Perhaps in another life I loved better
Other versions of me were freer
Even reckless with emotions
Tempting fate and taking chances
Rebellious and wanton in my actions
Yes a wild youth that dared to say yes

This is an acrostic poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a message. I thought this was a fitting end to National Poetry Month.

I am a very measured individual. I filter what I say and what I write. I am constrained. I am not free to write about certain topics - either because I've signed an agreement required by my employer or because I'm a private person, or because I don't want to cause controversy. I have labored under these restrictions for so long that I can't imagine speaking or writing without the self censorship. Every so often there is a "survey" on FB asking you to post your answers to questions. The most recent one asked, "What would you tell the 16 year old you if you could go back in time?" I read that and realized that there was nothing I could tell my younger self that I would have listened to. I think I must have been born 40.

Time
To till
Turn black dirt
Bury the seed
Fertilize for growth
Consult the stars for rain
Young plants push green through earth’s crust
Search for the sun reach for the light
Grow despite human interference
Thrive and bear fruit in the cycle of life

This is an etheree. The etheree is a syllabic form consisting of 10 lines. The first line is a single syllable and each consecutive line has an additional syllable resulting in the last line having 10 syllables. There is no requirement for rhyme.

Spring is truly here. That means that it is time to plant the garden. According to my coworker Mr. Fudd, the sweet peas should be planted the Monday after Easter and the lettuce and spinach as soon as there are 3 consecutive days with temperatures in the 50s. He has already tilled and has started planting. He will put his tomatoes in on the Saturday before Mother's day. He was telling me all about the various vegetable he is planting this year. Corn next to the house to try to keep the raccoons out of it, pole beans, peas, potatoes, spinach, kale, cabbage, cucumbers and zucchini. He is giving up on beets since his area is infested with some insect that burrows into the beets rendering them worthless. Same for the carrots. Sparky is going to plant tomatoes and squash and zucchini in the raised bed. I will again get a couple basil plants and maybe some parsley. Sparky reworked the area along the south side off the house and is going to plant beans and peas in that spot. It seems to me that the fussing doesn't really do anything. I think he'd have better luck with the "benign neglect" approach to gardening. That is provide a little water if it doesn't rain and shoo the varmints away and then leave the plants alone. Seems to work well for the farmer's fields...

He holds my hand
Tightly for security and balance
Refuses to let go
No manner of coaxing convinces
That the world is safe
So he holds on

He totters on
My large palm cradles his hand
I note his improved balance
Persuade myself to let go
His cry melts my resolve and convinces
Me to hold on to keep him safe

I’ve padded corners to make it safe
Placed bumpers and cushions on
Every sharp spot my hand
Encounters trying to balance
My need for safety with his need to go
Places his mobility convinces

A little push convinces
And the fall happens yet he is safe
With a bounce when he lands on
The soft pillow I had at hand
I have to consider the life balance
Of his independence when I go

Work demands I go
His wave and smile convinces
Me that he will be safe
While I travel on
The ghost feeling of his hand
Casting me off balance

Home and work is a difficult balance
Every time I go
His kiss convinces
Me that he will be safe
While I work steadily holding on
To the moment I touch his tiny hand

Soon the balance will shift from hand to hand
I will stay at home and he will go on
And he will be the one that convinces me that I’m safe

This is a sestina. When I was first introduced to this form I tried it and found it to be difficult. Sandra encouraged me saying that it would get easier. I tried again and again. It never got easier. Here I am 10 years later and it is still not easy. The sestina is composed of 6 stanzas of 6 lines. The words that end each line in the first stanza are repeated in a different order at the end of each line in subsequent stanzas. The end is a tercet (3 lines) called an envoi where all the ending words are used 2 per line.

This is a little comment on the independence of children. My sons were quick to want to walk. Once they figured out how to walk they immediately pulled their hands out of mine. However they would constantly return to me just to make sure I was still there. They needed reassurance that their "safety net" was available. In the larger scheme of things I'm pretty sure that eventually I will need to hold their hands...

This is a Algirosphaera cucullata, a coccolith found in the North Atlantic Ocean. This is another revised piece to replace the one that was smashed following a tumble down the basement stairs. I think this one came out better than the first. Anyway it is glazed in Royal Blue with Shaner Clear on the center orb.

