NaPoWriMo--DAY TWENTY ONE

NaPoWriMo PROMPT:  Find a poem in a language that you don’t know, and perform a “homophonic translation” on it. What does that mean? Well, it means to try to translate the poem simply based on how it sounds.

Here's my phonic translation of Heimliche Stunde by Joachim Ringelnatz--as far as I can tell it has something to do with ghostly dreams.

  

Choked and Stunned 

I’m inclined to skip church or die from dampness. 

Kind of a war against geezers. 

It’s a zoo for gibbon muttering. 

Come out, dash. Shoot back or get flogged. 

He’s going to bloomin’ blow my face off! 

Meet door songs with a squeak. 

Each labor’s got a mean fruit, 

Mean whining and mean ducks.

Here's the real poem in German

Heimliche Stunde

Ein kleiner Spuk durch due Dampfheizung ging.

Keine Uhr war aufgezogen.

Ein zu fruh geborener Schmetterling

Kam auf das Schachbrett geflogen.

Es ging ein Blumenvasenblau

Mit der Sonne wie eine Schnecke.

Ich liebe Gott und meine Frau,

Meine Wohnung und meine Decke.

NaPoWriMo--DAY NINETEEN

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: write a poem based on a “walking archive.” What’s that? Well, it’s when you go on a walk and gather up interesting thing – a flower, a strange piece of bark, a rock. This then becomes your “walking archive” – the physical instantiation of your walk.

Shooting Birds--19 April 2020 

All winter long 

The usual birds 

Who never make the long trip south. 

When summer ends, when cold winds blow 

When rivers freeze

 Magpie 

Pigeon

Sparrow 

Crow

 And don’t forget the chickadees. 

They endure the months of snow. 

In March 

When winter starts to go 

We hear the doves 

Then

 Flickers 

Blackbirds 

And we know 

It’s spring when

 There are

 Robins.

 Robins overflow. 

Today 

Out on the lake

 I saw loons

 The hawks are back.

 Kingfishers too. 

Osprey 

Swallows

 Duck

 Duck

 Goose.

(all my photos--most taken today--19 March 2020)

NaPoWriMo--DAY SEVEN

NapoWriPo PROMPT: Today our prompt is an oldie-but-goodie: a poem based on a news article.

Two Thousand Ducks 

At a fancy South Africa winery estate 

They’ve hired a force of two thousand ducks. 

Do they sample wine with discerning tongues? 

Do they know Sauvignons from Merlo deluxe? 

No, they join in a daily duck parade 

And march all the way to the vineyard fields. 

There they gobble up bugs and snails and pests 

To protect vine growth and improve the yield. 

They’re allowed to poop as much as they like. 

The soil is improved by the poultry muck. 

So if your Chardonnay has a hint of dung, 

Don’t turn up your nose, just blame the ducks.

NaPoWriMo --Early Bird

NaPoWriMo PROMPT:  And now, in the spirit of an early-bird prompt, I’d like to invite you to write a poem about your favorite bird.

Trumpeter Swans

Wedging their way

Across an ice blue sky,

Silvery trumpeters

Announce
 Approaching spring

With their clarion call.

GRAND TETON PHOTOGRAPHY

DH and I decided to go to Grand Teton National Park the first Saturday in October to find out if we could hear the bull elk bugle.

The autumn weather had deteriorated into winter very early.  So there was snow on the highway as we went up Teton Pass.  It wasn’t deep or icy but a wakeup to what we would see at lower elevations in a few weeks.  We got into the park so early there wasn’t even a ranger at the entrance booth to check us in.  It was just very dark.

So dark we almost ran over a pronghorn who was out looking for some early breakfast.

 Sunrise was just beginning when we reached String Lake parking lot.  We weren’t alone.  There were others with cameras and tripods probably there for the same reason we were.

   Daylight let us see that new snow had frosted the mountains and trees.  The sunrise turned the snow lavender and then pink.  We listened for elk and heard almost nothing.  Finally we heard some bugling far away from the lake.  The big bulls were cold and not in the mood for love.

But that was okay since the scenery was outstanding.  The air was so still the water in the lake was a mirror for the forest and the grand peaks.  The high fog lifted just enough for us to see the mountain tops and the reflected sunlight.

We took the trail to Leigh Lake far enough we could see Mount Moran and its quiet reflection in the water.  The beauty was mind-boggling.

I shot photo after photo as the morning slowly burned off the mist on the peaks.

The changing angle of the sunrise and the moving clouds enhanced every view.

