Magpie #115 "A Brittle Love, IGWRT's Open Link Monday

image by Manu Pombrol

A Brittle Love

Within a brittle love, 

contained I lived

your kisses, fickle,

transparent to all 

but me.

Searched your diary

one moonlit night

expected words of love

but truthful shards

pierced my heart

left me naked and cold

beneath a darkened sky.

"Take a look at me, 

you drowned my heart, 

tore it apart, 

but I'll carry on...

just another victim

howling at the moon

in your endless parade

of the beaten and the damned."

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 30, 2012

Photo Courtesy of Mama Zen Photography

This is for "Magpie Tales #115", Tess Kincaid, the host, selected the photo prompt which is at the top of this post.  Below is a photo of my son (in white) and three YouTube video's of him and his fellow classmates of University of North Carolina School of the Arts performing the rock opera "The Black Parade".  Two of the songs "Mama" and "Welcome to the Black Parade" helped shape the above poem, but in no way tells the story or is a part of this rock opera.  

Also linked with "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Open Link Monday".   I used a photo from the "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Sunday Challenge - Featuring Mama Zen", but I won't link this same poem up twice.   Also linked with dVerse "Open Link Night #42 ... it IS the place to be on Tuesday evenings.  

If you like heavy rock n roll, please watch the videos.  My son is the young man in white.  (Believe it or not, he has classical voice training.  Perhaps that is why he is able to sing like this and not hurt his voice!)

The University of North Carolina - School of the Arts students (my son in white) performed "The Black Parade" last night on campus. It is a dark show, about a young man who dies of cancer and this is his journey to death.... his death evokes his strongest memory which comes in the form of a parade or marching band...  The young man "The Patient" replays his memories of his life... (or something like that)

I don't pretend to understand completely the story line as this was my introduction to this "rock opera".  But it was fun watching it on the college campus last night.

Two iPhone photos I took after the show (the videos above were also done on my iPhone),  The first photo is of my son who performed above, and the other of his father and our youngest son...  (who played in the volleyball sandpit the entire show.  :)

Sebastian and Oberon - my two handsome boys

I think a horse's neck is pure poetry!

These are my two handsome boys.  Sebastian up top and Oberon below.  I think they are looking mighty handsome now that their fuzzy winter coats are almost gone.

I am a bit behind in my responding as I am participating in a small horse clinic Friday - Sunday, but I will catch up!

"The Four Divas"

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) "The Four Seasons"

The Four Divas

Summer poses,

incandescently draped

in barberry blooms

her sultry breath

refreshing drooping necks,

flowing cape embraces creation

within its languid folds.

Autumn joy flounces

amongst lavendar asters,

seams bursting with

anemones and sedum,

capricious hips sway

with rhythmic phlox

her fickle affections fleeting.

Winter passionately swaggers

a tempest one minute,

beautifully serene the next

enticing virginal quince

and lustrous forsythia to hesitantly

raise their heads

and seek her cool touch.

Spring sashays

amongst weeping wisteria

hope wonderously

sprinkled and showered

upon delicate coral bells,

humming a gently waking overture

for the diva's annual ballet.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 27, 2012

* * * * *

This is for "IGWRT's - Fireblossom's Friday #6: Much(a) the Artistic".   I am not a gardener, my husband is - but I do enjoy walking and photographing their many seasonal wonders.  I am horrible at naming them, and as I was doing research for this poem, stumbled upon a beautiful Flicker photo worthy of a peek:  ... a male ruby throated hummingbird at Coral Bells

I just found this blog... I am adding this late so most of you missed it.  But perhaps Hedgewitch will enjoy it... "For the Love Of Gardening". 

IGWRT's Ella's Edge - "A Common Bond"

A Common Bond

Nuzzling wobbly legs

supportive, she nickers

encouragement, 

blocks perceived danger,

nips tender warning

upon youthful shoulder,

responsive.

I send mine off,

weary with backpack

deadlines looming large.

Lighten her load

I offer help,

her youthful shoulder

dismissive.

A common bond shared
this mare and I.  Alas,
her sweet job's just begun
mine's run its course.

by Margaret Bednar,  Art Happens 365, April 2012

HERE is a site with a "streaming cam" that allows one to watch live a mare that is about to foal, foaling, or taking care of her newborn foal.  I am watching my friend's horse WRosieQ and two mares  at Premier Friesians Cam #1 and Premier Friesians Cam #2.   It will be so fun watching WRosie give birth and she is due very soon - we thought perhaps last night.

