Tag: Poetry

Playing with Prose poetry

Post author By gbaugh
Post date February 2, 2018
No Comments on Playing with Prose poetry

My Culture Walk

by Gerardine Baugh

I am an anomaly. A person of color, that grew up in a neighborhood of even more color. Fact: life’s color doesn’t reflect from your skin. When I was a kid I had no idea I was one color or another until I was called out and told that my skin color was wrong, different, strangely overrated. Easily trapped like those Chicago rats, a Norway rat from Asia a migrant, a refugee deformed by poisons consumed. Rats chew through wood, glass, metal with teeth that continued to grow never really wearing down. Keeping them chewing, to live. To be poisoned to live to keep searching. To hunt, to quest, to explore to find a way out of the dark, avoiding death, the color of one rat no different than the other in the dark. Obscured in fur-covered skin. My hair won’t cover my skin color. I am human. I can see the rat. It pushes up from the hole under the house along the back wall near the alley close to food. Closer to the poison and no closer to getting what they need. Never seeing the color of its skin. Humans perceive one top layer. Ignoring the other six layers of protection.

Enishi Russian Blue Loves to have his nails trimmed

Color Cats Claws

by Gerardine Baugh

Trimming cats claws. Eighteen toes, five toes in front. Four toes in back. A polydactyl cat has more toes. Hemmingway’s cats have six-toes and still live in Key West. Their owner died in Ketchum, Idaho. Nails fly as they are clipped. Some cats enjoy getting their nails trimmed. Other cats complain muttering growls. Nails grown beyond their blood supply are shed like a coat of long hair, shorthaired, others hairless –cats. They comb their hair with their claws. They groom, climb, protect and hunt with their claws. Old fashion wives, jealous wives, with their tail’s tales, worried their cat will steal their breath, needed their claws removed. Misinformation places a claw as a weapon, not seen as a cat’s finger, fingers with nails that need to be trimmed, or polished. I wonder what color my cat will like, pink or blue, possibly clear.

Tags Cats Nails, Color of skin, Poetry, Prose Poems, Rats in chicago, Trimming cats nails

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April poem a day challenge!~

Post author By gbaugh
Post date April 5, 2011
2 Comments on April poem a day challenge!~

I haven’t posted since the end of the Haiku challenge. I have been busy, busy, busy- pulling my hair out and wondering what sort of blockage is holding my muse for ransom..

Then a couple of days ago I stumbled on an article, then lost it later or I would post the link here:-( That article was an interview with a new author he or she was asked when the next book would be out, the writer said “never!” That writing that one book was horrible, he/she had no life and the mental distress it caused him/her was over whelming. I had a good laugh, then pulled out my crumpled up chapters and started over.

“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.”

~Isaac Asimov I also decided to make an attempt at a daily poem for April- April is the month for a poem a day challenge. I wrote a little blurb on the examiner.http://www.examiner.com/writing-179-in-chicago/gerardine-baugh I started-I am following, Poetic Asides by Robert Lee Brewer…http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/

I have been sending my submissions to him through email, instead of posting on his site in the comments section. But today, I will post that poem here, and on his Blog.

I don’t get feedback by emailing him, I really don’t even know if he is getting the emails. I wanted to keep some poems unpublished, and that would be done by entering his poem a day challenge by email and not on a public forum.

I have great admiration for William, his muse never sleeps. http://www.williamm49.blogspot.com/

Uriah is doing well, he wants the weather to warm up so pecan go hunting rabbits not that he ever caught one.

For April 4, 2011, Robert’s instructions were to “pick a type of person and write a poem about him or her”

I picked it apart so many times I didn’t know what I started with, I cut it up to only a few words then decided on the longer version.

Without further ado here’s todays poem.

“Teenager”

By Gerardine Baugh

None is more obvious than in the stance of a teenager waiting for the morning bus,

Dragging her feet across the gravel driveway she stops and stares down the road, facing away from the winds that burned her cheeks and lodged dust in her hair and eyes.

