April Is Upon Us: 2025 Version

 

Free use image from Gordon Johnson on Pixabay

Hello, fellow poets. I will be participating in NaPoWriMo, the April PAD Challenge from Robert Lee Brewer at Writers Digest, and the Writers.com 30-day poetry challenge this year, but I won’t be publishing my poems here because I am submitting them to Dragon Soul Press for consideration in the forthcoming Soul Chaser anthology from Dragon Soul Press. You can find out more about the anthology on this page.

https://dragonsoulpress.com/poetrycalls/

Here are links to the sites mentioned in the first paragraph.

https://www.writersdigest.com/2025-april-pad-challenge-prompts

Napowrimo.net

https://writers.com/napowrimo-prompts-for-national-poetry-month

One of the prompts for the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge from Long and Short Reviews asks what books I’d like youths to discover.

https://www.longandshortreviews.com/wednesday-weekly-blogging-challenge/

I think young people should be introduced to poetry in all its forms. Classic poetry, modern poetry, world poetry, it’s all worthwhile. 

I feel that some people concentrate too much on perfect form. For me, poetry is a way to express certain emotions and concerns that I otherwise can’t. I don’t want to censor the story my soul wants to tell. There’s a time for concentrating on form. However, most of the time, poetry is catharsis, it’s therapy, it’s a way to bleed out without dying. 

I didn’t realize until I was in my fifties that the way I behaved as a teenager and even well into my adulthood was a trauma response. I don’t know if I would have survived without poetry to help me express what was happening inside me. I didn’t understand it. I just thought I was crazy. I had a lot of unhelpful labels put on me, but nobody doing the labeling was interested in helping me heal. They wanted compliance from me, not peace for me.

I don’t go on about this sort of thing as much as I used to. In some ways, it’s water under the bridge. I also got tired of not being heard or understood. That’s just the way it is. The people who will get you, especially if you’re an odd specimen like me, are rare birds. The ones who get and like you are rarer still.

So, the cool things I’m doing this month are poetry and creating some sort of weird hybrid mess for a Camp NaNoWriMo replacement project. Everything else involves crap like taxes and Medicaid renewal. Blech! Yuck! Suckville!

The thing about Medicaid renewal is that if we had a national health system, everyone would be on it, so there would be no need for Medicaid renewal. I have believed we should have a national health system in the US since my youth, and I will continue believing it through my old age. I wonder if we’ll get one before I put my other foot in the grave.

Anyway, I want young people to be exposed to poetry from the time they can write. I want them to not only learn about other people’s poetic masterpieces but to learn to create their own. Being able to express one’s pain in a positive way is essential to mental and spiritual health. There isn’t enough focus on the importance of the arts. Engaging in creative activities not only leads to inner peace, it leads to greater understanding of oneself and one’s place in the world.

A world with Medicaid for all and poetry for all would be a much improved place in space.

Ornery Owl Has Spoken

Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving by Kit Ishimatsu on Unsplash

thankful for loved ones

thankful for recovery

thankful I'm still here

notes

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2023-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-23

Write an appreciation poem.

There have been many times in my life where I thought it would be impossible to ever write words like these. I've been down about as low as I can go. I'm glad I'm able to feel this way today.

This is not toxic positivity. This is not me telling you that you must feel the way I do. It took me 58 years to get to this point. I am not completely healed, nor will I ever be. I still have lots of days where I wish the asteroid would just hit already. But today, I feel like this. I never thought it would happen. 

There are those I wish were still with me, both human and animal companions. I miss them and always will. 

I know bodies like mine are reviled. I will keep fighting that prejudice and stigma. It's ridiculous and sad that people are made to feel like they deserve to be treated poorly simply because they're big. Everyone deserves to be treated with basic decency and dignity.

I hate selfies. I don't take good ones. I can't be arsed to learn the technique for taking the perfect selfie. I'm not trying to make anyone think I'm beautiful. 

I wasn't actually on the verge of tears when I took this. I didn't retouch the image at all. My rosacea was flaring up a bit and I hadn't even brushed my hair yet. 

I rescued the unicorn behind me from a dumpster. I hate people sometimes. They're so damn wasteful and treat everything as disposable. If you don't want your plushies anymore, take them to a thrift store. 

So, will I ever win any beauty contests?

No, and I don't care.

Do I want people to tell me I'm beautiful?

No. I really don't care what people think about my looks. I'd rather someone compliment my writing, my cooking, or some aspect of my horribly flawed personality than my appearance, which I think is a trivial attribute in the scheme of things. As the late Carrie Fisher said, youth and beauty are not accomplishments, they are accidents of time and DNA. 

Being slender is also much more an accident of DNA than an actual accomplishment. I will never compliment someone on weight loss. I don't give a flying fuck how many hours they spent at the gym, and I definitely won't praise disordered eating. I missed a lot of time with my son when he was little in pursuit of unrealistic slimness. I'm just grateful I didn't inadvertently instill my own disordered eating patterns in him. I was deeply indoctrinated in diet culture during the early part of his life. 

I first dipped my toe in the diet culture pool when I was about six years old and saw advertisements for miracle weight loss solutions in my mother's magazines. I dove into the deep end of the diet culture pool at twelve, becoming bulimic. I didn't emerge from the diet culture pool until I was forty-six. Orthorexia hadn't worked to make me thin, and the combination of weight cycling and underlying endocrine problems had colluded to make me become the thing I was taught to fear most: fat.

I've learned a great deal about the problems caused by diet culture and the obsession with thinness since then. It really hurts a lot of people. Everyone expresses shock and sympathy when the struggles of someone like Eugenia Cooney are made public. Of course we should have sympathy for Eugenia and others struggling with anorexia. However, people refuse to understand that living in a society that reviles larger people reinforces the potentially deadly disordered eating patterns that young women starving themselves engage in.

Free use image by Christian Dom on Pixabay

The above image is meant to convey the distorted impression that young women living with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have of their bodies, but I've always felt it conveys another message as well. Nothing is wrong with either of these bodies. They are simply variations on the scale of physical expression. 

I would like to offer a suggestion for this year's New Year's resolutions.

Stop bullying and concern trolling larger people. You don't know what they eat or how much. You don't know how much they exercise. You don't know what health conditions they may have. You don't know what medications they are taking. You don't know if they may be dealing with food insecurity. You don't know shit, so secure your shit. 

Also, the next time you find yourself bemoaning the fact that young women are starving themselves to death, think about why this is happening. What messages are sent to girls from the time they are born? You need to be delicate, pretty, and tiny. Fat is the worst thing anyone can possibly be. Do you really wonder why some girls and women starve themselves or purge everything they eat?

Third, do yourself a favor and don't go on the annual Disappointment Diet, which only benefits the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry. Read this book instead.

Cactus Clem, Ghost Town Grover, Hangry Wyrm, and Ornery Owl are going to have a great day working on projects and eating what we want when we want. If we exercise, it will be because we want to exercise, not because we are punishing ourselves for enjoying food. 

Look out below for the Thanksgiving sticker from Ornery Owl's Underground!

Ornery Owl

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

"I am thankful that owls aren't the favored bird of the Thanksgiving feast."

Hangry Wyrm

Free use image from Clker Free Vector Images

"I'm thankful you're not the kind of bird that eats worms."

Cactus Clem

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

"I'm thankful the ole General Store has lots of different libations for a thirsty Cactus Man to choose from."

Free use image from Clker Free Vector Images

Ghost Town Grover

"I'm thankful that ghosts can eat as much as they want and still not feel like a stuffed turkey!"

New sticker from Ornery Owl's Underground!

https://www.zazzle.com/thanksgiving_sticker-256230803356474264

These beautiful and encouraging Thanksgiving stickers are currently just $3.63 for a sheet of 20. Don't miss out on this bargain, order now!

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Legal Eagle's Corner

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

 BY: credit must be given to the creator.

 NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.

 SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

If you want to use this Haiga for commercial purposes, drop a comment with your contact information and I'll contact you.

Learning

 

Image by Jackson David on Unsplash

trying to refresh

my relationship with me

learning not to hate

notes

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2023-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-17

Write a refresh poem.

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-47-relationship.html

Prompt word: Relationship

I added text art and effects to the base image using Pixlr. You are welcome to share the Haiga, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl if you do. A link back to this blog is also appreciated.

Psychological abuse including bullying has impacts that can last a lifetime. Some of the physical issues I am finally addressing were triggered by the constant stress I endured as a target of psychological abuse starting in childhood. 