We went back to Jenny Lake where the sights were just as scenic and amazing.

It was very much worth the early rising and the dark drive to see such magnificence.

Even leaves on the path were picturesque.

So we didn’t see or hear much from the elk but we did see a few birds like this Clark's nutcracker trying to catch a few warm rays of sunshine.

On our way back to Jackson for breakfast at The Bunnery we got a good look at a big bull moose.  What you can’t see in this photo is the crowd of paparazzi with their big cameras and zoom lenses taking the same photos I was.

OREGON COAST September 2017 – Part 4—Manzanita, Cannon Beach, Seaside

The watercolor artist retreat met at Manzanita, Oregon. Manzanita is a beach town located on The Pacific Coast Highway between Seaside and Tillamook.

It has a huge flat beach which has many moods depending on the weather and tides.

At the north end of the long beach is Neahkahnie Mountain. If you wander way up the beach from town you can even see where the ocean has worn a hole through the headland.

Here is my version of the arch. 

The town is a quiet place but with plenty going on in the way of food, arts and recreation.

If you sit on the hill just above the beach to sketch, you’ll find plenty of scenery plus a good measure of people watching.

 The sunsets are well worth waiting for.

Usually September on the Oregon coast is called “second summer” because of the mild sunny weather. But this time the wind was heavy and the seas rough on several days.

So we got opportunities for challenging seascapes.

I made a trip up the coast to visit Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock.

If you know where to look, you can see Tillamook Lighthouse built on a hunk of rock about a mile off shore. It has quite a history since the waves can be tumultuous and the fog heavy. Just building it cost several lives and many others followed trying to maintain the light to warn ships off the rocks. It was decommissioned in 1957.

It was a windy day when I visited Seaside South Beach to see if I could spot the gray whales reported in the water there.

These young Heermann’s gulls were hunkered down and waiting for better weather to go fishing. I didn’t see any whales.

So I went into town and had lunch at Norma’s. Great food.

If you’re in the mood for saltwater taffy, Seaside Candyman has 180 flavors. I picked out anything with chocolate plus some other kinds to share with the family at home.

For more of my watercolor paintings visit my Etsy Shop.  Or click on the Watercolors by Leenie button on the upper left of this blog page.

National Poetry Month Day Five

Prompt:  Write a 15-20 line poem in which the first word always begins with the same word e.g. Praise, begin, let, understand, trust, believe, etc.  Address it to someone specific, or an inanimate object.  Extra credit: use name of city or science team.

Spring

Spring! That time of year when the sun

springs up directly in the east, flowers

spring from the soil and frozen

springs thaw.  Blackbirds return and sing

Spring!

Spring!   And so, my off-

spring,

spring from your bed.  I hate to

spring it to you but Daylight Savings time

sprung the clocks ahead an hour.

Spring forward!  Do not fall back into that bed of sagging

springs.  If you don’t

spring up and

spring into action, you will be late for school and your class will go to

Springfield without you.

THIRTY DAY CHALLENGE--Day Sixteen

A photo a day for thirty days.

New feet within my garden go,

New fingers stir the sod;

A troubadour upon the elm

Betrays the solitude. 

New children play upon the green,

New weary sleep below;

And still the pensive spring returns,

And still the punctual snow!

Emily Dickinson

THIRTY DAY CHALLENGE--Day Fifteen

A photo a day for thirty days.

The spring rain left a lot of nice puddles.  

This killdeer is fluffing up and preparing to take a bath.

More fluffing and flapping of feathers.  Nice fresh water, not much breeze.  

Why the procrastination?

"This is April.  That water's gonna be freekin' COLD!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mother, may I go and swim?

Yes, my darling daughter.

Hang your clothes on yonder limb,

But don't go near the water.

THIRTY DAY CHALLENGE--SURPRISE--Day Twelve

A big surprise made it worth looking for something to photograph this morning.

I put the star filter on my camera so I could catch rainbow flares off the rising sun.

When I got it back home I added some artsy Photoshop effects to this one for fun.

While I was still taking pictures of the sunrise I saw an osprey fly over the pond.

Almost before I could react it dove straight into the water.

There was a moment of struggle and then it rose with a fish in its claws.

It happened so fast that I didn’t have the sense to zoom in to catch a more focused picture.

The big bird circled around catching the sunlight as it adjusted its prey for a better angle for flight.

Before the poor fish could recover from the shock of being snatched from the water it was on its way to becoming breakfast.