Weekly Wikems. Time.

Hello, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

It's Thursday, feel like writing a wikem?

June is drawing to a close. Hard to believe, but true. Should we talk the fleeting time?

I want to honor my special friends today. My three loyal companions on the wikems journey. It would have been pretty lonely without you.

Thank you for sharing a bit of the fourth dimension with me.

"Time is often referred to as the fourth dimension." (Wikipedia)


Her gems is casting Jules,
the small verse glistens. Rose
is blooming, Janet Ruth,

the faithful Janet Ruth,
her magic's weaving. Jules,
the storyteller; Rose,

the prideful momma Rose,
the rhyme queen - Janet Ruth.
"Words are like jewels," says Jules.

Gems - Janet Ruth, Jules, Rose.

  

I'm putting wikems on hold for the time being.

We are half way through the year. If you've been with me since prompt one, you've written a chapbook's worth of wiki poems!

I'm not going anywhere, though. Thank you again for being here, in this cyberspace.


Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy")

P.S. I hope you'll write and share a 'time wikem' :-)

P.P.S. Green thumbs, could you tell me the name of the flower in the pic I posted, please? (Something I have in my garden, don't know what it is.)

Weekly Wikems. June.

Hello, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

It's Thursday, feel like writing a wikem?

Frederic Leighton's "Flaming June" is in New York through Sept. 6 at the Frick Collection. Visit her if you get a chance.

"Why it's called 'Flaming June,' no one knows."   
For the review that with authority "dismembers" the painting, this line is an acknowledgement of defeat.

I say, thank goodness we don't know everything. Let's enjoy the painting.

And let's talk about June today.

Here's my wikem:

GEMINI 

"...due to the precession of the equinoxes, June begins with the sun in the astrological sign of Gemini..." (Wikipedia) 

She's flaming June, she's you, the fleeting youth
wrapped in the gauze of time, a lucid dream,
the waking orange sun, reposing truth,
she's all that you may see, all things that seem
to be within your grasp, an ancient tune
forever young, she's you, she's flaming June. 



Look forward to your poems.

Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy") 

Weekly Wikems. Pareidolia.

Hello, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

It's Thursday, feel like writing a wikem?

I was browsing through NASA photographs the other day, found this gorgeous pic - "Illusions in the Cosmic Clouds":

The first word of the description was completely new to me:

 PAREIDOLIA.  Let's explore it today.

Here's my wikem: 

RAIN CLOUD

"Common examples of this (pareidolia) are seeing images of animals or faces in clouds..." (Wikipedia)


A big gray turtle in the sky,
its mouth wide open (my, oh my!),
is crawling...toward...the sleepy...sun...
Wake up!!! Wake...GULP! 
The sun is  gone.



Looking forward to your 'pareidolia wikems' :-)


Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy")

image credit

Weekly Wikems. Summer.

Hello, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

It's Thursday, feeling like writing a wikem?

Although we've had a couple of on-the-cool-side days lately, here in Baltimore summer's definitely upon us.

When I was growing up, my summer would start on June 1st and end on August 31st. And so would summer vacation. No school for three long months. Eternity.

"Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January." - Hal Borland 
(Thanks to The Passive Voice for the quote.)


When does your summer start? Is it Memorial Day? Victoria Day? Summer solstice?..


Let's talk summer today.

Here's your wiki link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer



Here's my contribution:

"Solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still)." 

"When on a geographic pole, the sun reaches its greatest height, the moment of solstice, it can be noon only along that longitude...For other longitudes, it is not noon. Noon has either passed or has yet to come." 

(Wikipedia)

let me linger here

today, when the sun stands still
till my noon has passed

Looking forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer ("Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Mind.

Hello, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

It's Thursday. Feel like writing a wikem?

I'll start on a sad note. A very close friend of mine passed away not long ago. Although we kept in touch through email, we haven't seen each other for the past six years: the pond separating us.

Maybe for that reason - the physical distance, maybe just due to her being one of the liveliest people I've met, the news of her passing hasn't really sunk in until now.

I had a dream. Scientists can probably dissect it and attach labels to its parts. I don't know how mind works, or what mind is for that matter.

I know what I felt. I know she came to tell me that she was gone. And that she wasn't. 


Let's explore mind today.

Here's your wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind



Here's my contribution:

"The generalization of mind to include all mental faculties, thought, volition, feeling and memory, gradually develops over the 14th and 15th centuries." 

(Wikipedia)

you came to see me

it had nothing to do with
memory of you

my feeling or thought
it was your own volition
to come to visit

angels did not sing
there was no revelation
you were simply there

you stayed for a while
then without goodbyes you left
just walked out the door 

Looking forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer ("Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Blue.

Hi, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

It's Thursday, and wikems are still showing signs of life :-)

I've just finished "A Spool of Blue Thread." It's wonderfully rich like any of Anne Tyler's books. Perhaps the one that has more surprises than her other novels. 

Do we always know ourselves? Do we really know those who surround us, the closest people - our spouses, parents, siblings, kids?.. Should we always try to get to know them?

Pick up "A Spool of Blue Thread" and dive into Anne Tyler's world. Everything she writes makes you delight in life - a great big tangle of things - so much more.

"Blue" is one of the characters. That prompted my wiki choice for today:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue

Here's my contribution:

"The clear sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering." (Wikipedia)

Try telling yourself

the clear sky and the deep sea

are not blue at all - 

you know what you see.
Lord Rayleigh would understand,
for he saw it too,

before he rebelled
against the invisible,
took the light apart.

He used to see it,
before he scattered himself
'long the path of truth.  

Looking forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer ("Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Philosophy.

Hi, everyone,

hope all's well with you.

I'm late posting. Missed last Thursday, because I was travelling and had problems signing into my blog. Didn't post this morning for no legitimate reason. At least it's still Thursday. How about writing a wikem?

The title of a blog post on the Missouri Review site drew my attention: Why You Should Read a Book and Stop Skimming Wikipedia

One thing in that post I thought was particularly curious:

 "...on any of Wikipedia's millions of pages, clicking on the first link in the text and then repeating the process for subsequent articles will inevitably lead you to the page for "philosophy."

So, here's your Wikipedia article for today, feel free to skim it to find a quote that will inspire your poem:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy

Here's my contribution:

Ethics, or "moral philosophy," is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily...the question of whether this question can be answered." (Wikipedia)

Why are humans cursed

with moral philosophy,

why can’t we just live?

Just greet each new day

living our life to the full,

why take life apart?

Why search for something

that may be non-existent,

why not let it rest –

our zeal to find out

what the best way to live is,

why not live instead?

Looking forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer ("Happy")

P.S. I don't know why, but I feel burned out this year writing-wise. I thought wikems would get my creative juices flowing, but no.

I tried forcing myself to write. It's just not my thing. 

I'll post when I feel the urge to write and share my writing.

And I'll devote more time to reading.

I thank you very much for supporting wikems; maybe we'll revive them some day, who knows.

Weekly Wikems will be back :-)

Hi,

taking a hiatus - will try to participate in the Poem-A-Day April challenge over at Poetic Asides.

Perhaps, we'll see each other there?


Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer ("Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Sun.

Hi, everyone.

Another Thursday. Time for another wikem. (The 'wikem rules' are here.)

Spring is coming. The days are getting longer. And the rays of one hot star sure feel nice.


Let's honor the Sun today:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

Go explore. Find your quote. Write your poem.



Here's my wiki limerick ('wikimerick'? :-):

"The Sun is roughly middle age and has not changed dramatically for four billion years, and will remain fairly stable for four billion more."


When it comes to our years, there's no quota.

When we're down, at the Sun we look oughta -

Middle-aged in the blink

Of an eye...but (wink-wink)

With each billion it only gets hotter!



And one more sunny wikem:

cut her some slack please –

– she is in the midst of confusion...

the fusion burning her core, what more can she give?

forgive her, she’s finished, gone, shone far too long, o’er the hill…

still, look for her in the morn – reborn, a dazzling surprise, she’ll rise.

