All new posts will be found. . .

at MeeAugraphie.com. Thank you.

I have added to the blog description to reflect these are my former words.

Haiku - Evening

One Deep Breath this week posted the most beautiful photo as our prompt (and new header) along with the word, evening. Stop by their site to see the photo and the accompanying haiku. It is well worth your time, and you will tumble on links to other wonderful haiku.

Yellow refuses
to give way to maudlin gray
Orange joins the fight

~~~~~~~


Evening creeps up
folds of rolling thunder
hide its path of stealth















MeeAugraphie
08/06/07


Words and photos are mine, please do not use without permission, thank you.

Monday Finds "Growth Rings"

I find this poem interesting and wish to share it with you. Follow the link -- you may just find a poet or poem that sparks something inside you.

"Growth Rings" by Rose Dewey Knickers.

Y'all are missing a chance to compete

Missy @ The Incurable Disease of Writing is lacking entries for her Show Don't Tell contest. Two of us have entered so far -- You don't want her to have to choose between just two people do you? Wouldn't it be more fun to make her work and have to read lots of entries?

The contest ends tomorrow! She may have to extend it, but come on, y'all, she took the time to come up with a prompt and a prize! You know you need the practice, we always need practice - and an excuse to do it, and Missy has given us one.

Besides it is fun.

Unconscious Mutterings - Oh, to sleep

LunaNiña of Unconscious Mutterings, posts ten words each week for us to free associate. It is a quick and sometimes surprising exercise. It is also a fun one. Why not play along next time? Just click on link above! Her words on left, my responses on right.

1. Voices :: in my head
   
2. Have to :: go
   
3. Machine :: ready
   
4. Seventh grade :: English
   
5. Beach :: ball
   
6. Roommate :: sucks
   
7. Cyclone :: hit
   
8. Theater :: actor
   
9. Pregnant :: pause
   
10. Phoebe :: sings
    

I cannot just stop with her meme. I love to exercise my brain, so each week I write either a short story or poem with the words, attempting to keep them in the order given in the meme. Yet, I still want to make some sense out of them. . . My result this week:

Oh, to sleep...


Voices in my head
speak softly of
all I have to do --

before I go to sleep
they refuse to turn off
like a machine spinning in place
ready to take off at the touch
of a button

that never comes.

Seventh grade English,
romping on hot sand barefoot
to catch a beach ball thrown
by a roommate (for life),
moments when life just sucks
as if a cyclone hit land
and jerked trees and smashed bananas
and spit it out in my face,
theater, watching an actor
squirm from a pregnant pause that seemed
to go on past its due date,
my expertise at vocals (and sometimes words) --
comparable only to
to Phoebe as she sings
words and tones no one wants to hear
in the coffeehouse...

Someone, please push the button!

MeeAugraphie
08/04/07

Please, do not copy my crazy words,they also contain words from Lunaniña's meme, used with permission. Please do not copy hers except as part of her meme without her permission. Thank you.

Poem - Surely, Where are you?

It is beautiful, isn't it!

This is a partial view of the 48 squares knitted or crocheted by 48 different human beings that was then labored over for hours by another human being(s), crocheting them together as one stained glass effect afghan for the Share A Square Project.

It is one of 140 afghans needed so each of the children who will attend Camp Sanguinity next summer can wrap themselves in our love and their own well-honed imagination.

Surely, Where are you?


Surely, you have a maiden aunt
or a boss that knits behind a rant?

Surely, your instincts are like radar
to detect a crocheter from afar?

Surely, someone owes you a favor
that knows a talented crocheting raver?

Surely, the young poet next door
would rather knit than clean a floor?

Surely, you know someone that rocks
to crochet a square smaller than infant frocks?

Surely, you know someone who knows someone
who will say "No problem, I'll get it done today, hon!"

MeeAugraphie
08/03/07

OK, enough, I felt driven to write ridiculous poetry to get your attention! Then just before posting it, I realized I had a better way to get your attention -- a simple photo of how beautiful the afghans are turning out! And, Shelly Kneupper Tucker gave me permission to use this photo. Unfortunately for you, the poem was written!

If you know ANYONE who can knit or crochet the tiniest bit, please, steer them toward Shelly at ThisEclecticLife.com. Encourage them to knit or crochet just one or two squares, tag it (with their name, town and state) -- and send them off to little old Denton, TX.

