Blush, Soliloquy, Ladybird, Nest

And for another batch of poetry now. This one is once again taken from my very lovely friends over at Etsy - Etsy has updated searching and so there is even more to look at again. Lots of changes and they seem to be doing a great job!

Becky from curiouscleo gave me "maternal, blush, bond" to work with.

"Home"
The colour of blush paints itself
across the empty room
spreading up to mirrored ceilings
before creeping back to a worn floor.
A maternal place – always growing
a new group of ungrateful children
creating the bond that everyone
can see – easy to make
and easy to cut straight across.

Kate from PatchworkMoose gave me "soliloquy, sunset, solidified".

A motion solidified into action
minutes go by unchecked as they listen
to a series of speeches – the main
soliloquy broadcast throughout the day.
Lines towed along and repeated until
the sunset creeps over walls and streets
into the down-at-heel market
where we wake up and live.

Lin from cloudhopping gave me 'contradictory, flourish, nest' in the blog comments to work with.

"Cuckoo"
A thin grey bird cries out at night
calling to her mate but taunting
those she needs but doesn't want.
Using the unsuspecting neighbour
who never learns but suffer at her hand.
Contradictory by nature, rarely seen
but forced to meet and exchange.
So much of their purpose
done amongst strangers - solitary until
in a nest. Better than their own.
Instinctive selfishness passed on
to thick skinned young who
flourish wherever they are placed.
Alone apart from captivated carers
unwilling helpers in their own torment.

Jane from janehammill gave me 'ukelele, ladybird, beads' also in the blog comments.

"Up/Out"
There is a tall lady - soft but solid
with tangled red hair standing
in the September pumpkin field.
Surrounded by globes she holds
a ukelele up towards the day-time
stars. Unseen but ever present.
The music starts but she isn't playing
and one ladybird lands on her
white dress, attracting its fellows.
As the run warms her morning skin
she dances - chains of beads
clattering to a different tune.

That's all for now. I've been writing more standard length as well as more haiku-ish ones which should hopefully both be up here soon.

Vick.

A day in the kitchen

I spent today cooking and pottering around.

very lovely organic garlic

beheaded

dressed for heat

all done

ready to be added to...anything

all from the greenhouse

thyme and flavoured oil

midway through being baked to death

very roasted tomatoes

thin slices

much salt

dinner

I also read the paper. Drank coffee. Wrote some letters. Did some tidying up. Wrote some new recipes. Now I think I need to do some ironing. It's an exciting life here.

Vick.

Swans & Horses & Heroes...

I've started putting my new constellation collection online. I talked about the process over here and now they are up in the shop.

I've done four so far and I am now experimenting with the more dense (artistically, not in physics terms - I didn't do very well in physics at school) groups to see how they will work.

It's also time to think about Christmas. I wish I was kidding but I've already signed up for two Christmas craft fairs. I know I said I was going to be focusing on my online sales but it would be stupid to miss the holiday crafting sales opportunities. They are huge. So, there's that but also Etsy starts really gearing up now. Christmas cards will be going up along with decorations and gift tags, presents etc.etc. Once we are over the Halloween, Thanksgiving, start of Fall (autumn) bump it will be full steam ahead for Christmas.

Exhausting, right? But more on that later. For now I am going back to my stars.

Vick.

Isthmus, Dulcet, Hemisphere.

After the frenzy of my mini-haiku-ish poems last week we are back with 'normal' poems now. I don't think they are normal. Have I ever said on here how much I hate normal? I really do. Again all of the ideas behind the random words come from my friends over on Etsy. Links to their shops are through the shop names - go have a look and find something amazing for yourself or a friend.

Meanwhile some of these have been really tricky. 

Artangel gave me “Ethereal, Whisper, Dulcet” to write something from:

“Sweetie”

The street, quiet of cars wound to the

left to show a bright pink door.

A pure scent of hot sugar hit the passers-by

and trickled through them like a whisper promising more.

Touch, taste. Joy to follow the promise.

Dulcet songs of daisy fields

washed across the room and rolled

back towards our strained ears.

Food delivered in high platters of

ethereal tastes and otherworldly textures

making a cornucopia with plenty to eat in

a world full of easy light and bright pastel.

A home found easily and never quite

returned to more than once, never left.

Michaela & Richard of frenchandgodbold gave me "isthmus, ash, equation" a long time ago now and I have been thinking about it ever since, it took me a long time to find a way of getting the words to do what I wanted but finally I came up with this:

“Library”

Wallpaper the colour of ash and soft silk

covered the room and

seeped into the narrow isthmus leading far away.

Beyond its secrets a world of

books waiting to be found –

no longer behind barriers and alarms

but open to the dust and skin.

