Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Winter is calling my name...

...and AquarianM will answer.

Back in January of 2002, I started a fantasy novel entitled "AquarianM and the Heart of Winter." I had only barely begun when a Forgotten realms title which was nearly identical came out. Harry Potter was also quite fresh at the time.

I then decided to shelve the project until the other book with the very similar title had run its course.

The Harry Potter series is now also a wonderful, comfortable old shoe in literature. A classic to be treasured. However, it's been on the scene long enough that I can come back to my story, which has some similar elements and would target a similar audience/demographic.

If I can break ground with this, I have another very special concept waiting to follow.

The best fun is, I have a possible co-writer for the rest of AquarianM and The Heart of Winter. I love doing collaborative works online, especially with a talented female writer. It lends an authentic feminine perspective on the story that makes it more detailed and believable.

Keep this note in the back of your minds, because I'm hoping to drive this one home in the next year or so.

Dan

Sunday, December 28, 2008

12-30-2008 Poetweet:

Poetweet: Time and space bend 'round your words, the only blisters seared by willful ignorance. Dancing with light and fire, upon ice spun.

Monday, December 22, 2008

12-21-2008 Poetweet...

Poetweet: Raging winds whipping ice crystals like bad ponies, express'll freeze your face as clouds of snow put on a mad race. Bye, Mercury.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

12-20-2008 Poetweet...

Poetweet: Head's spinning with magic - holiday dash or two - twinkles and lights and pretty music, no romance left unturned. *Falling hush*





Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy Holidays...














Christmas is coming near again, and a new year will soon arrive. Here's wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and joyful holidays no matter which you celebrate. Let's hope for a new year filled with peace, prosperity, joy, and compassion in 2008.

Thank you for reading,

Dan Stafford

12-18-2008 Poetweet...

Poetweet: Late the hour, screen aglow, candles great but old-school, Sylvester can stay home. I'm a happy bird, even caged. It's a choice.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

12-17-2008 Poetweet...

Poetweet: Last light shining, the board dark, poetbirds flew intersoular space. Alone in verse. http://mysticmuse.proboards...

Mars Phoenix Syndrome...

Mars Phoenix Syndrome...

The board has gone dark,
All circuits silent,
Alone on Mars in cold red sand,
The poetry of endings all that’s left to write,
I am the ghost,
The cipher,
The living epitaph of a dream,
Alone on a sojourn through the universe,
My companions’ signals have faded out of reception,
Yet I coast on,
Across intersoular space,
Dreaming there’s a Universe to hear.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 12/17/2008

Author’s Note:
Requiem for Mystic Muse poetry board – it seems I am the last of the last.
http://mysticmuse.proboards17.com/index.cgi

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

12-16-2008 Poetweet

Poetweet: I'll take a break - in my arm, if only my shoe could fly - straight. It's a disgusting face, looking better in leather, lotsa sole

Monday, December 15, 2008

Poetweets...

Poetweets...

I'm doing Twitter - http://www.twitter.com - which is like a vast, interconnected multi-user blog that only allows posts of at max 140 characters. I'm planning on trying to do poetic tweets, which are poetry Twitter posts (Poetweets is my made-up label for it) as a kind of new-fangled internet-age haiku. Instead of syllabic rules, the only rule is 140 characters max. Here's my 1st shot:

"The winds are cold and the Moon is full, the times as interesting and sharp as diamonds. Cut or glitter, it'll hook you hard. Live harder."

Poetweet: Sun over frigid, Mind over monstrous, Love over lie, Never ever forgo Endeavor, Clocks can't be beat, No chance for retreat, Love.

Poetweet: Mangled mangoes of uncertain origins tangled tangles - wicked flies, walked 2 Wall Street - everyone was wearing a funky disguise.

Poetweet: Living inside my head, a lot of depth with shallow waves. Walk outside and breathe the air, easy on the lungs, hard on the heart.

Friday, December 12, 2008

I've been on Twitter of late...

...and I'm loving it. Catch up with me at http://twitter.com/AquarianM - 4 the small stuff.

Also, this Saturday will be the monthly meeting of the Bolingbrook Writers' Group - a merry band of three of us, sometimes six, that meets and does a "read & comment" session one Saturday a month. Of course, I'll be reading my latest poetry, which you can usually find in the document library at www.lightverse.com.

Thanks for reading, & happy holidays.

Dan

Thursday, November 20, 2008

My New Sax Blog...





















... is called "66 Sax" after my 1966 Selmer Bundy tenor sax, "Bello." (Serial number 411559 - and the name is a play on the English word for making a loud noise or yell, and the the Italian word for "handsome.")