(If you are interested in watching the steam, click on the link and cursor down and select... they are not all activated... it depends upon the foaling schedule of each farm)

The photo above is one I took of WRosie "big and prego!" and will post more once she delivers.  Do any of you remember how you felt hours, days just before delivery!?

The poem is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Ella's Edge - Writing Poetry from the Inside Out". I sort of followed the rules... it is raining outside so I used the "CAM" as my outside this morning and also used what was going on "inside" my world... taking my daughter back to college this morning.  (We live within 35 minutes of the school, and since she was sick, I wanted her home resting ... so I AM still needed... sometimes :)

I purposefully made this poem for Friday Flash 55.  The host, G-Man of "Mr-Know-It-All" blog, is hospitalized in critical care,  recovering from an operation.  If others post to his blog tonight, then I will be doing so as well.  I would like him to have something to read when he comes home!  :)  If you have ever participated in FF55, please swing by and wish Galen well!

IGWRT's Mini-Challenge for Sunday - "Joyous Bouquet"

Joyous Bouquet

Youthful frivolity I seek

of carefree, bygone days.  Time ticked

tocked, skipped along, unrestricted

search for joy, wonder and mystique.

How I long to splash in puddles

joy-filled laughter bursting, bubbling

exploding, body bent, doubling

over, daily grind and troubles

cast aside, the expectation?

Breathless at the end of the day;

tomorrow a joyous bouquet

of childlike anticipation.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 23 2012

* * * * *

This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Mini-Challenge for Sunday - Envelopes" it was a structured rhyming poem... not the easiest thing for me to do.  If you are interested in finding out the full details of the "Envelope Stanza" Kerry O'Connor did a great job explaining it in the link above.  

Magpie Tales #114 - "Deadly Charms"

Go to http://www.thomaspeschak.com/kayak-great-white-sharks-/
to read the fascinating story behind this photograph.   Just click on the link -
See below for more info on Thomas Peschak (books & a vimeo.com site)

Deadly Charms

An oxygenated aquarium,
cool to the touch

would have been safer
at the ocean front beach

for viewing sleek,
deadly charms;

beware,
predators exist,

for it's not only
the Great White

that can grab, rip
swallow whole

a woman's heart.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 22, 2012

image by Alex Stoddard http://alexstoddard.carbonmade.com/

To be fair, most sharks leave humans alone.  We kill more of them...  watch this video on Shark Nets:

This poem if for Magpie Tales # 114.  Tess Kincaid is the host and she provided the photograph on the bottom for over (what will be) 100 poets to use as inspiration.  So click on over to "The Mag" and enjoy!

Also linked with Imaginary Garden with Real  Toad "Open Link Monday".

The top photographer is one I stumbled upon via the internet. He is a contributing editor to National Geographic Magazine and a fellow of the League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP).  He has a Vimeo.com website.  Please check him out and be aware he has three books:  "Currents of Contrast", "South Africa's Great White Shark", and "Wild Seas Secret Shores of Africa"  Directly above is a video he filmed (he is, or was 2 years & 8 months ago, the Chief Photographer for "Save the Seas Foundation"!  ENJOY!

IGWRT's Mary's Mixed Bag - "I Promise"

Image courtesy of Google Images

I Promise

God Almighty
I'll never let go
of the stars

I'll make each day count
learn to take life
as a gift

won't give up,
no matter what happens,
no matter how hopeless.

I'll never let go.

I won't wait to die,
wait to live,
wait for absolution.

I'll learn to take life
as it comes,
make each day count.

I got everything I need
right here inside me.
I'll never let go.

I promise.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 21, 2012

* * * * *

This is linked with "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Mary's Mixed Bag - Let's Go to the Movies"

Of course, these are lines selected from Titanic which I saw only twice.  Once back in 1997 when if first came out and last night.  I was SO overwhelmed with emotion seeing it last night... I would suggest anyone who hasn't seen it or hasn't seen it in a long time to go see it on the big screen!  I'm "dragging" my husband next weekend to the IMAX version.  He is dreading it, calling it a "chick flick" but I bet he will change his mind... I even bet he will get choked up at the end.

