This week, Colleen is using the painting below as inspiration, please write either a syllabic poetry form ora freestyle poem, including a syllabic form(both poetry forms on the same post).
REMEMBER… don’t just describe the woman… we can all see her. Like all of us, this woman has a story. Write THAT poem…
Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1865-1932) by John Singer Sargent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“Ekphrastic poems exist to respond to a piece of art critically, analytically, and reverentially.”Ekphrastic poetry explained
I’ve decided to write a senryu
From Colleen blog:
A form with 3 or more lines following the short-long-short, 3-5-3, 2-3-2, (5-7-5 traditional) approximately twelve syllables. Senryu do not rhyme, nor do they contain metaphors and similes.
A senryu is written about love, human foibles relating to a personal event, and should have an element of irony present somewhere in the form. Humor and sarcasm are two of the most favorable elements in a senryu. But not always… think in tone. What is the tone of your senryu?
Senryu focus on the awkward moments in life making the human, not the world around them, the subject of their creative endeavor. Senryu poetry deals with the human condition. The most important distinction between haiku and senryu is the tone of your poem. Think of it this way:
Haiku desires to create a feeling, while senryu wants to make a point.
Focus on sexual matters, family relations, religion, politics, and anything that touches on the pain we experience through sorrow, prejudice, oppression, anger, and frustration. Humor and sarcasm are two of the most favorable elements in a senryu.No titles.
The photo has nothing to do with the poetry but I’m smiling and been deliberating…. so… this week I’m writing a haiku to consider my forthcoming dilemma… Do I self publish my final book in the Curse of Time series, or search for a new publisher, or keep with the one I have?
Do I stay with you? To flourish... see what happens? Should I exchange you?
Decisions, decisions. Lots of time to make up my mind as I have just begun writing book three.
Dilemma, it is... What to do? Decision time Decide. Switch. Promote.
For Change chose switch, exchange For Grow flourish, promote
This week’s challenge is a photo prompt. from photographer, Terri Webster Schrandt, from secondwindleisure.com to share her photos with us for inspiration. Terri runs a weekly photo challenge called Sunday Stills. Check it out HERE.
Terri says: “This is a filtered version of a rose I photographed at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland.”
I imagined an artist painting a life portrait of his love.
Here are my Etheree poems:
Love Unchained❤️
Love Unchained Heartstrings play Captured verses Loose petals scatter My brush strokes velveteen On your desirable skin! My breath hitches with excitement Your hair loosens, and your smile escapes, You laugh so hard that each rose tumbles free…
A bouquet of a dozen blooms arrive As lipstick red as each dewy kiss My rapt caresses make you smile With trembling hands I begin To paint your dear beauty With red rose petals I’m cherishing Such naked Sweetest Love
Do What You Love Fragility of Your Flame Poems, Photography & Flash Fiction is a personal poetry collection celebrating how the fates may have a part in all that we do.
With special poems and short reflective moments inspired by family, flowers and nature, love, scrumptious morsels, places I’ve visited, lived and intend to live in, the friendships and hopes I have for the future.
The overarching theme is to live a life well lived… And to do what you love.
float along with me create clouds of sweetest joy to do what you love hold fate’s hand as we venture near and far on life’s journey
I am thrilled to say that three of my poetry collections, (Mr. Sagittarius, The Hedge Witch & The Musical Poet and Lockdown Innit,) have been requested by prestigious libraries in the UK: The British Library, The Bodleian Library Oxford University, the Cambridge University Library, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Wales and Trinity College Dublin for Legal Deposit.
Poetry also features in my highly acclaimed YA Fantasy series. Each chapter begins with a short poem. The Curse of Time Book 1 Bloodstone and Book 2 Golden Healer are published by Next Chapter Publishing.
In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.
From autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, the Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.
Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.
My review
I really enjoyed reading the 2nd book in Fairies, Myth and Magic series. It’s a wonderful celebration of the winter solstice, with a fabulous mix of stories, flash fiction and poetry.
There are details of international myths and legends in the Introduction To The Myths & Legends of Yule section at the end, highlighting pagan yule traditions. Two of my favourites were Iceland’s Christmas Troll Grýla! And Amatersu (Shine Your Light,) from Feudal Japan.
I certainly learnt a lot from this book and it is clear the author, Colleen Chesebro researched, loves and breathes magic into her subject matter.
There is a light-heartedness within the collection with the tale of the winter Green Fairy and the fairies drinks recipes which the author shares! This continues with flash fiction pieces such as Trash or Treasure.
As well as this, there are more serious pieces such as Fairy Hoar Frost, a short but powerful piece of flash fiction about the ever growing fear of climate change.
Colleen is an accomplished poet and wordsmith. She runs her own weekly poetry challenge and there is no doubt that her poetry shines. I particularly loved the opening poem, Samhain’s song as well as The Night of The Mothers, a celebration of women and motherhood, and the luscious darkness of The Wild Hunt.