You can check it out here: http://66sax.blogspot.com/ - including my healing Earth song, "Pacha Mama Prayer."

Regards and have fun,

Dan

Thursday, October 2, 2008

First Dance Of Fall...

image

Waving, swaying, rustling,
Afternoon sunshine slanted and low,
Birds flocking on wires,
The tufts of grasses rise again,
September is flowing away softly on the wind,
Dreams start to take life and flight,
Turning inward we dance hypnotic,
A closeness of spirits drifts across our minds,
Bounty near and held in spectacle,
First dance of the Fall.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 10/02/2008

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Poetry Of Late...

I Was Born On A River…

September, 2008 Poetry Submission,
Bolingbrook Writers Group
Fountaindale Public Library,
Bolingbrook, Illinois USA 09/27/2008


By Daniel A. Stafford

Contents:

1. A Consecrated Magical Tool
2. Soft Water Blue
3. Raucous Echo At Eleven
4. Gulf Coast Prayers
5. In Between Skins
6. A Lot Of Candle Light
7. Climbing The Tree
8. If A Raindrop Had Eyes
9. For Want Of An Olive
10. Our Hands
11. I Was Born On A river

A Consecrated Magical Tool…

She’s a high priestess from California,
Working magic amidst the sunbeams,
Playing her harp in mystical fashion,
She’ll raise your hopes and open your consciousness,
A darling voice playing under pagan trees joyfully,
Whispering spells of love and success so gently.

She speaks of her harp by its given name,
Enchanted trance-fingers dance the strings by candle light,
When the moon is silver she’ll croon her highest power,
And take your soul on a distant flight,
Breathless and wondering,
Wood and strings she claims are a consecrated magical tool,
Just as any musician would know and say,
Upon recovering breath from when they play.

I know the feeling in my own space,
Bello glints yellow brass about the place,
I seek the notes where the magic lies,
The one that make my hackles happily rise,
For in music there’s such simple joy,
To uplift the spirit we all play to employ.

You can’t play a song to cast a curse,
Because if you try nasty noise will burst,
Over every ear about the place,
Such blasphemy flies back in your face.

You know you know this – it’s a simple spell,
When you play your favorite songs space and time are a deeper well,
Transported away by the treasures of many,
Instruments are a sacred gift,
Come God or gods entrusted to few,
All consecrated magical tools.

AquarianM
By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 09/20/2008

Author's Comments
*Note: to find the inspiration for this piece, search “Regan High Priestess” and read the latest blog entry on her site.*


Soft Water Blue...

At the beach house again,
Low and slow waves of relaxation,
Young relatives leaving as we arrive,
Passing each other on the sandy path that leads to and from the beach,
"Beach switch" they call it.

The sky starts off cloudless,
Sunshine ripples on calm waters,
Seventy shades of blue and waves topping at one and a half feet.

Plant a folding chair in the yellow-tan sand,
Take off the last vestiges of the modern world,
Except your suit.

The water is chill at first,
Ice lapping slowly up from feet to waist as you wade in,
At some point near there it's just too much,
You have to dive and get it over.

Swimming long and cool,
The waves and boat wakes push you down the beach,
Splashing against your face every now and then,
Reminder of the Lake's power.

As you stare out where sky meets seemingly endless water,
You remember the school of minnows that dodged your feet as you waded in.

Sea gulls glide overhead and float on the waves,
Their brothers and sisters scamper about the beach.

Sun hats and beach chairs dot the sand for more than a mile in either direction.

There is a thick haze on the Western horizon,
It cocoons you into a world of sand and grass and blue and breeze.

People walk dogs up and down the lapping waves,
A cigarette boat roars colorful across the horizon.

You sit drying in the hot sun,Sand squeezed between your toes,
Absorbing every moment you can steal or beg - just being.

A cheeky sea gull waddles around your chair,Curious but not quite close.

A wall of clouds covers the evening sun,
You pack up and climb sand for a shower.

It's just begun.

AquarianM

© 09/02/2008
By: Daniel A. Stafford

*Notes from last week vacation.



Raucous Echo At Eleven...

It's everywhere,
The maudlin whispers,
That celebration of darkness,
A whisper of ghosts from within a black cloud.

The cries and whimpers haunt me,
As I wonder of answers and illusions,
It's all a matter of trust - lacking.

I saw things my own eyes tell me aren't physically possible,
I see shame and sadness in nooks and crannies across the land,
Wondering who won what and remembering the cost,
All the answers in the universe pale,
No matter their say.

Echoes, echoes, echoes and screams - I remember - even without belief.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 09/11/2008

Author's Comments
9/11/2001, shrouded in controversy and politics, is at its heart a horror story of lost lives and lost freedoms. The people and the ideals are what really mattered, and I, for one, will never forget.




