light | Celebrating a Year

a clear shaft of light
up from the center
eyes still without sight
a clear shaft of light
dreams poised to take flight
no one dares enter
a clear shaft of light
up from the center

Written by mairmusic

October 15, 2017 at 3:40 pm

Posted in rondeau, September

Tagged with dreams, flight, light, poetry, unknown

week 452 ~ transformational light

with 4 comments

transformational light
opens a wonderland
amazed our words take flight
transformational light
tethered to stone in sight
yet beyond as we stand
transformational light
opens a wonderland

Written by mairmusic

July 7, 2017 at 6:53 pm

Posted in June, rondeau

Tagged with flight, light, poetry, stone, transformational, wonderland

week 402 ~ the world that exists

with 2 comments

me.402 the world that exists
in dark rooms behind
closed doors light persists
obscuring time mists
mask a troubled mind

the world that exists
covered in lies twists
assumptions hopes find
closed doors light persists

a voice still insists
the future’s not blind
the world that exists
is strong it resists
impatience maligned

closed doors light persists
bang on them with fists
balled your warrant signed
the world that exists
closed doors light persists

Written by mairmusic

June 24, 2016 at 7:35 pm

Posted in June, villanelle

Tagged with closed doors, conflict, dark rooms, future, hope, lies, light, world

week 385 ~ when the light goes out of the sky

with 2 comments

when the light goes out of the sky
evening a rain storm something of
sorrow loss perhaps thoughts of love
you pause mid-gesture wonder why
you feel a shadow passing by
your soul leaving an unexplained
chill that lingers nothing is gained
without cost nothing of value
disappears without pain still you
proceed stability maintained

Written by mairmusic

March 6, 2016 at 12:10 pm

Posted in decima, February

Tagged with chill, light, loss, love, poetry, sorrow, stability

week 317 ~ just one more minute

with 2 comments

just one more minute
with my eyes closed please
hard to jump in it

this waking up bit
perhaps I could tease
just one more minute

of sleep maybe fit
a bad dream’s release
hard to jump in it

today needs a hit
of energy squeeze
just one more minute

to wake up admit
-ing light by degrees
hard to jump in it

stretch time to permit
somnambulant ease
just one more minute
hard to jump in it

Written by mairmusic

November 15, 2014 at 1:40 pm

Posted in November, villanelle

Tagged with awake, get up, light, morning, poetry, reluctance, sleep, wake

week 251 ~ the light of tomorrow

with 4 comments

the light of tomorrow
breaks through my dreams tonight
splitting the dark borrow
the light of tomorrow
eviscerate sorrow
don’t wait for a fair fight
the light of tomorrow
breaks through my dreams tonight

Written by mairmusic

August 1, 2013 at 3:20 pm

Posted in August, rondeau

Tagged with future, light, poetry, tomorrow, tonight

week 200 ~ light falling on the daffodils

with 6 comments

light falling on the daffodils
in memory incandescent
perpetual impermanent
like a dream that my soul distills
hoping to find gold in the rills
spilling out of a long lost spring
but sadly nothing now can bring
back the innocence that believed
in the plan happiness conceived
time smiled ruefully then took wing

Written by mairmusic

August 9, 2012 at 9:43 am

Posted in August, decima

Tagged with daffodils, dreams, hope, innocence, light, loss, poetry, spring

week 99 ~ an interesting change

with 40 comments

an interesting change
in the light here today
clouds drift and rearrange
and old ideas won’t stay

in the light here today
I read my discontent
and old ideas won’t stay
my happiness is spent

I read my discontent
in every passing breeze
my happiness is spent
its got me on my knees

in every passing breeze
my dreams sing azure blue
its got me on my knees
and I hope to slide through

my dreams sing azure blue
clouds drift and rearrange
and I hope to slide through
an interesting change

Written by mairmusic

September 9, 2010 at 4:18 pm

Posted in pantoum, September

Tagged with change, clouds, discontent, joy, light, poetry, Thursday Poets Rally

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 ‘light’

week 658 ~ in a blaze of light

week 467 ~ a clear shaft of light

week 452 ~ transformational light

week 402 ~ the world that exists

week 385 ~ when the light goes out of the sky

week 317 ~ just one more minute

week 251 ~ the light of tomorrow

week 200 ~ light falling on the daffodils

week 99 ~ an interesting change

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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