Opal Reflections
Perspectives through Prose, Poetry and Photography
Silent Screams
Photo credit: [ changó ] / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Written in response to Trifextra challenge, asking for a thirty-three word interpretation of the posted photograph.
Pirates’ Plunder
I knew that D-man would band them together – again – transforming the ragtag bunch of cousins into a well-tuned troop of plundering pirates, exuberantly mounting their quest.
“Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!”
I stifled a giggle upon hearing the uninhibited rallying cry, peeked through the blinds, and joined in their chorus from my culinary choir loft. Bandit’s wagging tail gave away their positions, so I set aside my back-of-the-mind, ominous sense of impending trouble.
The eight year-old led his ‘mates’ around the perimeter of the yard, fearlessly challenging bramble bushes and climbing ‘neath the drooping forsythia boughs; conjuring up visions of imagined island reefs, castle moats and forest caves.
“Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!”
My eyes strained to follow their progress as they reached the farthest corner of the property near the ripped fence that lay strewn in a twisted mess; the aftermath of Sandy’s uncompromising swathe that upended ancient oaks and all things in their path. But no cause for concern, as the savvy pirate captain deftly steered his followers away from danger. The timer pinged me back to kitchen reality and with a sense of relief, I resumed my land-lubber chores.
All of a sudden, I heard a cacophony of chatter, barking and crying. One look and I could see that immediate intervention was needed. Lifting the youngest pirate to the granite countertop and removing his eyepatch, I examined the protruding splinter – the root-cause of the throbbing thumb. After antiseptic intervention and a colorful band-aid, the crocodile tears began to ebb.
From his vantage point on the countertop, he “spied with his little (red) eye”, – Grandma’s peanut butter cookies, fresh from the oven – perfect plunder for my backyard pirates!
⚓⚓⚓
This week’s Trifecta challenge:
BAND (verb)
3: to gather together : unite
This week’s Studio 30+ prompts:
OPTION 1- OMINOUS
OPTION 2- SPLINTER
Rainbows of Our Lives
Trifextra weekend Challenge:
We want you to follow suit and give us a thirty-three word piece that has a color in it. Use the color to describe anything you like, or use anything you like to describe your color, but keep it creative and keep it short. – See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.NfbeszcR.dpuf
🌈🌈🌈
I am here
Amidst diversity
Each of us an intense but distinct
Shard of the spectrum
That paints our lives.
When smeared
on the artist’s palette,
become a radiant rainbow;
Magical,
Inspirational,
Blessed!
🌈🌈🌈
Thank you, fellow Trifectans: This piece won THIRD PLACE!
🍭🍭🍭
On Miracles
🎵🎵🎵
The same old butterflies returned to her stomach and her pulse quickened with uncertainty, as she turned into the familiar road that led to her mountain retreat.
Her friends and acquaintances from prior years had opted for other weeks, other programs, other Directors. But she outsmarted herself by insisting that she wanted to stretch her musical boundaries. She set aside the tried and true, “Bach B Minor Mass” for the challenging and unfamiliar Vaughan Williams and Lauridsen.
What had she been thinking?
She rehearsed, ‘ad nauseam’, using the prescribed scores and practice CDs, and yet she was still hoping that some miracle would make her love this music.
The first hurdle – being assigned to a decent dorm room – was behind her. She settled in to the spartan space that would be her home away from home for seven days and nights. It was with relief that she inflated her air mattress, unpacked her clothes, and hung her lace curtain panels with expandable rods. Finally, she carefully placed her stuffed animals on her pillow.
As she began the ten minute walk across campus, she wondered if she would like him. The Director could make or break the entire immersion experience. At the concert hall, she meticulously selected a seat on the risers; a spot from which she would have optimal eye contact.
He confidently took the podium, and was introduced to the group of nearly 140 choristers. As he lifted his baton and scanned the singers standing before him, she knew that she’d chosen well. He would charm the chorus with his baton, eliciting astoundingly beautiful music from this unique assemblage of strangers; diverse personalities and talents who had never sung together before and would never do so again.
She got her miracle and for a moment, the world knew peace.
🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
The Trifecta challenge this week is: Charm [ verb \ˈchärm\] 3: to control typically by charms
📖📖📖📖📖
This week’s Studio30 Plus prompt is “Falling,” and/or “Uncertainty.”
Three Little Words
Rock! Paper! Scissors!
🌾🌾🌾
Trifextra Challenge Week 86:
This weekend we were asked to put forth three little words that describe the writing process. Much goes into the creative process. However, a stone cold, rocky place usually precedes the written word (on paper or iPad); and that first draft is never without subsequent edits. It is for this reason I selected my “three little words.”
“One of our editors was recently lucky enough to slowly roast on a bouncy, mechanical floor thisclose to nearly 900 other Portlanders for a reading (of the third chapter of his new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and subsequent Q&A by Neil Gaiman. One of the questions asked of him was, “Can you tell us your writing process in three words?” He replied, “Glare. Drink tea.”
This weekend, we’re asking for you to sum up your own process with just three little words. Give us dry wit, pathos or otherwise. And remember, we like your blood on the page. Put it there.”
Photo Friday: ‘Structures’
As an engineer my first inclination was to select a marvelous, awe inspiring bridge or skyscraper, as a subject for this photo essay. Certainly there are many such subjects that scream to be noticed and many that have been beautifully and artistically captured on film or digital media for posterity.
Less obvious though is this simple photograph taken last month at the Dinosaur exhibit at The Museum of Natural History. It illustrates, in dramatic juxtaposition, less obvious and diverse elements of structure:
- the unearthed and painstakingly reconstructed ancient dinosaur skeleton
- the modern, sleek, stainless steel, formed railing and its cantilevered arched supports
- the elegantly grandiose polished marble columns
- the sharp lucidity of the reflective, structural glass enclosure
- the arched frame of the hand painted mural in the background
- the shiny circular dome of the trash receptacle
- the reproduced sepia-toned image of this planet’s terra firma where-on these denizens once roamed freely.
All of these structural elements can be seen here. However, one additional, very important element of structure can be inferred; that of the nurturing and guidance provided by a loving mother to her sons.
Usually architectural, always aesthetic, often archaic and sometimes anachronistic; structures improve our habitats, support our life forms, enhance our knowledge of history and define our boundaries.
Haiku Friday: The Beach at Claypool
Ever shifting skies
Like water-color brush strokes
Tinting glist’ning shores.
Timing is Everything!
(Ms ClipArt)
Timing is everything!
Just minutes ahead of traffic, she would fly into the city. She merged onto the interstate, conjuring up scenarios and ‘what-if’ responses: If ‘He’ said ‘this’, she’d say ‘that’. If ‘He’ begged…, if ‘He’ didn’t…, etc.
By six twenty-two, she was at “Ernie’s” on 50th, sipping coffee, waiting for her ‘usual’. Dutifully – obsessively – she checked her phone for panicky morning missives from ‘Him’. She exhaled: Things were quiet; breakfast would be digestible.
Striding across ‘Lex’, she rehearsed under her breath. Flashing her badge to the turnstile guard, she slid onto the express elevator to the 21st floor. Alone, she heard her voice, speaking words that couldn’t be hers. Yet they were. Emerging on the 21st floor, briefcase slung hastily over her shoulder, she swiped her pass-key; granting her access to the inner sanctum, while securely locking her inside. She smiled at the obvious irony.
“Good morning, Bev!”
Beverly, the CEO’s ‘Right Arm’, grinned back. Each day, Bev’s banter eased her into the choppy corporate waters that regularly threatened to engulf her.
“Good morning, Steph. The pot’s on.”
“Great! I need hi-test today!”
Unlocking her office, she flipped the light switch before entering – a habit she’d honed since that first day, seven years ago, when she happened upon her overnight visitor, as he scampered under the heating vent. Harvey was as shocked as she; but over time, they’d adjusted to each other. Miraculously, Harvey had survived periodic ‘exterminations‘ (not unlike herself), or at least, that’s what she told herself. What is the lifespan of a mouse?