Only at night when the ghosts come out

to reclaim their possessions and move

the heavy drapes can the words be set free.

Ready to read.

A home turned to a museum

trapping written ideas like flies on paper.

A human equation of money

breaking the rules and forgetting

what matters from the past.

Wendyelf herself gave me "warble, crystal, hemisphere" to work with.

"Odette"
Two men work side by side in the summer
furnace they have always known.
All at once a sphere and a hemisphere
then transformed into a new life.
A crystal swan kept by his

little girl to remind her

of his hands and their wonder.

the warble of a long extinct bird

carries into the studio and the glass

shakes and mumbles but remains strong.

The past cannot get in, every single thing

is preserved by old fires and a dying skill.

All in all these were much harder than the last couple of batches but I seem to be thinking that a lot recently - maybe now we are so far through (we are approaching 50 if anyone wanted to know) I am finding it harder to get new ideas. New sets of words are starting to remind me of old ones that I have already done so I'm trying to keep them out of the poem and still find a way of working the words in. Having said that I am still really enjoying this as a way of writing and am very grateful that I have so many good ideas coming my way.

I'm still not quite there with the ideas though - I need a few more. There are some people who I am planning on pestering but if anyone hasn't given me any words yet, I would love to hear from you. I'm not doing any duplicates unless I run out of ideas, then I'll go back and use the spare sets from people who have already helped me write one.

Vick.

5, 7, 5

I was reading over the lists of word ideas that I was given and realised that a lot of them made phrases all by themselves. So sitting with a cup of iced tea and a buzzing brain I got a rather silly idea. Why not make it even harder for myself? Yes, excellent. So I started writing Haikus.

Except that they are not really haiku poems. They are poems following the 5/7/5 syllable pattern so not strictly a haiku but close enough for someone who is not an expert (I'm not).

Here we go. These are all from lovely sellers over on Etsy who have been kind enough to inspire me. Please click on their names to visit their shops - we have some great people on the site and you *never* know what amazing wonders you might find. Have fun, explore, support crafters and artists.

Julia of LoveButtons gave me "badger, kiosk, ocean".

"Sea Hut"
A kiosk striped black
and white looks like a badger
on the ocean front.

Pam of akcflowerdesigns gave me "whisper, shout, silence".

"Counsel"
The first stage-whisper,
Grief that will shout long and loud.
A minute's silence.

Jane of dovehilljewellery gave me "ambience, freedom, enjoyment"

"Night Time"
A dark ambience
the old freedom to star-gaze
for pure enjoyment.

Pam of crochetbypamela gave me "sea, baby, curiosity"

"Newborn"
A baby stares out
to sea, with unseeing eyes -
curiosity.

Magicalfrost gave me "sunshine, moment, comfort"

"You That Way"
Cold sunshine prolongs
the moment I say goodbye
to my comfort. You.

Ana of anacdesigns gave me "smile, transparent, open"

"Genes"
Transparent trees wave
from open generations
a smile from your past.

Stasya of TheStitchAndFold gave me "water, paper, fruit" in the blog comments section.

"Downtrodden"
Dripping water breaks
through the paper like rotten
fruit squashed under foot.

Sandy from angelcottagecreation gave me "spring, turquoise, coral" to work with.

"Pattern"
Spirals of turquoise
flowers form a coral reef
in Spring's lost garden.

Vicki from KarrahDesigns gave me "beauty, promise, hope"

"Acting"
Standing on a stage
his hope to promise beauty
yet no one believes.

Mandy from TheHollowbourneHoard gave me "sparkle, blue, soft"

"Crashed"
A sparkle of moon-
lit blood, tangled in soft fur
as a blue car flees.

So that is my brief fling with 5-7-5 poetry. I think there might be more, unless there are huge objections. I like working in a very specific form, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.
We shall see - I've kept the ones I have written in a less organised manner back so that they were not in with all of the Haiku-ish ones so I will pop them online soon.

Vick.

A Garden Full of Flowers

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Exciting news! Well, I am excited by it and it's news.

I am selling small scale prints of my collages on Etsy. For now it is focused on my 5"x7" original collages. I am looking to sell prints of the larger art works as well but I will need to sort out the details of this, but I expect to be selling 6"x4" prints of the A4 pieces at least by the end of the month.

Obviously by selling them as prints the price has come down so it's a nice way of having a wider range of prices in my shop. All of the new prints will be 6"x4" and will be for sale at $20.00 over in the Collage section of Etsy.

So far there are fourteen of them up there and I am working on getting more on as we speak.

As ever there are lots of things going on with various art projects and other little ideas that I am working on but getting all of these ready and sorting out postage, plus new titles and descriptions has been taking a little while.

Happy weekend everyone,
Vick.