Jars of Jelly and Jam

Choke Cherries - ready to pick.

Choke cherries 

Clusters of purple sunshine
Tart bites
Transform
Jars of Jelly and Jam.

Pick, wash, simmer
Empty jars, steam
Juice, sugar, pectin
Stir - a coated spoon.

Clusters of purple sunshine

Tart bites 

Transform

Jars of Jelly and Jam.

Rich molten purple
Flows
Mason jars
A water bath.

Clusters of purple sunshine
Tart bites
Transform
Jars of Jelly and Jam.

Choke Cherry jelly
Country stained glass
Purple of a rose window
Jars of Jelly and Jam.

I - Is for Icicle

I am Icicle
Who needs freezing temps
Who loves hanging around
Who sees the morning sun
Who hates warm weather
Who fears kids with big sticks
Who dreams of traveling to the ocean.
Who loves the poetry in "Water Dance"
Resident of roof tops, buildings, and occasional trees
I am frozen water.

A biographical poem based on a "I am - poetry frame"

Links of Discovery
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/portrait.html  Poetry frames

http://www.cape.k12.mo.us/blanchard/hicks/Poetry/Poetry.htm

H is for History - A List Poem

The old map
In the old trunk
The photograph album
The letters held together
Edison phonograph cylinders 1888-1915
A rolled poster
Gramophones
Silent Films
Talkies
Silver Screen
45s
Old Newspaper clippings
Memories of a life.

G is for Gallivanting

Gallivanting is one of my husband's favorite words.  It means to travel, roam, or move about for pleasure. For today's post I decided on a spine poem.

Gallivanting In Montana

F is For Fear

I am words whispering in the wind
I am chills that inhabit the dark, buried
I am the monster reflected in the looking glass
I am fiendish words twisted

I am eyes of darkness, stalking silently
I am a heart beating a staccato rhythm
I am secrets hidden in your memories

I am shadows of your dark side

I am screams splintering the silence 

I am the sound of a round being chambered.

I am a single night of violence, repeated

I am secrets hidden in your memories

I am green slime oozing up from fissures of distrust
I am rapacious thoughts chained with rusty links
I am vindictive words that cut to the bone
I am resentment that plots revenge

I am memories imprisoned breaking free.
I am disorientation, stirring shadows, panic
I am isolation, confusion
I am secrets hidden in your memories

I am a family photo and no recognition

I am estrangement that accepts no responsibility.

I am a memento wired with mental land-mines.

I am a demon, my name is FEAR.

D is for Diner

Edward Hopper’s Nighthawk

Gottfried Helnwein
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Alone he walks

Down the empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
He walks a lonely road
When the city sleeps.

Silence shouts in the shadows
A diner on Murly Square
Hiding in the shadows, a hint of light
Hidden among the sleeping streets
Disillusionment echoes

Darkness skitters, dancing with light
A solitary man, a felt fedora
Counterman, bent, washing cups
A man - a woman, a silent fight

Like Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer
Wearing his trademark fedora,
Lingering over a cup of joe
Vigilant, he waits - his normal manner

In my fantasy, the detective remains
Stacy Keach tipping his fedora
Hiding in the shadows, a hint of light
Opening the box Pandora
I hear his voice over, speaking the refrain

Lyrics by Green Day -

“I walk a lonely road,
I walk the empty street,
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
When the city sleeps
I’m the only one, and I walk alone”
Hiding in the shadows, a hint of light
The credits roll - the image of the diner fades
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.




Research Notes

• Edward Hopper painted Nighthawks in 1942
• Gottfried Helwein painted Boulevard of Broken Dreams replacing Hopper's characters with pop culture icons (1984)
• Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer detective novels were printed in 1947 first movie 1953
• Stacey Keach is a classically trained actor who played Mike Hammer on the TV series.
• Green Day is a punk rock group that recorded "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (Who nicked the title from a James Dean Poster - Helwein's painting)

Links for further discovery

• Stacy Keach http://www.stacykeach.com/index.htm
• Paintings By Edward Hopper http://bertc.com/subfive/g78/index.htm
• Edward Hopper Web Museum http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/
• Info on Edward Hopper http://www.helnwein.com/news/update/artikel_3799.html
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams http://www.arts-wallpapers.com/classic_star/Boulevard%20of%20Broken%20Dreams/01/Boulevard-of-Broken-Dreams8.jpg

A- Amorphous: without shape

April is National Poetry Month.  It is also the A-Z Challenge.  Amy at Poem Farm is doing a Dictionary Hike. So I thought I would see if I could combine them.  My word today is Amorphous.  Bud the Teacher is hosting National Poetry Month Challenge.  Then there is NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month.  So many choices.  Today I will introduce my students to the Dictionary Hike.

A - Amorphous: Without Shape

What shall I write?

Poetry

Blog

Prose

Essay

Ideas tight
- I'm thirsting for -

I love the Haiku

6 Word Stories

I am from - poems

Words, thoughts examined in light

A-Z challenges

Dictionary Hikes

Slice of Life

I love the freedom of thoughts in flight

Winging into and out of lines

Dipping, wading, hovering

Just out of sight

What shall I write?

My thoughts are amorphous 

Without shape

Today I begin the Dictionary Hike.