The Last Mixed Bag

Hello Friends, Kerry here! It is unusual for me to pay you a visit on a Friday, but today I am standing in for Mary's Mixed Bag. Mary has been a long-standing contributor on Real Toads, but has decided that she can no longer continue in this role, though she will remain a participating member. I'm sure everyone will join me in a heart-felt show of gratitude for all the creative inspiration she has afforded us in our writing.

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In the spirit of Mary's Mixed Bag, I bring you the following challenge. Imagine you hold a bag which contains two objects: one which can heal and one which can harm. Only you may identify these two objects through touch, texture, shape-recognition and imaginative exploration. Which object would you withdraw first? Does the good out-weigh the bad, or is harm something that cannot be prevented? Use one of these two items as the starting point of your poem and move towards the other in conclusion. It is up to you whether you will begin with the healing or harmful thing. Lastly, the hidden objects may be either real or abstract.

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Mary's Mixed Bag - Love (Not!)

Greetings, Toads and Friends.  Time for another Mary's Mixed Bag. 

I always try to come up with sometime just a little bit different each month.Valentines Day is right around the corner, so this got me thinking. Not here yet, so I don't want you to think about writing a REAL love poem; but what I would like you to do is to write a 'love poem' to / about something that you don't love in the least. In actuality, something you detest:

Perhaps spiders.

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Or dentists.




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Or garlic.





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Or winter. Or people who gossip.   Or robo calls.  Or backseat drivers. Or reality TV.

Anyway, I am sure you get the idea!  I hope you will look upon this as an opportunity to have a bit of perhaps 'tongue-in-cheek' fun as you share the love!

Link below, and visit as many others who link as you can!  Enjoy!

Mary's Mixed Bag - Windows

Windows

Greetings again, all Toads and Friends of Toads.  Here I am again with another "Mary's Mixed Bag."  You never know what you will find in a mixed bag, do you?  Today the subject I'd like you to think about is WINDOWS!

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Windows can either be literal or figurative.   Literal windows can be opened or closed. We can choose to look out or to hide behind curtains that cover the window.

Windows can let in  or inhibit us from experiencing nature.  Do we want our windows to enclose ourselves inside or to let the light in.  How large are the windows in your life?  Are they opened to let in fresh air and outside sounds, or do they keep fresh air and sounds out?

We can look out of windows in cars, busses, trains, or planes and see a whole different world pass by. What do you see as you  look outside your car/ bus / plane window?

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Thinking of windows figuratively:  It has been said the eyes are the windows to the soul.  Think about that.  Does a poem come to mind? How about the window of opportunity? 

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Have you ever broken a window?

What is the most beautiful window you have ever seen?

If you were to craft a stained-glass window, what would you show?

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If you were going to be a window peeper, whose window would you like to peep into?

I am looking for any NEW poem that contains a window.  Be sure to include a link back to Real Toads and also to visit as many other poems as you can in the spirit of friendship.

Mary's Mixed Bag - Connection

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(Earth Seen from Apollo 17)

Greetings Toads and Friends,

Here I am with Mary's Mixed Bag again! 

The holiday season is upon us, and many of us are probably planning to connect with people as we plan our celebrations.

Life really is a lot about connections, I think.  We connect with our families during the holidays.  We connect with our friends.  We all connect with one another here at Real Toads and at other sites in the Poetry Blogosphere.  Connection is important to each of us.

As I was thinking about my  prompt for today, I thought about how much I appreciate the connections with you all here, how what we all share with one another is something special that people who aren't involved in the blogosphere would have no idea about.  Despite geographical differences, age differences, cultural differences, etc., we are indeed a connected community.  If only the governments of the world could learn from us how to get along!

I was also thinking about the connections between past, present, and future.  As I look back on my life, I feel that in many ways I am the same person now that I was when I was a child.  And there are people who were in my life at one time who have either passed away or left my life for one reason or another that I still feel connected with and feel their influence in my life.

I was also thinking about the amazing ways that we can stay connected with one another in today's world.  We see news as it happens.  We can email someone in another country, and they receive the message immediately.  We can Skype and tweet and do Facebook.  So much different than in the past when people like me wrote letters to pen friends in other countries and didn't hear back from them for a couple weeks.  I just saw the Lincoln movie, where connections between the President and the front lines of the Civil War were by telegraph, which seems so primitive now.

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Early Telegraph Receiver
 

Today I would like you to think about connections.  If that word is enough for you, go for it....and write what comes to mind.

Or if you need more inspiration...write a poem about connections in the blogosphere and perhaps what the blogosphere means to you.