Pick up the pieces
Shattered glass is not mended
Careful you're not cut

This is a haiku because I'm being lazy. It is another tough week. I had hope to get lots of little tasks completed but the universe had other plans. So I'm spinning plates and hoping that nothing falls and breaks. I don't have time for a clean up in aisle ten...

I curse that chocolate rabbit
Each Easter he appears in my basket
In Lent I give up my candy habit
The rabbit will put me in a casket

Each Easter he appears in my basket
Dark and sweet but hollow
The rabbit will put me in a casket
I stuff my mouth and swallow

Dark and sweet but hollow
A rabbit temptation
I stuff my mouth and swallow
Experience sweet satiation

A rabbit temptation
I curse that chocolate rabbit
Experience sweet satiation
In Lent I give up my candy habit

This is a Pantoum. The Pantoum is a Malaysian form of interlocking 4 line stanzas. The stanzas are composed of a rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b. The 2nd and 4th lines of the first stanza become the 1st and 3rd lines of the next stanza and this pattern is repeated until the last stanza where the 2nd and 4th lines are the 1st and 3rd lines from the first stanza. Confused yet? It should become clear if you read the poem again and look for the repeated lines.

I love chocolate. I am also very frugal. The idea of paying $6.00 for a chocolate Easter bunny prevents me from indulging my chocolate addiction. However when the grocery story has all their Easter candy (what's left after the big post holiday sale) on super discount and I can get that $8.00 big rabbit for a paltry $2.00 I have a hard time passing it up. I was very good. I bought a bag of chocolate eggs (a whole pound bag) for $2.00 and passed on the 4 oz. bunny. I mean really. The shape does not make it taste any better. Besides I'll take Hershey chocolate eggs over Palmer chocolate bunnies any day!!

Garbage
D e s t r o y i n g
Earth

This is a Brevette poem. This form was created by Emily Romano and consists of 3 words. The first is a noun (the subject) followed by a verb that shows on going action by spacing the letters and ends with a noun as the object. That is it - there are no other rules for this form. Short and sweet thus the name Brevette!

Saturday was Earth Day. Sparky and I attended an event nearby to pick up trash. It wasn't just a cleanup but instead was a CITO event - that is Cache-In-Trash-Out. It is something geocachers have been doing for awhile now. You see geocaching takes you to places that are a bit off the beaten track but usually not so far out of the way that some litterbugs haven't already been there and left their mark. So on Saturday, armed with trash bags and work gloves (and walking sticks and GPS) we fanned out across a park and picked up trash. We found lots of stuff - A nearly full bottle of Jose Cuervo, a medical boot, car floor mat, cans and bottles, cigarette packages and butts, fast food wrappers, Starbucks cups, several dirty diapers, fishing line, and my favorite - a plastic bag of dog poo. We filled probably 30 trash bags. And then we had a potluck lunch before heading out to grab 4 new caches. This is a photo of our little group of cachers - GeoCats and EcoWarriors all rolled into one! The photo was taken by the nature writer for the SB Tribune... maybe we'll make it into the newspaper!

When the day is like the night
We stumble in the dark
When the day is like the night
We lose that joyous spark
When the night is like the day
Our lives are turned around
When the night is like the day
Sleep’s turned upside down
When day is night
We lose the light
Feel fear and fright
When day is night
When night is day
Sleep is play
Work without pay
Forget to pray
When night is day

This is a poem using the device of Anaphora - a figure of repetition occurs when the first word/phrase/sentence/clause is repeated at the beginning of successive sentences/phrases/sentences/clauses...

We are living in topsy-turvy times. I was talking with a friend and she mentioned that her long standing association with a resale consignment shop had ended. They had suddenly changed their policy without warning or consent. In effect she was not told about the change and when she went to retrieve her unsold items she discovered that they were no longer hers to repossess! After some discussion with the sales clerk the store manager was summoned. Again discussion ensued and finally they returned her clothes. She informed them that she would not be returning. There have been other events - my phone service provider decided to switch me to online billing. This is not my preference but I was unaware of the change since they had sent the notice to a defunct (well, it is still there but I have NEVER used it) email account. I believe it was one they insisted I have on gmail... Needless to say when they sent a message to my phone indicating my service would be terminated in 48 hours if I didn't pay I was not only shocked and surprised but highly agitated! Seems more and more companies are trying to get us to give up our voice in how we are billed, communicated with, and how we are to pay. I was told by one utility that if I didn't want automatic billing (where I give them access to my bank account) I would be charged an extra fee for bill processing!! I may not be able to get paper checks soon, not that it matters, since so many places accept credit or debit cards only. Pretty soon actual cash money may be difficult to use....

