Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Poetry Jam & Friday Flash 55 "Mustang"


Mustang

My loyal and true heart
is a cowboy's desire,

but his soothing words
and gentle hands

make promises
I know he won't keep.

I'm not so easily swayed
as are the ladies,

for my eyes will always yearn
for what he can't give me.

Perhaps that's my appeal;
we both long for the same thing.

by Margaret Bednar, January 30, 2013


This is for Poetry Jam "The Beast in You" and Friday Flash 55.

After linking with Friday Flash 55 tonight, I will be taking a short break from my computer as we are putting our house on the market for sale and I need to focus on that process.  This is our second attempt as last season it did not sell.  See you all next week!


Monday, January 28, 2013

"Stayin' Alive"

Charlotte Gainsbourg, AnOther


Stayin' Alive

I'm yearnin' for a time
when notes

bent and stretched
floated within a room,

favorite band
a fingertip away.

"In living presence"
closed our eyes,

inhaled, let the groove
take hold,

olive green shag
tickled buffed toes,

and high-fidelity
vibrated our core.

by Margaret Bednar, January 28, 2013


This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Open Link Monday" & "Sunday Mini-Challenge".  The mini-challenge was hosted by Susan and we were to take a last line from an old poem and use it as the first line for a new poem and to let a feeling just come and to write it rapidly.  The "old poem" I used was "Getting to Happy" and I used a portion of its last line.

I googled 1970's favorite nail polish color... and it was "natural".  I guess I am too young to remember that. :)

This is also linked with "The Mag #153".  The photo above is this week's inspiration.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

IGWRT's Music with Marian "Silenced"



Silenced

Little black dress, diamonds, and shoes,
hide the lies, all you don't confess
while kneeling, working alibis

letting the glamour of your disguise
hide the bruise.  You stammer, recite devotionals,
repertoire of excuses carried like a cross,

offered up, personal mercenary
fighting to save whom?
One day he'll carry through,

leave you broken, blessings exhausted,
little black dress shredded, crumpled,
accosted no longer by his heavy-handed caress,

prayer books, silenced.

by Margaret Bednar, January 26, 2013

Linked with "Imaginary Garden With Real Toad's - Music with Marian" - today taking a look at the singer Dessa and I specifically looked at her song "Alibi" (music video below) for inspiration.

I'm all for praying and devotionals, don't get me wrong.  But there are those who feel prayer is the only way "out".

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Poetry Jam "The Guardian"


The Guardian

She guards her brother
with ancient eyes,

selfless in her quest
she'd break all the rules
to keep him safe.

'Tis a woman's heart
that beats so young

within her breast,
a warrior queen,
steadfast and oh, so true.

By Margaret Bednar, January 24, 2013



 This is for "Poetry Jam - Breaking the rules".  I tried going into more detail, but it seemed to ruin the sweetness of it.


Magpie Tales #152 "Sisters"

Painting by Helen Eaton of Word Weaver Art
Sisters

Fingers clasped, palms together
Made of the same sweet design
We can face all kinds of weather

Special gift to one another
You are dear, sister of mine
Fingers clasped, palms together

Some call you "little mother"
My eyes simply see "divine"
We can face all kinds of weather

You encourage constant blather
And offer a safe lead line
Fingers clasped, palms together

I can be quite a bother
From your lips never a whine
We can face all kinds of weather

Protector like no other
Our hearts will always intertwine
Fingers clasped, palms together
We can face all kinds of weather

by Margaret Bednar, originally written 1-17-11 titled "Hand in Hand"

This is for The Mag #152 - the photographic weekly prompt is below.  You are invited to follow check the link and read other poetry written to the image below.




Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Saving Lincoln Movie & Friday Flash 55 "Booth's Lament"



The website is www.savinglincoln.com  . Please do not confuse with the movie "Lincoln" starring Daniel Day Lewis - which I also really loved!)

This really looks interesting - told from the perspective of Lincoln's law partner and self-proclaimed body guard, Ward Hill Lamon.  It is an independent (epic) film, and one can donate and help them finance the film's release at Kickstarter (it is on the above link).

I also just watched on Netflix "History's Mysteries: Lincoln: The Untold Stories"  It explores writings by his former law partner and friend, William Herndon, who felt it was his duty to be the biographer of the "real" Lincoln.  Herndon didn't like the "mythical-like" portraiture Lincoln was fast accumulating after his death and wanted the real Lincoln, whom he admired and loved, to be known.  The public didn't take to it and it sat in the Library of Congress for years, ridiculed by historians.  Not until the 1980's did it get "dusted off" and examined.   I believe the book is entitled: "Herndon's Lincoln" and I will be downloading it on my Nook.