Or...write about an important connection in your life -- past, present, or future.

Or...about instant connection as we experience it today.

Or..about the connection between past, present, and future....yours or something more general.

Or...about the connection between two seemingly unrelated objects:  Let's say icicles and waterfalls; happiness and the planet Mars; nightmares and red wine;  a sleeping child and a blackbird, etc.

How is connection important to you?

Write a new poem to the prompt. Include in your poem a link back to the Imaginary Garden, please.  Link it below using Mr. Linky.

I am looking forward to seeing what you write and connecting with you through this prompt! PLEASE don't just 'link and run.'  If you link your poem, visit others as well. It's part of the fun!

Mary's Mixed Bag: Pet Peeves

Lawn Ornaments -  Wicker Pigs on the Lawn
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     Greetings, Toads and Friends, it is Mary here again with Mary's Mixed Bag.  There is so much serious stuff happening in the world right now that I thought I would provide a challenge that can be light-hearted if you wish it to be.    What is one of  your pet peeves? 

What REALLY irritates you? Makes you seethe?  Your blood boil?  Or simply makes you shake your head?


   Do lawn ornaments (such as the wicker pigs above) annoy you?

Litterbugs?

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Gossip?

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Unsolicited advice?

Poor grammar?

Excessive texting?

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Company that just drops in rather than lets you know they are planning to visit?

The way teen-agers dress nowadays?

Your challenge today is to write a poem about a pet peeve or pet peeves of yours.  You know there is something that really bothers you.  Now is the time to get it off your chest.

If you really can't think of anything, here is a list of pet peeves that might inspire you!  Extensive Pet Peeve List.    Let's have some fun with this and come back  and share.

Please write a new poem for this challenge.  Link it below.  Leave a comment.  Then visit as many poems linked as you can.  Enjoy!

Mary's Mixed Bag -- Fences

 

 

Mary's Mixed Bag --  Fences

 

I was thinking about fences this week.  I walk my dogs in a few different areas and took particular note of fences.  I also wondered if the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  What do you think?

Robert Frost said, "Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up."  Hmm, do you identify with that at all?  Do some of you have fences around your property?  Are they built to keep people or animals out or to keep people or animals in.

Then there is the Chinese proverb, which says "Everyone pushes a falling fence."  I can see that.  Sadly enough, I can!

Carl Sandburg said, "Love your neighbor as yourself, but don't take down the fence." I think that means something similar to Robert Frost's "Good fences make good neighbors," don't you?

Seal has said, "  I don't think we can sit on the fence anymore. We have to make up our minds. And if one wants to choose the path of darkness, then so be it, but be conscious of what it is you're doing. "

Okay, let's get to the point here.  I wonder if some of you have fences somewhere close to you.  If so it could be interesting if you took a photo of the  fence and shared it with us, whether or not it has a lot to do with the subject of your poem.  My fences (I took all the photos) are pretty average fences from my walk.  Yours can be too.

Use a 'fence' in your poem somehow.  Who does it hold in or keep out?  What is behind the fence?  Is something being hidden?  Who built it?  Why?   How do you feel about 'fence sitters'?  Are you fence sitter yourself?  Do you try to mend your fences? Are you successful?  Has someone tried to fence you in?  How do you feel about animals behind fences in a zoo?

I hope by now you have an idea on what to write  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.  Post your link with Mr. Linky below.  Leave a comment too.  And please visit poems of others who have linked. And, most of all, enjoy.

Mary

Mary's Mixed Bag - Neighborhood

Neighborhood

Mazatlan, Mexico neighborhood
Photo by Mary Kling

This week here at Mary's Mixed Big I'd like people to think a bit about neighborhood. Sometimes I feel like we have an ideal 'neighborhood' here in the Imaginary Garden, don't you?  Sometimes I also wonder about the real life neighborhoods that Toads and Friends here live in. Wouldn't it be fun if we could take virtual visits and zip around and visit one another's neighborhoods?

I think the neighborhood of mine that lives the strongest in my mind is my childhood neighborhood. It really IS the neighborhood that I still know best. My impressions of it are the strongest of any neighborhood I have lived in.  I wonder which of your neighborhoods lives the strongest in YOUR mind. (Perhaps you can respond to that in the comments section.)

New York City neighborhood
Photo by Mary Kling

Today I would like you to choose one of the neighborhoods you have lived in or the one you live in today. Write a poem about it, giving us as many sensory details as you can muster. Give us its flavor, perhaps its cast of characters, the sights, the smells, sounds, and hopefully some of the goings on. Write the seen and perhaps the unseen. (All neighborhoods have undercurrents, don't they?)

