Life | willowdot21

#TANKATUESDAY WEEKLY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 236, #THEMEPROMPT

27 Jul 2021 14 Comments

by willowdot21 in #Haiku, #Senryu, #Haiga, #Tanka, #Tanka Prose, #micropoetry, #poetry, #5lines, #Haibun, #Prose, #CinquainPoetry, #Etheree, #Nonet, #Shadorma, #Gogyoka, Colleen's Tuesday Tanka, inspiration, Poems Tags: Expedition, Journeys, Life, Paths, quests

WELCOME TO TANKA TUESDAY!

It’s the fourth week of the month! Are you ready for a theme prompt? Donna Matthews from D J Ranch.org last month’s challenge picked the theme:

I chose to write a Tanka and I used a photo of my grandchildren, taken by my daughter in law.

This month’s theme is: Expedition.

during life’s journey
many a slip halts our quest
as we travel forth.
the road we take is unknown
an Expedition.

This is part of Colleen’s Tuesday Tanka.

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS July 24, 2021

24 Jul 2021 35 Comments

by willowdot21 in #Haiku, #Senryu, #Haiga, #Tanka, #Tanka Prose, #micropoetry, #poetry, #5lines, #Haibun, #Prose, #CinquainPoetry, #Etheree, #Nonet, #Shadorma, #Gogyoka, colouring, inspiration, Music, photos, Poems, SoCs, songs Tags: colour, Life, LindaGHill, love, Nature

Linda,our host said : “Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “color/colour.” Use it as a noun, a verb, or pick a color and write about it–use it any way you like. Have fun!”

Colour surrounds us, golden sunlight, silver moonlight, green fields and blue skies and seas. Nature is full of colour. Colour makes our lives we even describe our feelings in colour. When we see a rainbow we see it as magical.

Cinnamon yellow warm
Opal white cool and calm
Languishing purple of the soul
Orange burnished hot
Ultimately colours blend
Restoring beauty to our lives.

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Below are two videos. The first one is an old advert for a colour TV. If you look through the fact it is an advert and listen to the words and look at the pictures it is beautiful. The song used is Sound And Vision by David Bowie.

The video below is an old one from 2002 by Darius Campbell. Colour Blind.

Have a happy and colourful weekend everyone 💜💜💜

Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge 366 WEAVE and Web.

12 Jul 2021 15 Comments

This is part of Ronovanwrite’s Weekly Haiku Challenge.

hidden in the dark
she will weave her magic web
all life is spun here.

how to weave
a web of magic
threads of life.

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 26, 2021

26 Jun 2021 27 Comments

by willowdot21 in humour, inspiration, loss, love, SoCs Tags: Down, Life, LindaGHill, Rollercoaster, Snakes and Ladders

Hi everyone it’s Sunday and time for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Our host LindaGHill said:

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “up/down.” Use one, use them both, but try to put one in your first sentence. Bonus points if you use the other in your last sentence. Have fun!”

Life is full of ups and downs, that’s just the way it is. In a way it’s like snakes and ladders.
We go along, up the ladders and down the snakes. We think we are finally doing well when out of the blue the fickle finger of fate comes down out of the sky, picks you up a drops you in a pit of grief.
When we marry we walk up the aisle with your Dad and you walk back down the aisle with your husband. Then you start the ups and downs of life and having children or not, yes life is up and down.
Up the stairs, down the stairs, uptown girl, downtown nights.
Then we have that old saying, turn the frown upside down. Okay I am rambling now so I am going to stop before I disappear down the rabbit hole. On the upside though I have just about scrapped through this post! So before my blood pressure rockets up or plummets down I shall stop. I shall leave you now with life is a rollercoaster. A rollercoaster goes up and down dosen’t it.

This is part of LindaGHill’s #SoCs.

An interview with Candice Louisa Daquin.

25 Jun 2021 30 Comments

by willowdot21 in inspiration, Interviews, Talking Straight Tags: books, Candice Louisa Daquin, Life, struggles, writing

Hello everyone, I am very excited today to welcome Candice Louisa Daquin from the amazing The Feathered Sleep.

Firstly let me tell you a about Candice.

Candice Louisa Daquin is of Sephardi French/Egyptian descent. Born in Europe, she work in publishing for The American Embassy and Chamber of Commerce. Before immigrating to the American South West to study and become a Psychotherapist, where she has continued writing and editing whilst practicing as a therapist. Daquin has worked at Jewish Community Centers and Rape Crisis Centers both in Texas and Ontario Canada. Her area of specialization is adults sexually abused as children. Prior to publishing her own poetry collections she regularly wrote for the poetry periodical Rattle and The Northern Poetry Review. Daquin is currently Senior Editor at Indie Blu(e) Publishing, a feminist micro-press.