As of now, though, he would be VERY happy to see this 5 second "guys" version:

If you have trouble understanding the line (I had to watch it three times to get it) it is:

"...but the ship can't sink!"

Kim Klaussen's Texture Tuesdays & "Hope" a poem

       x

               o

           x

Hope

I gently kiss

send it parachuting

upon the day's soft breeze

anticipate it will bring

true passionate love

one day, my

way.

x

o

x

o

x

o

x

By Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 18, 2012

Beware... don't say you haven't been warned!   When the young ladies are playing "He loves me, he loves me-not" with flower petals, they can also try and blow ALL the seeds off a dandelion "globe".  It's said that if they do, than they are loved passionately by someone...  

* * * * *

This is linked to "Texture Tuesday's"  I am playing with Kim Klaussen's Textures.  This one is "Oh My".  I used Photo Shop CS5 to play with it:  used the "Luminosity" layer set at 57% and further tweaked my photo by fiddling with the hue/saturation, exposure, vibrance, and curve features.

Kim has many internet classes over the internet which I plan on taking the beginning of the next school year.  Until then, I will just ... play.  But if you are interested, I believe registration is still open.

IGWRT's - Kenia's Challenge: Celebrating Femininity, "The Grand Ol' Hat"

 My Great Aunt, Jennie Beckington, 1905

My Grandmother, Marguerite Hutchins Beckington, born 1892 

The Grand Ol' Hat

                       The

           Good

Ol'

Edwardian Days

When swirling skirts gracefully 

Swept the floor, ankles carefully hidden.

Puffed up like a proud pigeon and resembled

   An instrument measuring time.

Oh, how to show

Individuality? Dare

We suggest such a

Thing?  A prim and

Proper young

Lady

Must wear her hat squarely

Upon her head; no silly feather, please!

But, if one had a desire for a bit of frivolity, well a trip

To the Hat Maker might just do the trick.  A feather added and tilted

To one        side, a splendid ornate hat to promenade.  A       multitude 

Of other       frivolous items could grace the crown:  A poppy,      a plume,

How         about a large cabbage rose?  A bit overwhelming?          Well,

 That was         the very idea!  To have fun, live a little, after all,             it was

 Just                           a hat.  The only thing exposed                          was 

Hair!                        Sometimes splurged, and added a                     bird?

Well,                                 Not a whole bird,                                   nor 

Even                                             a                                           whole

Wing.                                       For                                      many

Years,                             Twenty                           in fact, 

The               Audabon Society            fought

To outlaw such animal cruelty!  

Even hat pins were subject to the law!

Why, they could only extend so far - dangerous

Weapons they.  Known for poking, scraping and stabbing!

Regulations on how far they could protrude without hat-pin

Protectors. Some were banned from public transportation, in fact.

So, no whole birds, but how about bunches of cherries, blackberries

Or ribbon rosettes?  Hats made to whirl, flow and dip; some swathed in

Tulle.  Some glorious hats mysteriously rested upon the hair, thanks to 

The secret of “wadded” hair saved from thy very own brush to make the 

Grand pompadour!   Possibly a bit of mystery might be desired; was that

Even allowed?   It could be arranged with a bit of cobweb trim hanging

Over the face.  Social gatherings were not complete without one’s hat,

In fact it was part of proper etiquette.   Quite disgraceful to be seen

Without!  Even the little widow could not step out... all in black, of

Course.  No feather for that would be too gay but the veil was ok.

Oh yes,  the good  Ol’ Edwardian Days!  Most likely styles to never 

Be seen again. Glimpsed by some of us still alive as we watched

Our grandmothers step out.   Those wonderfully grand ladies who knew 

How to dress in style, held on to their "vogue" until the very end. White 

Gloves, snap purse dangling at the elbow, and perhaps, the hats a

Bit smaller, but there non-the-less.  Ornate glasses framed many of 

Their smiling faces, pearls circling their necks.  Still buttoned up with 

Proper skirt line maintained; although a few inches shorter.  How “modern”

They must have felt.  So here’s a nod to the grand ladies of old, who wore

Those hats with such style and grace.  How were they able to carry off

Such hats as these? Looking at the photos, their eyes might offer a clue.   

The                    Women's

Suffra                     gette's

Atti                        tude?

 In Courage                 And Honor.          

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, originally written January 2011.

