Manic Monday

What is the longest love relationship (partner) you have had, and if it has ended, why? My longest love relationship in high school was 1yr 10m. We were engaged to be married when I found out he was two timing me. Ouch! Fast forward to the present and you'll find me happily married to my husband of 12yrs (August 11th). We married after dating five months and had a small wedding ceremony outside my parent's house.


What is on your bedside table? Our white wicker nightstand has a small burgundy lamp, rectangle clock, two pictures of John and I and some potpourri.

How many pillows do you have on your bed? Do you make your bed every day? We have 3 pillows on our bed (used to be more). I used to make our bed everyday but as the years pass I find myself not stressing over it.

La Tuin

The la tuin poetic form was created by Laura Lamarca. It consists of 4 line stanzas with an abca, abca rhyme scheme throughout and has a strict syllable count of 9,8,9,8. The first stanza will be repeated at the end of the piece. La Tuin contains a minimum of 4 stanzas with no maximum length limit.

Here's an example.

Braille

chore'graphed reflections upon
water's fickle surface- beyond,
the sun becomes tie dyed wrinkles,
raised waves of sparkly Braille letters-
those seafaring, pointy setters
frontally scudding with the wind.
you would have understood me
had you waited my fingertips
to chafe your salty collection.

Manic Monday

Do you usually wear perfume/cologne? If so, what's your current favorite? No, I usually don't wear perfume but when I do I like these: Sand and Sable and Imari.

What's the last book you've read that you thought was really good? If you don't have one, what looks promising on your to-be-read list? The last three books I read are: Same Kind Of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore, Mudbound by Hillary Jordan and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. If you are the kind who cries easily then I suggest a box of Kleenex be handy when you read Snow Flower.

Fill in the blank: I wouldn't be caught dead (I'll have to come back to this after some thinking).

Tuesday Title

Create a poem using the title Sky, The Stranger of Shading. Or, this one, The Flowing Blindfold.

Black Hawk

Last year, three days after purchasing my camera on credit I heard a whup, whup, whup noise outside my home. A very articulate UH-60 Black Hawk was hovering above our neighbors field.
I witnessed this army copter doing the limbo beneath blue skies, a little bit lower now.

When the Black Hawk lowered itself to the ground I was on my way to its landing site, Rt 1237. Somewhere between my house and 1237 I became a one woman paparazzi without shoes armed with said camera. Frantically I looked for my target.

Two miles down the road I spotted thin layers of smoke rising from the asphalt. Broken tree limbs and leaves spattered the backroad. There between a small grove of trees I spotted Black Hawk and its occupants. Three or four recruits are searching an open field for... something.

1:44 pm. My drive by shoot is a success.

For more pictures of my adventure click here.

Monkeying Around

Riverwine

my feet suck mud-
articulating sweet brown sugar
between my toes.
with each restless tabla (drum)
my feet release night's keepsake-
crushed brown grapes
churned into riverwine-
somewhere between black faith
and green, that dangerous hour,
that bruises a molasses wind.

Cynthiana Kentucky

Saturday my family and I ventured into the small town of Cynthiana established in 1793 along the banks of Licking River's South Fork. Driving along winding, country roads we arrived inside a population of 6,258 people.


A little research shows that an American jazz drummer named William McKinney was born in Cynthiana and formed the band McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Upon retirement he came back to his childhood home to live out his last days. Here's a song by McKinney's Cotton Pickers I found at You Tube called Baby Won't You Please Come Home.



Below you will see a local barn and two ponds just outside the city limits. John was able to slow to a crawl for the last two, making all the difference in clarity.

Swimming Seal

Sometime after lunch we made our way to the Spaulding Children's Zoo to see the wolves and otters. During one of my bathroom breaks MyKiah snuck over to the seal's pool and videoed a swimming seal.

Afterwords we went down to see the seal swimming in her underwater playground. She was very lively and unphased by our presence.

Friday 5

mud
articulating
tabla (drum)
suck
feet

Blue Toes

Today's post is inspired by Wendy's So Blue from On the Front Porch. It reminded me of a time when Mateo (my Jack Russell) decided he would make a chew toy out of my blue Papermate ink pen. By the time I had reached him laying in the hallway the ink pen had already been chewed through. His toes went from being white to blue in seconds. Here's the picture I took shortly after.

