My challenge response to Colleen Chesebro’s #Tanka Tuesday poetry challenge; synonyms only. The two words colleen has given for the challenge are fancy and idea. Without using the words but using only their synonyms, I have written a Tanka poem:

One Bite

I had a notion
To cook a grandiose meal
For my ex-lover
One bite of lace-like latkes and
He would aim to undress me

-LT

Feel free to join in the challenge. Have fun with words.

Have you ever cooked for someone with the idea of seduction?

Welcome to Part II of my art journey and the lessons I’ve learned. Do check out Part I, if you haven’t yet.

In the years leading up to today, I have learned many lessons from this journey. Not just about studio space design, or perfect lighting or the fact that when I get a studio, something happens whereby I have to leave it behind…but the lessons I want to share with you now are deeper than the space I create in.

In case you didn’t know, I’m an artist. It’s not something I’ve talked about here in any depth, until now.

My journey began with drawing and painting classes when my kids were in school. It’s been quite the journey; both in length of time and lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’ve shared a few images of my paintings here. I will share more in this post and part II to come.

I was out for a walk on Sunday, minding my social distance. I walked through a schoolyard which was completely empty. There were tennis courts and baseball fields at the other end. The tennis courts, I’d noticed have been kind of busy lately.

This makes sense since you can play and maintain social distance from each other.

But I noticed there were four men on one court playing ‘doubles’. I also noticed all of their sport bags, coats and water bottles in one big pile by the court. I was amazed. There didn’t seem to be a single care about spreading the virus. So much for self quarantine.

What a silly decision.

Naturally, I wrote a poem about it.

 
 Tennis In the Time of Corona Virus

 Never before has
 Doubles tennis looked so sinister
 The men leapt, reached and ducked
 On the court
  
 I imagine sweat and saliva
 Dripping from one to the other
 The handsome young men
 Not a care in the world
  
 For the spread of a virus
 With no cure
 Caution to the wind
 As their rackets swung
  
 Next week one of them 
 Will lose their sense of taste
 Break a fever and reminisce
 In isolation, of his victory
  
 On the court of death
 His friends will follow suit
 Strong, athletic men
 If only they had played 
 Singles tennis
  
 They may have lived another day
 But they jeered a virus 
 That cannot be contained
 All for a game
  and shameless exhibition
 of who is the best
  
 But mother nature
 She doesn’t play around
 Nor should we
 In the time of Corona Virus 

Stay healthy everyone and if you play tennis, make sure you stick to singles game.

How are you getting your exercise during self quarantine?

We’re in this thing together…

It’s hard to not panic when you read or hear the word PANdemIC. It has the word built right in. Pandemic definition: “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population : a pandemic outbreak of a disease.”

I’m sharing my reading of an excerpt from my latest book, The Wine Diaries: Musings on Divorce Paired With Wine. From Chapter 4, Life Unexpected, I read “What I’ve Learned So Far”. This is one of my favorite essays in the book. I think you will relate to the message that small, compounded moments make up what we call our LIFE. That’s why those moments are so important and even more so than the big, dramatic ones that we anticipate for months or even years.

I’ve been reading so many books lately. Trying new authors has been stimulating and fun. Along with this I’ve become aware of some minor book pet peeves I have. Let’s dish…

Gratitude can strike at any time. Mostly they are the small moments and little things said that matter the most to me. Here is my list of moments when I feel grateful;

I typically have more than one book on the go. I will read one on my kindle and also one paperback (real life) book. I don’t know why, but it is necessary to me to have a book in my hand at some point during the day. It’s as if my kindle, e-reader doesn’t count. Strange, I know. The good thing is that this ‘feeling’ causes me to read twice as much.

Today I’m responding to Colleen Chesebro’s Poetry Challenge Prompt: Circle of Life. The following is a form of Haiku, called a Senryu in a 3/5/3 syllable structure.

I had to look up these poetry definitions, too. I am more a free verse girl, when it comes to writing poetry. However, joining this challenge was a good brain bender. This kind of writing has a way of tweaking word patterns. I confess that I used the Syllable Counter because counting syllables quickly had me questioning my English language skills. *insert laugh track*

If you love to write poetry, do pop over to Colleen’s site to find out more about or join, her Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenges.

CIRCLE OF LIFE

Apple falls
Nearer the tree
Than I knew

I am you
And you could be me
Certainly

My journey
Ironic ending
Circles me

I said I wrote a Haiku. I didn’t say it was good. Learning…