I look forward to reading what you write, of visiting you in one of your neighborhoods and will enjoy it if you pay a visit to mine!

Milwaukee, Wisconsin neighborhood
Photo by Mary Kling

Mary's Mixed Bag: Friday the Thirteenth

Friday the Thirteenth

Hi Toads and Friends,

Welcome to Mary's Mixed Bag!!  Do you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia?   In case this word is unfamiliar to you, it means 'fear of Friday the 13th."  According to a web article on the History Channel fear of Friday the 13th affects between 17 and 21 million Americans.  If you are interested in the history of the day, you might wish to click the link above or read the information in this Time Magazine online article.

I am so excited to be the one to present the Friday the 13th Challenge.  Rather than only one idea, I came up with four ideas for you to choose from.    Hopefully one or more will intrigue you.  Here goes:

(1)  Write a rondeau poem.  A rondeau poem has 13 lines plus two lines of refrain.

Perhaps the best-known rondeau is the following World War I poem, In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow   (A)
Between the crosses, row on row,      (A)
That mark our place, and in the sky,   (B)
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,     (B)

Scarce heard amid the guns below.      (A)
We are the dead; short days ago           (A)
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,  (A)
Loved and were loved, and now we lie  (B)
In Flanders fields.                                   (C)

Take up our quarrel with the foe!            (A)
To you from failing hands we throw       (A)
The torch; be yours to hold it high!         (B)
If ye break faith with us who die             (B)
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow  (A)
In Flanders fields                                       (C)

Notice that the (C) lines are the refrain, and the refrain is the first half of the first line!

Explained differently ( Fisher Circle Poetry Handbook):  A Rondeau has 13 lines plus a four syllable refrain—the first half of the first line—used twice, arranged in three unequal stanzas; usually two main rhymes, plus third rhyme in refrain; iambic lines with four stresses.
    a a b b a
    a a b c
    a a b b a c
(2) Think back to the time when you were thirteen years old (or thereabouts); and write a poem about that time in your life; or write about what you experience(d) when  your own son or daughter was 13 years old.

(3) Write something related to fears or anxieties about Friday the 13th or any other popular superstition(s).  Here are a few popular superstitions.  You can find more by doing a Google search.

            a.  A bird in the house is a sign of death.
            b.  A swarm of bees settling on a roof is an omen that the house will burn down.

            c.  If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you will never see each other again.
            d.  A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.

(4) Here is a simple prompt if nothing else resonates. Write a poem with the title "Friday the 13th."

I do hope that one of the suggestions above will motivate you to write a Friday the 13th poem!  Please link it below, leave a comment, and visit the work of other people who link.  Enjoy.

Mary

Two Sides of the Coin

Two Sides of the Coin

Hi, everyone.  The weeks go so fast.  It is time for another Mary's Mixed Bag here in the Garden.  I thought of a challenge  I hope everyone will enjoy trying.  This week I would like you to write a poem describing something or a situation from two different perspectives or points of view.  Perhaps in alternating verses, or whatever works for you.

 Sometimes two witnesses of an auto accident see different things and recount the accident differently, and each is sure he/she is right.

A conflict between a mother and an adolescent daughter would have two different perspectives.  If they wrote or spoke about it, they would tell different tales.

A friendship between two people ends. Undoubtedly they view the ending differently. What would each say?

There are often different points of views within one person.  (I argue with myself sometime, don't you?)  Express them in poetry form.  Perhaps as a dialogue, or perhaps not.

Anyway, I think you get the idea.  I look forward to reading your new poem on two sides of the coin!  And, if you link your poem, please visit poems of others as well.  We all like visits. That's part of the fun!

Mary's Mixed Bag - Let's Go to the Movies

Let's Go to the Movies!

The Hunger Games

I have come up with what I hope will be a fun Mary's Mixed Bag challenge for everyone. If you are like me, you enjoy movies. Some that I have seen in the past few months were Bully; The Hunger Games; The Artist; Puss 'N Boots; The Descendants; Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol;  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; Iron Lady; The Adventures of Tin Tin; Hugo. It would be fun to see your list.  Maybe you can list some of them in 'comments.'

For this challenge there are three choices:

 (1) Think of a movie you have seen recently.  Write a poem that arises from that movie - from its title, theme, subject matter, a character, setting, etc.  Here is a site where you can find a list of 2011 movies and another for 2012 movies.

Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol

(2)  Write a poem that arises from subject matter,title,  theme, character, setting, etc. of an older or classic movie.  This is a list of movies that have grossed most money at the box office if you need inspiration.

Gone With the Wind

(3)  Write a poem incorporating as many movie titles (current or classic) as you wish into the body of the poem.

If you still need more inspiration, here is a "wordle" poem I wrote entitled Casablanca about the movie of the same name.  In this poem, I put myself inside the movie.  This would be another way you could approach the challenge.

When you write and link a new poem using Mr. Linky below, please leave a comment as well.  And perhaps, as part of your comment, you could list some of the movies you have seen in the past few months.  It would be interesting to see your list.  Oh, and of course, don't forget to visit the links of others who post as well.  Have fun! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

----Mary

Poetry of the Ordinary

Hi Toads and Friends:

I'm Mary with another Mary's Mix Bag Friday.  You don't know how much I look forward to thinking of a prompt that I hope inspires many of you.  This week I hope you will be inspired by "the ordinary."

A poet I enjoy is Stuart Dischell. I have his book Dig Safe.  It is one I often reread. I love his work He can turn the most ordinary happenings into poetry.  Good poetry! He really is so down to earth!

One of his poems is "Thin Song of the Leaky Faucet."  It is too long to share here. He writes it in short lines that cover two-and-a-half  pages.  (This poem is not linked anywhere online, or I would share that way.)  Here is the beginning of this poem:

Thin Song of the Leaky Faucet
Drop by drop
Or drip by drip

Each drip or drop
In the open rain

Sounds the note
That cannot hold

Back, builds up
A calculus

On the otherwise
Stainless steel

(It continues....)

As I read this poem, I can really experience this and actually HEAR the dripping in my mind.  I can also identify, as I have had a dripping faucet that has driven me crazy!

Another Dischell poem about a very ordinary experience  is "As I Dispose of an Old Encyclopedia."  I find myself wondering how many people even have encyclopedias anymore. ( I do remember having disposed of mine as well!)

In this poem Dischell wrote his thoughts as he was getting rid of this outdated reference.  I will share a few lines:

As I Dispose of An Old Encyclopedia

I think of the territories
With their changed names
Like some married women,
Aliases of politics and faith,
The sinuous borders that keep
Cartographers in business,
Undertakers too,
Appellations of deposed monarchs
or gods no longer relevant

(It continues)

All right, this is what I would like to do.  Think about some of the ordinary tasks, items, aspects, annoyances, joys, etc.  of your life.  Write about one of them.

I will mention a few ideas that may  trigger your muse:  A squeaking door, peeling carrots, internet access frustrations, misplacing your wallet,  a power outage, running out of gas, a friend's visit, brewing coffee, going to the grocery store and forgetting to buy one of the things you needed, deciding to part with a pair of shoes you always loved, realizing that you threw away or lost something important to you.

I look forward to reading about something ordinary in your life.  Sometimes the ordinary can inspire the most extraordinary poetry.  Please write and link a new poem written specifically for this challenge  rather than pulling one out from the past writings, and  visit and comment on as many poems of others as possible.

Mary's Mixed Bag

Mary Oliver

Hi Toads,

Mary here! I have been pretty excited about my relatively simple writing prompt this week. Earlier this week (on the Toads' chatlog) I mentioned that you should take a look at poems by some of your favorite poets and collect a few favorite first lines or couplets. If you have done that, you have a good start.

Now take the beginning line or couplet and let it inspire you to write your own poem. Use the line(s) at the beginning of your poem, and take your poem in whatever direction it goes. You might be surprised. It will undoubtedly bear no resemblance to the original poem. I hope you will enjoy this technique as much as I do. There is no copyright on a few words in succession, but you may want to let us know anyway the poem/poet that inspired you.

I have chosen this prompt for us because it is one that has often worked for me when I can't think of what to write. For some reason, using a line or two of a poem by a favorite poet works wonders.

Charles Wright

Give it a try, and link it here, making use of Mr. Linky.  I look forward to seeing what each of you comes up with and will visit each  poem that was written specifically for this prompt and links back to Real Toads.  Hope you'll visit some of the poems that others share as well.

Mary

Mary's Mixed Bag

Hi Toads and Friends.  Mary here again with a new "Mixed Bag" that I hope you will enjoy. In brief, I would like you to think about conversation and how to work conversation into a poem. You could write poetically based on a conversation you have had, a conversation you fantasize , a conversation you overheard, a conversation you would like to have, etc. Just be sure that your poem involves conversation

I am going to share a few 'conversation poems' which may (or may not) inspire you. I generally find that the work of other poets inspires me, and maybe this is true for you too.