Chaos
Confused tumultuous
Rioting rampage rumble
Disorder disturbance truce harmony
Mitigate calm mollify
Tranquil harmonious
Peace

This is a Diamante - a seven line poem with a single word in the first and last lines which contrast with each other. The 2nd line is 2 adjectives that describe the 1st line. The 3rd line is 3 verbs that are related to the 1st line. the 4th line contains 4 nouns where the first 2 describe the first line and the second 2 describe the last line. the 5th line is 3 verbs related to that last line and the 6th line is 2 adjectives describing the last line. So this is not a difficult form unless you slept through HS English class and don't know your nouns from your verbs...

I'm attempting to get my "zen" on. I am praying and doing stress relieving exercises. I have been besieged with requests to "fix" problems that are either not able to be fixed in this dimension, not really a problem, or a problem above my pay grade... I've been doing a lot of smiling and nodding. I provided chocolate and kleenex. And now I'm trying to transition from anxious to calm...

I once was riding a horse
The saddle was hard of course
I bumped along
Humming a song
And was bucked off into the gorse

As promised here is a familiar type of cinquain, the Limerick. As per the usual content of a limerick this is frivolous. Most limericks tend to silly or in many cases raunchy in theme. The limerick is composed of a rhyme scheme of a-a-b-b-a where lines 1,2,5 have 3 stressed syllables and lines 3 and 4 have 2 stressed syllables.

This poem sums up my equestrian experiences. I have been on horses exactly 5 times and none of them has been enjoyable for either me or the horse. There was Tarzan, a pony, who tried to knock me out of the saddle by running into the barn which was really just a shed. Then there was Sputnik who was a riding stable horse (barely - probably a pinkie finger taller than a pony) who decided that going back to the stable was more desirable than a trot through the woods. He made a beeline to the stable at his top speed and decided to do a little dance on the way. I held on but nearly severed my tongue when I landed back in the saddle. My friend was riding a big bay horse and suggested we switch. He was very antsy and decided to try to dislodge me by dislocating my hips going between some trees and when that didn't work he reared and nearly went over backwards - not fun. When I was in vet tech school I had an experience with a pretty palomino. The vet wanted to see his "action" when ridden. Because I was the lightest weight live body available I was hoisted into the saddle. No sooner did my backside make contact with the leather, the horse (a real live tall muscular beast with a bad attitude) bolted. The vet student was not expecting it and the lead was jerked from his hands. I was only saved (no reins, no feet in stirrups) by the fact that they got the doors closed before the horse made it to the end of the causeway. And my last ride on a horse (that wasn't tethered to a carousel) was Star, owned by another friend. I had gone to visit her for her wedding (as a bride's maid) and while the guys went out carousing the girls took turns riding her horse, Star. Being as I was the last to get a ride I'm pretty sure Star was tired of the whole business. That is my rationalization for why he decided to canter and them gallop after he had walked and maybe did a little trotting for the other 4 riders. With my teeth rattled and my spine compressed he finally wore himself out. My friend complimented me on being able to keep him in the yard since when he gets "frisky" he likes to take off down the street! It was at that point that I swore off riding horses. It has been at least 36 years since I was last horseback riding - it is no longer on my bucket list...

Friendship
Devolving love
Degrades to apathy
Moves from dislike to true hatred
Malice

This is a Crapsey Cinquain which is not about iambic pentameter or rhyme schemes. Instead it is a syllabic form in which there are a specific number of syllables in each line (2-4-6-8-2). This poem is similar to the diamante form which is on the horizon (possibly by Friday) in which the first line is in contrast to the last.

As I mentioned previously there is a reorganization taking place in my department. That said there have been quite a few people having anxiety attacks over perceived threats. The emotional ups and downs have been more than my psyche can handle. My credo to "never pay to be tortured" has been put to the test in that I want to get off this roller coaster. Still I am strapped in and hanging on since there is no way to put the brakes on this ride.