Tuesday, October 10, 2017

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Dallas/ Hum

APPF 2017 #19

Dallas Cowboys Cheer 
Large TV screen in L.A. 
Leaders kick so high






*******


 APPF 2017 #20

Mechanical keyboard's
soft sound early a.m.
Hummingbirds
write stories on air
Perched stillness prevails
poetic silence



This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Off Leash/ Nano

APPF 2017 #17





Off leash, undone, free
Balmy wind cooling warm feet
Dog tip toes water
*******

APPF 2017 #18



Haiku for 93-year-old friend



Open drapes to view 
Sunset Blvd car chase
Old gal's boobs still young








This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Eclipse/ Blank


APPF 2017 #15



Eclipse & Estring
Allowing things to happen
Sun & Moon will join
*******

 APPF #16


At times there's nothing
like a cold drink of water
drawing a blank mind





This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Heather Hyer

APPF #13

Please remember her
I'm looking at the girl's face
Here for a short time

Heather Heyer I.M.
*******

APPF #14

For Heather Heyer

Chagall's cacophony in vivid colors
Heather's life in pink, purple, green
The road ahead all shades of the rainbow
Bridging worlds spread apart
Heather's portrait lit by golden rays
Her silhouette darkened by the sun
Aura sparkling, sparkling sparks
Life going by in a flash




















This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Star/Chase

 APPF 2017 #11
When you wish upon
Every thing is possible
Love ignites the star
*******

APPF #12 


Overkill he said
Be here now in Hollywood
Let's cut to the chase











This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Airbnb Train

APPF 2017 #9
Airbnb

Washed bedspread five times
My mom on my mind always
Vinegar rinse rocks!
*****


APPF 2017 #10 




Poem mail like a train
Connects sender and sendee
Tying thoughts unseen











This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard 2017 - Inking/ Hunting

APPF 2017 # 7

Imagine the art
Secretly inking lady
Double entendre










******* 

APPF 2017 #8



Hunting Dish

Not for faint at heart
Image triggers aroma
Dutch hazepeper








This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Summer/ Fruit

APPF 2017 #5 




The art of picking
fruit beckons to be tasted
color coded ripe





*******

 APPF 2017 #6
High blush full body
Pick fruit with eye of artist
Object d'art to eat











This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Traveling Light/ Azular

APPF 2017 #3




Traveling Light 

In Paris, a blind man's flat my home
I was painting, writing poetry
Pere Lachaise my backyard park
Pain du campagne staple picnic
Lunch, dinner plus petit dejeuner
at Rue de la Reunion
Lit by one lamp on extension cord



*******

APPF 2017 #4 



AZULAR

Color of sky today faint
Longing for blue, blue, blue what say you?
Yesteryear's hue
Dreaded forest fires
Eliminate famous
Northern firmament
AZULAR por favor!
Succulent berries
Hummingbirds galore
Yet people inside
they walk no more.




This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Poetry Postcard Fest 2017 - Picture Life/ Wildfire

APPF 2017 #1 

Picture Life

A moment in time
that never changes
a heart beat
oxygen exchange
A sigh, a pulse,
and next 
A galaxy of your 
own, a star
that winks 
*

*******

APPF 2017 #2





Wildfire

Last nigh's sunset erie
fraught with sinister smog
Mercer Island villas viewed from Seward Park
veiled red, not caused by nature's curtain call
Today we mourn with B.C. across the border
death of trees no longer there to see.








This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

August Postcard Poetry Fest aka PoPoFest 2017

Hi Ku or Low Ku?

Cards received from unknown senders
In July I signed up for August Postcard Poetry Fest.
Once upon a time the Austin Writers' League named me Traveling Poet 1994. After a hiatus I started tweeting as DutchessAbroad.
The idea of the Postcard Poetry Fest is —to use a postcard the way you would any piece of paper, pinning down words. And then you address the folks on a list of 31, one by one, starting with the name underneath your own.
The first eighteen days I wrote random (bad) haikus or other shorts. Then a friend posted on Facebook that she was feeling sad for no apparent reason. "Weltschmerz", I said.




APPF #21through 31, misspelled with T before Z
I linked the last twelve cards by the letters in Weltschmerz. This brought me closer to how I had initially hoped the project would develop. If I participate again, I'd give more attention to the whole design. Did APPF inspire me to write poetry? May be yes, may be no. As I mentioned above, I tweet, and 140 characters in response to what's happening around me, or in the world, is about my speed.

I may post some of cards 1 through 20, plus the off the cuff poems separately on this blog.
August 1+2, 3+4, 5+6, 7+8, 9+10, 11+12, 13+14, 15+16, 17+18, 19+20,


This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

The Finishing School for Creatives Stuck in Limbo

Finishing School: The Happy Ending to That Writing Project You Can't Seem to Get DoneFinishing School: The Happy Ending to That Writing Project You Can't Seem to Get Done by Cary Tennis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First off the bat, Finishing School is not about etiquette (nor espionage). It is however about learning and unlearning habits. This book reads like a dual memoir.

Cary Tennis and Danelle Morton share in personal essays where they're coming from. Readers find out what it was, that kept otherwise productive writers from finishing (certain) projects, and how they overcame inertia. Along the way they offer a method to follow, and they share how to start a Finishing School of one's own, for two or more.

Cary is a long time devotee and teacher of the Amherst Writers and Artists Workshop. The workshops he leads at his home help writers produce material, as he has himself, following Pat Schneider's Amherst method. A few decades ago, Cary and his friend Alan Kaufman attended meetings of "Artists Recovering through the Twelve Steps (A.R.T.S.) Anonymous". They found buddying up to make sure they would send material out for publication was a great help. In a way Finishing School is a follow up on Cary's experience with ARTS.
"Making your intentions known, committing to them, having an (art) buddy: these were genuinely useful things."

Danelle Morton started as a beat journalist and has co-authored many a book, and written book proposals. Yet when it came down to writing from the heart, writing about what mattered to herself, she felt paralyzed. Learning about Cary's ideas on finishing projects, she embarked on a month-long try-out. In a way the book Finishing School is partially a longitudinal report by journalist Morton. She shares what it's like to succumb to a method when one is stuck with unfinished material, even as a professional.

Readers may relate to either or both authors' situation and point of view.

  • Journaling without a clear aim what all those entries are good for, and even "winning" the yearly NaNoWriMo challenge, can leave one with a pile of material, left to mature on its own in the dark hole called CPU.
  • Working on assignment, writing about others, or with others, with a clear deadline, is a piece of cake compared to finishing without a contract. Judging your own stories as important enough to be published, is another thing all together. 


Finishing School may help you overcome hurdles.

The unusual "." (period) behind "School" and "Done" in the title is a clever choice, suggesting The End. Given words Happy", "Writing" and "Done" may be substituted by anything else that would apply to the readers' endeavors.
Eager to get back to work after a hiatus due to family caregiving responsibilities, I felt inspired by the Finishing School method to get my studio/ writing den back in order.

I received a complementary e-galley as well as a hard copy from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.


View all my reviews

This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.