I wrote a Friday Flash 55 last summer and I don't think I ever posted it.  I am digging it up and posting it now. It is about Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Also linking with Dverse Open Link Night #80.

 

John Wilkes Booth's Lament

Our cause being lost,

I have given up all
that makes life sweet and holy.

Repent?  I may before God,
but not man.

With the curse of Cain
I must fight the course,

and why?

God simply made me
the instrument of his punishment!

May He let me die bravely;
'tis all that's left me.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, July 5, 2012 (selected words from last diary entry)

Below is the appointment book John Wilkes Booth carried on his body and wrote in after the April 14 assassination.  HERE is the entire entry.  Being an actor, he loved words, drama, and the limelight, but I took the liberty to shorten it for him in 55 words in the above poem.



The first place I visited in Washington D.C. was Ford's Theatre.  I sat in the seats and looked up into the balcony where Booth shot President Lincoln and then he jumped to the stage shouting in Latin "Sic simper Tyrannis" (Thus always to tyrants).  


A walked the winding stairs upon which Booth tread, derringer in his pocket, vengeance in his heart.  Before Gettysburg, Booth's original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and transport him to the South.  If he had been successful, would history have rewritten him a hero as the "winner" writes the pages of history?


The museum under the theatre is amazing.  I spent two hours slowly absorbing history and viewing the actual pieces that carried out this tragic deed.  Booth's actions killed the very man who would have shown compassion and forgiveness to the South... instead, healing took a very, very long time.



And if you are REALLY a Lincoln follower, there is also a book "Herndon's Informants":  Publication of this long-awaited volume makes available for the first time in complete and accessible form the most important source of information on Lincoln's early life. For twenty-five years after the president's death William Herndon, his law partner, conducted interviews with and solicited letters from dozens of persons who knew Lincoln personally. Up to now, the valuable information he collected has been available only in a microfilm edition in the Library of Congress, of such poor quality that it has been rarely used, particularly since there was no table of contents or adequate index, and in collections at the Huntington Library and the Illinois State Historical Library. The only previous publication of Herndon's materials, more than a half century ago, contains less than 10 percent of the collection and is so unreliable that scholars have hesitated to use it. Douglas Wilson and Rodney Davis have earned the gratitude and admiration of scholars by taking on the daunting task of collating the collections in the three libraries, painstakingly deciphering the all but illegible handwriting of Herndon and some of his informants, and carefully documenting the entire work.

How cool is that?  I will be buying this book as well.  (I just bought it through B&N.  I had to order it though, they said that the publisher has designated it a "must order" book - it isn't to be stocked.   I wonder why? It isn't that expensive.  It will be shipped directly to my door, though.)

For those with further interest, following is a link which claims might have the earliest known portrait of a young Abraham Lincoln:

http://www.lincolnportrait.com/index.html

Sunday, January 20, 2013

IGWRT's Transforming Friday's "Grieving" & "Beneath the Acacia Tree"

A photo of an elephant I took at our local zoo
Grieving

We once lived
in a Garden of Eden,
and of yesteryear I still dream
where we wandered free
amid swaying grass and
clear water pools.

Man's greed
and fire of 1869
rocked our world,
a handful survived,
fled into the forests,
and the Southern Cape
forever weeps.

by Margaret Bednar, January 20, 2013

HERE is a link to the Knysna Elephant Park.  I thought the following quote by Romain Gary was sadly perfect:  "in a truly materialistic society, poets, writers, artists and elephants are a mere nuisance."

This is belatedly for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Transforming Friday" - Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub (click to see further prompt detail)

The poem below my drawing is the one I wrote first... before I realized it did not fit in with the geography of the prompt... ;P


Beneath the Acacia Tree

In the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro,
beneath the shade of the acacia
I stand a chance,

nibble upon roots, bulbs, shoots,
dream of ancient migration routes,
watering holes, grassland

wonder when civilization's squeeze
will encroach upon this pocket sanctuary.

I drink long and deep, gaze upon my reflection,
stare vulnerability down, trumpet a song of hope,

intimately aware it may be my last.

by Margaret Bednar, January 20, 2013


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

IGWRT's - Words Count - "Iambic Pentameter"


Iambic Pentameter

Meterical line in traditional verse
da DUM da DUM da DUM,

syllables unstressed, stressed
ictic, non-ictic stuck upon my tongue

drop as blobs upon a paper,
my departure from form
unlike the Bard's.