You see there, they will be joined together, to make a gorgeous afghan like this 1 of the 140 destined for the kids at Camp Sangunity. I'll leave the details for Shelly to tell, but you all do know how small 6 inches really is, right? So, it won't take long to make it. And her address is so easy, no long drawn out names of streets you cannot even pronounce -- just a simple PO BOX. . .

The idea is to have the afghan made by a minimum of 49 different people, 48 making squares plus the 1 or 2 workhorse human beings that then crochets them all together.

We can make a difference in a big way by doing a small tiny something. And it can be as tiny as finding the Surely persons!

If you are saying, "So what, what difference will an afghan make?" -- perhaps this list of 17 things to do with an afghan will explain it. Feel free to share it with others.

Read more >> Options >>

3WW - Tourist Trap

Gray -- Fathom -- Memphis

Those words were thrust at us by Bone to show our creativity with for his meme, 3 Word Wednesday. A simple mission? Perhaps not this time. Check out the rules and the links to other creative writers who took on the challenge, including Bone.

Tourist Trap


No Graceland pomposity for us,
we explored dreary
of another kind
wandering just another
street
in Memphis.

I could not fathom
Beale Street's allure
until magic enveloped
as he pushed open a door
into history
and replaced the gray
of a mundane march
along cracked sidewalks
with
the blues of B.B.King's.

A new color wangled its way into
my heart that night
squeezing between
pounding beats of Rock
and
dum dum tek-a-tek of Mid-Eastern
to connect heart with soul.

MeeAugraphie
08/01/07

Check out, "The story of Beale St" -- as told by Rufus Thomas.

Your brain can come up with your own word combinations, please, do not copy mine.

Note: please let me know if the picture is in the header or not, it keeps coming and going, and without it the blog title is hidden from view -- as is the evidence of my age as it is my graying hair in the photo....

Changes are so much fun

There is supposed to be a photo at the top of this blog -- of my blonde-gray-whatever-color hair -- but half the time it loads and half the time it doesn't. I was in the middle of searching for reasons and got distracted and found the most interesting template for Tumbled Words that allows people to comment NEXT to the post beside individual paragraphs or even at each number of a numbered list -- like TT - I linked on the first post to one of my Thursday Thirteens and made a few fake comments and then Damien and Shelly added a couple, too, so you can see how it works! You can also just comment like normal by clicking on the comment bubble with a page icon at the top, the individual comments are little comment bubble icons along the post. There are a few things to work out - I only just found it this afternoon. It even comes with comment instructions built in on the page! Check it out, Tumbled Words.

Contrast of Moods

Bubbles cannot
contain excitement
as it bursts from
parents' hearts

Jump completed
to the water below,
he kicks his tiny feet
and flails his tiny arms
not in fear, but in success.

A stark contrast to his
screaming hate of life jackets
made known to all
within the county,
or was that the state?

Photos by MeeAugraphie sometime in late '79 or early '8o. Words, by same, 07/30/07.

Swimming skills taught by me under the guidance, and with the patience, of those at the YMCA in St. Petersburg, FL. He took lessons with me from the first moment they let us in the water for lessons when he was six months old until they forced me from the water when he was three.

The swim cap courtesy of ear infections and the tubes inserted at 17 or 18 months -- he never had another one. . . . (ear infection that is)

For Haiku on nature: compare and contrast, click here (or just scroll down)

My words and photos are not to be copied, thank you.

Haiku - Compare and Contrast

We welcome Jennifer back to One Deep Breath! The prompt this week was: compare and contrast. That is something many do naturally! Why not go on over Tuesday and see who else has risen to the challenge. If you check that post later, they update the list of participants as they write their haiku.

Cracked earth should crumble
beneath weight of rushed footsteps
but springs back instead

~~~~

Imagination
seeks moonlight beneath blanket
flashlight creates beam

~~~~

Horizontal rain
hiding much from view frustrates
lightning blinds all view

~~~~

MeeAugraphie
07/30/07

For a non-haiku poem on contrast (and photo), click here!

