Valentine’s Way Tanka

It’s Valentine’s Day.. so.. Happy Valentine’s Day to anyone out there reading these attempts at poetry formats.  The next format is said to be the short song origin of the Haiku.  The Tanka is Poem of the Day #8 format and the rules for the form are:

“The Japanese tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as “short song,” and is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.”

SLSC - Valentine's Day Dance - Love Birds

Valentine's Way Tanka
by Michael Romani

Soon the night would turn
As the waning hours push on
I touch your sweet face
Now on this Valentine's Day
Our dreams will find their own way

(c)  February 14, 2019   Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved

Snuggles - Valentine's 2017 -  Sharpened Tapestry of Love

 

 

 

 

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Valentine’s Day Villanelle

Milkwood’s  Poem A Day #7 is at best very difficult.  The form is the Villanelle.  The word prompt is ‘tide’.

The villanelle consists of:

“19 lines. Two rhymes. Two lines that repeat. Six stanzas – five are three lines each and the last is four lines. The first stanza has both repeating lines. The following four stanzas alternate having one repeating line or the other. The sixth (and last) stanza contains both of the repeating lines.”

“Here’s the rhyme pattern shown with a’s and b’s. The capital A1 and A2 are the repeating lines.”

“A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2”

I won’t pretend that I did it justice.  Here’s mine:

Snuggles - Valentine's 2017 -  Heated Edges of Love

Valentine's Day Villanelle
by Michael Romani

I find myself eating dinner again
Valentine's Day's riptide again I'm told
And I remain certain that I'm my best friend

I find myself eating dinner again
Watching some spoof of a jaded movie
The television provides the light it can

It's not like being alone is the end
It can be very peaceful by myself
And I remain certain that I'm my best friend

I find myself eating dinner again
They say a man should not always be all alone
Sometimes though being alone is best then

It's not something that I will defend
Cruelty has brought me to this end
And I remain certain that I am my best friend

I find myself eating dinner again
Thinking back on when you were mine
And I remain certain that I am my best friend
Still, God knows that I would like to try again

(c) February 14, 2019   Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved

2019 Valentine Town - Only the Lonely, Play

 

 

 

 

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Thought For the Day: We Have A Moral Responsibility To Protect God’s Creation For Generations To come

“We have a moral responsibility to protect God’s creation for generations to come.“  – Nancy Pelosi

Precisely, Ms. Pelosi.. stop right at that juncture and you couldn’t be more right.  Which is why Nicki Haley responded what immediately came to the mind of millions of people who care about people and in particular the unborn, new born and most vulnerable persons…

“Does God’s creation not include protecting babies as well Madame Speaker? A committee on that issue would be welcome.”

If only Ms. Pelosi truly cared about morality this wouldn’t have been such an obviously question to ask her in response to pretending that the Green movement isn’t anything but socialism thinly disguised….

 

 

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First Principles: Keep The Celestial Fire of Conscience Alive In Your Heart

“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.” – George Washington (1748)

 

 

 

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Hunting Himmler – A Found Poem

Milkwood’s Poem A Day #6 is the Found Poem form and has as its word prompt “gravity”.

A found poem is quite literally that.  Scanning through the written material of others a little snatch of verbiage here and there catch’s a person’s eyes and imagination and from that a new poem is written. Obviously, the possibilities are limitless.  With that in mind, there will be no examples shown other than the one that I will now write based on an oddity that I spied the New York Times’ bestsellers list for non-fiction.  In this case, the book is Killing the SS.  It’s a work by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.  It is exactly what it sounds like a book written about the hunting of former Nazi war criminals.

This piece will center on Himmler…

Holocaust Memorial Museum - The Overwhelming  Inhumanity  of Godless Man

Hunting Himmler
by Michael Romani

The most sinister man in Europe's clime
Himmler was, indeed, the devil incarnate
The planner of calculated cruelty
To find this man and make him pay this time
Would never be enough to ever compensate
The chaos he inflicted on humanity

Newsreel cameras capture moments of defeat
Delivering Germany into the victor's hands
The need for execution of some would be swift
There under the Allies' marching feet
A million heroes from the world's lands
Would search for Himmler on farm and cliff

Donning the disguise of Sergeant Henrich
Himmler hopes to hide among the refugees
Brought by his assisted destruction of society
Defeatism and cyanide for the German Reich
The Fourth Reich counts him among its devotees
Here in this post war state of staid gravity

In a vast conspiracy of industrialists
This insane movement cloaked itself underground
Knowing itself in a war it could not win
Masquerading as maverick and rugged individualists
The Nazi collaborators held themselves as bound
To help men like Himmler to begin again

In the end, escape became the only real possibility
Moving across Germany in a caravan of Mercedes Benz
They found themselves at the Elbe waiting to cross
Knowing the odds and all sense of probability
Made allies among villains as natural friends
One last chance seen for the Reich to avoid all loss

Mistake after mistake on this slow journey
Was only the continuation of Himmler's complicity
Turning against Hitler in the end, he sought compromise
He had not realized that truth sorts destiny
And that he was doomed to be one with past history
There would be no deal with any of the Allies

At checkpoint, Himmler's ego gets the best of him
And he and his companions are held prisoner of war
This disguise pushed aside to reveal his real identity
It was just one of those strokes of luck of now and then
When good fortune smiles and God allows an even score
Himmler's delusions are just part of his ill legacy

As he is strip searched again, he tries to hide
A cyanide capsule that he has managed to stick inside
Biting down the prussic acid is released and is deadly
Good Dr. Wells grabs Himmler's tongue taking in stride
His hand being bitten to avoid poison ingested to deride
The victory of the allies against Himmler so steadily

But there would be no resuscitating Himmler by Wells
A dead devil has met his just deserved adieu
To be consigned to an unmarked grave that he deserved
Farewell to this devil as he is sent straight to Hell
Not a man grieved as the unholy devil got his due
Where along side Hitler, his justice will be served

(c)  February 13, 2019   Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved

Holocaust Memorial Museum - Never Silence When You See A Wrong

 

 

 

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Thought For the Day: Fascism Is What Comes After Communism Is Proved An Illusion

“Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion.” – FA Hayak

 

 

 

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First Principles: Humanity Naturally Indulges False Hope While Shutting Our Eyes to Painful Truth

“It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.” – Patrick Henry, 1775

 

 

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Parallel Parking Haibun

Poem A Day #5 has the Haibun as it’s form.  The word prompt is ‘parallel’.  That led to some creative thinking on my part.  What does one write about with parallel.. geography or basic driving….

