Opal Reflections
Perspectives through Prose, Poetry and Photography
Haiku Friday: Buzzing
Sunlit stillness hides
‘Neath flowering frame; Humming,
Weekly Photo Challenge: Illuminations
After a lovely dinner at a brasserie in Place Victor Hugo, we strolled back to Place de l’Etoile, en route back to our hotel on Avenue Wagram. After having photographed the always breathtaking l’Arc de Triomphe, with lights from La Tour Eiffel in the distance (photo also included below), it wasn’t until we wistfully sipped our nightcaps, that we realized we had truly captured the essence of the “City of Lights”, illuminated in a snifter of Remy Martin.
Why “BCIJo”?
To the uninitiated, this blog name may seem illegible and perhaps even irrelevant. But it isn’t either of these things. After having toyed with the idea of changing my blog name, I realized that after these seven months of blogging, I do have an on-line identity; friends have been made, history captured and a journey recorded. While it would be possible to provide a myriad of links, explanations and re-directions, I decided that rather than I lose my beloved online identifier, I would instead, explain its origin.
Those of you who have been following my blog know that I am obsessed with music. This has been true as long as I can remember. Back in the very early internet days of “you’ve got mail” I selected a name near and dear to my heart that would reflect my love of music and in part, my obsession with a unique place of beauty and renewal: The Berkshire Choral Festival, held each summer in beautiful Sheffield, Massachusetts. When I began my connection with BCF, it was known as The Berkshire Choral Institute..hence BCI. “Jo”was the logical tag-on of course.
I am enclosing a few photos taken last summer when I participated in Opera Week. I expect to return in 2013 for a week of Lauridsen and Vaughan Williams, but most importantly to experience the renewal that a sequestered week in the mountains with 200 fellow singers and musicians, music rehearsals several times a day and lovely quiet nights, can deliver.
Thank you for taking the time to check this out, before returning to your own creative pursuits. I will now set aside all thoughts of name changing and focus on the reason I began this blog: to express my perspectives on life through prose, poetry and photography.
BCIJo, aka Joanne Edith
Haiku Friday: Poolscape
Snow settles softly
Enveloping poolscapes: Tots’
Echoes faintly heard.
Ora Pro Nobis
Sculpted heavy doors creak open,
Lured by darkness within
Holy water dabbed, words spoken
Ritual recitations begin
Sealing the sanctity of her mission.
Seemingly unending, unlit aisles extending
With yellow-brick road rigidity
Flanking knotted kneelers unbending
Conveying timeless solidity
Drawing her in, to enter her petition
Through the dimness, gleaming
Shards of light shimmer softly
Coloring ancient stained glass; streaming
As wafts of warmth push aloft
Through wrought iron grates emitting
Candle flames flicker; She approaches, unespied
Preparing to render her fervent intention
A coin drops, a lonely votive tries to hide
But she strikes the spark, Divine Intervention
Reverently sought at Mother Mary’s Shrine
Written in response to Trifecta Week 59 writing challenge: INTENTION (noun)…third definition:
3a : what one intends to do or bring about; b : the object for which a prayer, mass, or pious act is offered. (www.trifectawritingchallenge.com)
Earth-Star Conundrum
(Photography by Joanne Edith)
Insistent inner whisper
Insinuating an insane conundrum:
A simple tri-layered orb
Simply a ruse:
A cohesive, circumferential cloak of invisibility
Concealing an earth-star;
A unique, diverse habitat
Rife with life forms
Written in response to Trifextra week 49: On to the weekend challenge. As you’ll recall from your elementary science class days, the structure of the earth can be divided most simply into three sections: core, mantle, crust…Give us 33 words from it. Interpret the prompt however you wish–literal, metaphorical, or somewhere in between. If you would like to use the image on your own blog, you must properly credit it.
Fog-Shawl of Silence
Fleeting
Eloquent
Illusory
Sheer shards soften stark world-edges
Beckoning, as a stairway, to other-worldly wonder
Tree trunks straight and tall
Proud prayers standing in line
Pointing to paradise.
Muffled
Misty
Mirage-like
Elusive…
As sensual, saturated sky, just before sunrise
Ephemeral..
As low-hanging blue moon, just before dawn.
Suddenly
Stealthily
Secretly
Lifting, as if by loom, no longer to survive this day
Mystical moments here and vanished
Grainy reality returns
Enveloping the day.
written in response to Trifecta Writing Challenge Prompt: Survive
Haiku Friday: Winter Orchid
Golden-red blossoms
Through bleak, midwinter pane-view
Nature’s well-timed show
2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.
Safety Latch
Why this compulsion to always grip the car-door?
Christmas Eve long ago, a terrified ten-year old
Grasped an icy car-door for dear life;
Saving ‘Her’ from the threat
To jump.
Trifextra Week 48(www.trifectawritingchallenge.com): The challenge:
This weekend we’re asking for 33 of your own words that exorcise a demon. One of your own, or one from your imagination. Let it bleed on the page.
Delicious Deliverance
I sit undisturbed,
Chilling
Waiting, waiting, waiting
Resting, hours have become days and nights
The point of no return, imminent
Until I am, at last, retrieved.
But is it too late?
I shed my ‘not-so-glad’ Glad Wrap
Anticipating
Formation by hand, into perfectly shaped orbs
Bathed in egg white,
Powdered with fine hazelnut talc
Thumbprint indentations awaiting jam
But is it too late?
I crumble
Retaliating
My once-rich malleable form disintegrates
How to heal this neglected batch
Butter to the rescue … re-homogenization attempted
Frantic, frenetic fixing
It’s not too late!
I’ve become ( finally)
Dozens of delicate, delicious dots
Rolled, dusted, thumb-pressed, jelly filled
Now baked and resting (Ah – once again!)
Destined deliverance
Dazzling, Delectable crown
Christmas Cookie Platter
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Written in response to Trifecta Challenge: HEAL….to restore to original purity or integrity <healed of sin>
Reflections in Black and White
“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.” Anaïs Nin
Lighthouse in the Mist, Cape May, NJ
Bandit
Festive View from the Pub, Peddler’s Village – Lahaska, PA.
Home Sweet Home
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