John Beatty's Navy

Curiosity finds my outturned feet spitting across creosoted railroad tracks with my daughter MyKiah close behind. We come to a spot of flatlined green searching for a safe way down to the Ohio river from Maysville's side. We pull our bodies into shade while our eyes are drawn to a listing, half-sunken ship called John Beatty's Navy.


Story goes... an unnamed barge sank in 1992 just off Maysville's shore. In 1994 city of Maysville hired John Beatty, a riverboat captain, from Warsaw to raise the barge. He used two old Navy minesweepers that were hooked together by beam, cradling a crane. His efforts were lost to river mud. The towboat Clare Beatty damaged her engines pulling the minesweepers free. One minesweeper now rests belly up like a beached whale.


The Hercules barge and crane succeeded in pulling original barge free only to have its crane break as the barge broke surface. Hercules now partially pins the barge it was meant to save.


The western shore of Maysville is now known as the Bermuda Triangle of the Ohio River. To some this may be a river junkyard but on this sunny, Sunday afternoon it's a chance for mother and daughter to scavenge the shoreline while taking in a bit of history.

Credit:
"Proud armada rusts in river's graveyard" Monica Dias, Cincinnati Post, 9/16/98

Researching John Beatty's Navy I found that the Clare E. Beatty tugboat was originally called Semet-Solvay (1940) and renamed Semet (1947). In 1971 she was renamed Clare E. Beatty and sank in 2000.

Polar Bears

Above a polar bear sleeps. My husband smiles and quips, "I'm Comin' Elizabeth!"
Below you can catch a glimpse of a different polar bear cooling off with laps around his pool.

Sumatran Rhino

We made the short walk from the Zoo's entrance to Eagle Eyrie and Wildlife Canyon first. We saw two black and white condors, an Emu, a wallaby hopping in circles around it's compound, and a small, resting gazelle before pausing near the Sumatran Rhinoceros eating her breakfast of green foliage.

Her husky, 1000 lb+ frame remained neutral throughout our picture taking except for her head bobbing another mouthful of green leaves. Her redish brown hair less frizzy in the cool morning air and the folds of her skin seemed to act like a blanket. Seemingly she was content in her faraway habitat.

That One's Mean

Yesterday was a great day for my family and I. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo. We arrived shortly after 9 am opening and left just before 6 pm. Arriving home an hour and a half later was: priceless. We were extremely tired but fulfilled. Our adventure was a success with lots of pictures and a few good videos which will posted one a day starting with That One's Mean. It's a video featuring two wolves. I won't explain any further as the video took on a persona all its own in just a few short seconds. Enjoy~

Monday Mural

Monday Mural will feature a picture/ artwork for you to lend your words (poem or story) each Monday. I want you to ask yourself what images are provoked here? What words would you use to define this picture? If you choose to write for Monday Mural please leave your comments below. Hope to see you around.

Magnolias by Meri Arnett Kremian was originally uploaded to Meri's blog, Meri's Musings. Meri was kind enough to let me use her image for this week's Monday Mural. Thank you so much for allowing me to use your image. Please do not copy image without her permission. Happy Writing~

Maria The Butterfly

Friday afternoon at Maysville Lake I met Yuko and Rin, a Japanese mother and daughter, who were watching the geese I came to photograph. We talked underneath sun and blue skies perforated with full, white clouds. The wind gave chill as Rin danced like a ballerina in front of my camera. She was full of charisma.


She commenced to show me her shoes with Aerial and Bell- characters from Disney movies, her boo boos and her tattoes of butterflies, a heart. I asked, "What is the name of your butterfly tattoo? She replied with a full grin "Maria."

When an older man approached with his dog Katie, a golden retriever, Yuko stepped away. She's afraid of dogs. I later told her I had two dogs- a German Shepherd mix and Jack Russell as well as a cat named Smidget.

We discussed birthdays and cherry seed spitting. We laughed and took more pictures of Rin before they fluttered away to the park's playground. Thank you Yuko and Rin for a beautiful day at Maysville Lake. Hope to see you again soon.

Papercuts

What are you reading? Share your book title, author name and a brief description about what you are reading. My hope is that Poefusionists can find that next great read.