Stars and Midnight Blue

Cover of A Christmas Story (Full Screen Edition)

Stars and Midnight Blue

In winter stillness
deep within the Earth Mother
tiny seeds gestate.

White rose in winter
miracles we don’t expect
our God comes to earth.

A long winter sleep
introspective mother bear
prepares for new life.

Christmas Eve arrives
children with eyes wide open
Stars and Midnight Blue.

Nature celebrates
light in the midst of darkness
a Christmas story.

Lobster and champagne
leaving the past behind us
ring in the New Year.

Harsh winds bitter cold
North Dakota immigrants
Giants in the Earth.

Escape winter cold
snowbirds get out of this place
fly to Palm Desert.

Palm Desert-Photo: D.Slotto

Quote:
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. ~Andrew Wyeth

Poem:
The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of pine-trees crushed with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Favorites:

Word: Stillness

Flower: Rose

Animal: Bear

Song: Stars and Midnight Blue by Enya

Movie: A Christmas Story

Food: Lobster

Book: Giants in the Earth

Town: Palm Desert, California

Image:

Photo: V.Ceretto-Slotto

 

Linked to Broken Sparkles’ Season’s Favorites Challenge: http://brokensparkles.wordpress.com/

Summer Bliss–Season’s Favorite Challenge

Image via Wikipedia

In summer, the song sings itself. William Carlos Williams

Summer Night
by Kobayashi Issa

Summer night–
even the stars
are whispering to each other.

Summer Bliss
by Victoria Ceretto-Slotto
a collection of Haiku

Sitting on the deck
garden sunshine and shadow
early morning bliss

A male oriole
lay lifeless ‘neath the Ash tree.
Flaming sunset paused.

Red hot pokers flaunt
their brilliant orange erections—
boasting, unashamed.

Those brilliant red globes
peek from behind floppy leaves.
Tomatoes galore!

Reno is Art Town
tourists stroll the Riverwalk
watch painters at work.

Summertime living
lazy river rolling on
bees search for pollen.

Growing corn surrounds
(hides mysteries and wonders)
in my Field of Dreams.

A Few of My Favorite Things:

Quote: William Carlos Williams—among my top twenty favorite poets

Poem: Summer Night by Kobayashi Issa—discovering and savoring Japanese poetry

Word: Sunshine

Animal: Orioles—visit our feeder several times a day–here’s a photo my husband took a few days ago:

Photo: David Slotto

Flower: Red Hot Pokers—help attract those orioles–the photo at the top of this post is of a red hot poker.

Food: Heirloom Tomatoes—ugly-looking delicious fruit that my husband grows from seed.

Town: Reno—in July, Reno celebrates ArTown, bringing all the arts to many venues every day. Most people equate the “Biggest Little City in the World” with divorce and gambling. Those of us who live here know better. To learn more about Artown visit: http://www.renoisartown.com/

2011 ArTown Poster Image by Kelly Peyton

Song: “Summertime”—steamy, sultry song from the musical “Porgy and Bess”

Book: “The Secret Life of Bees” –an exquisite novel, literary fiction, by Sue Monk Kidd. Every word is poetry.

Movie: “Field of Dreams”—a baseball classic starring Kevin Costner.

Images: Who can choose? I love the intense colors of nature.

Photo: V. Slotto

Written in response to Broken Sparkles  Season’s Favorite Challenge. Check it out at http://brokensparkles.wordpress.com/

Spring Muse

Spring Muse
in response to the July Challenge offered by Blaga at http://brokensparkles.wordpress.com/  for which we are asked to showcase our favorites for each season of the year.

This QUOTE by Canadian author Margaret Atwood reminds me that one of the joys of Spring reentering the world of gardening—close to the Earth Mother we watch new life emerge in an array of color.

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Out of so many POEMS inspired by Spring, I chose this one by Katherine Mansfield because of her descriptions and personifications.

Very Early Spring
by Katherine Mansfield

The fields are snowbound no longer;
There are little blue lakes and flags of tenderest green.
The snow has been caught up into the sky–
So many white clouds–and the blue of the sky is cold.
Now the sun walks in the forest,
He touches the bows and stems with his golden fingers;
They shiver, and wake from slumber.
Over the barren branches he shakes his yellow curls.
Yet is the forest full of the sound of tears….
A wind dances over the fields.
Shrill and clear the sound of her waking laughter,
Yet the little blue lakes tremble
And the flags of tenderest green bend and quiver.

My husband and I love to watch classic MOVIES. Singing in the Rain, featuring the song and dance of Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds is one of our favorites. To me, the WORD rebirth sums up the spirit of the season. These two favorites joined to inspire this haiku.

Singing in the Rain
celebrate rebirth with joy
song dance love stories.

I turn to nature to find my favorite SONG and it is that of birds: mockingbirds, tanagers, mourning doves, all varieties of song birds. Another haiku:

Mockingbird rejoice
sun’s gentle rays awaken
greet morning with song.

I can’t resist an opportunity to promote my upcoming BOOK, Winter is Past, that celebrates hope and joy that follows a season of loss.

Chilling winter winds
give way to hope and new life
when Winter is Past.

There are so many ANIMALS that return from warmer climates, that waken after a winter hibernation, or give birth to their young during spring. Out of these, I have chosen the lamb. One year I was making an eight-day silent retreat in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in a monastery planted in the heart of farm country. This is what happened:

On rolling hillsides
pregnant ewes give birth to lambs
dabs of white on green.

I’ve lived in many places and each TOWN, or city or rural area has their own beauty during Spring. I could write about Paris’ enchantment, Richmond’s (Virginia) azaleas, Washington D.C.’s cherry blossoms, Michigan’s tulips or Reno’s fickle spring that, some years, lasts only a few days. What I’ve come to realize is that my favorite place to be in spring is wherever I happen to be.

Stay in the moment
spring offers beauty to you
wherever you are.

In my tradition, spring is the season in which we celebrate Easter…a feast of rebirth, new life, resurrection. After the deprivation of Lent, the penitential season the helps one to prepare for this day, everyone looks forward to their favorite FOODS. For many, that’s candy.

Celebrate Easter
choc’late eggs and jelly beans
savoring sweetness.

One of my greatest joys is to see FLOWERS begin to blossom or break through the frozen soil. Among my favorite are tulips in all their many colors.

Break out of hiding
in an array of color
paint our world in joy

How can anyone summarize spring in a single IMAGE?

Feast for our senses
Sun returns to warm spirits
invites us outdoors.