Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

The Humming-Bird poem

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Humming-bird photo by Wayne Pridemore


The Humming-Bird poem
by Jones Very

Like thoughts that flit across the mind,
Leaving no lasting trace behind,
The Humming-bird darts to and fro,
Comes,vanishes before we know




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Poem: Urban Stream

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Stream at Twin Ponds by Vicki Westberg

Urban Stream

Combed by coho, groomed by grass
her language is microsong
high-pitched and fast.
She teases the doodlebug, dragonfly, sticks.
She flashes, splashes, sprays and spits.
She jumps and bumps, dappled and dimpled,
flirting, squirting, gurgling dribbles.

Nibbling ripples of bubbles appear,
as well as regular floods of tears.
Coyotes kiss this hide-n-seek creek
and possums cross her
while you and I sleep.

Sunbeams explode and moonbeams meander
directing airborne creatures to land there.
Her earth hard host cradles the flow
and leaves gifts of gravel
above and below.

At the end of her baptismal slide
she climbs the rain cloud
for another ride.

Vicki Westberg 2011
From her self-published book of poetry, entitled 
"Earthverse," copyright 2011


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Poetry: Stone Stories

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Photo by Vicki K. Westberg
The mug is a family heirloom painted
by my grandmother in 1951 for
my mother whose name is on it.  "Jerri"

Stone Stories

We have thought of them as just a nuisance
Indicating poor soil perhaps, but stones in your garden
Are stories of the past, how it is they appear here
After uncountable years.

They seem to rise to your gaze and amazement.
They could tell you their stories if you could only
Decipher their tacit messages.  How do you translate
Their former fate?  That history is a mystery.

We may dig out the facts preserved in time.
Illustrated with the help of water or rain,
Their colors deepen to gentle green, gray,
Pastel pink perhaps, speckled or striped.

They seem to bloom, but while flowers are the future
Yet untold, stones are the past to unfold in reverse.
Are they pieces of that mountain shifting, ground sifting?
Now looking for contact, for freedom, they await discovery.

Gathered together they help to make a subtle bowl
For a colorful bee bath or bird fountain.
Recovering from sleep do they now feel
Your fondling eyes seeking deep?


        Vicki K. Westberg  May 22, 2024


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"To Be Among The Trees - An Arboreal Poetry Workshop" at Dunn Gardens

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Photo courtesy Dunn Gardens

"To Be Among The Trees-An Arboreal Poetry Workshop"
Saturday, May 11, 2024 @3pm
Cost: Members- $10 | Not-Yet-Members- $15

Come write, inspired by trees in spring glory on the beautiful grounds of Dunn Gardens. We will turn our attention to our green companions through listening to arboreal poems and engaging in practices to open our perception. 

Time will be given to contemplate and write in response to a tree of your choice, with simple poetic forms to write into. We will end by celebrating together in honoring, through our words, the sensuous details and beauty of the trees that surround us.
 
To Be Among Trees, for seasoned or beginning writers alike, will take place in Dunn Gardens, a beautiful oasis in North Seattle with over 70 Heritage trees. We will meet outside (with access to bathrooms) and spend time writing in the gardens. A canopy will be provided in case of rain. A small break is included. Please bring a snack and drink for yourself.
 
Mary Oak is passionate about using writing as a way to honor our embeddedness within the living Earth. For over 20 years she has enjoyed leading students in awakening perception, sensuous engagement, and heart awareness in relation to the plant kingdom in Waldorf teacher training, through her home studio and in her Sacred Botany: Revisioning the Plant Kingdom classes at Antioch University. 

For more about Mary and her writing and teaching please look here.


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Opening the Poetry Treasure Box April 20, 2024

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Opening the Poetry Treasure Box
Saturday, April 20, 11:30am-12:30pm

In person at the Shoreline Library, 345 NE 175th St, Shoreline WA 98155. For adults.

In this one-hour workshop, learn how to extend metaphors. Analyze poems, practice techniques and write your own poem.

Presented by Debby Bacharach.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Shoreline Library.

Register here


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Poem: Seeds for Thought

Monday, April 8, 2024


Seeds for Thought

Here is a seed. Inside is a tree,
A melon, or flowers perhaps waiting,
Waiting to stretch up to the sky,
And down into soil.
How does it manage these mystery maneuvers?
What kind of language spoken
That we can see but not hear,
The message of a recipe
Unbroken year to year?

Somehow it is programmed to come forth.
How did this get set in motion?
And not only to grow,
But reproduce the notion.
Who told it and gave it the power
As if it could think,
Awaken and follow a blueprint when tapped
With the right conditions.

How has a seed been given
The power do you suppose
Of listening for its cue?
What do you propose
Is the background
Of this profound miracle?

Vicki K. Westberg, Mar.24, 2024


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Poetry Writing Workshop: Say It Loud! online April 14, 2024 from 4 - 5:30pm

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Presenter Ching-In Chen, photo by Cassie Mira
Poetry Writing Workshop: Say It Loud!
Sunday, April 14, 4-5:30pm

Free - but register here

For National Poetry Month, hone the power of our own poetic voices through writing exercises.