Highly recommended. A lovely collection to savour at wintertime.
Colleen M. Chesebro is a Michigan Poet who loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of syllabic poetry.
Along with JulesPaige, Colleen is also a co-editor of “Word Weaving, a Word Craft Journal of Syllabic Verse,” at wordweavingpoetryjournal.com. The debut issue of this journal will publish in October 2021.
Colleen’s syllabic poetry has appeared in various other online publications. Recently, she created the Double Ennead, a 99-syllable poetry form for Carrot Ranch. Colleen’s poetry has poetry in various anthologies and journals including “Hedgerow-a journal of small poems,” and “Poetry Treasures,” and Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships.
Colleen published “Word Craft: Prose & Poetry, The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry,” which illustrates how to write various syllabic poetry forms used in her Tanka Tuesday challenges; and a collection of poetry, flash fiction, and short stories called, “Fairies, Myths & Magic: A Summer Celebration,” dedicated to the Summer Solstice. She contributed a short story called “The Changeling,” in the “Ghostly Rites Anthology 2020,” published by Plaisted Publishing House.
A warm welcome to Colleen who is here to celebrate the launch of her new book, Fairies, Myths, & Magic II. I have had the pleasure of reading book I too! Both are wonderful books.
I was delighted to receive an early copy of Fairies, Myths, & Magic II to beta read and review.
It is a delight and will definitely get you in the mood for winter and the Christmas season.
Why you wrote your book, and how much research you did for it.
Hi, Marje. Thank you for the opportunity to share the news of my new book, just in time for the winter solstice and Yule.
In writing Fairies, Myths, & Magic II, I spent a couple of years researching the different winter and Yule celebrations from around the world. I might have slipped down the rabbit hole of research for a year or so. It was interesting to find that almost every culture celebrated the winter solstice in some form.
The poetry and short stories took months for me to write. I’m not a fast writer, and often mull things over before deciding the story or poem is what I meant it to be.
This book is the second in the series. The first book included poetry and short stories dedicated to summer and the summer solstice. In the coming months, I’ll make this a two-book series boxed edition.
I’d also like to know which winter customs you follow.
We’re Buddhist and Pagan, so we don’t celebrate Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, when our children were still at home, we celebrated Christmas with them. After they all grew up and moved away, my husband and I decided to celebrate the winter solstice which has become our main winter celebration.
I usually start the day with some prayers and meditation. I like to do some light cleaning to sweep out last season’s energies to let in the new.
Later, we fix a lovely dinner. Some years the food is special, other years we eat whatever we have. We always share a toast to the return of the light. I always leave some honey and bread out for the house elf and the good neighbors. I want to keep them all happy.
When the darkness falls, we light white candles to chase away the darkness. White is a symbol of hope and purification. This color of candle helps to clear your thoughts for a new season. Candles also help to purify your thoughts so you can release negative energy and celebrate the longest night of the year. The winter solstice is all about celebrating the return of the light… what better way to celebrate than with candles.
We have these wonderful built-in shelves next to the fireplace. They were perfect for my winter altar for Buddha. As you can see, I have my white winter solstice candles ready to light on December 21st.
Some years we exchange a small gift with each other. This year, our gifts were various house renovations. We’re happy to have finally finished our reno project, so no other gifts are necessary—it’s good to have each other and be together.
In past years, we always hosted friends and family for the winter solstice. What better way to bring in the magic of the new year than to celebrate with those who matter most to you.
And which is your favourite personal poem/story in the book and why, include excerpt of that. And anything else you would like to ask yourself.
When I started researching the myths of Yule, I found all this wonderful information about the forgotten women of Yule. I was captivated by the idea that women were the first figures to influence our modern holiday celebrations.
In fact, my research shared that many of the Pagan traditions were adopted by the Christians because many of the myths were firmly rooted in the culture of the people. It was easier to change the women of Yule into saints or witches. Over time, the changes took hold. Instead of goddesses, we began to describe these female figures as fairy godmothers.
Slowly, men replaced the likes of Frau Holle with Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and the Russian, Ded Moroz. These male characters are all believed to be inspired by Odin himself!
Mōdraniht, which translates to Mother’s Night was really a surprise. On December 20th, families used to celebrate motherhood and female ancestors, as the feminine ancestors were also considered to be the guardians of the family line.
The Winter Solstice is celebrated as the rebirth of the sun, so it made sense the ancient people would celebrate the feminine connection to fertility and crops. It all goes back to our humble beginnings as an agrarian society.
I love the idea of celebrating the women we came from. Here’s a syllabic poem to celebrate our female ancestors on December 20th:
Mothers Night
Rejoice on the Night of the Mothers
pay homage to our female roots
toast your mother, grandmother,
the women in your life
who touched you with love
be brave, protect
family
blood lines,
thrive
the
mother
goddess soon
rebirths our sun,
we honor with food,
grateful messages sent
to the women who gave of
themselves, they made us who we are
we offer you our lasting respect
To Our Mothers!
Thanks so much for helping me celebrate the release of Fairies, Myths, & magic II, Marje. Happy Yule.
It’s my pleasure Colleen and I love that poem.
About the Book:
In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.
From Autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, The Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.
Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.
An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.
In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry.
Chesebro isan assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch.
In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books.
Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.
Variety is the Spice of Life is a collection of poetry and short stories about relationships with others, including pets and animals inhabiting the world around us. The connection with others brings love and friendship, excitement and sometimes surprises, danger, mystery and sometimes the unexpected.
The poetry explores human nature, the fears, desires, expectations and achievements. Nature offers a wonderful opportunity to observe animals both domesticated and wild. Even in a back garden you can observe a wide variety of creatures and the daily challenges to survive a harsh environment.
The short stories introduces you to a healer whose gift comes with danger, a neighbour determined to protect a friend, a woman on the run, an old couple whose love has endured, an elderly retired teacher who faces a life changing accident, a secret that has been carried for over 70 years and a village who must unite as they face devastating news.
This is a beautiful collection of poetry, flash fiction and short stories about life, love, getting older, experiencing as well as cherishing the world and all its magnificent inhabitants: birds, cats, bees, and much more! It certainly lives up to its lovely title: Variety is The Spice of Life and its fantastic cover.
The collection starts with three lovely poems, two to take us with the author on a journey and one to celebrate friendship, love and family: Pilgrimage, Expedition, and Kinship.
There are many relatable pieces including these favourite flash and poetry combos: Bear Witness and Face In The Mirror. Loved the last line: “I’ve morphed into my mother.”
Ha, this is me too! Not that I’m complaining. My mother is a wonderful human being, so if I have morphed into her I have nothing to worry about.
The Waltz is so cute, and my other favourite poems in the collection are: The Moonlight Concerto, Dress Rehearsal, Dolphins Origins ( sad and poignant ) Strawberries ( the words are written so well that you can taste them – the strawberries I mean… not the words!)
Flash and poetry favourites include:
Useful… to be so, with a smile, is a wonderfully good thing to be!
The Robin’s Size Doesn’t Matter and Starlings, Neighbourhood Cats, all were delightful as were all the other garden gems.
The collection ends with a bunch of fantastic short stories.
The Neighbourhood Watch, is one for cat lovers, with a marmalade cat. In The Green Hill we are treated to a poignant long lasting love story. Sadly, there are more serious tales with mentioned abuse in On The Run. There is a touching family tale in The Secret, and a positive and light-hearted tale about getting older in The Home Help, and more besides!
Something for everyone in this lovely collection!
Highly recommended. 5 stars from me. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Thank you so much to fabulous author Chantelle Atkins for inviting me to her blog for an author interview about my latest release Do What You Love. We talk about my inspirations, favourite types of poetry, and what I am working on next.
In the blog she also shares her review. Here is a short review quote from that:
“As other reviewers have said, this is an overwhelmingly sweet and positive collection that will not fail to make you smile during these tough times.”
Chantelle
Do pop over to her blog to read at source and while you are there find out more about Chantelle and her range of books too.
This is a beautiful and personal account through poetry, prose and photographs, of the emotional highs and lows of the poet’s life. The poet is accompanied on her walk down memory lane by the three sisters of fate, the Morai: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos with whom she engages in conversation about the particular moments in time highlighted by the poems.
While the poems are personal, their themes are universal which makes them relatable to the reader and facilitates emotional engagement with the particular set of circumstances detailed in the various syllabic poems. The poems are accompanied by beautiful photographs, many of which are nature orientated. I particularly liked the Botanical Gardens Cambridge UK.
One of my favourite poems in the collection is My Daughters. Perhaps this one appeals so much to me because my own sons are standing on the cusp of adulthood and will soon be flying the nest. This is a short extract:
“Now the drama’s nearly over. I tremble. Expecting the next crisis to come rippling around the lake. The waters swaying. It’s stiller now. They’re wiser.”
This is a book that is best savoured slowly over a glass of wine.
Thank you so much to Lizzie Chantree for this lovely post on her awesome blog celebrating my book launch of Do What You Love which is a little book of poetry, photography and flash fiction.
Lizzie is a wonderful author, and kindness itself. She does much for the writing community. Do follow her blog and facebook group.
In the celebratory release blog from Lizzie I share a poetic excerpt about a little fellow, Zog, who I looked after one day. He was the cutest dog. Pop over to Lizzie’s to read the blog at source.
M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 