Naomi Shihab Nye is one of my favorite poets. I heard her read her poetry once, and believe me it was wonderful. The first Naomi Shihab Nye conversation poem I am sharing is "Kansas" from her book Words Under the Words.

Kansas


Driving across the centre of Kansas
at midnight, we’re talking about
all our regrets, the ones we didn’t marry,
who married each other, who aren’t happy,
who should have married us.
Ah, it’s a tough world, you say,
taking the wrong road.
Signposts appear and vanish, ghostly,
ALTERNATE 74.
I’m not aware it’s the wrong road,
I don’t live here,
this is the flattest night in the world
and I just arrived.
Grain elevators startle us,
dark monuments
rimmed by light.
Later you pull over
and put your head on the wheel.
I’m lost, you moan. I have no idea where we are.
I pat your arm.
It’s alright, I say.
Surely there’s a turn-off up here somewhere.
My voice amazes me,
coming out of the silence,
a lit spoon,
here,
swallow this.

Interesting how she worked conversation into that poem, don't you think?

Now that you have taken a look at that one, I am going to share another one by Naomi Shihab Nye. Actually this is a favorite poem of mine.  I decided to share it second rather than first. It is "The Art of Disappearing" also from Words Under the Words.

The Art of Disappearing


When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.

Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.

If they say we should get together
say why?

It’s not that you don’t love them any more.
You’re trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.

When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven’t seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don’t start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

If you would like to hear Naiomi Shihab Nye read the above poem, watch this video. It is worth it. Naiomi Shihab Nye reads The Art of Disappearing.

Here is another conversation poem, a bit different. It is "Lesson" by Ellen Bryant Voight, from her book Shadow of Heaven:

Lesson

Whenever my mother, who taught
small children forty years,
asked a question, she
already knew the answer. "Would you like to" meant
you would. "Shall we" was
another, and "Don't you think."
As in "Don't you think
 it's time you cut your hair."

So when, in the bare room,
 in the strict bed, she said, "You want to see?"
her hands were busy at her neckline,
untying the robe, not looking
down at it, stitches
bristling where the breast
had been, but straight at me.

I did what I always did:
not weep --she never wept--
and made my face a kindly
whitewashed wall, so she
could write, again, whatever
she wanted there.

The last poem I am going to share is "The Telemarketer's Call" by John Lehman. It was included in his book Dogs Dream of Running.

The Telemarketer's Call

Tonight, as I finish making calls,
a man tells me, "I'm going to die."
He's taken pills and now the pain
of age and losing those he's loved
is draining from him fast. What
he wants is forgiveness and since
I've phoned, mine will do. I sit
listening and think about my life,
scrambling for money while you
eat dinner with your wife or watch
TV with children on some couch
or, for spite, pretend you're dying.
I hesitate, then hang up.

The poems above are a few examples of 'conversation poems.'  I have faith that each of you will take the prompt in your own direction.  I look forward to reading what you come up with. Post the link to your poem using Mr. Linky below!  Have fun.

Mary's Mixed Bag

Hi Toads, 

This is my first Friday Mary's Mixed Bag prompt; and I think I am going to enjoy this.  I hope you will too. I love writing, and I love inspiring others to write.   Let's have fun!

As we are very close to the end of the year, I have chosen this as my first Mixed Bag challenge:

 "Ring out the Old, ring in the New." 

These are words from the poem "In Memoriam" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.  The poem in its entirety can be found here:  In Memoriam.

Go with the words wherever they take you, or if you'd like a few more suggestions: 

Think about what 'old' you would like to ring out or what 'old' you are sad to leave behind at the end of this year.  Think about what 'new' you'd like to welcome into your life in 2012.  What 'new' do you anticipate?

Another thought: Contemplate bells ringing.  Listen carefully.  Are they wedding bells?  Sleigh bells?  Or?    Write about them.  (After all, Edgar Allan Poe did!)

Think about yourself somewhat like the Roman two-faced god Janus who is associated with transitions, as he looks both forward and backward and for whom the month of January was named.  What thoughts come to your mind as you stand on the border between 2011 and 2012, looking both at the past (old) and the future (new)?

 I will close with this quote by  Bill Vaughan:   "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. "   Food for thought, isn't it?

I will visit each of your poems as you post the links, using Mr. Linky below.  I also hope that each of you who posts a link will visit as many other links as possible, as we all love visits.

Happy New Year, Everyone.