Explore these questions: 
  • What are your origin stories? 
  • What are the textures of your world? 
  • Whose voices do you carry? 
  • What futures are you reaching for?
Presenter Ching-In Chen is the author of “The Heart's Traffic” (Arktoi/Red Hen Press, 2009) and “recombinant” (Kelsey Street Press, 2017). 

Born of Chinese immigrants, they are a Kundiman, Lambda, Callaloo and Watering Hole Fellow and a member of the Macondo and Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundations writing communities.

This is the sixth and final workshop in the online writing series.


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Poem:Photo - The Star Strewn Sky

Monday, February 26, 2024

Stars. Photo by Carl Dinse

The Star Strewn Sky

I miss the stars. I miss The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper,
The North Star. All easy to identify.
But most of all I miss Orion.
It was always the first constellation I saw when I looked up
And the last to diminish towards dawn.

Orion used to watch over me on my way home after night meetings.
I’d look out the car window and look up and there he’d be
Tipped a little sideways as always.

I don’t know, but I wonder
If Dad didn’t write us from the wartime South Pacific, and say,
“When you’re lonesome, just look up at Orion the warrior.
I’ll be doing the same from here under
And we’ll meet over the wash grey blue.
I’ll watch out for you.”

Have you ever looked up at the stars and lost your stress?
Perhaps in the wilderness or from a mountain’s height?
I don’t see stars anymore coming home from meetings
Or looking up from my yard, even the planets are gone.
Sightings have gradually diminished into nothingness.

Have you ever seen the star-studded big sky in Montana?
Stopped and then turned off the headlights?
Another brightness appears above.
From a country road’s blackness a star-encrusted panorama,
A mess of brilliant scattered diamonds
Thick and shimmering in the great overhead.
“Look at us! Look at us! We’re here!” they seemed to say.

How can stars be millions, billions, trillions of light years away
Yet feel so intimate?


Vicki Westberg Feb. 12, 2024


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Photo:Poem - Autumn at the Japanese Garden

Friday, November 3, 2023

Photo by Wayne Pridemore

The Autumn Sky
Was blue.
 
The sun shining bright
in afternoon light.
 
I went for a walk
in a nearby park.

Photo by Wayne Pridemore
 
Monoku poem by David Kavanagh


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Hibiscus haiku

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Photo by Wayne Pridemore


Summer hibiscus
small young hummingbird
flight towards delight

Haiku by Delice Skelly


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Photo: Poem Ode to an Artichoke

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Photo by Wayne Pridemore

Ode to an Artichoke
by Pablo Neruda

The artichoke
of delicate heart
erect
in its battle-dress, builds
its minimal cupola;
keeps
stark
in its scallop of
scales.



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Eager Bee

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Photo by Wayne Pridemore

 Let's go, let's go, it's so sunny;
we need to rush, make some honey.
 
Opening lines of Eager Bee poem 
in Poetry Soup by Terry Miller


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Haiku Poetry class starts July 13, 2023 on Zoom

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Photo by Dan V on Unsplash

Haiku Poetry class starts July 13th on Zoom

Haiku is the sole form of poetry that makes nature into a spiritual journey.

Haiku originated in Japan and emphasizes being in the moment. 

Traditional Haiku uses seventeen syllables (5-7-5), but we will also explore contemporary Haiku which is freer. 

Bob Stahl will teach you the enjoyment of writing Haiku poems. 

He has taught previous poetry classes on Rumi, Hafez, Emily Dickinson, Rilke, and Mary Oliver in the Seattle-area. He has also lived and taught in Japan.

7/13 - 8/3 - 4 sessions
7:00 - 9:00pm
$99.00
Online via Zoom

Presented by Shoreline Community College Continuing Education



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Poetry: Climbing the Tree of Life

Friday, March 24, 2023

Climbing the Tree of Life

Climbing from the ground and limb to limb
We see the tree is a lot like you and me.
It grows and shows a life within,
Sequoia in LFP
Photo by Vicki Westberg
A living thing that will pass in time,
But now gives a wider, taller view
As you get higher on its living ladder.

Acorns, cones, fruit or flowers will be found
In these fine bowers skyward bound.
You behold early on, a child’s swing,
Birds on the nest or on the wing.
Sustained by surroundings and giving back
You encounter many a living thing.

Branch to branch brushing as you pass through
The leaves, the needles scratching, fondling you.
Come the sleet, the heat, the snow, the rain
Hear the wind now gain in strength,
At length the whispers, squeaks, creaks and groans
Of skin to bark and wood to bones.
‘till you reach the top and behold the view!
To the eye now all is new!

Growth is important, some losing, some winning
Until we reach the final inning.
Seeing far out and a long way down
From the start of life to the final round.
But is this the end of a beautiful trip?
Or is it the start of a new beginning?

Vicki Westberg
Mar. 19, 2023

3-26-2023 revisions

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Big Feelings in Small Moments: Writing Poetry

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Big Feelings in Small Moments: Writing Poetry
Tuesday, March 28, 2023 from 6:30-7:30pm

Lake Forest Park Library
Lower level of Town Center, Lobby
Intersection of Ballinger and Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park WA 98155

Analyze poems, practice techniques, write your own poem and share! All levels welcome.