Please, do not copy my words. Thank you.

Poetry Thursday - Lullaby of Mee

Poetry Thursday is on summer break from prompting us, but we are all still posting and linking back to their Thursday post each week. Follow the link here and read what other poets wrote! We all have such different styles and subjects, you will be quite surprised at what you might find.

Lullaby


I'll keep you warm
within my heart
float safely in my arms

you may gaze
into my eyes
they'll reflect your sweet soul

go to sleep
hear your name
dream your own dreams in silence

know we will
show you how
to stand proud and be counted.

MeeAugraphie
07/30/07

Written with our son in mind -- about 29 years later than should have been. . . To see when it should have been written and read my latest Self-Rules written as a short poem: Click here.

(This is freaky! As I was copying this poem into the blog to save for Thursday, a commercial came on the TV. (I had forgotten to turn it off after checking traffic this morning.) It was the same lullaby that I had hummed as I wrote this.)

Words put together this way are by my effort, please do not copy.

Monday Finds "Going Home Again"

I find this poem interesting and wish to share it with you. Follow the link -- you may just find a poet or poem that sparks something inside you.

"Going Home Again" by Sue Turner.

Unconscious Mutterings - First Job

Lunaniña posted interesting words for us to free associate with in her Unconscious Mutterings meme. It is so easy to play along, you may want to jump on over to her site and play along. My associations to her words:

1. Traditional :: linens
   
2. Popeye :: the sailor man
3. Gin :: and tonic
   
4. Harsh :: reality
   
5. Topless :: dancer
   
6. The thing :: is
   
7. Defiant :: mist
   
8. Huge :: man
   
9. Food :: eat
   
10. Lenny :: Den

End of meme. Now, I always try to stretch my brain by using all twenty words in either a poem or short scene or story - in the order they were given. Not feeling poetic today, I just wrote. I thank Lunaniña for letting me take this liberty with her words each week. Note:, I had to edit this this morning. . . Trying to do it after my normal sleep cycle kicked in was not, well, it was, no, just say, I messed it up. OK, so now the missing words are added!

First Job


Michelle chose traditional linens for the bedding, though the theme
for the children's bedroom was, of all things, Popeye the Sailor Man
and Olive Oil. The room was for fraternal twins, born of parents who both grew up on the Popeye cartoons. It was a harsh reality for a designer who preferred classic lines to have a first client you had their eye set on cartoon characters, garish characters. Why she would rather guzzle gin and tonic in a bowling alley, of all places, than even remember Popeye existed.

Michelle could no more think the words without singing that ridiculous song than associate a topless dancer with other than a smokey bar and a pole. No, not a fireman's pole. No! I did not mean that either.

The thing is, she had tried steer her clients to a different theme, the ocean or even a castle and forest, but both parents and her own design partner were defiant; they insisted on Popeye and Olive Oil. She could not even allow herself to paint those two characters on the wall. She had to bid that part of the job out. It disgusted her to acquiesce, but she was a new designer and needed the job.

She did agree to paint the mist that hung over the boat in the harbor, just to cut costs, and yes, her eyes did tear up, fitting, she thought to
herself as she painted.

"His muscles are so huge he is ugly," she told her boyfriend that night
as they sat down on the sofa with the food he had picked up on the way home from the station.

"I'm Popeye the Sailor man. . ." He sang quietly as he held up a can of spinach - and a can opener, grinning.

"Sean! I..."