Daquin’s poetic work takes its form from the confessional women poets of the 19th and 20th century as well as queer authors writing from the 1950’s onward. Her career(s) teaching critical thinking and practicing as a psychotherapist have heavily influenced her work, with explored key themes including, sexual-dysfunction, sexual-abuse, parental-relationships, mental illness and queer-identity. Daquin’s work is also significantly imprinted by Audre Lorde, Françoise Sagan, Angela Carter, activist Egyptian physician Nawal El Saadawi, Navdanya seed bank creator/campaigner Vandana Shiva, Pablo Neruda, Israeli PM Golda Mier, Toni Morrison and feminist philosophers bell hooks, Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray.

As a queer woman of mixed parentage and passionate feminist beliefs concerning equality, Daquin’s poetry is her body of evidence.

******

Welcome Candice I am delighted that we have this chance to chat. I want to introduce you to my friends and followers because for a while now I have been drawn in by your marvelous work.

Tell us Candice what has bought you to were you are today, eg: shaped the person you are and made so strong?

I’m not strong. I just survive. I actually think I’m probably too sensitive. I wasn’t shaped by much other than my struggles which might sound negative but I’m a very positive person despite this. I have had too many struggles and I do wish I hadn’t but I know many others who have had worse.

I think you are a very strong woman Candice and I admire how you work so hard to help others. Who and what have been your influences?

I haven’t been influenced by very much. I grew up with very talented family and that influenced me but since then not so much. I suppose being very educated has helped me although I like to learn out of school more. I’m influenced by literature probably the most and psychology and science. I’m a huge science geek and quite an academic despite hating school I love research and learning.

Can you say why you write, what moves you to take up the pen or keyboard?

Honestly I question that a lot. I prefer helping others publish than writing. I have never found writing therapeutic. I mostly do it because I keep involved with other writers. I have been told I’m a good writer but I don’t tend to think I am because I come from a very talented family who were very brilliant and I know what brilliant is and I’m not. I am always interested in how people form self confidence or believe in themselves or have egos as I have none. I tend to see people and life for what it really is and not kid myself. A lot of people seem to have over inflated egos. I like supporting those who don’t have faith in themselves and who need support because I know I’m good at that because I compensate for not having had that myself. I know it can make someone’s life so much better. I do love to read and I read as much as my work schedule allows. I cannot imagine not reading and recently getting a diagnosis of macular degeneration when I’m not even middle aged, really scared me and made me wonder if I would be blind and unable to read. People say things like: Oh well you can learn braille but I think we all fear losing our sight and it wasn’t something I was expecting at my age and along with my other physical illnesses it’s a bit of a downer, but I try to be positive and hopeful. I’m not a fan of social media which I know is a handicap but I really find social media exhausting emotionally. I would be glad to never go on it. But that said, some of the best people I have met have been via social media. I prefer face to face and old fashioned ways of doing things ideally.

I am not a huge fan of social media either I am never confident in that setting. You say you lack self confidence but come from a very talented family, were they and are they supportive to of you. I would love to discuss this more with you in our next interview. For now let’s talk about your writing and your books.

I’m most proud of the editorial positions and concepts I’ve been involved in. I loved working on ‘We Will Not Be Silenced’. In Europe I worked in publishing then I went into Psychotherapy now I do both. I work too much. I love working helping others especially with disenfranchized subjects and people like sexual assault, metoo, racism, sexism, homophobia. I loved SMITTEN as it was for the lesbian community which I am part of. The Kali Project was about indian women and their struggles, it was a huge beast of a book and very hard work but so worthy. Both SMITTEN and Kali won Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. I was so happy for the hard work we put in and those of the writers and artists. We also work on stand-alone author books. I was the editor of Devika Mathur’s book Crimson Skins and I’m working on Zinia Mitra’s first collection now. I love helping artists and authors flourish.

Can we now discuss Indie Blu(e) and Through The Looking Glass.

This was Christine Ray’s idea and at first I wasn’t sure if it was going to work because I worried it would be too depressing. But it really has succeeded in large part because Christine rarely has a bad idea. I got really into it and began to invite people I knew to submit and it took off, we’re all so happy to be a voice for mental illness, especially as most of us have had the experience of being stigmatized. It shocks me that people are still stigmatized. Indie Blu(e) really is the best company to work for, now that I am part of the upper management I see our hard work really evidenced in the community. Our goal was never profit, but helping those disenfranchised voices have a platform. I’m so grateful to Christine and Kindra for taking me on. I have given a lot to the company because I really believe in it and what we do. We’re bringing out But You Don’t Look Sick shortly and that’s about invisible chronic illness. Ironically all three of us have chronic illnesses which makes it hard at times to juggle all that we do. In my case I work full time as well as Indie Blu(e) but have had to cut my hours because of Gastroparesis. Fortunately I am still able to work. Helping others gives me meaning. Cruel people and indifferent people take away my joy so I try to be what I want to see.

This is so interesting Candice I am going to print where people can find you and your books. I would love you to join me again and if you are willing we could discuss how you feel about your diagnosis of macular degeneration and also the Gastroparesis. You are a beautiful and multifaceted woman and you have so much to offer.

You can find Candice Louisa Daquin on Facebook.

soundcloud.

The Feathered Sleep.

Candice’s Amazon page.

WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 231, #THEMEPROMPT

22 Jun 2021 17 Comments

It’s the fourth week of the month! Are you ready for a theme prompt? Jules from last month’s challenge picked the theme.

This is part of Colleen’s Tuesday Tanka Challenge.

This month’s theme is:

“Discovery”

eyes shut to learning
too afraid to lift the stone
Share discovery.

Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 59: (CHEEK) in the D rhyme line.

28 May 2021 15 Comments

by willowdot21 in #Haiku, #Senryu, #Haiga, #Tanka, #Tanka Prose, #micropoetry, #poetry, #5lines, #Haibun, #Prose, #CinquainPoetry, #Etheree, #Nonet, #Shadorma, #Gogyoka, Décima, humour, inspiration, Poems, Ronovanwrites Tags: Life, Nature, seasons

Nature plays with us blurring lines.
Softening the edges she plays
Running down the seasons and days.
Moving through our lives changing times.
It’s madness no reason or rhymes.
Racking up to experience
The seasons change with decodence
It’s like they’re laughing tongue in cheek
At us lowly mortals so meek.
Nature’s law takes all presidence.

This is part of Ronovanwrite’s Weekly Décima Challenge.

WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 227, #THEMEPROMPT

25 May 2021 68 Comments

by willowdot21 in #Haiku, #Senryu, #Haiga, #Tanka, #Tanka Prose, #micropoetry, #poetry, #5lines, #Haibun, #Prose, #CinquainPoetry, #Etheree, #Nonet, #Shadorma, #Gogyoka, love, photos, Poems, Tuesday Tanka Tags: Colleen Chesebro, journey, Life, love, travel

Go where this month’s prompt leads you

It Tuesday and time for Colleen’s Tuesday Tanka Challenge. It’s the fourth week of the month! Are you ready for a theme prompt? Colleen didn’t hear from Padre whose turn it was to select the theme… so, Colleen has picked the theme prompt for us.

Travel/Journeys.

I was seventeen when we married, 19years when the first boy arrived and 30years when the third and last boy appeared. Well now they had all grown and flown. It is now our time. So we renewed our passports and set off on our travels. The pandemic put a stop to that but we are on life’s journey, we are travelling together.

Following life’s road
We have traversed fifty years.
We’ve grown together.
Boy and girl, man and woman.
Three generations of love.

Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 54: (BIRTH) in the D rhyme line.

24 Apr 2021 9 Comments

by willowdot21 in #Haiku, #Senryu, #Haiga, #Tanka, #Tanka Prose, #micropoetry, #poetry, #5lines, #Haibun, #Prose, #CinquainPoetry, #Etheree, #Nonet, #Shadorma, #Gogyoka, Décima, humour, inspiration, love, Poems, Ronovanwrites, sadness Tags: birth, death, Life, stardust

You may, if you wish, make some kind of link between the Haiku Challenge prompt of (FORM and Mourn) here is mine. and this Décima Challenge of BIRTH in the D rhyme line. This means you could write a haiku post using the prompt words. Then do a Décima post using this week’s prompt uniting the two with a common message.

The 2 CHALLENGES are SEPARATE but CAN BE combined if YOU CHOOSE to do so. This week I chose to write a differing Décima to my Haiku.

Like Dice

Altered carbon and stardust we
Play along the vast universe
Then,thrown like dice it is a curse.
Untethered by mortality
We glide about the galaxy.
Waiting patiently to be called
To join race and be enthralled.
Spiralling down we fall to earth
With pain we experience birth.
To start anew until recalled.

THIS IS PART OF RONOVANWRITE’S DÉCIMA CHALLENGE.