Poetry Friday, Week 49: A Cento for Solstice and a Call for the New Year Poetry Postcard Exchange12/10/2021
 Cathy at Merely Day by Day is hosting us and thanking the Poetry Friday community. So glad you are in the community, Cathy. Molly Hogan of The Inklings, suggested for the December challenge, that we try the cento poem/patchwork poem. # PoetryPals the December challenge is to write a poem about bells. After reading MaryLee's cento last week and Carol Varsolana's cento this week, I am jumping in with one about winter's arrival. Did you know that the CENTO is an historic poetic form, relying entirely on other poets’ published words? According to Linda Black, Ausonius (c310 – c395) was the Roman originator of the form. For mine, I researched poems about the winter solstice. One Solstice When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire which burns the spark of luminous goodness when I stare at paper or into silences the dark, too, blooms and sings, The world appears very large, very round now extending far as the moon A quiet light, and then not even that. all the singing is in the tops of the trees which shook in the wind of night to drive the dark away One winter I lived north, alone ©jone rush macculloch, 2021 Sources for One Solstice: LITTLE GIDDING BY T.S. ELIOT A WINTER SOLSTICE PRAYER BY EDWARD HAYS SNOW BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE TO KNOW THE DARK BY WENDELL BERRY WINTER SOLSTICE BY HILDA MORLEY AN OLD MAN’S WINTER NIGHT BY ROBERT FROST WHITE-EYES BY MARY OLIVER THE COLD EARTH SLEPT BELOW BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE SHORTEST DAY BY SUSAN COOPER THE WORLD BY JENNIFER CHANG 2022 New Year Poetry Postcard Exchange Won't you join us? We have about 10 at the party so far and there's room for more. Sign up for the 2022 New Year Postcard Exchange. Send five, send ten or send to all. Did you know there are 22 days until 2021 ends? Woohoo! Let's celebrate the New Year with a New Year Postcard? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
 A shout out to this book, HOP TO IT edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell has won the Kids' Book Choice Awards. I love this book. Next week, the Poetry Friday Party is here! I'm hosting. Bring your bells and centos and winter solstice greetings!
Ruth at there is no such thing as a God-forsaken town is hosting us and old school style this morning. Her Ode to Haiti in Autumn is beautiful and poignant with all that is happening in Haiti right now. I pray for peace in Haiti.
The Poetry Sisters invited us to join their challenge for the month of November! Writing an Ode to Autumn. An ode is a lyrical poem, a way of marking an occasion with a song. Whether you choose an irregular ode with no set pattern or rhyme, or the ten-line, three-to-five stanza famed by Homer himself, we hope you’ll join us in singing in the season of leaf-fall and pie, and sharing on November 26th in a blog post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals.
Well, sometimes I miss little details, like this was to be an ode for autumn, not November. Maybe it's because my grandfather always referred to November as the darkest month. And my father agreed with him as Grandfather Mac died in November and my mother, pregnant with my brother was hospitalized with non-paralytic polio. So maybe I was unconsciously look for a way to lift up and light up November. I begin this month with the lighting of white twinkle lights outside. My flameless candles are set to flicker on at sunset (how cool is it that flameless candles can be programmed?) I've been keeping up with my #gratiku note booking. Last week, I read through my blog to mine words. November Ode Later sunrises Gunpowder grey skies Pink threading the clouds Wind blustering more Leaves and letting go Earlier sunsets Darkness and candles Warming by a fire Family gatherings November; autumn's hug © jone rush macculloch 
It's time. Sign up for the 2022 New Year Postcard Exchange. Send five, send ten or send to all.
Did you know there are 36 days until 2021 ends? Woohoo! Let's celebrate the New Year with a New Year Postcard? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
Would You Like?
I am very pleased with the 2022 calendar.
For the first time, I'm offering my small poems and photos calendar for sale. It's $15.00 including shipping. If you would like one, send me an email at macrush53 at yahoo (dot) com. I have a limited run for sale. |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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