May 2024

 

Beltane... or May Day...

Whatever you choose
As name for today’s
Honoured day,
This is a day of
Ancient celebration.
We may not be ancients
Ourselves,
But we do love
That the return of Light
That began in December
And we joyously marked
In March
Is now halfway
Between that Spring Equinox
And Summer’s official start
In June.

June twenty-first
Seems already just
Too hot to say it’s
Summer’s start.
That’s why Beltane
Celebrates the
Beginning of Summer’s
Warmth.

We all go outside
Again
To renew
All our personal
Fave activities
Sans coats
And boots.

Today in my
18th-floor aerie
My balcony netting
Is doing it’s job
Keeping the fog
At bay.
Funny to celebrate
The sun
When I can’t see it…
Or even
The views it usually
Illuminates.

But I know it’s there
And I’ll go barefoot
Again
Soon!
...
Here’s some
Celebration background
For this day of yore.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

Apr 2024

Spring blooms revel in magenta...

I will never say “pink”
Because pink is so namby pamby.
Well, maybe not hot pink..
But magenta is a major force
By itself… and
Helps make everything
In the world
When it hangs out
With cyan and yellow
And together they let black act
Like the black velvet background
To all of Life’s hues…
And we all say
Oooohhhh!

These magenta offerings
Come from Kate’s bus stop
Near her New Jersey
Clifftop home
That overlooks Hoboken.
In close-up they resemble
The magenta-edged versions
Of magnolias we see
In these northern climes.
But these are something
Much smaller...



As one can see when
Google Maps shows us
A bit wider view
Of that same
Springtime bus stop.

As I look back at my
Floral calendar missives
Here...
Over these past 25 years
I see many display themselves
In magentas.
Wondering now:
Is that because Mother Nature
Favours this colour
To prance about with
Her fresh new spring greens?
Or is it just some personal bias
I didn’t know I had.
I knew, of course,
About my teal fixation…
     But…
What other biases
Might I harbour
Unknown and
Unacknowledged?

You?
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

 

Spring 2024

Spring! Spring! Spring! Sang the animals...

When Kate was wee
She loved the Little Golden Book,
Home for a Bunny
By Margaret Wise Brown…
Whose name should have been
Margaret Wise Green.
I read the book to Little Kate
Several times every night
For what
Seems like years
And years.
I can still recite
Much of it.

As an astrologer
Each spring I find myself
Entranced anew.
I revel in the combination
Scientific reality
Of the equality of
Light and dark…
And of the ushering
Of the Sun
Into the sign of Aries.
The Sun holds sway
Over our personal egos,
Our focus and attention,
And our will to self-actualize.
The sign of Aries
Is the first sign of the Zodiac
Leading the way
Into a fresh new year.
Aires, then, places our focus
On action, initiative, and vitality.
It’s a time when the earth
Pushes up its long-protected
Seedlings and sends
Them forth with renewed
Determination.

From our beginnings
Humans have sought
Understanding
Of Life itself
Through observing
How Nature
Repeats herself
In endless cycles.
All cultures
Have sought
Ways to observe
And even predict
Nature’s cycles.
Peter recently visited
Stonehenge,
One culture’s evidence
Of such seeking
And understanding.

Today I celebrate
This Equinox…
It came early
This year partly because
Of Feb’s leap day.
I hereby send
This, my own seedling
Into the ethers
Where you might
Join my praise
Of the eternal
Quest for awareness.

I invite you...
Seek out your own
Hosannas
And traditions.
Here are some ideas:
Get outside.
Plant some seeds.
Host or attend a bonfire.
Bring spring buds into your home.
Get creative!
Sunset Magazine offers more ideas here.
...
Be sure to listen to me read the Bunny book.
Here's the link again.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

Feb 24

Everything old is new again...

A few weeks ago, Kate and David
Joined friends in the Riviera Maya,
Just south of Cancun in Mexico…
For lots of sun, sand, tacos, tequila,
Tzereques, pisotes, iguanas,
Howler monkeys, peacocks, and
One very friendly cat.

