IGWRT's Wednesday Challenge - "Endure" & Friday Flash 55 "The Ocean"

For "Mr. Know-it-All" two Friday Flash 55's this week!

Endure

My world often tilts
out of control.

"Endure", whispers Granny
willing me strength.

The next time

I'll grasp hold
of branches bent low

fall, roll
with the hedge apple,
thorns and lances
protective,

swirl, spin
upon Red River's current

or arch through time,
flung skyward
by tree's nimble bow,
and soar

towards a future,
free.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, January 26, 2012

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This is my contribution to Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Wednesday Challenge" prompt, which is to write a "futuristic" poem.  This first brought to mind space ships and aliens, but I decided to try to use my photos from my recent walk to "Tannenbaum Historical Park".  The portrait and hanging fruit photos are from two years ago.

I am not sure if I truly did a futuristic poem.  Is longing for the future enough to make it so?  It seemed to me that poet Nazim Hikmet did this - wrote about a better future.  Click on IGWRT's link to read about him.  

If you would like to know more about this intriguingly hardy fruit tree (Hedge Apple or Osage Orange), click HERE.  This unique fruit is most bountiful in Oklahoma and Texas along the Red River.  The Osae used it's strong, pliant branches for bows and the settlers often used it for a "living" fence.  It must be carefully maintained (trimmed) or it's fruit and thorns will overtake an area.

* * * * *

The following image and poem I wrote for a Poetry Jam prompt (topic: sensual) and reposted here for  Mr. Know-it-All's "Friday Flash 55" - a non-fiction story in 55 words, no more, no less (I will link up Thursday after 8pm)

The Ocean

Sinewy arms, pail laden

I sleepwalk towards the barn.

Nature's morning breath

inhaled,

moistly kissing me awake

from a dream

I'm unwilling to release...

   like sandpaper

   against my flesh

   his memory,

   passion aroused,

   long buried

   endearments

   tickle my ear,

   needs whispered,

   upon my tongue

   his saltiness...

a single tear

escapes

joining an ocean of regret.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, January 25, 2012

Barn Charm, dVerse - "The Battlefield at Hoskin's Farm", Haiku Wednesday, Poetry Jam "The Ocean"

My Poem for Sensational Haiku Wednesday and another for Poetry Jam are at the bottom of this post

Tannenbaum Historical Park is located in Greensboro, NC and is the site of Joseph Hoskins farm settled as early as 1781.  Hoskin's Pennsylvania farm (near Valley Forge) and family had been devastated by the Revolutionary War.  He relocated his family to a remote area in North Carolina and cleared the land for harvesting crops and warded off occasional threats from the Cherokee.  By 1781 he had 150 acres with fields, gardens and split rail zigzag fences. It was a foggy morning and I think it lends a bit of nostalgia to the photos which is appropriate for this setting.

This peace was disturbed by the American and British armies as they swept through and eventually engaged in direct battle Haskin's farmland - he just couldn't get away from the fighting! The above foreground building is a relocated tobacco barn and is set up as an early American kitchen.  The photo below is the Hoskin's house constructed between 1811-1813 and it was lived in until 1925.

Joseph Hoskins bought his 150-acre farmstead for £200 “Current money of the State of North Carolina” in May 1778. Not much is known about the property and how it was utilized after Hoskins purchased it, but his will indicates some of the activities that took place on the farm.

When Hoskins died in 1799, he left three horses, two cows, five head of sheep, 250 acres, and a variety of personal and household items to his wife Hannah and to his four sons and four daughters. To his wife he gave the “use and profits of the plantation whereon I now live,” but instructed her “not to sell or dispose of the timber except what is necessary for the use of the hous and plantation.” Choosing not to name a specific heir, Hoskins left all the “farming utentials” for the general good of the plantation.  
(I grabbed the above two paragraphs from HERE.)

Today, people walk and jog along this and the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park which are connected.

These barn images, specifically the last one, are for "Barn Charm #69".  This is called a double pen barn.

* * * * *

Below is my poem for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Personal Challenge 7"  If you want the details, please click on link.  Basically a series of haiku, (no less than 3, no more than 7) These are not traditional haiku, I'm sure, but I tried to hint at a season in all but one as I think that element is supposed to be there... I'm not sure.  These "haiku", I'm sure, are non-traditional.  I don't think one is supposed to put a title to a Haiku either, but I did ;)

I also linked the poem up with "dVerse - Open Link Night"

The Battlefield at Hoskin's Farm

Flaming  chokeberry

reminiscent of spilt blood

of life, sacrificed

Silent sounds linger

float, upon thick morning's mist

of life, hovering

Milking seats, wheels, troughs

idle, harvesting cobwebs

of life, remembered

Light of faith, guiding

our presence out of darkness

along forebear's path

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, January 24, 2012

The last Haiku is specifically linked to "Sensational Haiku Wednesday" and I hope it makes sense in this series of related Haiku's.  The prompt is "Silhouette" and I hope I can allude to the word and not have to use it.  This photo was taken at the Tannenbaum Historical Park over a year ago, but the sense of history, the sense of those who have come before certainly are felt here, at least by me.   

And the following image and poem are for Poetry Jam - topic this week - sensual poems AND Mr. Know-it-All's "Friday Flash 55" - a non-fiction story in 55 words, no more, no less (I will link up Thursday after 8pm)

The Ocean

Sinewy arms, pail laden

I sleepwalk towards the barn.

Nature's morning breath

inhaled,

moistly kissing me awake

from a dream

I'm unwilling to release...

   like sandpaper

   against my flesh

   his memory,

   passion aroused,

   long buried

   endearments

   tickle my ear,

   needs whispered,

   upon my tongue

   his saltiness...

a single tear

escapes

joining an ocean of regret.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, January 25, 2012