Personal Challenge ~ Helen

Greetings Toads!

Happy Summer (or Winter as the case may be)

Toad Ella has passed the challenge torch to me.  She has managed to pry me away from summer fun (craziness) with this challenge: 

"write a poem about your travels in life .. the magic of what you found.  Perhaps one of your fondest places and how it captivated.  Perhaps you could write it with a few map terms."  

(I failed miserably with the map terms, sorry.)

One would think after a long career in travel management, this would be a simple challenge for me.  {It wasn't}  Memories of countries I've visited, countless adventures, fascinating people, tradition and culture I've immersed myself in ~ all of those memories came flooding back.

Thank you Ella, for giving me pause to reflect  ~ and for trusting me with THE TORCH.

In April I sailed from the coast of Florida to Barcelona on Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam ~ my first Transatlantic cruise!  I've sailed more than a few times, voyages lasting seven or fewer days. Island hopping the Caribbean or cruising along the Mexican coastline tends to make one think (in an emergency) returning home would not be problematic.  I mean seriously .. it's not like you're smack dab in the middle of an ocean!!  Cruising for a fortnight feels different.  It took a while to settle in, relax .. let the waves take me where they would ~ now to the matter at hand, poetry.

Atlantic Bathymetric Map ~ using color to show ocean depth ~ wikipedia

Old Woman and the Sea

a slight rumble under my feet

barely discernible

ship horn deep, resonant

mooring lines released, setting sail

blowing kisses to strangers on shore

toasting them with champagne

sunbeams playing hide and seek

in my wind blown hair

drawing in a deep breath

staring as the gap between

ship, shoreline widens

feeling small, invisible

floating into a watery

unfathomable no-man's land

no turning back

no point of return

watching as we slice

through waves rising, falling

gentle swells stirring emotion  

seeker of peace, the ocean

sunlight fading to dark

night sky filled with stars

space traveler

spirit and soul floating free

mid ocean, miles from

 nearest sliver of land

surrounded by deck walkers

gourmet cooks, gamblers 

sweet friendships flourish

nothing remains hidden 

on this private island made

of steel and glitz

a fortnight to reflect

changed by the sea

i bid her farewell

we will meet again

All About Abodes

Day 8 ~ NaPoWriMo

Public Domain Image

Hello Toads!  

I love this line Ayn Rand gave to her protagonist Howard Roark in The Fountainhead .. 

"A building has integrity just like a man, and just as seldom."  Consider your own home.  Do Rand's words ring true?  Does your home serve you well?  

Does it have structural and spatial integrity?  Would you change it if you could?  

Today's challenge ~ compose a brand new poem 

about your home, its idiosyncrasies, its personality! 

(Yes it does have one!)  

Feel free to use any form you like.  

Happy writing .. I can't wait to read your poems!

** PS ~ I am away from my home, with sketchy internet service at best!
{ A chained rictameter, just for you ~ 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2 }


Miss it
my sweet abode
as I bob about on
the high sea, miles and miles from shore
remarkable food, drink, music, shipmates
entertaining and entrancing
this is living life large.
I dream of home ~
miss it

Missing
daily routine
the mundane, familiar
places and faces creating
life's landscape, where everything I hold dear
exists ~ a weird time warp on board
this ship I now call home
for a fortnight ~
missing

Ella's Post

                                Dickens' writing style is florid and poetic, with a strong comic touch.


Did you know Charles Dickens developed his characters, by using symbols. Yes, he shared many details of a character's humble abode.  In these details, he developed his character's personality and traits.  Miss Havisham of "Great Expectations"  comes to mind.

When, I think of Miss Havisham, I can see wild grown weeds, her lavish home, and how her home was in disarray.   Dickens show us with hints:  "Miss Havisham's house, which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bar to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. There was a courtyard in front, and that was barred, so we had to wait, after ringing the bell, until some one should come to open it....    We went into the house by a side door, the great front entrance had two chains across it outside,-and the first thing I noticed was, the passages were all dark, and that she had left a candle burning there.... But I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre and was faded and yellow."    

I think of her perhaps having a split personality and being socially withdrawn.   Dickens'  style was noted by a term called  Dickensian. 

I want you to write a Dickens inspired poem. If you want to follow through in English form, then by all means write a sonnet.   I would be thrilled, but it is not required.


Please make your character vivid and share a lot of details about their home, what it looks like, sounds like, smells like, etc.   And here is the twist, yes an Oliver Twist, lol.   You will write a poem about the home of another Toad!  Let's try to highlight key elements that we love about this Toad member. Where do you imagine this poet lives?!   I do not what you to share, until the following morning who you have written about.   Let's have fun visiting each others' homes and guessing who the Toad is!   I know you can do florid and poetic, but let's also add a bit of comedy~   Yes, do several and have fun!  If anyone feels left out-email me. I plan on writing more than three.  ;D   It will be a marathon day for me. I have a post at Poets United, here and also am part of IWSG=Insecure Writer's Support Group!   Yes, I will be playing Leap Frog, lol.   I have great expectations and look forward to your poems~