Today, Harvey crouched out of sight under his fin-tubes, as if he knew.
Suddenly, it was 8:45! She gulped down her third Arabica and headed for the corner office. She’d catch ‘Him’ before the Board Meeting.
Timing is everything!
Later, closing her door for the last time, she sensed that Harvey knew. In a weird way, she would miss ‘Him’.
But, it was time!
***************************************************
Written in response to the Trifecta Weekly Challenge Week 85:
This week we are asking for a 33- to 333-word response using the word:
FLY (intransitive verb)
3a : to move, pass, or spread quickly
b : to be moved with sudden extreme emotion
c : to seem to pass quickly
Dona Nobis Pacem
🌾🌾🌾
🌾🌾🌾
Whitman,
Poet
penning poems:
War poems
Williams,
Composer
setting words to music:
Dona Nobis Pacem.
Artistic genius, both
united inevitably in performance.
I sing through tears, their
requiem for fallen Father and Son.
🌾🌾🌾
Trifecta Challenge Week 75: a thirty-three word “free-write” about anything.
Walt Whitman (American poet, essayist, humanist and journalist) wrote several realistic and dramatic, war-themed verses. Ralph Vaughan Williams (English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores) set several Whitman poems to music, including “Dona Nobis Pacem”: a cantata for soloists, orchestra and chorus. The music of Vaughan Williams is deeply moving and evocative. However, this piece especially touches my heart, adding unexpected dimension to Whitman’s eloquence.
I am privileged to be joining 200 fellow choristers in performing this work at the Berkshire Choral Festival on July 20. As I prepare this music, I’m blown away by the emotion conveyed through the words and music; wherein, the sadness and horror of war is set starkly and beautifully against a plaintively desperate prayer for peace.
“Dirge for Two Veterans” – the subject of this post – dramatizes a funeral march for a father and his son, who were killed in the same battle. I choke up each time I try to sing this
A utube link follows for those who would like to listen to this moving piece:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=7-Jl4dqoESs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7-Jl4dqoESs
Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgic
Peering through the chain link fence, drama unfolds, as in days of old, when ‘pick-up’ games were the neighborhood norm. Whether six or sixteen, boy or girl, all learned the value of play, teamwork and respect for each other – values still being taught during huddles such as the one captured in this photo.
As I watched my grandson I smiled, realizing that though times have changed and technology seems to have overtaken our discretionary time, kids will always crave a game of baseball; fighting off gnats and mosquitos, raindrops and sun rays to slide in the mud and hear the words “batter up!”
Emergence
Cloyingly clinging to a single shred of salvation
Resisting the impulse to relinquish my tenuous hold on reality
Undaunted, crude, I struggle – as a projectile – against the swirling maelstrom
Defiant, as trembling shudderings nearly
Engulf; yet hope seeps upward, inward to my soul.
Written in response to Trifecta Challenge:
CRUDE 1: existing in a natural state and unaltered by cooking or processing 2 archaic : unripe, immature 3: marked by the primitive, gross, or elemental or by uncultivated simplicity or vulgarity 4: rough or inexpert in plan or execution 5: lacking a covering, glossing, or concealing element :obvious 6: tabulated without being broken down into classes – See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.VrfLAA91.dpuf
To Each His Own
Shower
Kinetic, tactile
Steaming, streaming, cleansing
Soapy, slippery, bubbly, sudsy
Soothing, swirling, surrounding
Static, smooth
Bath
This week, I am responding to the Studio30 Prompt by deploying the Diamante poetic form. It’s fascinating that this form is worked from the outsides in. Try it, you’ll like it.
To read more about this form of poetry, check out the Shadow Poetry website: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/diamante.html.
Lighthouse in the Mist, Cape May, NJ
Bandit
Festive View from the Pub, Peddler’s Village – Lahaska, PA.
Home Sweet Home
Opal Reflections 