the last tree

Art as communication.

Being Found

Musing over TravelWithIntent‘s quote & post for a good part of the week:

“People don’t take trips… trips take people.” John Steinbeck Travels with Charley: In Search of America

and now contemplating NesFelicioPhotography’s post as I finish my morning tea:

“But it isn’t easy,’ said Pooh. ‘Because Poetry and Hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you.” from AA Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner

The Changing Seasons: February 2019

It has been another one of those mind-stretching months, with a Poetry Workshop every Sunday afternoon, art exhibitions, and problem solving in the kitchen.

These Golden Years

Written in response to the following challenges:

1. Debbie’s One Word Sunday: Golden
2. Amanda’s A and I Poetry Challenge: Oct 2018

Feature Photo: Taken at the Bandstand, Singapore Botanic Gardens, surrounded by a grove of Raintrees with yellow leaves, commonly called the Golden Rain Tree.

The Changing Seasons: September 2018

It has been an activity filled month! I can hardly believe it is October already, but here we are.  Before the month takes off, allow me to recap the month past with some of the highlights I’ve enjoyed, to share a little of my world with you.

Season of Travail: A and I Poetry Challenge

Mulling over metre & rhyme (iambic pentametre, feminine endings, sprung rhythms), good & bad rhymes (is there such a thing?) & the humorous nuggets of wisdom found in Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled has kept me suitably occupied these past weeks. The exercises found here have brought me back to the basics of poetry creation which have been at the same time enlightening and exhausting.

Heart of the Matter

Poem note: a somonka is essentially 2 tankas on written on the theme of Love.

Submitted in response to Amanda & Ineke’s A&I Poetry Challenge, Aug 2018 to write a Heart poem.

This is one of my favourite pieces of music, and I thought of it as I reread the poem. It is usually soloed by a violin; the cello gives it an interesting texture. Enjoy!

Feature Photo taken on 30 June 2018 at Benchaswari Park, Bangkok.

 

Waking World

 

Song of Celebration

Voice of the Sublime

In this month’s entry for the A and I Poetry Challenge to write a short 5-line poem, I thought I would try the version of a cinquain as used by Adelaide Crapsey, an early twentieth-century poet. Her form had 22 syllables distributed among the five lines in a 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 pattern. Her poems share a similarity with the Japanese tanka, another five-line form & another favourite of mine, in their focus on imagery and the natural world.