Gifts, Swaps, and Kind Words

I was slow getting my December swap poem out. (Sorry, Brenda!) Last week was an intensive week of yoga teacher training. This week was a slow return to normal. Slow being the key word.

I came home to find three letters from Joy Acey, my December swap poetry partner. Because I was out of town, I missed the surprise impact of these notes coming consecutively, but still it was fun finding three different bits of poetry hygge in my mail. Hygge (pronounced hoo-guh) is a Danish word that doesn't have an exact English translation. Think candlelight, a fire in the hearth, good food and drinks, conversations with family and friends. The art of hygge brightened dark Scandinavian winters. It's an atmosphere that we cultivate at our yoga teacher trainings. I have been actively looking for connections between my yoga world and my poetry world, and I love seeing our poetry swap as a little hygge running from one world to the other.

Five lessons to learn from hygge:

1. Time together is time well spent.
2. The present moment matters.
3. Resting is a priority.
4. Switch off!
5. Gratefulness is important.

While Joy and I are thousands of miles apart (Georgia to Hawaii--I've been there once and it's a long, long way), it definitely felt like we shared a little hygge. Here are my three cards, words and art by Joy Acey.

The first one JOY says:
   
     Smoke out the chimney
     spirals in the frosty air
     starlight and snowflakes

The second Merry Christmas says on the back:

    The roosters crowing
    over Kauai island
    dripping coconuts.

The last one Myna Bird says:
 
    golden sun hanging
    plump on the papaya tree
    calling myna bird

and on the back:
 
    On the first day of Xmas
    my true love gave to me
    a myna in the papaya
             tree.

Mele Kalikimaka to all!

Tabatha hosts the round up at The Opposite of Indifference.

My Poetry Door

This is the poetry door in my office. That's my oldest grandson on the calendar. Sweet boy! While the door doesn't go anywhere special (a closet filled with odd jackets and dresses and random office supplies), I love to stand in front of it and let a word or a phrase or an image draw me beyond what I see to that deeper place where my spirit responds to Beauty.

The yellow strip on the left came from a poetry friend earlier this spring. It's called "Introductions" by Susan Glassmaker. You can read the poem here.

The Hagar the Horrible cartoon came from my husband. (Frame 1 - Hagar's wife: Men may work from sun to sun, but women's work is never done!  Frame 2 - Hagar takes a swig from his mug.  Frame 3 - Hagar: And yet you have time for poetry!)

At the top right is my winter swap poem from Tabatha Yeatts.

Bottom left is my summer swap poem from Margaret Simon.

The most recent addition, my second summer swap poem at the top comes from one of my dearest poetry friends, Irene Latham. I love the daring, adventurous spirit that resides under that quiet, unassuming exterior! And of course I love her poetry. We had a discussion this spring about nonets. I gravitate toward counted syllable poetry, (perhaps its the puzzle aspect of it) and had been writing nonets from the top down (line 1 - one syllable, line nine - nine syllables). I must have known most websites referred to them beginning with nine syllables and working down, because I posted one like that here.  I have no idea why I tried the reverse, but I found that I liked it, as you can see here.

It was fun to read Irene's poetry swap poem for me, a nonet beginning with one syllable and counting down. Her note said she's still not sold on the one syllable beginning, but her poem was perfect.

Nonet for the Journey

for Doraine

Shine

weary 

traveller!

Though storms may shake

dreams from the rafters,

fly with the precision

of cottonwood fluff in spring.

touch down for a moment, a year,

two hundred years. Love the imperfect world.

© 2016 Irene Latham

And you were right, Irene, it IS pronounced

no·net

nōˈnet/

noun

1. a group of nine people or things, especially musicians.

   • a musical composition for nine voices or instruments.

     
     

     Nonet A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine finishes with one syllable. It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional. line 1 - 9 syllables line 2 - 8 syllables line 3 - 7 syllables line 4 - 6 syllables line 5 - 5 syllables line 6 - 4 syllables line 7 - 3 syllables line 8 - 2 syllables line 9 - 1 syllables

     Tara hosts the round up today at A Teaching Life.