Then…
A trip to the ruins of Tulum…
The fort that the Mayans
Built as their coastal defence
Sometime before the 13th century…
And abandoned
At the end of the 16th century.
Yup she’s old,
But with the tourist development
In Cancun, Tulum is now back
On the beaten track…
Indeed she’s now her own destination.
Her splendour renewed
By all the attention, she sprawls aglow
In her own wonder.

Like Tulum, I, too, have become old…
OK less old in years, but still officially
People-y old.
And a few weeks before
My November b’day
I undertook an adventure
To renew my own splendour…
And now after lots
Of generous attention
From dentist Dr. Divya Patel
And the whole delightful staff
At Dr. Teodoro Happy Tsang’s
Main Street offices, I am
Proud to announce:
As of this past Monday
I have nine new teeth!!!
Here’s a pic.



The good news is
You can’t tell the diff…
But I certainly can.
Now I’m learning to eat again…
And
I’m learning to talk again, too.
I have quite a lisp
Which Dr. Patel says will
Gradually disappear.
In the meantime, remembering
Last month’s alliterative poem,
I’ve read the first stanza
Of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,
Both before and after
Installing the new teeth.
As benchmark, I’ll re-read
That same stanza each week…
Plus…
Throughout each day
I have little sessions where I say
RED LEATHER. YELLOW LEATHER.
Over and over and over again
Just like an eager actor warming up
For a big show.
Yes, I’m practising sprawling aglow, too,
In my own renewed wonder.

Me and Tulum.
There’s a lot to be said for simply
Lasting.
...
As usual this month’s calendar in higher-resolution form, lives here. In the same folder there is also a version without the RED LEATHER-YELLOW LEATHER line at the bottom, in case, like me, you’d rather spend this month with just Tulum’s unadulterated beauty on your desktop. In that same folder I’ve included the animals Kate and David encountered around their hotel... a couple of them are little movies!
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

 

Jan 2024

 

A Hasty and Heartfelt Hosanna
     to Halliteration...

Today’s missive
Is brought to you by
The letter H...
     With appreciation
     To Craig Mod
     Via his newsletter,
     Roden: Issue 088.

Of all the lessons learned
From my Texas public school
English lexicons,
Those about alliteration
Captured my imagination
With the most immediate
And ever-lasting glue.

Just think:
Here is a form of writing
That we best observe,
Understand,
And even enjoy
When we read it aloud.

Its history goes back
To Old English epic poetry
Like Beowulf
And Middle English ones
Like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight…
          Which Robin Sloan…
               As has often been his
               New Year’s Day wont…
          Will again read aloud to us all
          Live today at 1:00 pm ET.

Alliteration was first identified
By Giovanni Potano
In the 15th century,
The word comes from
The Latin word littera,
Which translates as
Letter of the alphabet.

The form found its foothold
In Old High German,
Old Saxon and Old Irish…
Not to mention it apparently
Had roots in classical Latin,
Greek, and Sanskrit poetry.

Today, so Wikipedia says,
Alliteration is used poetically
In many languages
Including English, Arabic, Irish,
German, Mongolian, Hungarian,
Somali, Finnish, Icelandic,
And…
American Sign Language!!!

Just think:
A form of writing
That we best observe,
Understand,
And even enjoy
When we read it aloud…
Being observed,
Understood,
And even enjoyed
By people who
Cannot hear it.

I am
Astonished,
Awed, and even
Amused..
And I do adore
And appreciate
The letter A…
Therefore, I hereby Appoint
The letter A
As host of
The Advent of
A year of Alliteration.
I invite you to Activate
Your own Alleritations list.
One letter to sponsor
Each fortnight:
I suggest
At least three words:
   One noun
   Modified by
   Two adjectives
Like beautiful blue bubbles.
But you can decide which
Three words…
Just make a list of
As many words
As you want
For each letter
Starting today
And proceeding every-other
Monday throughout this year.

I’ve made a little PDF list
Just to make it easier
For us all to be
   On the same page…
   In the same position…
   With the same paddle.
At this time next year,
If you’re so inclined,
I invite you to initial your page
And scan it and send it back to me…

I promise to read your words aloud.
...
Today’s image is from my grandson Jackson, taken on his recent trip to Portugal. He reports: this is Lagos, early morning...  absolutely gorgeous beaches with a lovely boardwalk that takes you along the coast… crystal clear water that was perfect for floating in.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course