stress | Celebrating a Year

Posts Tagged ‘stress’

week 395 ~ there is a melody deep in my soul

there is a melody deep in my soul
most days it sits quietly waiting for
the walls of busy to relax for more
than a breath so I can reboot to whole
it drums inside my brain flashes briefly
but then subsides stymied by a world that
steam rollers upstart inspiration flat
no time to spare for creativity
so I drift on hopeful that up ahead
I’ll trade in duty and nonessential
schedules sneak past the signal jammer full
to the top with tunes that will sing instead
of disappearing into rush hour
distracted dissolving losing power

Written by mairmusic

May 13, 2016 at 3:17 pm

Posted in May, sonnet

Tagged with busy, composing, creativity, duty, future, melody, poetry, schedule, song, stress

week 394 ~ braid the strands of life love stress pull ever

with 2 comments

braid the strands of life love stress pull ever
tighter leave no wiggle room for breathing
doubt none for mistakes if you keep running
fast enough you won’t have to think never
stop stumble the end is some place clever
up ahead so remember everything
in case there’s a quiz someday when it’s spring
in the future when days last forever
when there will be time enough to dream will
it occur to you to pause look for an
alternate path untwine the unneeded
strands of your regret to see if there’s still
an outside chance to reinvent the plan
and improvise a better song instead

Written by mairmusic

May 8, 2016 at 2:14 pm

Posted in April, sonnet

Tagged with dream, future, letting go, life, love, poetry, stress

week 351 ~ I am all tied up in knots

with 2 comments

I am all tied up in knots
my back hurts my neck aches too
match up do-haves with the not’s
trying hard to barge on through

my back hurts my neck aches too
still the list goes on and on
trying hard to barge on through
before all the good time’s gone

still the list goes on and on
I’m so ready to be done
before all the good time’s gone
while there’s still a chance for fun

I’m so ready to be done
though it’s never just easy
while there’s still a chance for fun
time insists on teasing me

though it’s never just easy
match the do-haves with the not’s
time insists on teasing me
I am all tied up in knots

Written by mairmusic

July 3, 2015 at 6:59 pm

Posted in July, pantoum

Tagged with have nots, knots, poetry, stress, teasing, to-do list

week 286 ~ at the start time does seem endless

with 2 comments

at the start time does seem endless
but not today in the middle
of life feeling beat up and full
of unfulfilled potential stress
brings with it angst-ridden duress
crowding out essential things I
need to be whole and though I try
to dial it back I simply can’t
so please excuse me while I rant
and fidget as real life stands by

Written by mairmusic

April 7, 2014 at 1:05 pm

Posted in April, decima

Tagged with angst, fidget, poetry, rant, real life, stress, time, wait

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 ‘stress’

week 395 ~ there is a melody deep in my soul

week 394 ~ braid the strands of life love stress pull ever

week 351 ~ I am all tied up in knots

week 286 ~ at the start time does seem endless

Who am I?

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What is this?

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“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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