Mine, soon to be crumpled, tossed;
so much for intonations and pace.

by Margaret Bednar, January 16, 2013


This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's - Words count with Mama Zen:  today's challenge: Got a form that slays you... write about it in 75 (generous) words or less.   I KNEW exactly what to write about  :)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cradled - Friday Flash 55


Cradled

Cradled,
you first arrived
within devoted arms
of a little mommy
so eager to love
her "little Muffy".

I spared you that,
named you Moxie,
watched you two scamper
throughout the seasons,
laughing, barking, confiding,
listening, protecting.

We said goodbye today,
couldn't help but notice
into each other's eyes
you gazed, within her lap,
cradled.

by Margaret Bednar, January 15, 2013


Rest in Peace, dearest Moxie "Muffy"

I HAD to do something with all this emotion - can't remember the last time I have cried so much.  This will also be for Friday Flash 55 - but this is not fiction, it did happen today, January 15 - we lost the very best dog in the world to liver failure.




Saturday, January 12, 2013

IGWRT's - Sunday Mini-Challenge "Beneath the Lilac Tree"

Art by Kim Nelson
Beneath the Lilac Tree

I remember

stained  raspberry fingertips
with tempting sweetness
outlined my red painted lips

beneath a veil of lilacs.
I inhaled, closed my eyes,
anticipated your kiss.

Instead, within my palm
you placed a painted heart stone,
pledged to love me always.

A yellow songbird warbled
and like a stroke of midnight
you promptly ran away,

and when my eyes reopened
I caressed that stone with one regret:
you'd run beyond its reach.

by Margaret Bednar, January 12, 2013

This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's - Sunday Mini-Challenge.  The FUN and vibrant artwork is provided by Kim Nelson.  Please, hop on over to view more art and more poetry.

Friday, January 11, 2013

IGWRT's "Fireblossom Friday "The Mask"


The Mask

I live a life of masquerade,
of endless parties,
laughter, frivolity,
of secrets, and subterfuge.

my flaws and sins unexposed;
never knowing true friend
nor mesmerized lover...

behind this facade
of painted smile, coiffed hair,
liner and rouge,
I live a life of masquerade.

by Margaret Bednar, January 11, 2013


This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads "Fireblossom Friday" - Double Talk.  I hope I made this work... at first a masquerade sounds fun, but an endless one sounds very sad.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Mag #150 & Friday Flash 55 "The Art of Seduction"

image by Daniel Murtagh
The Art of Seduction

The art of seduction
begins tonight,

a delicate task of
mystery, temptation.

You glimpse me, candlelit,
ivory laced neglige.

From the sidewalk
your eyes narrow, linger.

My lips pucker and blow,
bathe me in darkness,

you stand motionless
beneath the street lamp.

I smile, pray this puts to death,
"She's just the girl next door".

by Margaret Bednar, January 10, 2013


This is for Magpie Tales #150 & Friday Flash 55.

I have been very sick this past month.  A series of flu, cold, sore throats... I hear it is quite contagious and rampant this year and hope it escapes most of you!  I think I'm on the road to recovery ... but you should see my house (at least I know I'm needed. :)

  

Sunday, January 6, 2013

IGWRT's Sunday Mini-Challenge "Yearning"

Artwork by M.C. Escher "Three Worlds"
Yearning

I'm trapped in today,
unable to grasp
why I survived;

instead I float and bob
like a leaf atop a pond,

endlessly yearn
to sink below,
embrace the past,

beyond the reach
of destiny's fingers.

by Margaret Bednar, January 6, 2013

This print somehow led me to remember a book I read this past summer, "Sarah's Key".  It changed the way I view a certain subject - made me more compassionate.  It takes place in France, and is a story about WWII - a story many are unaware happened.  It is not an easy read, but one I hold dear.  I just found out there is a movie with subtitles and will watch it on Neflix soon (it currently is a Play Now item).



This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "The Sunday Mini-Challenge" Featuring the artwork of M.C. Escher & the form Ekphrasis - the graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual art work.

I just got back from a weekend of snow tubing and zip-lining.  (I did not zip line -- too afraid of heights)

Thursday, January 3, 2013

IGWRT's - Get Listed "2013"


2013

New Year's innocence blossoms pink,
cradled in mornings golden light,
morning's tea inhaled, as beneath my fingers
frayed diary and bitter words unspool,
replaced with crisp, clean pages,
silvery slanted scrawl declaring 2013
a year of "Endless Rejuvenation".

by Margaret  Bednar, January 3, 2013

This is for Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Get Listed"  Thanks to Fireblossom, we were given a list of words and very "loosey goosey" rules (we all know she is a rule breaker :)   I used eight words.  This is really a challenge that I find quite hard... this short little ditty took me all day - lots of erasing and  quite a few not-so-nice words.  ;P