The Courage To Try

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month 2014. In case you missed it Bianca hosted a wonderful poetry month. This posts contains her final post and links to all of her guest bloggers for the month as well. Enjoy 🙂

Micropoetry

The fabulous Bianca was kind enough to add artwork to some of my micropoetry.  I hope you enjoy her creations and my words.

 

dear readers and writers

Anyone who has found friends and family here on wordpress that seem more true, more real than those you have in real life will be warmed by this a co write between teardrops of ink and who could know then.

who could know then

dear friends,

this is a co write between teardrops of ink and myself. we began this poem over a month ago, born from tentative blog converstaions of two internet strangers. we hope you enjoy it, as much as we did writing it.

.
.
.
dear readers and writers
.

.
,
,

(The Writer)
Frail lives
penned into strong, black lines
on display, hidden
in plain sight for all to see
The moment of truth
Afraid to try, afraid to reach out:
yet more afraid not to.

(a reader)
and it’s these moments…
in reading the poetry of real people,
of eyes that we will never speak to, the miles
we will never bridge, the shoulder,
our reassuring hand will never reach…
it’s these moments when pain,
her vulnerability so courageously
etched across the screen, a pain that
resonates so deep into my own heart, that
i wonder… what…if….should…

View original post 456 more words

Fallow (Cascade) ~ a Collaboration

This Cascade* Poem is another collaboration between Bianca and I.  Read Bianca’s Poem HERE

Stanzas  1, 3 and 5, B.G. Bowers
Stanzas  2, 4 and 6 , Melanie Blackwell.

Immobilized by hostile thoughts

imprisoned by yesterday’s memories

progress wavering beneath an atrophied sky

an imagination blinks, and creativity stirs

disrupting transient cycles of sabotage

 •

refreshing respite furnishes fertile fields to farm

words flow freely at first then stutter and choke

freedom proves once again fleeting

pervasive past resurfaces anew to paralyze

Immobilized by hostile thoughts

 •

limiting beliefs borne from malign exposure

cultivated in a glass house of exotic plants 

mordant internal chatter rising like hot tropical air 

sinking creativity in drafts of cold

imprisoned by yesterdays memories 

 •

deprivation of sunlight breeds deficiency

life affirming sunshine acts like poison

as does love to one with limited exposure

tolerance levels must be built up over seasons

progress wavering beneath an atrophied sky

 •

but just like the sky, moods are transient

there is silver stitched into those clouds

today is a new day, improved conditions

render yesterday’s meagre harvest inconsequential

an imagination blinks, and creativity stirs 

 •

sense of self awakens and grows stronger

slashing through the vines and weeds that tether

negativity withers away once left untended

choosing to only reap the positive things sown

disrupting transient cycles of sabotage 

•

© 2013 B.G. Bowers and Melanie Blackwell

Cascade Cascade, a form created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall. The poem does not have any rhyme scheme; therefore, the layout is simple. Say the first verse has three lines. Line one of verse one becomes the last line of verse two. To follow in suit, the second line of verse one becomes the last line of verse three. The third line of verse one now becomes the last line of verse four, the last stanza of the poem. See the structure example below:a/b/c, d/e/A, f/g/B, h/i/CTo make the Cascade an even longer poem, use more lines in verse one. For example, if verse one has 6 lines, the poem must have seven stanzas so that each line of verse one is reused as a refrain in each following stanza (a cascading effect).

Related articles

• Harvests (Cascade) ~ A Collaboration (bgbowers.com)

New page to Highlight Featured Friends

Found this beautiful image on several sites yet no idea who to credit.

Hi All!

As some of you read awhile back I added a Featured Friends section on my home page.  I have added a few more people to that section and decided to also create a separate page for this as well.  You can find it next to Home, Awards & Who is Responsible for This? (my about me page)

Again, please don’t be offended if you are not on this list. I will revise as I go along 🙂

My goal here is to just a highlight just a handful of people who:
-actively participate (comments etc)
-whose talent I admire
-who inspire me

I “follow” quite a few blogs but the following are ones that I have truly connected with.

