Tuesday, January 31, 2012

howler monkey

Depression in January/
the Emotion of
a howler monkey

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is
'Aegyptopithecus,' an extinct primate with an unpronounceable name.

Instead of sketching today, spent the time uploading sketches done in Cuba. If you're interested, you can find them here.

Monday, January 30, 2012

I like this place

‘I like this place,’ she said,
‘it is just an ordinary life,

If you will take advice, Consider

Style
, without doubt, is good;
but a beautiful soul really is Special

This truth is always delicious

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'homely.'

Sunday, January 29, 2012

a raw breathing in

The Triumph
of spirit In art is,
time after time,
A raw breathing in,
a good deal of trouble,
and a kind of curious
blooming
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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'green man.'

Saturday, January 28, 2012

architecture

I make Architecture
the usual subject

A certain building
is but a painted puzzle

The window Reflections
sometimes enchanted

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary was 'rebus.'

Friday, January 27, 2012

at war with cold

Walking to a standstill,
at War with cold all day
(i Long for a chimney)

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'Euroclydon,' a stormy wind.

It's strange to switch back to a cool NW palette after saturated Caribbean colors. The forty degree temperature change certainly found its way into today's erasure!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

if I err

If I err,
I beg indulgence
of the Poets,

as I ‘illumine’
a comparatively
simple idea

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'aureate.'

Pictures & Poems will be on a brief hiatus while I am visiting the locale pictured. Gracias por su paciencia.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

insubordination

in a Random Passage of light
the sun Drinks from the flowers,
a Sacred insubordination in January

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'admiral.'

Friday, January 13, 2012

can't sit around waiting

A future uncertain;
trying to balance
the pressures of today

can't sit around waiting,
and analyze to death
angst-ridden behavior

demanding a Good Weekend
may not be a sign of immaturity at all

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem| commentary is 'Generation X.'

Thursday, January 12, 2012

peculiar ideas

Life & poetical Thinking

peculiar ideas
waking
up
New purpose

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'nyctograph,' a device invented by Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carrol) to record ideas at night in bed without fully waking up.

Strangely enough, I couldn't find one at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

the Ordinaries

art -
a Staggering
opportunity to prevent
the Ordinaries from
creeping up on a person
unawares

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'obreption.' In case you too were absent the day THAT got explained, it means trying to obtain something by fraud.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

worry is a sorry place

knowing, and ignorant,
Some let themselves down

Life is an adventure
Be Well,
or something of that sort,

as worry is a sorry place
sure to result in hospital

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem| commentary is 'aegrotat.'

I don't know how I got through school without hearing of a "certificate that a student is too ill to attend an exam."

Monday, January 9, 2012

spiritual being

a spiritual being
made up of energy

Should this be
Pleasure or Pain
to imagine?

are we remains
Of Godhead?

Heavens! I can think of nothing more fascinating...
The Original work done of its own accord

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'automaton.' I would have failed a multiple-choice test on when the word was first used. Would you have guessed 1616?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

garden of memory

January scurried to fill
My Garden of Memory 

the Sun,
accompanied by a butterfly

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is 'froggery.' I admit to being a little surprised that the citations didn't include any French slurs :)

Saturday, January 7, 2012

impressions

Common Places,
 a star in the clouded sky;

The wild mutability
I crave that
which is not
expressly indicated,
but only
in paint or in words
the impressions

There is more than what I have in these pages

The most heart-piercing part
is the Real beauty,
however concealed or disguised,
kneeling in the shadow of Choice 
the consciousness of something else—
something To add to a picture
that would drink dry
fountains of eloquence

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'adumbrate.'

Friday, January 6, 2012

the media

People should be able to get respect or love
but –listen to the media –
humans wreak havoc on each other out of fear

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The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'brain sucker.' This was never gonna go anywhere good.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

frustration

Will anyone
with the experience
of middle age
deny that there is much
in every-day life
calculated to produce
Frustration 

but apathy is
a lingering suicide

dwell on hope

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'accidie,' which is basically sloth. Not, of course, that I would know anything about that :)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

rose-gold

winter sunrise —
rose-gold splashed across the sky
gone in a heartbeat

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The poetically unusable OED word of the day is 'Newtonically.'

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

imaginary heroes

imaginary heroes
usually (and quite rightly) help all

hate and anger
one came again to learn
were The trouble

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'orc,' a sort of ogre resurrected from Old English by Tolkien.

Peggy had the good idea to sketch in the Fremont library, the perfect location on a cold rainy January day: big tables AND stamps (unfortunately, I stamped the tiny Piglet upside down in the foreground!) AND stickers (Peggy used a cool thought balloon one).

Monday, January 2, 2012

with a pencil

search out and draw life

under examination
the present
Will nourish
the soul

Dashes at Life 
with a Pencil
influence your mind,
an advantage you may
not have thought of

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'pabalum,' not to be confused with pablum. In fact, as the Oxford lads point out, the two are so OFTEN confused that the definition for pablum is now an alternate definition for pabulum, even though they border on opposites!

If I've completely boggled your mind, you can always go to the source!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

safe

this groggy head,
unsteady, and—old

Sunday morning
Safe from yesterday

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The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'babalaas,' South African slang for a hangover.

Hope you aren't needing to add that to your vocabulary today.