With a heavy sigh she brushes hair from her face she was hoping for a few quiet minutes on the bus to study for an algebra test, all but forgotten last night, opting instead to spend hours on the phone texting about guys.

The bus pulled to a squealing stop floating heads lean asleep against the windows no one is talking that morning ritual was left back at middle school when everyone was a chattering cercocebus.

Now excited banter is used on the ride home, an unspoken rule set by upperclassmen studying or partying or sleeping in unison, until they wake up to off color humor and mistrusts.

In one fluid movement she sets her book bag on her lap as she takes the last empty seat behind the driver hoping for a day free of surprises.

Fishing around in her bag she pockets change for the cafeteria, and pulls out a math book falling into its pages unaffected by her growling stomach and the erratic rocking of the school bus.

Tags Gerardine Baugh, gratitude blog, Poetry, Writing

Poetry Uncategorized Writers Site

‘The Haiku Challenge’ Day 8 Thank you, Jingle~ Or, Why does sand get everywhere?

Post author By gbaugh
Post date February 8, 2011
7 Comments on ‘The Haiku Challenge’ Day 8 Thank you, Jingle~ Or, Why does sand get everywhere?

‘The Haiku Challenge’

Hello everyone, I saw Jingles post and had to jump in.

Today’s path fades

Water and sun drift over me

Editing my lines

Here is the link :

http://pendownmythought.blogspot.com/

Tags Poetry

Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

I have been writing for the Examiner.~ Or, Half a penny a day brings me closer to a laptop…!~

Post author By gbaugh
Post date August 11, 2010
18 Comments on I have been writing for the Examiner.~ Or, Half a penny a day brings me closer to a laptop…!~

I have a streak of competitiveness that runs through me. So when I signed up for the Examiner and found out that they won’t pay me until I hit twenty-five dollars and only then on the twentieth of each month through PayPal. Well…

I had to get money in that first full month!

They have rules.

You have to write about your subject. Mine is plants in Hampshire.
You have to have a picture- sizes are different in article than in slide show
You have to connect your articles to each other
You have to mention local businesses
You have to write between 200 to 500 words
You should use quotes

I growled at my monitor, “Alright examiner I am up to the challenge!” I have to fix some of the earlier articles to follow the rules, while I am writing new ones.

What I found is that writing about a specific ‘subject’ is a lot harder than it sounds.

Sometimes my odd sense of humor comes out.

Like this one:

“Why go to Spain on vacation when you could visit Hampshire instead”

My number are slow, or at least the money amount. Here is today’s tally.

Today I made $0.49 and I had 51 hits…

The average for the, Home and Living section was 16..

Hmmm!

Is my math right on this, I would need over 2,500 hits a month to get that twenty-five dollars…

Anticipating all that cash from the examiner… I started a laptop jar in the back of my closet. As of today I have a whole dollar-eighty! And a fake mouse…added by the cats. Woohoo!

Ahh! I love a challenge!

Here is a poem I posted in my last article.

party in the mushroom rings

by Gerardine Baugh

the garden faeries laughed
and planted seeds of fun
they whispered, it was they, who
mixed up the garden, and
planted the green beans far from their trellis
eggplant was placed next to the pumpkins
tomatoes rolled into the neighbor’s yard
they sang and danced inside the ring of mushrooms
table set,
feasting on strawberries and corn
potatoes and cucumbers
glasses rose
a toast to the gardener
drink of dandelion wine
the fey cheered and sang songs
of times past, and those to come
some sat under mushroom umbrellas
wide and white, others
sat atop, and
scrutinized with words of nettles
peals of laughter danced across the lawn
this, the dark end of the new moon

Tags animals, birds, camera, Chicago, clouds, competitiveness, dogs, examiner, Gerardine Baugh, going green, gratitude blog, nature, paypal, Poetry, trees, Writing, youtube video

Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Walking in a field of lace~poetry

Post author By gbaugh
Post date August 6, 2010
20 Comments on Walking in a field of lace~poetry

I took a walk intent on what I was to see

Tall grass and wildflowers

Mud and toads, grasshoppers and birds

But my intent was not to be

Even though each flower had grown spirited and tall

The winds interfered with my view

Grasshoppers hopped under my clothing,

And the mud enticed me to fall

I sat in the middle of a pattern of lace

My intent shifted over wind swept fields

I connected within that moment, and

I watched the bees and butterflies race

Tags birds, camera, clouds, dogs, Gerardine Baugh, going green, Gratitude, jingles Thursday poem, nature, Poetry, trees, uriah, winds, Writing

Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Summers delight a poem for a hot summer’s day

Post author By gbaugh
Post date July 16, 2010
20 Comments on Summers delight a poem for a hot summer’s day

summers delight

by Gerardine Baugh

smooth and creamy, cold and sweet

leisurely, pieces slip apart

dripping

slipping

melting

slowly

yet…

to fast to catch with my tongue

white and dark

make their way over my fingers

past my knuckles

to my wrist

where i hasten to wipe traces off my shirt

i smear it, and

it melts faster

hurry

i need to hurry

to eat

that large piece of chocolate

before it slides off the melted cream

uriah waits

furry face upturned, hope shines

and he drools

Tags animals, clouds, Gerardine Baugh, Gratitude, gratitude blog, green, icecream, Poetry, summer, Writing

Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Poem…Without Fear!~ June 21st World Peace and Prayer Day!~

Post author By gbaugh
Post date June 21, 2010
31 Comments on Poem…Without Fear!~ June 21st World Peace and Prayer Day!~

“Without Fear”

There was a little boy who walked across the road

He wanted to see where the wolves had gone

His mother warned him not to wander

Nature is dangerous and needs to be feared

Still, he only looked back once, then sprinted

Between the trees into the darkened corners

Leaves formed a canopy over his head

He delighted in that secret place, and ran on

He saw a flash of grey fur and a shimmer

As the sun flashed off the wolves’ laughing eyes

Without fear he stepped into a clearing

An upsweep of flowers white and yellow and blue and red

A place where cinnamon perfumed plants grew

The boy stopped, his mother’s warning echoed

And fear grew, and he picked up a stick

A wolf cub ran up to him and pulled on his pant leg

Fear had him raise the stick above his head

Fear had him swing the stick at the pup

Its mother looked up, when she heard the yelp

The eyes of its mother showed fear

Fear that had shown in his own mother’s eyes

Fear that that placed that stick in his hand

Fear that now mirrored in the pup’s eyes

The boy dropped to his knees and cried

He cried for seeing a threat that wasn’t there

He cried for what he lost by allowing fear, control

He cried for the pup he had hurt

The mother wolf trotted over to her pup

She licked his wounds until he wiggled happily

Then she turned to the boy and licked his tears away

When the sun touched the edge of the earth

And the sky turned pink, then red, then purple, then black

The boy came out of the trees

His mother was waiting, tortured, with fear

He raced to her and tired to explain what he saw

She did not hear him

She clung to him in a panic

He patted her back and hugged her shaking shoulders

Then he pulled away, and looked back towards the trees

…without fear

Remember, June 21st World Peace and Prayer Day. I posted a poem on June 4th. Take a minute and send out a prayer for the earth, a prayer to stop the oil spilling in to the Gulf and our oceans and all our lives.

Take a moment, one second, to pray. Pray for the earth to sustain.

Picture is from, Word Clipart

Tags birds, crossing the road, danger, dark, Gerardine Baugh, gratitude blog, green, nature, poem, Poetry, trees, wolf, wolves, Writing

Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Poem For a Thistle!~ Or, Talking Heads, Nodding In Thorny Agreement!~

Post author By gbaugh
Post date June 9, 2010
17 Comments on Poem For a Thistle!~ Or, Talking Heads, Nodding In Thorny Agreement!~

Musk Thistles

Tall and strong, they held their heads high

Their skin, a smooth line of waxy green

Coated with thorns

They looked up

And saw the sky

Blue…

Amid fast moving puffs of white and grey

They looked abreast, and saw the ground

Brown…

Lines and leaves of diverse greens, amassed

Thrust, from side to side

with each random breeze

They looked out at my camera

wide eyes of innocence and unease

In that moment of stratum pink and white

they wondered, If…

and survived

The Musk Thistle is considered a Noxious weed in Illinois. These Thistles were growing near the road. If you want to read about them click on the link below.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CANU4

Tags animals, birds, blue, brown, carduus nutans, clouds, flowers, Gerardine Baugh, going green, good luck charms for scotland, Gratitude, gratitude blog, green, gren, musk thistle, nature, Poetry, Thistles, Writing

Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

How To Cut Grass Without Getting Hurt!~.. Or, Hide Under the Deck With Uriah When The Tractor Is Running…!~

Post author By gbaugh
Post date June 2, 2010
10 Comments on How To Cut Grass Without Getting Hurt!~.. Or, Hide Under the Deck With Uriah When The Tractor Is Running…!~

The air is still hot and heavy with moisture. Add to that a mixture of bug sprays, chemicals and manure, spread across the fields by plane or tractor. At that point, breathing becomes an inflexible process.

The skies this morning were blue, then deep, dark angry grey that rumbled and barked, spitting out streaks of light, then changing back to blue.

I took Uriah out for his morning walk by sitting on the front step and waving him off. With a happy wag of his tail he headed to the pond where he startled some ducks and blackbirds. As I waited for him to return I was bombarded by annoying mosquitoes.

Uriah took his time. So I just stared out over the field grass and watched it grow.

I had the tractor running a couple of weeks ago. It had roared to life, with as much exuberance as Uriah running to the pond.

*If you didn’t get that reference, well, Uriah walks slowly sticking his head in every hole sneezing and rolling in everything that smells bad… The tractor coughed, wheezed, chugged and rolled, jerked and smelled bad…

I checked and filled the tires, added water and oil. Brushed off the cutting deck and oiled anything that moved. Once I pulled her out of the barn I decided to move that downed tree.

I was very careful..

Before I took her on the path, I stopped the engine and walked the area, poking at the ground. I didn’t want to get stuck in heavy mud, or caught up on a stump. I backed into the path and tried to get as close as I could to that tree. Driving backwards is not within my tractor maneuvering ability, so it took me a while.

Satisfied I wasn’t going to be stuck in the mud; I turned off the engine and gracefully slipped off the seat unto a wild rose bush. Ouch!

Finally I was able to wrap the chain around the back hitch and around the middle of the tree.

Once back in the driver’s seat I slowly moved forward, dragging the tree not forward but sideways, just as I planned. The trees roots were facing south and its upper branches to the north. I could only move it a few feet, or it would get caught up on the Bog Willows.

Slowly I inched forward.

Uriah was watching me from the edge of the path. As soon as I made my first lurching movement his tail disappeared between his legs and he ran towards the house. Smart dog! He remembered when that same chain broke free from the last tree I moved and went flying, taking out some branches. I had found it hanging in a tree some fifty feet away.

I hesitated for a moment and watched Uriah run. For a second, I debated what I was doing and thought that maybe this wasn’t a good idea…

That lasted for a minute.

Then I set the tractor in forward motion, slowly the chain went taut. I was very surprised when the tree moved off the path and ended up right where I wanted it to be, top facing west and roots to the East.

Nothing tried to bite me. I didn’t get the tractor stuck in the mud. The best part, I didn’t see one tick!

I removed the chain from the hitch. Then I put Uriah in his outside kennel. And came back to cut the path, I was tempting fate by not walking the path first.. But even that turned out well, so well in fact I took Uriah out for a walk..

A walk that ended with us being chased by a few angry Bumble Bees, luckily they only sting if cornered…