They are a diverse group offering everything from poetry to photography and humor to artwork.

Please visit each of these amazing people. There is something for everyone. Enjoy!

~Melanie

I Take Flight (Etheree)

This Double Etheree* Poem is another collaboration between Bianca and I.

Lines 1-5, & 11- 15 Melanie Blackwell

Lines 6-10, & 16-20 B.G. Bowers

I 

chisel

away past

to unearth Me

beauty forged in pain

mottled marble fractures

birth fruitful blossoms of hope

immutable memories ache

easing with each sunset and sunrise

gnarled roots transform into pillars of strength

resilient spirit rises, a phoenix

untethered by blood or history

free from unjust shackles of shame 

I create myself anew

upon this foundation

Healing wings of love

Bold pursuit of

Youthful dreams

I take

Flight

 

© 2013 B.G. Bowers and Melanie Blackwell

—

*The poetry form, Etheree, consists of 10 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 syllables. Etheree can also be reversed and written 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Get creative and write an Etheree with more than one verse, but follow suit with an inverted syllable count.

Reversed Etheree: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Double Etheree: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

…Triple Etheree, Quadruple Etheree, and so on!

Love (Vers Beaucoup)~ A Collaboration

This Vers Beaucoup* Poem is another collaboration between Bianca and I.
Stanzas 1 and 3, B.G. Bowers
Stanzas 2 and 4, Melanie Blackwell.

Dicentra formosa

♥

Spring flowers burst first with sunny thirst

We nursed our garden, love sprouting, never doubting

through seasonal pouting. Through summer heights and sultry nights

immune to fights, two hearts merged and our lives converged.

♥

Flirtation and exploration regardless of location

provided warming sensation all through the Fall

never cause to brawl. We both did yearn to learn

to discern how to keep our love alive and make it thrive

♥

Our hearts sang when Winter sprang, and marriage bells rang

we were ying and yang. Honey and moons and late afternoons

coffee and teaspoons, red conversations and blue revelations

in our garden of patience. No cloud too black to knock us off track.

♥

Through the years we faced blackest fears and dried azure tears

holding one another near. White-hot pain fertilized a fleeting strain

yet our roots remain deep. Our love growing strong, because as we knew all along

we belong together. For all the right reasons, we have a love for all seasons.

 ¨

© 2013 B.G. Bowers and Melanie Blackwell

*The Vers Beaucoup, a poem form created by Curt Mongold, which is French for “many rhymes”. Each stanza consists of four lines with a rhyming word scheme of:

a-a-a-

a-b-b-

b-c-c-

c-d-d

Each rhyme can only use a MAXIMUM of three words. The fourth “a” rhyme carried over to the second line causes enjambment and creates a strong internal rhyming structure.

When you are ready (Quatern)

This Quatern* Poem is another of several poetry forms that Bianca  & I are collaborating on. Bianca has written stanzas 2 and 4, and I have written stanzas 1 and 3.

¨

You will speak when you are ready

comforting you by listening

weeping over crackling phone line

silence with intermittent sobs

∞

When darkness falls and shadows pounce

You will speak when you are ready

Illuminate your room of grief

reveal the silver lining

∞

As morning light breaks through your gloom

Shrug that beast called past off your back

You will speak when you are ready

With clarity of heart and mind

∞

Your spirit will rise on birdsong

when you embrace what’s yet to come

Focus on the gold horizon

You will speak when you are ready

¨

© 2013 B.G. Bowers and Melanie Blackwell

*A Quatern is a sixteen line French form composed of four quatrains. It is similar to the Kyrielle and the Retourne. It has a refrain that is in a different place in each quatrain. The first line of stanza one is the second line of stanza two, third line of stanza three, and fouth line of stanza four. A quatern has eight syllables per line. It does not have to be iambic or follow a set rhyme scheme. line 1 line 2 line 3 line 4 line 5 line 6 (line 1) line 7 line 8 line 9 line 10 line 11 (line 1) line 12 line 13 line 14 line 15 line 16 (line 1)