Vale Cynthia Jobin

On my return to blogging in April, I was deeply saddened to discover that one of my favourite poets of all time had died in December 2016.

Cynthia Jobin was a blogging friend and a masterful poet, whose art was superior in form, structure and rhythm. But what I love most in her work is the way she infused it with mischief. Her intellect and humour shines through her poetry.

Sadly, Cynthia’s WordPress site is no longer up. I hope her unpublished work will not be lost.

I will miss you, Little Old Lady. You were a beautiful light in the darkness.

https://uspandey.com/2016/12/25/goodbye-cynthia-jobin/

Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way

On the Way to the Theatre

For more entries to whatever-week’s-WPC-this-was, see The Daily Post.

Warm

Morning moon over Miyajima Island

See how the earth tips to the left?

This is my heart: a summer solstice

of all the love I’ve been given.

Can you guess…

..the name of the river on the banks of which this photo was taken?

 

Kill Your Darlings Not Your Editor

Given the grammar and punctuation transgressions on this blog, you’ll probably find it hard to believe that I qualified as a book editor over a decade ago. *Sharp intakes of breath around the Blogosphere* Yes, you know who you are. 😀 Breathe easy; I’ve yet to give up my day job.

What I do know is that editing is critical to the writing process and essential for, at the very least, published works and professional documents. And what I did learn in studying for my editing qualification is the need for tact when dealing with authors and their work, no matter how awful either.

At work, I edit my own writing before and after I get someone else to edit it. Even so, when I do the final edit, I’m often bemused to find a number of errors remaining. When it comes to prose, I know my weak areas: omission of functions words, homonym misuse and comma confusion, to name but a few, so I know what to look for. But, poetry? I really have no idea.

So it is with heartfelt gratitude, appreciation and admiration that I thank Linda Cosgriff (a.k.a. The Laughing Housewife) for the gift of her editing expertise on my first poetry collection.

Linda is what the publishing industry (if she were to put herself out there) would consider an exceptional editor: she knows her stuff, and she is unafraid to say what needs to be said on both form and style but does so in an encouraging, tactful and respectful manner. And she sends gifts. 😀

I’ve taken most of her advice…
..OK, I admit I’ve granted clemency to some of my poor darlings.

Any errors remaining in the book are purely mine.

You have done me an immense favour, Linda dear. Thank you for the gift of your friendship, your valued input and the Olympic Games bookmark with the inspiring quote. ♥♥♥

Writing Process Blog Tour

Dear blog-amie Gabrielle Bryden has tagged me in the Writing Process Blog Tour, which involves me answering the following questions and tagging a few other writing bloggers:

What am I working on?

 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

It’s never accepted for publication.

Why do I write what I do?

I once read somewhere that Stephen King said something along the lines of that if he hadn’t become a writer, he would’ve become a small town sniper. My reasons aren’t quite as extreme (and, in case you hadn’t noticed, neither is my level of success), but writing—poetry, in particular—is a good outlet for stress and the things that fire my imagination.

How does my writing process work?

It’s a bit like vomiting, really – atrocious analogy, I know. But it is; it just happens of its own accord. One Saturday morning, I sat down with the intention of writing a non-fiction post about the notion that cheese before bed causes nightmares and within an hour, I had written this, something altogether different from what I’d intended.

Next on the Writing Process Blog Tour (tagged writers, feel free to ignore)

• Adeeyoyo
• Dianne Gray
• Poems ‘n Stuff
• Sweet Planet Poems

Thanks, Gabe 😀

For Gabrielle Bryden – Perchance to Dream

Weeky Photo Challenge: Good Morning, Big 5Oh!

“If one is lucky enough to be blessed with good health, growing older shouldn’t be something to complain about. It’s not a surprise, we knew it was coming−make the most of it.”

Betty White

“Just remember that a 6-year-old would get tired from doing a lot of what you do. I don’t see no 6-year-olds walking the golf course! Hell no!”

My niece Jayde

Like any self-preserving 50-year-old, I partied yesterday so I could have today to recover

For more entries to last week’s WPC, see The Daily Post

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

A peek inside a guest house we escaped to for a bit of R&R with friends a couple of weekends ago.

Our men are all wizzes in the kitchen, so us girls left them to it, and relaxed next to a roaring fire in the marvellous library.

The chefs didn’t disappoint.

Creosote

Is the scent

of an ancestor’s skull kicked
down a bush runway –
an elephant remembers

bones and dust,

the echo of hyena
comedy nights, jaws
on buffalo bones

chalk and dust,

a tall silhouette beyond the runway –
a blind man – inhales the dusk
for ghost-lions
before crossing to light
the camp fire

blood and dust

in the dark, leopards
gaze at embers
of an ancient story

fate throws the bones,
a plane flies
into a hillside

flesh and blood,
bones and dust,

and creosote.

Unsung Heroes

Vilakazi,
in the riots of  ’76,

Henderson,
in the shadows of ’77,

Bailey,
through the dark and bitter end:

Not sacrificing themselves
for a cause,

these ordinary men,

just rescuing
our hopes,
one act at a time.

Photo by RIP – © beeblu

Fix

Chocolate is essential.

It’s existential.

I did not, I repeat, did not attempt to bribe Nancy at Spirit Lights the Way with chocolate so she would include me as a semi-finalist in her ‘The Writer’s Desk Challenge’. 😆

Thanks, Nancy – I’m delighted.

Vote for your favourite entry here.

 

The Writer’s Desk – A Challenge from Spirit Lights the Way

I rarely write poetry

 at my desk –

but prefer cafes,

trains,

wide open spaces,

gardens,

forests,

whispering places –

and on dark, stormy nights,

my bed,

next to cheeky faces

😀

xxx

For a chance to win a great prize in Nancy’s challenge,

hop over to Spirit Lights the Way for details

Search Engine Poetry: Sweet Planet Poems

She was the first blogger to make me laugh out loud, by asking me, on my About page, whether I was a man or a woman  – the question astounded me and was the beginning of my appreciation of the mind-altering value of blogging: the way others perceive us is often so different from the way we see ourselves.

Image via http://www.sxc.hu

Insightful and multi-talented, Monica of Sweet Planet Poems is one of my oldest blogging friends – and how grateful I am that she has stayed the distance! 🙂 She has a delightful sense of humour, a rare generosity of spirit and a passion for the natural world that infuses her enchanting blog and publications.

She is a tireless campaigner for the protection of wolves in their natural habitat and shares their mystique in her wonderful poems, videos and photos many of which she creates on her frequent trips to Yellowstone National Park.

Monica has woven this delightful found poem in response to my Search Engine Poetry Challenge – I see it as a mirror of all the good in her heart (even the “picking up dog poop” line. :-D)

xxx

And here are a few of my favourite posts on Sweet Planet Poems:

Wild Wolf Encounters – this post is a free download of Monica’s wonderful collection of poetry on wolves.

Homeward Bound

With Patton in Germany

Mathematics of the Heart

City Skin

Spiral Rings

René Who?

Thanks for participating, dear Monica

😀

Happy New Year

We ended what has been a rather mixed year

of highs and lows

in a very good place:

 

with precious family and wonderful friends on our beautiful harbour.

Happy New Year, Fellow Bloggers!

Hope you have a wonderful 2013

Thanks for your community.

🙂

xoxox

How did you start the New Year?

A view from above

Thinking of the people of America as they recover from this devastating event.

New York Times – Time-lapse video of Sandy over NYC

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign

Hey! What’s in my hair?! © beeblu

A few favourites from this week’s entries:

Northern Narratives

Day One

The Urge to Wander

my (mis)adventures

For more entries, see The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Search Engine Poetry: The Laughing Housewife

My linguistics professor would call it “spooky action at a distance“, and, indeed, it is a sort of blogging quantum entanglement, a weird close encounter of the blogging kind.

I speak of The Laughing Housewife, a.k.a. Tilly Bud.

Image via http://www.sxc.hu

Not that I’m saying Tilly’s weird, you understand (although once you’ve read her Search Engine Poem, you might disagree) – what I’m referring to is the strange coincidence that although we’ve never met, and know of each other only through our blogging connection, twenty years ago we were in the very same room at the very same time. (You’ll have to read this post’s comments if you want to know more).

So, anyway, what to say about Tilly?

A monumental intellect, a resilience that’s instructive, and a sense of humour that can shine a light through the darkest disposition. Nothing can wipe the smile off her face.

Quite like a worldwide shortage of Maltesers (I suspect this (second photo) was one of those times),
dodgy punctuation and grammar (any evidence of this in her found poem below is purely intentional),
or sycophants and flatterers (“no Maltesers for you!“).

She loves to cook, dance, sing, and do I’m-not-going-to-ask-what to the long-suffering Hub. 

But we forgive her all that ;-), because, besides making us laugh and being a loving mother, Tilly is an accomplished poet.

Not only has her poetic talent been showcased in poetry journals and other interesting places, but she’s also about to release what promises to be a very interesting book of poetry memoir, and has another (on poo) in the pipeline ;-).

In the meantime, here’s her entry to my Search Engine Poetry challenge.
(Warning – not suitable for those suffering from Chaetophobia)

girls that dont shave

a found poem for Bluebee

irish women don’t shave
welding women don’t shave
freak americans don’t shave

hairy women armpits
bushy sweaty arm pits
kerala housewife armpits

air in armpits, girls

————————-Thanks, Tilly! 😀 (let’s hope you never find yourself in the same room as these internet-search weirdos)———-

The Gifts of Blogging

I’m away in the mountains for my birthday, and some 17,000kms from Stockport, home of The Laughing Housewife, but have just received this delightful gift from her.

Tilly makes me laugh, a lot!

Thank you, Tilly Bud!

😀

The Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia

Search Engine Poetry: Gabrielle Bryden

Blogging friend, sublime poet, awesome mom and aspiring volcanologist Gabrielle Bryden has posted this found poem on her blog in response to my Search Engine Poetry challenge.

I met Gabrielle in my early days of blogging and LOVE her poetry, which ranges from the serious to the hilarious.

She also keeps us entertained with posts about her life in Queensland with her hero – Shirl, son – Michael, daughter – Tessa, and comical dogs – Jazz and Sheba, and with her photos of the weird and wonderful critters we find on this strange continent.

She has a wicked sense of humour (read her post tags) and a fighting spirit (I wouldn’t want to mess with her ;-)).
And in the 80s, she had Big Hair.

Gabrielle’s son, Michael, was diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder at the age of 3 and she has used her experience to create an excellent resource on dealing with the challenges of Autism and Asperger’s.

Last week, Michael turned 12 and, despite the challenges he has faced, is doing very well.  He takes great photos and is shaping up to be a talented horticulturalist.

Oh, and did I mention I love Gaberielle’s poetry?
Here are links to just a few of my favourites

Skin Deep

Decanting a Poem

Campaign Trail

In all innocence

Ransom Note Poetry – (Listen Up Gina)

Brisbane River

There is a Place

The Force of Gravity

OCD Logic

Thanks, Gabe!

😀

Image via http://www.sxc.hu