30 Days of Haiga 2022: Seeds of Me

 

Most afternoons during those bad old golden rule days, I slipped off in my mind to an enchanted world beyond the walls of the prison posing as a school. Knowing I would never be accepted by my peers and that my father and mother would always chide me to be better organized, I furrowed my brow and clutched tight to a vital metaphysical symbiosis between me and a group of people I had never met.

Their world was filled with singing. Mine was filled with the pain of knowing I would forever be the outsider. I was scolded for daydreaming when I should be listening to the lecture, but I refused to stop. Given the choice, what would you do?

When I look now, it makes me sad and angry that my dreams were considered weeds rather than seeds.

such a stupid girl

she can't do anything right

she’s just so simple

152 words

notes

Thank you to Xenia Tran of D'Verse Poets for the Haibun Monday prompt. I didn't write a Haibun about September, but I did write a Haibun for the end of my 30 Days of Haiga in Sepbember.

https://dversepoets.com/2022/09/26/haibun-monday-september-song/

Thank you to Brendan of Earthweal for the Ekphrasis prompt. Granted, the image I used isn't nature-related unless you count the unfortunate nature of human beings to ostracize those who are mostly harmless but don't quite play by the rules.

https://earthweal.com/2022/09/26/earthweal-weekly-challenge-ekphrasis-earth/

Thank you to Sue at My Just So Story for the Words for Wednesday prompt.

https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/2022/09/words-for-wednesday-2892022.html

Thank you to Gerd Altmann from Pixabay for the image I selected to use as the Haiga background.

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/bullying-stress-head-brain-think-2778163/

I created the Haiga using Pixlr.com

You are welcome to use the Haiga, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

With that, the 30 Days of Haiga for 2022 marches away into the sunset, but I'll be back for OctPoWriMo. I'm a masochist like that.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

Yeah, I know, it's early. 

But when you have a face like mine, every day is Halloween.

"Did somebody say Halloween?"

(Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors)

Hangry Wyrm is only here for the candy, let's be real.

30 Days of Haiga 2022: The Truth of the Soul

 text

looking at faces

it is difficult to see

the truth of the soul

notes

This Haiga was inspired by the Poetics prompt from D'Verse poets, which asks us to contemplate good versus evil.

https://dversepoets.com/2022/09/27/poetics-the-good-and-the-evil/

I created the Haiga in Pixlr.com with a free-use image by Ulrich B on Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/photos/composing-fantasy-mystical-3689029/

You are welcome to use the Haiga, but if you do, please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

Yes, I backdated this post. I finished and submitted my story submission for consideration in the Reign of Fire anthology from Dragon Soul Press and didn't feel much like writing poetry.

30 Days of Haiga 2022: Reflection

 

text

days spent exploring

contemplating lily pads

I miss the gardens

notes

This week's Wednesday Poetry Prompt from Writers Digest requests a Reflection poem, and I delivered it.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/wednesday-poetry-prompts-628

I never thought until now about the fact that the word "deliver" contains Liver. I wish I could go back to the moment before I realized that, but what has been seen cannot be unseen.

I created the Haiga in Pixlr.com with a free-use image by Couleur from Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/photos/water-lily-lily-pads-pond-1857350/

When my son and I lived in the suburbs of Denver, we had a membership to the Botanic Gardens and we went there frequently. In the center near the Japanese garden, there is a pool with water lilies. There were often ducklings swimming there. Seeing the image of the water lily made me remember those days. It's something I miss. Now making a trip to the botanic gardens takes a lot of prior planning and I have to bring my walker with me. 

I love living out here in the middle of nowhere, but I miss the gardens very much.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Frank Michler from Pixabay

Listen to these beautiful chillhop beats while you read the post.

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

https://odysee.com/@JustRelax:1/walking-above-the-clouds-lofi-hiphop-mix:a?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

30 Days of Haiga 2022: The Nature of Lightning

 

text

the nature of life

like the nature of lightning

unpredictable

notes

Today's Tanka Tuesday prompt was the inspiration for today's Haiga.

https://wordcraftpoetry.com/2022/09/27/tankatuesday-weekly-poetry-challenge-no-291-9-27-22-themeprompt/

I created the Haiga in Pixlr.com with a free-use image by David Mark on Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/photos/thunderstorm-weather-storm-thunder-1768742/

30 Days of Haiga 2022: For David

 

text

ending an era

the spark has gone from his eyes

to where does it fly?

notes

With the passing of my ex-father-in-law last night, my son now only has one grandparent: my mother. 

My ex-father-in-law had developed dementia, something he always hoped wouldn't happen. My ex-husband and his live-in helper were discussing the possibility of putting "Scooby" in long-term care because his state of health had declined so sharply that they could no longer adequately provide for his needs by themselves. 

My ex-father-in-law was a retired engineer and there was nothing he loved more than doing puzzles. Sorry, but those clickbait "articles" proclaiming that one can stave off dementia give false hope and make me angry. This man was probably smarter than all of us reading this post combined. He still wound up with dementia.

If you'd like to read more of my rant about awful clickbait proclaiming magical cures that don't exist plus ways to support real research that does exist, follow the link.

http://www.naughtynetherworldpress.com/2022/09/charity-sunday-fisher-center-for.html

I didn't have an especially close relationship with my ex-father-in-law but there was no bad blood between us. There is none between my ex-husband and me either. After our divorce in 1994, we repaired our friendship, which I think helped make my son's childhood a little more stable if sometimes chaotic because of bouncing from house to house during the week courtesy of my crazy work schedule.

So, yes, it's the end of an era. The death of my ex-father-in-law wasn't unexpected, and in many ways, it was a mercy. As Glen Campbell's widow said regarding dementia, it's better to die some other way. Still, one can't help but be a little sad. At least I can't.

I used the six-sentence story prompt to inspire this Haiga and wrote a three-sentence story followed by a lot of explanation.

https://girlieontheedge1.wordpress.com/2022/09/25/sundays-six-sentence-story-word-prompt-231/

Prompt word: Spark

I created the Haiga in Pixlr.com with a free-use image by Lê Nam on Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/photos/light-streaks-spark-smoke-trails-6899357/

I selected this image because of its simplicity and because the light creates what looks like a face on the left side of the picture.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Erich Röthlisberger from Pixabay

The Reaper comes for us all at some point.

This Owl would be very honored to have such a fine memorial stone!

Hopefully, not for quite a while.

I still have poems to write, food experiments to make, and people to annoy!

Probably my favorite song ever about the Shadow who follows us through our entire lives, waiting for that certain moment that faces us all.

Also sharing with:

https://godoggocafe.com/2022/09/26/promote-yourself-monday-september-26-2022/

30 Days of Haiga 2022: Peaceful Aquarium

 

Photo taken 7 May 2017 at Denver Aquarium

Copyright Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl

text

stingray swims with fish

coexisting peacefully

we should be like them

notes

The greatest photographer the world has ever known captured the image at the top of the post, which inspired the creation of today's Haiga. 

;-) 

Tongue planted firmly in cheek. I am hardly the greatest anything the world has ever known, except for possibly the world's greatest mess. I do, however, like my own photographs.

I really made a shambles of this post. My son and I were going to visit my mother on Sunday, so I made the post halfway and then, for reasons unclear to anybody, just published it. I didn't even include the Haiga.

You're welcome to use both the original image in the Haiga, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

The fact that I find my gaffe with this post so disconcerting tells me that something else is going on in this ridiculous squirrel blender that I call a mind. I've been presenting as "okay" on the surface, even to me, but being this unsettled over a bit of a nothingburger of a mistake says I'm really not. There's nobody I can tell I'm really not okay, and that makes it feel even worse.

Moving along because who really gives a rat's.

This week's prompt from Poets and Storytellers United, the theme of which is war and peace was another source of inspiration.

https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2022/09/friday-writings-45-war-and-peace.html

I am also sharing the poem with the following blog hops.

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

https://earthweal.com/2022/09/23/earthweal-open-link-weekend-137/

https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/2022/09/sunday-selections-600.html

30 Days of Haiga 2022: So Done with Diet Culture

 

text

this body once lean and flat

has become hilly and fat

I am tired of stale advice

anything but fresh and nice

notes

Thursday's D'Verse Poets prompt requested couplets.

https://dversepoets.com/2022/09/22/mtb-two-by-two/

The Saturday Mix gave us the word pairings flat and hilly and stale and fresh.

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2022/09/24/opposing-forces-saturday-mix-24-september-2022/

Now, you might be thinking to yourself "how in the world is Ornery going to make that work? There aren't any Japanese poetry forms that use couplets!"

That's what I was thinking myself, but I did a little research, and there kind of is one. It's called the Kouta.

https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/tag/japanese/

The Kouta 小唄 (little or short song) is a popular Japanese verse form of the Muromachi Period, 14th thru 16th century.  The lyrical song was resurrected as a Geisha song in the late 1800s and is still popular today. The form has several variations, though always short in only 4 lines a 5th line is sometimes is added.  The theme reflects ordinary life and often uses colloquialisms and onomatopoeia.  The most popular are love songs.  The elements of Kouta are:

a poem in 4 lines. (an occasional 5th line may appear)

a stand alone poem but often is accompanied by other Koutas with the same theme.

syllabic, variable odd numbered syllable lengths, the most common patterns are written in lines of alternating 7-5-7-5 syllables or 7-7-7-5 syllables. 

secular, personal, themes of ordinary life

often includes onomatopoeia.

My brain is too tangled to think of even spelling onomatopoeia let alone trying to write a poem containing such. I also tweaked the rules a bit. Every line has seven syllables.

What's the poem about? In brief, about being a fat person just trying to live life and accept myself as I am in a society rampant with hateful messages about people who look like me, as well as all manner of unsolicited diet advice. I've written many posts about this subject so I will not go into it too deeply here, but diets don't work, in fact, for most people, they do more harm than good. 

There's a place where people can put any unwanted diet advice they may have for me. It's called Where The Sun Don't Shine.

I created the Haiga with Pixlr.com and a free-use image by Bianca Van Dijk on Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/boho-art-female-body-woman-7450246/

It's amusing in a depressing sort of way to search for images of plus-size women. Many people seem to think that plus size means anything with more girth than a twig. 

Anyway, you are welcome to use the Haiga (illustrated poem, whatever) but if you do, please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Ornery Owl, learning to respond to hunger cues after decades of Yo-Yo dieting

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

Hangry Wyrm's sage wisdom:

"If you're Hangry, eat!"

Do not come between Hangry and her food. She will stab you with her fork.

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors