I hope you're enjoying your summer! Here are a few summer poems for these end-of-July, beginning-of-August days along with a few photos of my town's whimsical umbrella display from last summer. HOLIDAYS Another newly minted coinrolls from the satin purse of nightadds yet more hours of wealthto the collectionof summertime perfection. © 2013 by Violet… Continue reading Summer collection
Some years ago some very lucky Abbotsford BC fields were transformed for a few weeks in April by tulips. The Abbotsford Tulip Festival went on for a few years, history now I'm afraid, due to the pandemic and the devastating November 2021 floods in the Fraser Valley. But I have memories and a poem composed… Continue reading Tulip Festival
Sunday is Mother’s Day—I’m sure I don’t need to remind you! Mother’s Day reminds me of my own mother and the fact that it’s already 15 years ago that I gave her her last Mother’s Day card. She died about six weeks after Mother’s Day in 2006. I still miss her, though signs of her… Continue reading “Portrait of my mother at twenty” – a poem
"I have loved you with an everlasting love..." - Jeremiah 31:3 This is the verse on which the Rebekah R. Jones' Original Bible Art Journaling Challenge series, Week 36 is based. As soon as I saw the word “everlasting” I thought of dried flowers, which are sometimes called everlastings. My mom used to grow gorgeous… Continue reading Love everlasting (#BibleJournaling)
I cannot remember a time when music wasn’t part of my life. The steel-backed Heintzman that I grew up with— that my mom played with flowing chords and that I attacked at 6 a.m. to practice scales, arpeggios and four-note chords in my Royal Conservatory days—still lives with me. One of my earliest memories is… Continue reading Gospel Choir Newbie and other reflections on music (Spiritual Journey Thursday)
Tomorrow is April 1st. As I write that I feel a frisson of excitement. April is National Poetry Month (in Canada, the U.S. and perhaps other places too). This April, as I’ve done during the last several Aprils, I’m planning to drop other projects and works-in-progress and concentrate on poetry. Yes!! Last year I wrote… Continue reading Preserving
I’m delighted to be joining the celebration of former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins and his 76th birthday on March 22nd. (Thanks to Heidi Mordhorst and others for the suggestion and heads-up on this!) Though I don’t have any complete books of Billy Collins’ poetry, I’ve come across many of his poems online and have… Continue reading Collins and Canada
Un-Hallmark Mother While I gifted icon carnations and Hallmark lines, “Mother” to me smelled of duty and mothball wisdom. She my root of conscience, scruple permission to pursue the chaotic then, like her, to sort and label. I lived for her sideways compliments overheard in conversations with her friends. Her widow-grief broke down walls: She… Continue reading Un-Hallmark Mother
I Remember… I remember the holes in the green roll-down blinds and how they looked like a starry sky. I remember caramel-colored fly paper hanging twisty from the ceiling dotted with black. I remember making cakes and cookies when we got to play with water in the sandbox. I remember lying sick on the couch… Continue reading I Remember … (NPM ’16-Day 30)
Poet Maureen Doallas tagged me this morning in a poetry-writing meme. Her poem, "Learning to Jump Rope," is based on Lisa Hesselgrave's painting Jump Rope Pink Room. I took my inspiration for the poem below from these lines in Maureen's poem: “your wrists will begin to ache / at a quarter to three…” As I… Continue reading Learning to Skate
Violet Nesdoly 