shamash says...

"A is for Ants (Who Were Swept Out to Sea)"

Day 7 of 30:  Global Poetry Writing Month and National Poetry Writing Month

 

 

 

What a pleasant surprise to wake up this morning to find that NaPoWriMo listed me as the featured poet for the poem "She Was from Moscow". Thanks, NaPoWriMo! 

 

Today's NaPoWriMo challenge is to write a tritina, which involves "three, three-line stanzas, and a final concluding line. Three 'end words' are used to conclude the lines of each stanza, in a set pattern of ABC, CAB, BCA, and all three end words appear together in the final line." 

 

This took some brain power. The hardest part was picking which three words to use in the tritina pattern. Below is my humble attempt.

 

(At left: a photo I took many years ago. It was some of some of the best wine I've ever had, and some of the best company, too!)

 

 

 

A is for Ants (Who Were Swept Out to Sea)

 

Ants: circling the pomegranate again and again,

Mounting the tangerine, pineapple, grape

Morning in fruit bowl: a kind of ant-happiness

 

Expats: distilling the sugar, the yeast for gin-happiness

Lifting the glasses to toast, once again

The cluster, the tide, the white and red grape

 

The spirits, the shine, from juniper moon grapes

Each colony swimming: a fruit of vine happiness

Antennas for drinking, elixir on tongues, the tribe starts again

 

A dance in the sand, an ant-mortal disco: saluting the grape again and again

 

 

© Kat Shamash, April 7, 2016

Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico, and the 7th Hill of Rome

Dusk has fallen, and we’re at the foot of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill. MB, G., and I are freezing in the damp Roman air, so we button up our jackets and prepare to head off to the celebratory street dancing and music promised for the 150^th anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

Rome: Prosecco, Espresso, Caffe Greco

We are not Caesar, and we avoided the Forum, so I can say with confidence that The Ides of March was by far our best day in Rome. After days of clouds and rain, the sun and the moon both showed their faces. We couldn’t seem to tear ourselves away from the Piazza de España and by dusk, we were still there, drinking prosecco at a café under moon clouds.

“How do we rearrange our lives to live in this magnificent city?” we ask ourselves. There’s something about Rome at night, especially under a waxing moon, that causes me to think that reinventing my life and steering it against all the plans that drive me forward is the most natural thing in the world to do. Here, in this city of fallen empires and lovers on Vespas, going against the current of one’s well-planned life seems possible, even wise. The words of Keats, once an expatriate in Rome,

Steps of Broken Stones and Temples

Here in Rome, tsunamis and earthquakes seem as distant as the dated letters of the 18th century Grand  Tourists- the young British noblemen who came to Rome to study Italian art and to carry marble busts and statues back home to England. 

Here in Rome's historical district there are no skyscrapers, no billboards, and no high-speed expressways.  Instead, we walk over streets and sidewalks of cobblestone polished smooth by centuries of moving carriage wheels and the shuffle of pedestrians’ feet. One, red geranium peaks over a windowsill high above the street. There is more marble here than tarmac, and more cafes and patisseries than fast food. Our hotel has ornate, brass handrails and well-worn, marble steps leading all the way up to the 6th floor. In this neighborhood, there is no evidence, thank Artemis, of America: no McDonald's, no Starbucks, no strip malls, no Hummers. Instead: family-run ristourantes, cafes, small specialty shops, and Vespas.

As I walk on the very stones on which Julius Caesar walked on his way to the Forum, 

When Will We Stop Killing Each Other?

This is my Lebanese friend Anila who lives in Beirut.

No More Walls

Is_ it too childish of a question to ask,

"Why can't we all get along?"

-image via Banksy's website

The security barrier separating the occupied territories from Israel.

West Bank, Palestine 2005.

Found Art: In Praise of Trash

The art of using what others throw away as a medium for art.

image Erin Currier "Angela Davis as the Green Tara" private collection

Hey Brits, you’re more American than you know

Women Say "NO!" to War

On the picture are "women and crosses and coffins on a beach in Santa Monica", a few days ago. Do pay attention to the little figure on the bottom right side to have a better perspective of this performance. via new-art.blogspot, via moonriver

Fish Stories: Great Catch!

Thanks, Kevy, for passing this on to me. As he puts it,

"What did they use for bait?"

Update: Though I am still unable to find the name of the creator of this image, one of my students came across it while navigating through this site, which hosts a number of humorous bogus web sites. The page is entitled "The Presidents George Bush Visit to Mankato the Venice of the North." Check out the other bogus sites. They will make you chuckle. Promise.