"Shut up, your food is going cold. Either eat it or I'll open this can of room temperature spinach and feed it to you while I enjoy this fried chicken. And be glad they didn't want a room based on someone like Lenny. You could have designed the Lenny and Denny bowling den while wearing a poodle skirt -- or worse."

MeeAugraphie
07/29/07

These words, both mine and Lunaniña's are not to be copied, but I hope you enjoyed them.

(Fiction) Friday --Something's afoot

This Week’s Theme: Afoot Something's afoot, I must say not one child's shown up to play not one tired man has cracked a beer not one young girl has shed a tear Something's afoot, I had heard not one cat has caught a bird not one dog has chewed a bone not one cat has remained alone Something's a foot, I do declare not one dragon is in his lair Oops. . . . . . RUN! MeeAugraphie 07/26/07 So , these silly words are mine, please do not waste our time by copying them.
get the Fiction Friday code	about Fiction Friday
Technorati tags: fiction, fiction

Showing Not Telling Contest

I discovered a blog yesterday that was new to me. Had fun today jumping around in discovery. I enjoyed reading Missy's posts, a bit of this and that, you may, too! She has a writing contest going, with a prize, though, the fun will be in trying to do as she requests -- show, not tell. She has a sentence all ready for you to work you magic with, I won't spoil the surprise, you can click here to get the sentence and the simple contest details.

Am I entering? Of course, but the first "entry" I started -- well, I got carried away and wrote a story, one I want to polish and submit to an editor. So, I'll be writing a shorter one right along with y'all. You have until "12:00 p.m. cst on August 6, 2007". Now, I don't know if that is noon or midnight, I never accepted the rules for am and pm - I always use military time so there is no room for confusion. So, you may want to submit it sooner, especially y'all staying up all night for Blogathon 2007, you may use a few of those minutes to write your paragraph.

So, go on over to Missy's post of the rules at The Incurable Disease of Writing - I bet we can all identify with her blog title, can't we!

Poetry Thursday - B.L.O.G.S.

Poetry Thursday is on a bit of a break! But we are all still posting. Click on their Thursday Post to see who is writing!

I was commenting on Damien Riley's blog recently, Riley Central, on this post about Industrial Strength Blogging, where he speaks about just being ourselves as bloggers (something I strongly believe in, you may want to read that post!) This popped out of my head and into his comment section -- as an Acrostic of BLOGS, though I did not write it in Acrostic format. As an acrostic poem it would be written as:

Beseeching
life
overtures of
good
souls —

I instantly saved it, knowing it meant something! Today, it clicked. I could write it more like a Haiku:

Beseeching life,
overtures of good souls

Whichever way it is written it spells out BLOGS. Isn't that what many bloggers do, beseech life overtures?

Blogathon 2007 is around the corner, all 24 hours on July 28th! I wish I were able to stay awake all night to blog, we all know I love to write and spout poem drafts nearly non-stop. . . but those in my more immediate and physical world would be attacking me, 'cause I get mean with no sleep! And I whine, and I pout, and shout, and cry, and make mountains out of molehills, and -- well, you don't want to know anymore than that! But others, hundreds of bloggers are writing for charities, either teaming up or just biting the bullet and staying up all by themselves, unless we visit them.

They are making it easy for you to donate with links. All the charities are good, they all affect someone somewhere. For a list of all participating, head for the main site.

This, however, is a plea for those that regularly give to other charities to consider two that may be overlooked: Music and Reading.

Karen and the gang at Write Stuff are tag teaming to blog for First Book, a wonderful organization that gives children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books! I was shy growing up and so grateful my parents could afford to buy me Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, they kept me sane!

Can you imagine never having a book to look at? Leon and I still have a "romantic thing" about Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumb by Dr. Seuss. (Don't ask.)

Jessica the Rock Chick is writing at Life is Rantastic for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, an organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in our public schools, something more important to a person's education and well-being than many realize. Jessica will be up all night handling it for the most part herself, but with guest blog posts!

Now, remember, I promise not to sing if you at least visit their sites and see what it is all about! And believe me, you do NOT want to hear me sing - and I do have podcast capabilities!