* * * * *

Today this archived poem is linked with Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's - Kenia's Challenge: "Celebrate Femininity".  This was originally written for a Magpie Tales challenge and then again shared at dVerse. So I am SORRY if you have read it before... it just seemed to be an easy fit. 

I remember going through the hat boxes in my grandmother's attic.  They were piled atop one another and these "ancient" hats were packed amongst newspaper.  By the time I was born, I don't think she wore them anymore - and I had a hard time imagining her in them.  How I wish I had those hats today.

Magpie Tales #113 - "The Scarlet River"

"Red Roofs", Marc Chagall 1954

The Scarlet River

Upon his knees

he prays beside her

she ponders eternity, immersed

in a scarlet baptism

recites transgressions

while darkness hides his face

faithfully she bleeds

her confession

soul hidden

brittle and broken

until soothing words

whisper "Go, sin no more"

a double life, led

as a "Christian" man

hope surges

before golden crucifix

debauchery,

discouraged not

once again, darkness descends

she asks moon to close his eyes

demands silence be "offered up"

beauty her sin

thinks about fragrant flowers

she'll pick and lay before the altar

as upon his knees

he attacks his prey

pleas for faith to increase

and forgiveness of her sins...

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 17, 2012



This is for Magpie Tales #113.  If you love poetry and creativity, this is a challenge to visit... I am # 80 and more will accept the challenge, I'm sure, throughout the week.  Also linked with " dVerse Poets "Open Link Night - Week 40"

This poem was hard for me to write.  A family friend, one we thought we knew, is now in jail for harming two little girls under his care.  It shocked and rocked my world... I often ponder HOW we didn't know, WHY the little girls didn't say something...  WHAT he said to them that made them think it was their fault...

Not a pleasant poem... but this painting just led me there...

"A Thin Thread" (Monticello continued)

Mulberry Row... the buildings were on the right, the left is the "kitchen garden

A Thin Thread

With hands, black, and voices moaning

Monticello rose brick by brick

under Virginia's blazing sun.

With voices moaning and calloused hands

lowland's water carried bucket by bucket

for a gentleman's country estate

under Virginia's blazing sun.

With calloused hands and aching backs

earth's red clay dug and cleaned

for an idealized realm

under Virginia's blazing sun.

With aching backs and hearts longing to be free

two thousand bricks per day, molded, dried, burned, refined

for a Roman Neoclassic

under Virginia's blazing sun.

With hearts longing to be free and hope a thin thread

bodies labored, hammered, timbered, quarried

for Jefferson's architectural masterpiece

under Virginia's blazing sun.

With hope a thin thread for six hundred slaves,

ten found freedom.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, April 10, 2012

This chimney and rocky foundation is all that remains of the "joiners shop" one of the first
structures on Mulberry Row.  Here free and enslaved workmen produced some of the finest
woodwork in Virginia.  The enslaved children of Sally and Thomas Jefferson, Eston and
Madison Hemings, were trained as artisans here by their enslaved uncle, John Hemmings.  

* * * * *

Linked with Imaginary Garden with Real Toads "Open Link Monday"

HERE is the 1873 memoirs of Madison Hemings, the son of Thomas Jeffeson and Sally Hemings, who was only 1/8th black.

I DO admire Thomas Jefferson, but I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that he was so "enlightened" and an educated deep thinker... and yet, he still lived his life as a slave owner.

Perhaps what I and others need to keep in mind, to paraphrase Annette Gordon Reed:  "...celebrate Jefferson's accomplishments, his importance, and tolerate his flaws...  flaws don't mean the person is worthless... "

Everything that Jefferson did... his accomplishments are NOT lessoned because he loved a black woman.  The Hemings oral family history is that he loved Sally Hemings.  His actions towards her, her children and extended family point towards this truth.

I am reading Professor Annette Gorden Reed's book "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family and I am finding it quite educational... a bit bogged down in detail in the "origins" section, but I feel it is necessary and very insightful as it "humanizes" history.  She is very interesting (I could listen to her for days)!  If you have time, watch this video.  (she DOES speak for over an hour... but if you have any interest in this subject, I think you should grab a glass of wine or a cup of coffee and enjoy it!  :)

She is working on Part II of the Hemings story, picking it up where the first book ends (1931).  She is also working on a biography of Thomas Jefferson.  I can't wait for both of these.