“A Haibun = a prose poem + a haiku

Prose poems are poems written as the name implies, without line breaks found in most poetry. Prose poems often:
* Are image rich
* Tell a story or have characters
* Make every word count
* Make full use of poetic devices such as metaphors, symbolism, repetitions and rhythms, etc.
In short, while a prose poem looks like prose, it reads more like poetry.

A haiku is typically three lines with a specific number of syllables in each line.
Line one: 5 syllables
Line two: 7 syllables
Line three: 5 syllables

Combining these two forms can make for some powerful writing!

Haibuns often describe journeys, external or internal. They often take place in natural settings. They can capture a significant moment. They can tell a story or have dialogue.
They can be realistic or surreal.

The relationship between the prose and the haiku is important. Think of it as the juxtaposition of two elements that brings a greater meaning to the whole, not just two pieces of poetry stuck together.
* The prose is not an explanation of the haiku. It should add to the depth to our experience of the haiku
* The haiku is not a linear continuation of the prose. It should add meaning to the prose.

A simple Haibun will have one paragraph of prose and one haiku at the end. The haiku can appear before the prose. Or the prose can be sandwiched between two haiku. In a longer haibun, larger prose sections can be broken up, usually thematically, by a haiku in one or more places.”

—

Home, Sweet, Home - Allure Couture -New Finn Outfit

Parallel Parking Haibun
by Michael Romani

Life it seems is a journey that sometimes strains.  At better 
times, it seems to be almost seamless. Those are the times 
when everything falls into place.  But, it's these times that 
challenge us that make us most grow. 

There are times when we have to just trust the flow and 
where things go right into place.  It's a bit of faith 
based on experiences.  But until we learn to have faith 
and base judgment on that we limit ourselves.

My teen years well spent
As these were surfing daily
Left some strange blank spots

Sometimes we learn lessons needed on our own.  In better 
times, we are guided and the learning comes easier.  One 
such time was when I moved from the Islands to the Mainland 
in my late teens There was little cause to learn to parallel 
park in a less  opulated easier paced space that I spent most 
of my time.  Thank goodness and thank God for my cousin, 
Tania, who took  the time to help me figure these things out.

Parallel parking
Seems like blind faith in action
Until you nail it

(c)  February 12, 2019  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved

The Dreamers Island - Evening Serenade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dream Big Ghazal

Poem A Day #4 is to be of the Ghazal poetry form.

Ghazals were originally popularized and written by such notables as Rumi and Hafiz of Persia.  Through the influence of Goethe (1749–1832), the ghazal became very popular in Germany during the 19th century and spread throughout Western culture.

Form

“A ghazal is composed of couplets, five or more. The couplets may have nothing to do with one another except for the formal unity derived from a strict rhyme and rhythm pattern.

Traditionally, the ghazal consists of five to fifteen couplets, typically seven. A refrain (a repeated word or phrase) appears at the end of both lines of the first couplet and at the end of the second line in each succeeding couplet.

One or more words before the refrain are rhymes or partial rhymes. The lines should be of approximately the same length and meter.

The poet may use the final couplet as a signature couplet, using his or her name in first, second or third person, and giving a more direct declaration of thought or feeling to the reader.”

Clear as mud now?  Great.. the word prompt is ‘star’.

—

House of JewelZ - Dreamz of Babylon

Dream Big Ghazal
by Michael Romani

Growing up it seems every turn of the head
There was always someone following their stars and said - Dream Big

Didn't matter whether it was love, music, or building a rocket
All of those in the know would walk it and talk it - Dream Big

Telling me that I could do and be most anything
From a scientist to a poet to rock star who sings - Dream Big

But while everyone was trying to be so encouraging
Life passed by and it became a bit discouraging - Dream Big

You see, I could never decide who to be
Mostly lost in dreams, music and poetry - Dream Big

Now looking back, I knew I needed a locus
Something fixed on which I could focus - Dream Big

So, I tell my little girls to fix on their North Stars
And let that focus take the distance and as far - Dream Big

Dreaming is mostly meant for the nighttime
I've come to learn through force that's the right time - Dream Big

But never let anything or anyone
Get in their way or say just when they're done - Dream Big

Each of them born with talents that I love to encourage
And if I can I'll instill them with the needed courage - Dream Big

It took Edison 10,000 times to create a proper filament
That worked correctly just as it was meant - Dream Big

Babe Ruth was known as the Home Run King
Nobody knows how many times the fat lady would sing - Dream Big

I think all of these things after I sing them to sleep
So many promises that I wish I could keep - Dream Big

And now all I want to be is to be their doting father
Who says most the right things and loving my daughters - Dream Big

(c) February 12, 2019   Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved

Marvelous Moomintoog Circus - Juggled Act

 

 

 

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Thought For the Day: Much of What Forms Our Customs Is An Accident of Birth

“I see too plainly custom forms us all. Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief, are consequences of our place of birth. “– Aaron Hill, dramatist and writer (10 Feb 1685-1750)

 

 

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