And I won't draw your portrait if once you run by their sites you go the the main Blogathon site and check out who else is participating and for what charities - all the pledges are posted -- it is an amazing sight (and site)! There really is no right or wrong charity to support --

and as people who enjoy BLOGS - I know your heart is there.

3WW - I Had a Fan

Bone chose the three words below as our prompt to use as a jumping off point for our words, whether a sentence, a thought, a poem, or other. For me, this week was about just cutting up also know as just having fun, not attempt to write great poetry:

reality
fan
mind


I Had a Fan


the reality is when I fan myself
(since it requires muscles
which, we all know, produce heat
during exertion)
it only heats my inner core
while tricking my mind
-- momentarily --
into thinking it is cooling my body,
for warm breezes created by a
steady flap flap flap of
paper pleats
(as they expand and contract)
and
dangling skin
(on my upper arm)
compete to evaporate sweat
from
my
body

leaving me chilled --

just an excuse
for my body to react with shivering --
contracting more muscles
which, we all know, produce heat
during exertion --
to heat
my
inner core.

I hate summer heat.
There is only one activity
worth sweating for. . .

no use for a fan there.

MeeAugraphie
07/25/07

Please, no copying these words written in fun with a ring of certain truth.

Haiku - The Comfort of Grief

Jennifer of One Deep Breath lost her father on July 18th. Susan's prompt this week for our Haiku was "dedicated to Jennifer and her family and to those who, for whatever reason, need words of encouragement and comfort."

Jennifer, my heart goes out to you and your family.



May your tears turn from raging torrents to gentle snowfall
to blanket the darkness in white reflections. . . .

The Comfort of Grief

One tear shed followed
by yet another, mixed with
visions of life led

One deep breath followed
by yet another, mixed with
loving memories

While one fleeting smile
seeks another to wrap your
heart in calming balm

MeeAugraphie
07/23/07


My words are not normally meant to be copied without permission, however, if a reader finds any comfort in this poem, please feel free to both hold it in your heart and share it with another.

Monday Finds "Spaced Out"

I find this poem interesting and wish to share it with you. Follow the link -- you may just find a poet or poem that sparks something inside you.

"Spaced Out" written by Gataumi Tripathy. Check it out!

Unconscious Mutterings - A Matter of Degrees

Lunaniña chose ten words for us to free associate with for the meme, Unconscious Mutterings. These ten seemed harder than usual. Perhaps it was the distraction of the steady rain that is heavier than normal and also highly unusual for summer out here. I wanted to listen to it and write. . . my mind was too tired to do both well. LOL.

1. Deputy :: Shadow
   
2. Name :: and address
   
3. Arrested :: in time
   
4. Trade :: me
   
5. Old :: man
   
6. Fingerprint :: taken
   
7. Dwarf :: man
   
8. Newspaper :: ads
   
9. Gabriel :: angel
   
10. Certificate :: of occupancy
    

See how easy that really was, you really might have fun trying it yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had to try once more to write a poem/story using all twenty words - in order without changing the tense - not part of the meme, I just love to exercise my brain.


A Matter of Degrees


Deputy (of all that is bright)
found Shadow lurking
but simply asked,
"Name and address, please?"
and went on with his rounds.

Once arrested in time, a memory
of those who trade in people
found me,
that old man -
whose fingerprint was taken
seemed, in a statistical manner,
a dwarf

compared to the man
whose newspaper ads threatened
to remove light
(from even the Shadow)
as he offered a reward to any who refused
Gabriel, or any angel, a legal
certificate of occupancy.

MeeAugraphie
07/21/07

I admit, this is really strange. . . I shall blame it on the darkness outside and the steady rain that threatens to flood the river. . . this is not the first draft, but rather the second (of a few lines, but not the main ones) as I was tired, and my mind struggled to make a story.

It anyone is crazy enough to copy this, that is a double shame. Don't. Ten are the words of the meme author, the rest are mine, so you would be doubling your copyright violation.