Reflections on Winter and Sprinters

 

Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.

-Yoko Ono

Looking backward to winter may cool down the heat and humidity for me, or at least, it will bring back some interesting memories. It seems like this past year was endless with the pandemic's hold on life and nature's multi-layered weather conditions that extended winter into spring creating a new phenomenon, a sprinter. 

The Urban Dictionary describes sprinter as "the Canadian season which occurs between Spring and Summer when Mother Nature forgets that it is supposed to be getting warmer and suddenly reverts to Winter for no apparent reason." 

It took patience, perseverance, and faith. Now, it is time to remember those sprinter moments with humorous thoughts. 

My fellow poetry writing colleague, Kay McGriff, posted on Facebook her interpretation of an Indiana sprinter this April. I decided to add a dodoitsu, a Japanese poetic form that I attempted earlier this week.

Nature  surprises springtime,

Powder puffing its landscape

With a chilled blanket of white-

Late April Fool's gift.

©CV, 2021

I found some "sprinter humor" on Twitter by vinn f, @dreamanxiety, 2018, and decided to change the words into a poetic format just for fun.

when I go outside

to shovel the snow

will it be considered

"spring cleaning"?

Recent memories from nature's sprinter storms will be part of the Winter's Embrace 2021 Gallery. Winter has passed. Hopefully, sprinter storms have passed and I have persevered inching my way closer to unveiling my Winter's Embrace 2021. Stayed tuned for the upcoming unveiling of my newest gallery filled with artistic expressions based on winter and winter-like weather. 

I'm now off to celebrate Poetry Friday with our host this week, Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner.  Carol is introducing a new poet to many of  us, Jeannette Encinias, and states that her poetry is filled with "glorious, richly detailed sensory images."

Abundant Autumn: Invitation to Create

I woke early to autumnal bliss.

One tree, tipped in gold, embraced nature's kiss. 

Amber, sunset orange, asparagus,

Colors of nature's seasonal fuss,

Danced in sunlight, celebrating fall.

Yet, others clothed in bright green shawl 

Bowed in tribute to the glorious sun-

Waiting their turn, not to be undone.

©CV, 2018

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Autumn's Sun Salutation

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Have you celebrated the autumn season in your locale?

Watch this brief video, Abundant Autumn Awakens Life, created with digital inspirations from Camilla (student), Leia Cator, Janet Chow, and Molly Hogan who captured the glory of the season in Louisiana, North Carolina, British Columbia, and Maine.

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Let the beauty of autumn days and the chill of autumn nights inspire you to create.

- Capture autumn digitally via a photograph, inspirational quote, poem, artwork, short 

   video, audio readings of original poetry, or any other form of digital expression.

- Sign each digital offering with your name and locale.

- Size your digital offerings to fit the gallery. 450 pixels is the best sizing. 

- Send your jpeg offering to @cvarsalona at Gmail with the subject heading, Abundant  

   Autumn.

- Also, send your digital offering to Twitter with the hashtag #AbundantAutumn.

Who should join this creative challenge to give tribute to the richness of the autumn season?EVERYONE-I encourage adults and students from around the world to participate in this global gallery that will allow voice to soar across the world. 

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While creating you may enjoy listening to peaceful music, Autumn Leaves by Tim Janis.

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Let's showcase our talents via photographs, poetry, musical compositions, and artwork to create a digital collection of the abundant beauty of the autumn season.  

Deadline for the submission of all offerings: November 28, 2018.  

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You can access previous Autumn Galleries of Artistic Expressions, 
Finding Fall, Autumn's Palette, Autumnventure, and Autumn Ablaze for samples of digital offerings.

Now take a stroll over to Kay McGriff's blog site. She is hosting this week's Poetry Friday Roundup with a Sunrise Conversation. You will enjoy the poem she created.

Serendipity

Railroads have played an important role in American history since the early 19th century so when Margaret Simon asked the Poetry Friday writers who would be interested in a photo/poetry exchange, "More Than Meets the Eye," for the May 25th Poetry Friday Round-up, I chose the Long Island Railroad system as my topic. Margaret's guidelines encouraged all to create after close observation and a dash of research.

1. Email an original photo from your geographical area to your partner. Identify the photo specifically in case your partner wants to do some research. 
2. Write a poem in any form in response to the photograph you receive.
3. Create a blog post including the photo you were sent and the poem you wrote. Pingback to your partner's blog and link it on my site for Poetry Friday on May 25th.

When I found out that Kay McGriff was my writing partner, I was delighted. Kay and I have been involved in various challenges and she often creates image poems for my galleries. I knew that this was going to be a good match but I did not know that it would be a serendipitous one. Both of us without knowledge from the other independently chose railroads as our subject. Kay sent me her beautiful photo of the railroad crossing over the Muscatatuck River in Vernon, Indiana first. I wanted to move past my comfort zone so I tried a prose poem followed by a poem that deals with personification and linked the ideas together. 

