After – A Quadrille

After the pebble has surfaced skipped

And the ripples have waved goodbye

After the bell has chimed

And it’s somber note has reached the sky

After the warmth from your arms

Has faded with a sigh

I wait

Eyes closed

Breath held

Welcoming

Stillness

It’s been a while since I’ve written a Quadrille (my wordiness always gets in the way!). This one was written for Patrick Jennings’ Pic and A Word Challenge #167 – Stillness.

It’s been a busy travel filled holiday so those moments of stillness have been few and far between. As 2019 fast approaches, I am thinking of changes, improvements to work on in the new year. I know this blog has evolved and it’s become less about running and more poetry based. Maybe it’s because I have been doing more writing than running these days, but that’s going to change in 2019 too! Thoughts? Please let me know in the comments.

©️ iido 2018

Nativity with Textures – A Cascade Poem

Scratchy hay tickles your toes

My blue woolen mantle, your warm protection for now

The texture of your life doesn’t yet know the sting of the whip or the rough hewn cross.

Rough wood cradles your newborn form

Gossamer starshine sprinkles your face

Scratchy hay tickles your toes

The slippery lowing of cattle slides in your ear

Your soft essence belies your strength

My blue woolen mantle, your warm protection for now

Your velvet touch sets my heart ablaze

Yet my goose bumped flesh shivers sadness within that love

The texture of your life doesn’t yet know the sting of the whip or the rough hewn cross.

This cascade poem was written for Patrick’s Pic and a Word Challenge #166 – Texture. I used the lyrics from the Christmas song, “Away in a Manger” to compose this cascade poem. It’s one of my favorite songs for this season.

Wishing all those who celebrate a Merry Christmas!

©️ iido 2018

Bed and Breakfast – A Haibun

The blue sky smelled of manure. Even the allure of coffee and raw milk, homemade bread with rhubarb jam and omelets plucked from their mother just that morning couldn’t overcome the scent that distinctly said, “You’re on a working farm.”

The distinct sound of a tractor pulled up to the farmhouse door. The farmer offered us a hay ride around the farm and explained the difference between hay and straw, silo versus barn. The farmer named each machine and it’s purpose, but not the animals.

That night, I briefly wondered if the chicken that gave her life for our pot pie dinner also sacrificed her progeny for our breakfast. And if the rooster that would wake us in the morning, knew what happened to his family.

Plastic and foam trays

Deception and protection

Farmers eat the truth

Yes, that’s me on a tractor – picture courtesy of one of my sorority sisters who posted some “throwback pictures” of a reunion we had a bed and breakfast in the Pennsylvania countryside a few years after we graduated college. I don’t think the tractor was actually moving for the picture, but it was a first for this city girl!

Coincidentally, Jamie Dedes’ Wednesday Writing prompt requested: This week share poem/s out of your own nostalgia, experience, impressions, gratitude, concerns, or convictions about farms, farming, or farm policy. Despite now living in “farm country”, I still don’t know about farming although I do appreciate the numerous farmers markets in our area.

One thing I do know: I am very appreciative of the men and women who work on farms because I know I don’t have the constitution or inclination to grow things or kill things to eat. Maybe because living in cities, I was never exposed to that reality and thus my aversion to being close to the true source of what I/we eat. Food came in a package and didn’t have faces. Maybe if more people were aware of the reality of farming, there would be less food waste and a better understanding of the need to conserve and protect the environment/nature and animals as finite resources. But what do I know…I’m just a city girl…

©️ iido 2018

Jack and Rose in the Snow – A Triolet

On our snowy first date

We had our first fight

Your snowball making skills made me deliberate

On our snowy first date

Your phone booth kissing skills made me abdicate

Our Titanic re-enactment increased the Fahrenheit

On our snowy first date

We had our first fight

This triolet is in response to Hélène’s “What do you see?” Weekly Photo Prompt Challenge. If you squint really hard, you can make out figures in the phone booth (or that might just be my imagination!). I don’t know if any phone booths like this exist anymore – I do remember seeing them when I lived in England as a child. And then in NYC – although those weren’t red – I remember trying to fit as many friends as we could into a phone booth and still get the door closed! The things today’s youth will never know the pleasure of!

The triolet form I found by chance perusing other blogs and stumbling across an old dVerse Poetics post about repeating poetry forms. I like the challenge of following a form although I feel I could have challenged myself more by using different rhymes (I took the easy route with the ones I chose) and paying more attention to the meter. Oh well, I’m sure there will be another triolet in the future!

Snowfall – Two Haikus

Flat boring paper

The snowfall of my mind smiles

Possibilities

Prompts in the forecast

The snowfall of minds gather

Blizzard of poems

Tuesday was a busy day! At the Go Dog Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Prompt, Devereaux and Beth requested poems that used the phrase “snowfall of my mind”. While I did change it a bit for the second poem, I hope my offerings are accepted for this week.

