haiku.

Cold rain is falling
Birds are shivering in their nests
Wind in the palm trees

I write haibun that incorporates both haiku and senryu in a single entry. Sometimes I write haibun entries with haiku, sometimes with senryu, and sometimes I include both haiku and senryu in the haibun entry.

Music echoing
Through the thin apartment walls
The neighbors are home

Monday Motivation: Ways to Get Motivated

Today I discovered two things that motivate me. First, is catching up on a writing project and finishing it before the high noon deadline. Second, is a FEDEX driver delivering an expected package to my door. I was thrilled when I saw the dark brown delivery truck park in front of my apartment. The deliver person brought the mini food chopper I have been expecting since November 1, 2014.

All right, I know better then to order something for myself that close to the holidays because it will take longer then expected. The food chopper came so now I can go to the grocery store and purchase some fresh vegetables instead of fresh frozen vegetables. I used the fresh frozen because I had to cut them up, which meant I never got them sliced the same size twice. The food chopper will allow me to chop the vegetables for soup or omelets evenly and this will help when cooking them.

The writing project I finished was the January 28 issue of the writing.com fantasy newsletter. I finished it last night between 9:00 and 11:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. My problem with the newsletter was a theme. Sometimes I have no difficulties thinking of a subject, but for some reason I could not come up with a subject until last night. The newsletter was not the only writing project I had difficulty with this past week. I also had problems when it came to a Naani poem.

The Naani form is one of India's Telugu poems. Naani, which is composed of four lines containing between 20 to 25 syllables, means "an expression of one and all". It was due last night at 9:00 pm Pacific Standard Time (Midnight EST), I thought about it all week, but could not come up with anything. Finally yesterday, after making a blog entry in my writing.com blog about the Doomsday Clock, I came up with the title (Three Minutes to Midnight) and the rest of the poem was easy.

Tuesday's Tip: Continue to Write

Continue to write
Even when there is no light
Depression is clouds

Tuesday's tip is to write even when you are depressed. I have found that writing helps alleviate my depression because it gets words on paper or in a document. It does not matter if you spell the words wrong when you are writing because there are spell checkers and grammar checkers. Get the words down and then go back and edit the document. If you do not want anyone else to see what you write then save it with a password or put the words in a pen and paper journal that you can lock or lock up.

Never stop writing
Never stop looking for light
Clouds cover the sun

Continue to write even when you have to use a candle or a flashlight (just make sure you have extra batteries). Write your worries out in long hand using a pen and paper journal. Write shorties about characters facing depression or worries similar to those you are facing. Write poetry of any form or type. Sometimes writing form poetry helps focus the mind and get the words down in stanza and line. Write prose poetry, free verse, or make up your own poetry form. It does not matter as long as you write and get your worries down on paper.

Friday Afternoon in Las Vegas

Friday afternoon in Las Vegas sounds exciting. It may be exciting for some people especially if they are walking along the Las Vegas Strip or at the Fremont Street Experience. For me Friday afternoon means listening to the neighbors music while sipping a cup of hot tea.

Yes, I lead a really exciting life. Fortunately, I can alleviate the overwhelming excitement by writing poems, short  stories, or character profiles. This afternoon I am attempting to figure out how I am going to write a tongue twister. I have started the poem at least three different times without getting past the second line.

Bobbie blogger blogs bumbling bees

That is a good start, however, I need at least two more lines using words that begin with the letter B. Let me try another line with Bobbie and the bees.

Buzzing bees buzz Bobbie blogger

Writing a tongue twister is a challenge. Writing a tongue twister is fun. Of course, I enjoy writing form poetry even when the form is new to me or difficult. I also like writing free verse poetry, which is not as easy as it sounds.