Prompt: The first sentence of a spam email.–“I’d been stuck found in the big apple in the course of every one of the environments.”
“Stuck in a Big Apple”
by Lizl BennefeldStuck in a big apple,
gnawing my way toward
warm skin, a way out
into a broader world than this.
A world with light and movement
beyond the muffled sounds
of solitary chewing
in the core of my cradle,
this sweet prison.
Every once in a while, these days often during the online “Poetry Heals” (free) workshop, my mind uncovers a deep emotion or collection of thoughts and images that lay themselves out as a poem. Such happened last night.
I want to open up my mind
to the endings. Not more beginnings.
What do I want to carry with me
to the end of all?Looking back, I can see
how softly life has dealt with me.
Buffered from what was really life.
I want to savor culminations
and completions, now.
The satisfaction of sensing—
seeing—the fulfillment of
dreams becoming reality
at last.
[1st revision.] Copyright © 2022-03-16, by Lizl Bennefeld.
I have given up on getting back to sleep, tonight (this morning?) after waking up feeling dehydrated, two hours ago. Could not breathe comfortably, and so got up to pour a cup of cold water from the fridge. (Pulse = 79bpm, SpO2 = 97%.) I did get three to four hours of broken sleep at lights out.
companionable puppy tucked in at my side his contented snores
I may try for heating a cup of Toddy coffee in the microwave, since it doesn’t seem I will get back to sleep before sunrise. As I let the Scamper pups outside at bedtime, I could see the light on the newly falling snow, and wished it had started sooner, so that I could have gotten some photographs. Soon there will be no more chances for snowflake photos, this winter, and the wind has been such that the crystalline structure survived the fall. Too, the flakes have been beaten to motes by wind gusts. They have not been moist and heavy enough to cling to the tree branches.
I have WP classes via Zoom just after lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. Hoping to find out what the new protocols and codes are involved in the revamping of the WordPress redo. Personally, I would that I would not have to take time from writing to look into the innards of the platform. Hand coding the HTML web pages was a breeze, back in the day. And I didn’t mind dBase for keeping track of client base and receipts. I suspect that I have more patience, but less tolerance for dealing with the mechanics of it all.
I expect the sun to rise any time, now, and so Toddy coffee and a second sleep before breakfast and the waking of other of us.
Best wishes for your day!
Lizl
patient endurance
open range…falling rain and ice
backs to the storm
[micropoem.] Copyright © 2022-03-02, by E.W. Bennefeld.
winter rests in snow
with the spring comes violence —
seek renewal…grace
nature shapes its own endings
people choose their own paths
[tanka.] Copyright © 2022-03-03, by E.W. Bennefeld.
without tea
there is no morning…
back to sleep
[senryu.] Copyright © 2022-03-02, by E.W. Bennefeld.
Image by Kawita Chitprathak from Pixabay
from thick frost
Liz Bennefeld
a squirrel in the window
stares at me
I know it will disappear
when sunlight warms the glass
© 2022-01-19
different shades and shapes
shallow waters and broad banks
ripples and bird song
ice and winds—summer’s warmth
ever changing…but the same
© Lizl Bennefeld, 2022-01-15
“Birds near a Mountain Stream by Herman Henstenburgh (c.1683-c.1726). Original from the Rijks Museum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.” by Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel is licensed under CC BY 2.0
looking back through years of joy and sorrow... always loved
— lizl, 2021/12/30
family from birth, family of the heart
Welcome to my blog! I have just made more hot tea and am fixing lunch—Greek yogurt with thawed mango chunks and blueberries. There’s a fresh batch of homemade coffee concentrate in the refrigerator. Help yourself or bring your own munchies and brew!
Another week almost finished up! I have been taking time off from things this week, again. I have been sleeping more, exercising, rereading some favorite novels, and making some progress on cleaning and redoing the books on the front-room shelves. In my room, I still have boxes of books and electronics that we hauled out of the basement, a few summers.ago, when we got water seepage from heavy rains. I am now ruthlessly tossing things. Also, I need to get some of the picture frames back on the walls and out of harm’s way. I have one (framed) embroidery sampler from the late 1800s that I need to unframe and send to a relative on the east coast; her first name is the same the girl, a direct ancestor, who embroidered the sampler. I think that it should not have been kept under glass. My sister will know what to do with it to preserve it without more damage.
My last Artist’s Way session (13-week course through the U of Wisconsin-Platteville with Prof. Sean Shannon) was last weekend. To maintain the framework somewhat, I decided to continue on my own by rereading Julia Cameron’s book It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again. I also have on hand Naomi Wakan’s Write Away (prompts for a healthy life). (I ordered two copies , which are available from a business near her home, and both were autographed, which I had not expected, but much appreciate.) Naomi’s book is much more utilitarian, coming from experience without extraneous sidetracks. I may intersperse the exercises. I may find that I want to stick with Naomi’s. I logged onto B&N’s site and found three more books (available only as paperbacks) that I can add to my library. They should be arriving two and three weeks from now.
My mother left many completed quilt tops in her fabric arts room when she died. One of my sisters-in-law took them, along with the many shelves of Mother’s materials stash, to put to use as she could for various and worthwhile projects. I hope that much of it is donated to charities, whether as quilt tops or finished quilts. Before they left with the items that fell to them to distribute, I chose two quilt tops, which my sister-in-law has quilted for me. Finally, in the midst of the pandemic, she and my brother made the long drive to bring them to me/us, this week. They felt that shipping was too uncertain to trust them to. My sister-in-law does exquisite quilting, finishing them almost as fine as Mother would have.
The four of us enjoyed supper together at the local Denny’s Restaurant. It was interesting, being out and around people talking and enjoying one another’s company. I had missed fried eggs with hash browns and bacon. Something I do not make for myself. (That would be the potatoes, which I do not keep in the house. I do, however, have a frozen veggie pasta meal in the freezer. The stuff with the cheese sauce.) We three oldest siblings have gotten together on Zoom a few times, these past two years, but being together in one place is something we have not done for a very long time, other than the parents’ funerals, the winter of 2016-17.
when leaves fall
[tanka.] lizl bennefeld, © 2021-12-17
they give themselves back to earth
to rise again
transfigured into flowers
clothed in butterflies
and dreams
Although I have been writing some poems in December, I am not focusing on writing. I very much enjoyed joining with other participants during February 2021 for the February National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo). I plan to write more haiku, tanka, and other (in English) Japanese poetic forms during January, leading up to the poem-a-day activities in February 2022. My reading has been mostly rereading favorite books. I found a number of them lost among the volumes that had accumulated on the front-room bookshelves. Found a favorite ebook that I had thought lost; a science fiction book by my friend Melisa Michaels, now deceased. Had a good cry. Missing her a lot. I am happy that she and her husband bought property and lived for a while in the same state we do, so we were able to get together more than once during that all too brief time.
Time has passed so quickly, and I must tend to the Scamper dogs and start in on the laundry, once Al is out of the shower. I am grateful that you have stopped by for a while.
If you visit the blog (link below) of Natalie the Explorer, you will find her weekly Weekend Coffee Share post and a Links app with links to the other Weekend Coffee Share participants. Enjoy! Natalie is taking a two-week break from the Weekend Coffee Share feature on her blog, and so the next will be on 7 January 2022.
Best wishes for the coming week and the new year!
Lizl
The Moments Between 