Presented by Debby Bacharach.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Lake Forest Park Library.

Please register, https://1.kcls.org/WritingPoetry


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An Afternoon of Poetry and Tea at Dunn Gardens with Seattle-born poet Mary Pinard

Friday, February 24, 2023

Cozy up with a cup of tea for a late winter poetry reading in Ed’s Cottage in Dunn Gardens on Thursday, March 9, 2023 from 1-3pm. 

Dunn Gardens are just south of 145th and west of Greenwood at 13533 Northshire Rd NW, Seattle 98177

We’ll have a fire in the dining room, the tea brewing, and cocoa apple cake for you to enjoy while listening to the poems of Mary Pinard. 

Come early or stay late to see early signs of spring in the Gardens. Poet Mary Pinard is visiting from Boston, where she regularly visits Olmsted parks in the area.

Mary Pinard is the author of two books of poetry, Portal (2014), and Ghost Heart (2022), which won the 2021 Ex Ophidia Press Prize for Poetry. Her play, Heart/Roots County, was published by Volland Press during the summer of 2022. 

Over the last 15 years, she has collaborated with several visual artists and musicians in the Boston area, where her poems have been variously incised in glass (“Fragment House,” Slocum River Reserve, Dartmouth, MA), shaped in wire (“Lineage,” Old Frog Pond Farm, Harvard, MA), adhered to an exhibit wall (“Breaking Prairie,” Hollister Gallery, Babson College), and set to music (“On the Wing: A Celebration of Birds in Words and Music,” performed at several New England venues).

She teaches literature and poetry courses in the Arts and Humanities Division at Babson College, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1990. She was born and raised in Seattle. For more information visit her website: https://marypinard.com/

Cost: Members: $5, Not-yet-members: $10

Information and tickets here: https://dunngardens.org/event/poetry-tea-with-mary-pinard/


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Poetry Appreciation: Study Rumi from the comfort of your couch

Monday, February 13, 2023

Let the poetry of Rumi warm your soul this winter. Rumi was a 13th Century mystical Persian poet whose insights into life, loss, freedom, longing, spirit, and imagination continue to resonate even today. 

As a Sufi, Rumi was the founder of the ‘whirling dervishes’.  Learn about Rumi’s mentor, the mysterious Shams of Tabriz. 

The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks (New Expanded Edition) will be the required text and touchstone for our discussion sessions.  Rumi is the most widely read poet in America today. A couple of DVDs on Rumi will be shared as well.

Robert Stahl has previously taught several poetry classes at Seattle-area colleges: Rumi, Hafiz, Emily Dickinson, Rilke, Mary Oliver, and Haiku. 

For students 16+ and adults of all ages.
3/2 - 3/23 | 6:00 – 8:00 pm | Thursday (4)| Bob Stahl | Fee: $99 | Location: Online

Offered by Shoreline Community College Continuing Education.




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Poetry: The Bridge

Monday, February 6, 2023

Railroad Bridge photo by Danielle Roth

Poem: The Bridge

Let’s meet on the bridge.
A place to see new views,
As you walk look down
And see the raging river waters
Or a peaceful stream
Either one coming from
Its place of beginnings
To its final destination.

As you walk, look down.
There! You see the water
Bouncing over rocks,
Curling over driftwood,
Reflecting the cloudy sky
Or glistening in some sunlight.
Listen to it talking,
Intimate messages.

Now look to the sides.
Opened up to you
New views, vistas left and right.
Look up and feel the air
Lift and fluff your hair.
The clouds are always changing
The waters come and go
And we’re freshened by the flow.

No matter the weather
We are strong together.
Whether tranquil streams
Or troubled surges,
The bridge is a bond
And a freedom to understand.
Take my hand and
Meet me in the middle.

Vicki Westberg, Jan. 17, 2023

Correction: Photo is by Danielle Roth
Addition: The photo was taken at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim WA which is on the Olympic Discovery Trail and now maintained by the Dungeness River Nature Center. It spans the Dungeness River in Sequim.

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Heartful Rootz events at Sky Nursery this weekend

Saturday, November 5, 2022

This Saturday and Sunday, November 5 - 6, 2022 local Black, Indigenous, and people of the global majority (BIPIGM) creators and businesses are set to fill the Sky Greenhouse with incredible handmade art, crafts, self-care goodies, food and more. 

Stop by anytime between 10am and 5pm Saturday and Sunday to shop around, meet the makers, and enjoy a community seed and clothing exchange.

This is not a donation. It is a collaboration to dress each other up in love. 


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To Everything There is a Season

Monday, October 3, 2022

Winter
To everything there is a season
Photos by Doug Cerretti

The four seasons of the Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) 
located at the Edmonds Veteran Plaza, 250 5th Ave N, Edmonds, WA 98020

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

Spring
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

Summer
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

Fall
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late
--
Song popularized by the Byrds (1965); written by Pete Seeger (1959) who adapted the lyrics from the Bible (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) 



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