Guest Listed! with Helen Dehner

It’s fitting Kerry invited this ‘old toad’ to guest in September, my birth month ~  Seventy-eight and still kicking!

I spent the majority of 2018 caring for my son Carl. Four emergency room visits, surviving sepsis, liver and colon abscesses, three hospitalizations, three surgeries. Seven months of terror, stress and finally celebrating his recovery. 

Helen and Carl

Poetry took a back seat to everything else in my life.  I joined a book club in January, back to volunteering in Community Theatre (props, costumes, backstage crew) and will join an acapella women’s singing group in October.  Oh! And I am learning to play the harmonica, channeling Bob Dylan (Okay, I am laughing out loud) who also celebrated seventy-eight in May.

Crater Lake

Bend, Oregon

Here is the list of words to choose from, which reflects much of our September Book Club choice “My Dear Hamilton” by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie. Eliza’s story is fascinating, as is learning more about the political climate and lives of our founding fathers.

I look forward to reading your poems, any form .. any length. I enjoy all of you immensely. Please use 3 or more words in a new poem written for this challenge.

Aberration
Absence
Assumption
Audacious
Avant-garde
Bedrock
Clamor
Consensus
Enmeshed
Exile
Risqué
Sacrifice
Shame
Toxic
Trauma
Virtue

A Guest Appearance from Kenia Santos

For today’s challenge, I present you with post-rock!

Find Kenia on Instagram
@kenia.cs

Explosions in the sky. First Breath After Coma - It was the first band, the first post-rock song I heard, I don’t remember when or how it came to be. I remember I found it a great name for a band and I fell madly in love with the genre after that one song.

The first person to help shape the concept of Post-Rock was probably Simon Reynolds in 1994, when he used the term to characterize the album ‘Hex’ of the British band ‘Bark Psychosis’ writing for Mojo Magazine. Reynolds used it then used to describe a style of music that uses typical Rock instruments for non-rock purposes, a definition that approaches best what came next for the genre. 

Throughout the 20 years of ongoing development of post-rock, influences of all possible music genres, such as Jazz, Ambient, Progressive Rock, Krautrock, Post-Punk and temporary classical music can be found. Post-Rock soundscapes are created with the help of dynamics and tone modulation and the use of repetitive musical themes.

For today’s challenge, choose a song from the list below and use it as inspiration to write an untitled poem. You are expected to incorporate the song title in the body of your poem, though. You don’t need to listen to songs, but I highly recommend you to do so! (The link to the Youtube version is in the number - or access the Spotify Playlist provided below.)


1 Waiting and waltzing in airport terminals - Industries of the Blind
2 We age onward - Circadian Eyes
3 Unmake the wild light - 65daysofstatic
4 Waiting for the world to turn back - Tides from Nebula
5 If I had known it was the last - Codes in the Clouds
6 By moving the stars I have found where you are hiding - sleepmakeswaves
7 I just wanted to make you something beautiful - Industries of the blind 
8 Remember me as a time of the day - Explosions in the Sky
9 Jura - pg.lost
10 First breath after coma - Explosions in the Sky
11 The heart that fed - Caspian
12 When there were no connections - Tides from Nebula
13 Hymn for the greatest generation - Caspian
14 Law of unintended consequences - My Dad vs. Yours
15 The walk of thunder - Those Who Ride with Giants
16 What you love you must love now - The Six Parts Seven
17 They move on tracks of never-ending light - This Will Destroy You
18 Your hand in Mine - Explosions in the Sky
19 Dream is destiny - No Clear Mind
20 Every direction is North - El Ten Eleven

A Guest Appearance from Ella Wilson

Greetings to all Toads, near and far! Today it is my great pleasure to introduce as our prompt host, none other than Ella Wilson, one of the founding members of The Imaginary Garden With Real Toads!

Hello Toads!  Kerry and I reconnected this spring when I discovered her beautiful tarot card images on Instagram.   She is so, talented!    I took a leap of faith and was doing a tarot challenge.  She nudged me to participate in #NaPoWriMo2019, in April and I did.  Kerry mentioned perhaps sharing Tarot in the Imaginary Garden and invited me to stop by and share this prompt.   Thank you, Kerry~

Tarot came into my life when my mom bought me a mystical game for Christmas.   I found the game on Ebay and discovered the cards associated with the roulette wheel and glow in the dark marble were Tarot cards.   My mother’s inquisitive nature set me on this path.   I believe we all have the sixth sense.   Tarot for me is part history, mystery, mythology, and a language of visual symbols.  I read intuitively and I  hope today’s prompt will encourage you to pen a poem using your sixth sense.

We are all familiar with the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words. “  -Fred R. Barnard 
As poets we know, “…..a word may well be worth a thousand pictures.”   -Wald Amberstone
I believe Tarot can be used as a life map. Let’s dive in…

There are 22 Major Arcana cards and these have the strongest messages.  We began with The Fool, a young adult setting off to discover the world-not fully aware of his/her surroundings, who meets people who advise him/her and he/she learns lessons along life’s path.   The last card is The World where we feel we have accomplished a goal.  When we decide to set another goal, we will set off again on another adventure as The Fool.

There are 78 cards in the Tarot, 22 of these cards are the Major Arcana - they have Roman numerals on them.  Sixteen Court cards which include Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings which correlate with the 16 personalities in the Myers Briggs. Click for a graphic display!

The other 40 cards as well as the court cards are aligned with four suits with cards Ace thru Ten.

Wands = creativity and align with the Fire signs in the Zodiac: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Swords = thoughts/ideas and align with the Air signs: Aquarius, Gemini, Libra
Cups = emotions based on the Water signs: Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio
Pentacles = abundance and represent the Earth signs: Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo

OUR CHALLENGE

Here are three decks - select the symbol (feather, shell, peacock ore) or deck you feel most drawn to. I will show you three cards from each deck for you to use to inspire your poem. The key is to pick out symbols that stand out to you. When I read, I pick out symbols that catch my eye. For example, the Death card, in most situations, is about transformation, not death.

STEP ONE: SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SETS OF CARDS.

STEP TWO: WRITE A POEM BASED ON YOUR INTERPRETATION OF THE CARDS

PLEASE NOTE:
YOUR INTERPRETATION DOES NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW THE TRADITIONAL READING OF TAROT, BUT MAY BE AS MAGICAL AS YOUR OWN IMAGINATION.
ELLA HAS ALSO SUGGESTED THAT THE CARDS COULD REPRESENT PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE AS SEEN FROM LEFT TO RIGHT.

THE SHELL DECK

Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot
Fair Use Principles

(MAGNETISM)
THE EMPEROR
5 OF CUPS
7 OF SWORDS

THE FEATHER DECK

Vision Quest Tarot
Created by Gayan Sylvie Winter, Jo Dose
Fair Use Principles

(MOTION)
BALANCE
INTEGRITY
SPIRIT GUIDE

PEACOCK ORE DECK

The Smith-Waite Centennial Deck
Fair use Principles

(PERCEPTION)
3 of PENTACLES
2 of WANDS
THE MOON

You can find Ella on Instagram @ellasedge and read her work in Bella Grace Magazine: spring and summer editions.
If you use Ella's photos, either on your blog or on Instagram, please credit/tag Ella's Edge.
All photos displayed in this post are copyright of Ella Wilson, and Used With Permission.