You can't just command a person to be happy and love themselves. Working through these issues isn't easy.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Christine Cuisinez from Pixabay

Ornery Owl is anticipating Christmas. Or at least snow.

Get this encouraging Haiga as a beautiful poster at Ornery Owl's Underground!

https://www.zazzle.com/refresh_poster-256655134222644896

Stalk our store to find out about new products!

https://www.zazzle.com/store/ornery_owls_place

https://odysee.com/@PeaceofMind:9/dark-autumn-music-haunted-fall-village:b?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 18: Imagining Machine

 

Image by Chen from Pixabay

imagination

cooking up the strangest scenes

a funny machine

~ornery owl has spoken~

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

notes and prompts used

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-18

Write a funny poem.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/day-13/

Prompt: Imagining Machine

Also sharing with:

I was planning to share with Haiku My Heart, but the link-up for the 18th isn't ready yet. I want to steal...er...share a couple of verses shared by the blog mistress, Rebecca, on her entry for November 11th. 

https://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2022/11/haiku-my-heart-1.html

"when it's all over, I want to say

all my life I was a bride married

to amazement.

I was a bridegroom,

taking the world into my arms."

mary oliver

https://earthweal.com/2022/11/18/earthweal-open-link-weekend-144/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/401643826588474

https://wewriwa.blogspot.com/2022/11/weekend-writing-warriors-8sunday-112022.html

I stuck a fork in this year's NaNoWriMo Rebellion project yesterday. I'm working on a new mental health/recovery project along the same lines called Remnants of a Year in the Life 2022: An Ornery Owl Diary. The book includes pages for readers to draw, write their own thoughts, whatever they need or want to do. I wrote nearly 3000 words on the project and created the following banner.

I started doing NaNoWriMo back in 2008. This is the first year that I came away from the project feeling like I had gained skills that are going to benefit me rather than thinking "well, thank fuck that's over, I don't know why I subjected myself to it." I hope I can take what I learned and use it to help others who may struggle with similar issues in their creative and personal lives.

I often ride myself about "getting nothing done" when I don't accomplish everything I hoped to in a given day. For instance, I did not end up working on my anthology submission or the Tales from the Dreamlands project today. I did not get any editing done. I've fallen behind in my blog hop participation...again...like always. The inner critic starts ripping me to shreds.

"Look at you. You can't do anything right. You'll always be a failure. How the hell hard is it to write a thousand words? How the hell long can it take to edit a chapter? You started writing a nine-word poem two hours ago. Nine words, you loser! How hard is it to publish THAT? Anybody can write nine words!"

Yeah, but hold on one damn minute, Ayce Hole. The poem was nine words, but the post total is closer to 500. I already wrote 3000 words today. I've spent around six hours writing and formatting. I may have issues with time management and with my mind wandering off in 666 directions at once, but you do not get to call me lazy. You abused me for closing in on 60 years, and I will no longer stand for it.

And that, my friends, is how you shut down your inner critic. It took me long enough to gain the confidence to stop listening to her lies, but now I slag her off every day. It's a good habit to have.

I think I've done enough damage around this pop stand today. I need to format this post to include in November Beginnings and Remnants of 2022 before sending it on its way.

Lest I forget, here is tonight's soundtrack.

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mass-effect-le-noveria-rift-station:b?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

But wait, there's more!

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mass-effect-le-noveria-rift-station-%281:9?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

NaPoWriMo 2015: Day 27: I, Fae

I, Fae

Although

You tried

To destroy me

I 

Still remain

I have survived

~Fae~

Notes:

This is an account that I (Faycin A Croud) created for my wounded inner child years ago. I haven't used it in almost as many years. I have a tendency to try and silence this voice. I think it will help me heal to let her speak. 

I thank Cie and the others for letting her become part of the team! It takes very special people to realize that those of us who are wounded aren't lesser, and our various selves do have worth and purpose.

Prompt:

And today’s prompt – optional, as always — comes to us from Vince Gotera. It’s the hay(na)ku). Created by the poet Eileen Tabios and named by Vince, the hay(na)ku is a variant on the haiku. A hay(na)ku consists of a three-line stanza, where the first line has one word, the second line has two words, and the third line has three words. You can write just one, or chain several together into a longer poem. For example, you could write a hay(na)ku sonnet, like the one that Vince himself wrote back during NaPoWriMo 2012!