Over at dVerse – Poetics, Gina reminded us about the magic in ordinary things. I chose paper and prompts as my ordinary things. As a poet, I use paper and write about prompts weekly. One day of contemplating these ordinary things lead to these appreciative haikus.

In this busy season, I hope you all can take some time to appreciate the ordinary – isn’t this what the season is all about anyway?

Peaceful Goodbye – A Short Story

My eyes were parched, yet I kept them open, watching you as I did when you walked to the school bus. It seemed like such a long way for you to walk with your little legs. I told you not to look back, that looking back would make it harder, and I wanted us to have a “peaceful goodbye”. Peace was the September “virtue of the month” and it helped those first days when being apart wasn’t normal.

My throat closed up, as if I could cry, choking the words I wanted to call out – I love you! I’m proud of you! But you didn’t need to hear that – your humility and compassion allowed you to understand more than your 4 year old self should.

My heart slowed, a molasses drip, wondering what you were thinking as your tiny feet plodded on. Perseverance and courage might as well be etched on your retreating back. But the little wrinkles on your forehead would spell curiosity – we had that common. I wanted to help you, but you respectfully said you would go alone and that I should stay. I would have held you back, you honestly said. You knew I wouldn’t want that. Oh, how wise you had become!

My breath hitched and I was afraid – afraid you wouldn’t find the joy that I knew you deserved. But you didn’t look back and when you started to run – that’s when I knew:

You were going to where you truly belonged.

This short story is in response to Hélène Viallant’s “What do you see?” Picture prompt. There were so many ways to respond to this picture that Hélène posted – it could be scary or exciting or sad. It could have elements of science fiction or fantasy. Or a metaphor. My story is a little bit of all that. The back story could be that the world is coming to an end, the mother left behind to perish watching the sole survivor, her child, walking towards the unknown. Is it hopeful? Or ominous?

I also incorporated several virtues (or values) from Montessori education to fulfill Jamie Dedes’ Wednesday Writing Prompt request to “tell us about values gone awry”. My children attend a Montessori school and these virtues are lessons that are incorporated in the classroom and that I also try to utilize and exemplify at home. This whole child viewpoint of teaching is one of the reasons I love Montessori education.

While I’m not sure my story is one of values gone wrong, it does remind me of the saying “good guys finish last”. But do they really? If they believe their behavior, their sacrifice is for a noble cause, are they finishing last or being the first hero?

Heightened – A Quadrille

My heart’s speed metal rhythm

Stutters stop at the tower top

My brow wrinkles, directing the sweat

Older doesn’t mean wiser

I take the leap that baby birds take without fear

But I am not a baby bird

Then I am.

This is my response to Patrick’s Pic and a Word Challenge #164 – Heights. Yes, that’s me doing a zip line. It’s probably one of the more gutsy things I’ve done as an adult. I was chaperoning my daughter’s field trip and all the kids had done the zip line and they said the grownups can do it so…I took the plunge (literally!). It isn’t bungee jumping or sky diving but for a risk averse mama, this was a big deal! And it was fun! You only reach the high, if you’re willing to climb the mountain (or tower)!

We Will Not Be Silenced – Virtual Book Launch

Come and join our 2nd virtual book launch! Link to the Facebook Event is below…

We Will Not Be Silenced: The Lived Experience of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Told Powerfully Through Poetry, Prose, Essay, and Art is the brainchild of Kindra M. Austin, Candice Louisa Daquin, Rachel Finch, and Christine E. Ray. The four indie writers and survivors felt compelled to do something after the strongly triggering Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings. Ultimately, they decided to advocate, educate, and resist through art.

www.facebook.com/events/279757589391333/

Order the book on Amazon.

Holiday Cheer or the MRTT Holiday Carol

(Sing to the tune of “Here Comes Santa Claus”)

Here come mother runners

Here come mother runners

With their double wide strollers

Kids are crying

But these moms keep trying

And run for sanity’s sake

Laundry’s calling, dinner is burning

And don’t forget about the Hubs

So let’s run quickly and take a shower

Cuz mamas run this town tonight!

I originally composed this little ditty for Quadrille Monday with the prompt “cheer” for dVerse, however it refused to be limited to 44 words and the song kept on running in my head. I guess it didn’t want to be limited!

And that’s one thing I can say about this wonderful group of women – they are UN-limited in what they accomplish as mothers, runners, workers, partners. I am so thankful to know them and am inspired by them daily. This picture was taken at our annual Holiday bRUNch and gift exchange (courtesy of Nada W. – thank you!). We ran (well, some of us – the rest were guarding the food) then ate and did a gift exchange. The kids who were there also had their own mini party and gift exchange. Holiday cheer abounded! Next year, we’re doing a sing-along!

This is what the holidays should be about – being surrounded by loving and caring people and eating lots of good food! Oh – and running because running with a group leads to being surrounded by the best people and eating! 😁

©️ iido 2018