Thank you for reading :-)
Looking forward to your poems!


Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer ("Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Doubleheader. Progress. Pi.

Hi.

It's Thursday again. Time for your weekly wikems.

Wikems = Wikipedia poems. 

• Each Thursday (usually around 8a.m. Eastern) I post a link to a Wikipedia article, a quote from it and my wikem inspired by that quote.
• I invite you to explore the article, searching for a quote that clicks with you. (You are free to use "my" Wiki quote if it happens to be the one.)  
• Once you've found your quote, use it as an epigraph, write your wikem and post a link to it in the comments below.  (You are welcome to post your wikem directly in the comments if you prefer.)

 Let's play!

Somehow Math dominated my mind last week.

First we had a psychological discussion with Janet J on the vices and virtues of technology: here and here.

Then of course we had pi day.

This time I give you two wiki links. You may choose either of them or use both like I did.

Interestingly, Wikipedia has not figured out yet how to define “progress” in general terms.  It talks about different aspects of progress instead, devoting a separate article to each of them.

So, in fact you’ll be getting way more than two links.  You do the Math J

Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

Explore. Search. Find. Write.

Here's my wikem:

 APPLE π HOPES

"...an irrational number, π...never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating pattern. The digits appear to be randomly distributed..." 

"Alternative conceptions exist, such as the cyclic theory of eternal return..."

We long to see our life as pi –

Irrational, it can deny

All rules and patterns, can extend

In randomness without an end.

But secretly we also yearn

For that old theory of return,

The cyclic pattern that’s to blame

For all the change that stays the same.

Caught contradictions in between

We bake sweet lies on March 14.



Thank you for reading my wikem. 
Look forward to yours.


Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Storytelling.

Hi.
Thursday. Make it wikems time.

Wikems = Wikipedia poems. 

• Each Thursday (usually around 8a.m. Eastern) I post a link to a Wikipedia article, a quote from it and my wikem inspired by that quote.
• I invite you to explore the article, searching for a quote that clicks with you. (You are free to use "my" Wiki quote if it happens to be the one.)  
• Once you've found your quote, use it as an epigraph, write your wikem and post a link to it in the comments below.  (You are welcome to post your wikem directly in the comments if you prefer.)

 Let's play!

A very talented young woman Maria Popova and her essay on the importance of storytelling in the age of information and (lack of) wisdom led me to today's wiki prompt: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling

Explore. Search. Find. Write.

Here's my wikem.

“People have used the carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record stories in pictures or with writing.”

we draw our stories

on the ephemeral sand

ebony of space

we record ourselves

on the carved trunks of birch trees

ivory of clouds

we imprint our song

on the world filled with echoes

parchment of all time 

Thank you for reading. Look forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy")

Weekly Wikems. Flame.

Margo and I happened to have the same prompt idea this week. 

You "fell into a burning ring of fire" on Tuesday and the flames are still high today. :-)

Hi.
Thursday. Make it wikems time.

Wikems = Wikipedia poems. 

• Each Thursday (usually around 8a.m. Eastern, but I slept in today :-) I post a link to a Wikipedia article, a quote from it and my wikem inspired by that quote.
• I invite you to explore the article, searching for a quote that clicks with you. (You are free to use "my" Wiki quote if it happens to be the one.)  
• Once you've found your quote, use it as an epigraph, write your wikem and post a link to it in the comments below.  (You are welcome to post your wikem directly in the comments if you prefer.)

 Let's play!

My dog Ralphie (see above) loves watching the fire. Flames mesmerize him. We think he's a dog poet. And he gave me an idea for today's
wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame 
Go Explore. Search. Find. Write.

COOL FLAME
“…it can initiate without any external ignition source.”

No one saw

beyond the cold facade

her manner that seemed aloof

yet cried out

lonely

No one read

the markings on her face

invisible to the heart

that knows not

burning

No one felt

the flame she stored within

ignited without a spark

pale blue as

her soul  

Thank you for reading. 

Look forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy")