helpless | Celebrating a Year

Celebrating a Year

Posts Tagged ‘helpless’

week 613 ~ helpless but

with 2 comments

helpless but
still hoping
one door’s shut
helpless but
ties uncut
lives coping
helpless but
still hoping

Written by mairmusic

July 28, 2020 at 3:41 pm

Posted in July, rondeau

Tagged with helpless, hope, loss, poetry, sudden death

week 472 ~ once upon a blameless fear

with one comment

once upon a blameless fear
when the worst could still be real
when the future looms unclear
once upon a blameless fear
we hold tight to all that’s dear
wait for someone else’s deal
once upon a blameless fear
when the worst could still be real

Written by mairmusic

November 5, 2017 at 4:58 pm

Posted in October, rondeau

Tagged with fear, future, helpless, poetry, unknown

week 469 ~ perhaps I have been misreading the signs

with 2 comments

perhaps I have been misreading the signs
moving too hastily to conclusions
based on circumstances facts anyone’s
guess this mess of misdirection combines
paranoia and anger in a froth
of unknown duration much like whipped cream
that only lasts so long or a bad dream
or a candle that beckons a drunk moth
I flutter helplessly hooked soon to be
burned ripped hopes ride the rage out of my mouth
and I so long to hop a nightmare south
away from this truth or controversy
don’t think don’t talk but remember to breathe
you’ll ride out love’s storm like any disease

Written by mairmusic

October 15, 2017 at 5:11 pm

Posted in October, sonnet

Tagged with anger, disease, helpless, jumping to conclusions, love, misreading signs, pain, paranoia, poetry, rage, transient thoughts

week 229 ~ things fall apart

with 2 comments

things fall apart
that’s what they do
breaking your heart
things fall apart
can’t push restart
‘til we get through
things fall apart
that’s what they do

Written by mairmusic

March 3, 2013 at 12:47 pm

Posted in February, rondeau

Tagged with fall apart, helpless, loss, poetry

week 223 ~ if I were there I’d kiss you

with 4 comments

if I were there I’d kiss you
right on the top of your head
banish pain and hug you too
so tight there I’m not instead

right on the top of your head
I’ll fasten my favorite dreams
so tight there I’m not instead
here such a long way it seems

I’ll fasten my favorite dreams
just a voice on the wire
here such a long way it seems
hoping fate is a liar

just a voice on the wire
those hard words I cannot change
hoping fate is a liar
praying time will rearrange

those hard words I cannot change
wrap up everything that’s bad
praying time will rearrange
fix the truths that make you sad

wrap up everything that’s bad
banish pain and hug you too
fix the truths that make you sad
if I were there I’d kiss you

Written by mairmusic

January 19, 2013 at 9:37 am

Posted in January, pantoum

Tagged with distance, fix, helpless, hope, love, poetry

Who am I?

A mandolinist, a bandolimist, a writer, a photographer, a wannabe Brasileira. Check my webpage for information on my music and my sometimes life in Rio.

What is this?

I made a plan, beginning on my birthday- October 16, 2008 - to keep creativity in focus in my daily life, spontaneously, reflectively, and with intention, by setting in motion several series of small events. Every day I take a photo and record a thought. Every week I write a poem and post a photograph of myself in the context of my life. i don't post every day, but I maintain the schedule of each series and post as often as I can. Before I began I wrote, "I think this will be fun, may be interesting, and will result in a considered year of small moments stolen from a busy life and strung together to make... who knows? At this point it's just a plan. Wish me luck~ here goes!"

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“Years 2 – 6” — so what’s changed?

I decided to continue on after a year, because this document had become a treasured reflective spot in my life. There are some changes in "Year 2," expanding options for my weekly poem beyond sonnet to add some other forms-- rondeau or triolet, villanelle. I added the decima in late January 2010, and the pantoum in August. Definitions of each form appear below. I continue to post a photo daily, but may post several pictures taken on one day over the course of a week if I have an interesting series. I may even post an old photo if I'm writing about something I'm thinking back to. I'll continue to have fun with this project; I hope you will too. For Year 3 I tried including other people in the self-portraits that accompany my poems, adding "Musical Sundays" to post mp3s of my music, but these petered out in a few months. This is simply a place for my daily thoughts & photos, and weekly poems in the forms I love. Onward...!

The material on these pages belongs to me

Everything published here was created especially for this project and is owned and copyright by me. When the project is complete I may do something concrete with some of it. So enjoy, but please, if you want to share more than a quote or two send people here, don't displace my work from its context or authorship.

What’s a sonnet?

A sonnet is a 14-line iambic pentameter poem with a unique and characteristic rhyme scheme. They have been written in Europe and England for centuries, and usually combine viewpoint and reflection in a personal yet universal way. I call mine blank-verse sonnets and try for a simple casual scan that observes yet obscures the form. Inspirations are the American sonnets of e. e. cummings and Edna "Vince" Millay.

What’s a villanelle?

A villanelle is an early French form with 19 lines using only 2 rhymes, traditionally broken into 6 verses. It's kind of obsessive, with lines 1 & 3 repeating alternately, the 4th time as lines 18 & 19. The lines can be any length, but don't seem to vary within a poem, and subjects include love, loss and challenge. Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath all wrote them, and from the minute I typed villanelle in "Year 2 begins" I was itching to try it out because I've never written one. My first appear in Weeks 53 & 56. I've run some verses together, as many modern writers have done, for continuity and a cleaner line.

What’s a rondeau?

A rondeau is a form of medieval poetry that pre-dates the villanelle and also uses only 2 rhymes. The earliest come from an 8-line song form with 2 lines of music that repeat-- line 1 as 4 & 7, and line 2 as 8, rhyming the rest in a characteristic pattern. The result is a sturdy little poem that makes its point thoughtfully, and less obsessively than the villanelle, perhaps because the generating couplet is unrhymed, and the lines don't need to be the same length, just able to be sung or spoken in the same amount of time. The first ones appear in weeks 55 & 57. Sometimes the poetic form, sans music, is called a triolet.

What’s a decima?

A decima is an early 10-line Spanish poetic form, with a distinct break after the first 4. It uses an 8-syllable line and has an unusual but characteristic rhyme scheme. It's also a 19th-century form of improvised Cuban song so I thought it would work well in this blog format. My first appear in weeks 66 & 69.

What’s a pantoum?

A Malaysian form from the 15th century-- how exotic! It's a series of quatrains, w/ lines 2 & 4 repeating as lines 1 & 3 in the next. The last quatrain also uses lines 1 & 3 from the first quatrain, with the first line ending the poem. So every line is used twice. My first one is week 95.

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Celebrating a Year

Posts Tagged ‘helpless’

week 613 ~ helpless but

week 472 ~ once upon a blameless fear

week 469 ~ perhaps I have been misreading the signs

week 229 ~ things fall apart

week 223 ~ if I were there I’d kiss you

Who am I?

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What is this?

Email Subscription

“Years 2 – 6” — so what’s changed?

The material on these pages belongs to me

What’s a sonnet?

What’s a villanelle?

What’s a rondeau?

What’s a decima?

What’s a pantoum?

Search poems by type

Posts with music attached

archive: past posts

Search for words and phrases

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