To Kay's email, I replied, "Kay, this is so interesting. I was planning on sending you a photo of the Long Island Railroad stop because the railroad is one of the prominent means of transportation across Long Island....Serendipity!" I followed this with four photos that Kay could choose as her prompt. Some were from my hometown that is on the western end of Long Island, one of the closest stops on the railroad that heads to New York City. The other was from a town that is mid-island. I am looking forward to seeing which photo Kay chooses. 

⁕ Reflecting on a Hoosier Spring Day ⁕

Morning opens sun-kissed and scented with the smell of Hoosier springtime. A softened glow proudly showcases a long-standing railroad crossing. All is silent and still honoring sacred land once trod by Native Americans. Even the jeweled tones of the Muscatatuck River pay homage to spring's call causing a hazy mirrored reflection. Above a connecting railroad crossing strong and solid stands proudly against the soft river bend that winds its way toward town. There is no sign of a train passing through, yet the woods echo tales retold by retired railroad workers who reside nearby. The river waits at this bend to reawaken history but on this spring morning only a lingering memory of time past exists.

I am from time past,
from structure and steam

moving from here to there
in rhythmic speed.

I am from a bending river 
wrapped in mosaic colors
of sunshine and stories
quietly humming
tall tales once told.
I am from strong people
laboring in the sun,
swelling with pride
watching their railroad 
chug along as it 
sings its morning song.
I am from Hoosier pride
residing in gentle folds
of the Muscatatuck River.
Come visit me - I am
nature's resting place.
©CVarsalona, 2018
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Postcard from Indiana
to Kay McGriff



Now it is time to see what Kay McGriff is sending me for the "More Than Meets the Eye" exchange program created by Margaret Simon who is also Louisiana's hostess with the mostess for the May 25th's Poetry Friday!



Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I am gathering spring digitals for my Sense-sational Spring Gallery.

Please join in!

Poetic Messages of Joy

as winter settles in

soup simmers on the stove

hot chocolate waits

all is still

©CVarsalona, 2018

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With the snowfall of last week a memory away, I leave the warmth of the yoga studio thinking how much easier it is to maneuver the walkways. The sound of the invocation of peace, "Om, shanti, shanti, shanti", replays in my mind and I feel calm and joyful, despite the cold weather. I  hope to find a poetry postcard in my mailbox when I return home. Thanks to the organizational efforts of fellow poet, Jone Rush MacCulloch, her Poetry Postcard exchange to usher in the new year with peaceful and joyful thoughts is thriving. I feel fortunate to receive some poetic messages from friends. Since I am in the process of creating and sending my postcards out, I will share what I created  last year. 

It is serendipitous that I found my 2017 postcard because I forgot that it holds my 2018 one word, hope, and a greeting of peace. 

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With joy, I share this week's poetic greetings from Linda Baie, Diane Mayr, and Christie Wyman.   

Linda Baie's glorious sunset image poem:

Diane Mayr's New Year haiku postcard:

Christie Wyman's delicate drawing and haiku:

I shared Linda Mitchell's poetry postcards last week's Poetry Friday. Here is the link in case you missed it. I hope you agree with me that these postcard greetings are poetic messages of joy. They brought such joyful feelings to me this winter and I am grateful.

Kay McGriff, host of today's Poetry Friday Roundup, is also celebrating the arrival of her set of poetry postcards so be sure to stop by the Poetry Friday Roundup at her blog site.

Creativity Spurts

"Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones." - Bruce Garrabrandt

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An ordinary day,
a backdrop of muted hues,

seagull against the sea

soaring

©CVarsalona, 2017, Long Island

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Using the beginning of the Grarrabrandt quote, Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment, and Sean Mitchell's original photo from Ontario, I digitized the beach scene and created a Golden Shovel poem. 

one ordinary day, creativity

enters but doesn't

stand still and wait.

it moves, longing for

a time that

holds a perfect

light in a sunkissed moment.

©CVarsalona, 2017

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 "Creativity involves breaking out of expected patterns in order to look at things in a different way." - Edward de Bono

This summer's Poetry Swap led by Tabatha Yeatts has brought forth a surge of creativity. For Swap #3, Joy Acey, children poet, sent me a lengthy letter on life in Hawaii followed by another mailing with a colorful series of patterns representing sunset over the water. What fun it was to receive two packages. 

Letter writing seems to be a lost art these days. Joy's artwork and handwritten poem are below. I look at this and imagine the beauty of the Hawaiian shore line. What a gift of nature-inspired artwork from a talented colleague!

My reply to Joy:

Joy's artwork inspired me to create a reply. I superimposed a photo of a summer sunset on Long Island onto Joy's original image. Joy's poem as well as Sean's beaching image will be placed in my summer gallery, "Sunkissed Moments".

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This week's Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted for the first time by fellow writer, Kay McGriff. You can access Kay's post and poems here.

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More quotes on creativity can be found here.

If you catch a sunkissed summer moment, 

please consider offering it for my summer gallery.