National Poetry Month, Day Two

Prompt: Write a poem that sneaks in two intentional timeline errors.

Secret Weapons

The courier hurried down the road,

Dropped bicycle in the mud.

“The troops are primed, machine guns mounted,

But Brits are more than can be counted.”

Jackson smiled, “We have Lafitte.

We’ll never go down to defeat.

He’ll help us safeguard New Orleans.

He as a fleet of submarines.”

National Poetry Month Day One

Prompt:  Write a personal poem in the voice of a historical figure who has time-traveled to this year.

Lesser Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal

Four centuries and now I’m named, “The Bard?”

A playwright, poet held with much regard?

Sir Frank and Chris would take this very hard.

They have been hoisted on their own petard.

We stole from Chaucer, Plutarch and beyond

(The thoughts weren’t ours, the ends none of our own.)

Fate stands upon a rolling restless stone.

Took I the blame or credit as my own.

What fates impose, men needs abide hereon them.

Sometimes men have greatness thrust upon them.

PORCH ROCKERS--another version of a favorite subject

I've already painted and sold three other versions of this setting.  The location is our front porch where we enjoy spending long evenings watching the sky go from blue to pinks to deep violet.  Late summer is that time when all the hard work in the garden is paying off and it's finally time to enjoy the fruits of our labors.  The street in front of our house is narrow and is often used by runners, young families pushing strollers and friendly neighbors out for a walk.

I used reference photos I already had on file to create a composition, and then a full sized 11x14 inch sketch which I transferred to heavy watercolor paper.  Then I stapled the paper to gator board and masked out the areas I wanted to remain white.

After gently wetting down the whole thing I floated primary colors over the scene and let it dry.

I added another layer of colors after masking out another section and let it dry again.

Then I got so involved in my work that I forgot to take more photos.  So this is the final which I've put up for sale at Watercolors by Leenie.  I like this one a lot.  It will be hard to let it go, but I guess I can always make more.