Gulf Coast Prayers...

Reading, hearing seeing, dreading.

The weak among us are running for their lives,
The lives scattered and broken for three years,
Faded for many of us,
Ignored by the seemingly strongest of us.

The monster Gustav comes howling and all you can do is beg.
Beg the sky to be gentle,
Beg the sea to forgive and rock softly,
Beg God to forgive our errors and protect our brothers and sisters.

This is why many never went back home.

This comes before we're even close to cleaning up the last one.

If we could reach out and pull them North we would.

Pray, pray, pray - for mercy.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
08/31/2008 - copyright donated to public domain.




In Between Skins...

The drum beats softly,
Heartbeat across lands and continents,
Frequencies of light invisible,
No colors left.One world - one tribe - one family,
Members bellicose and benign a common thread.

Dance for the world,
Move for life,
Seeing tree leaves and wind and rain,
A web of life interconnected.

Spirit lies between skins,
Breathing the same air and water,
Every soul and piece of creation,
Recycled from endless time.

There is no here and there,
Only everywhere,
Lines in the sand are wind-blown nothingness,
Figment of a moment ephemeral.

Neither the sun nor moon care for sight,
Yet light is given freely,
Stars are had by all,
None is the wiser.

The arts of division equal to a prison,
Something is changing the equation,
Finally we breathe freely,
Regardless of fear or word one world.

Every disillusion must pass - it's clearly time.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 08/22/2008



A Lot Of Candle Light…

It’s August 16th again,
The candles are lit again,
In parade.

The songs we sing are sung again,
For the losses of summer,
Things dear never to be forgotten,
Neither humor nor heartache.

Memphis is glowing tonight.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 08/16/2008

In Memory of Elvis Aaron Presley,
01/08/1935-08/16/1977




Climbing The Tree…

Drumbeats like gumdrops on my mind,
Ripples on the pool I throw my troubles into,
Prayers of guidance and protection wash my mind,
Lush green and cool in the forest where the cave lies,
Deep inside,
The roots permeate All,
Tree of life,
Up or down I climb,
Another world of symbols,
Like wisps of candle light,
August is half-by,I
am opened tonight.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 08/15/2008




If A Raindrop Had Eyes...

Floating in a sea of breezes,
Heated, excited, expanded,
The sky is pulling and I fly from blue to nearly black.

Chilled through I shrink,
Speeding toward a mountain top,
Sparkling like a jewel in a sea of stars.

Resting in windy frozen silence,
Contemplating stars and sunshine,
A crack - and my congregation bullets down-slope.

Warming we slither down in congregation,
Picking up toys to play with,
Rocks and pebbles and sticks and paper and molecules.

We sweep all before us,
Anything lying or thrown in our path,
Pills and dead weeds and the things that killed them.

Muddy we sweep into the sea,
Carrying it all,
And some we even keep when we expand up.

Some day soon you'll drink me - and all that I carry.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 03/28/2008



For Want Of An Olive...

I stalk down memory lane hiding,
Lest a breath blow away my ghosts,
Hearing whispers of happy times,
A place where dreams were infinite.

You cant lose here as long as you dont disturb anything.

The filters that bring me to this place are diverse,
Songs or dishes or old antiques,
Some wisp of yesteryear on the internet,
A picture haunting a magazine page.

I can never get enough, how about you?

I tread with utmost caution,
Trying to glimpse anything I've forgotten,
Put it in my treasure box,
Filled with the ultimate of ultimates memories.

My hunger growls from my gut - unquenchable.

For want of an olive my shadows hear me,
Running off to Heaven on rainbow wings,
Discovery thwarted by distraction,
A lack of hypnosis and focus.

I awaken starving for more sleep.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 02/28/2008




Our Hands...

A hammer is light,
Swinging it flashes,
Nails driven quicksilver,
Houses or crosses,
In our hands.

Fish hooks and old leather,
Falling coconuts adrift,
Dying palms in a rising sea,
A plastic swirl bigger than the USA,
All at our hands.

A garden of summer delights,
Picnic for the hungry,
By the lazy riverside,
Flying cottonwood seed,
Prepared and tended by our hands.

Double edges need no swords.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 03/06/2008




I Was Born On A River…

I was born in the midst of frost and snow,
Ice jagged on the riverbanks,
Stars chilled almost still on a cold night,
Some small town I still see magic in.

The old lagoon used to freeze over,
Ice skaters in the warming house,
Now the paddleboats reign,
A fresh coat of paint on the doors.

The people that imbued that place with magic,
It seems many have fled to someplace higher,
Or flowed down the stream of life,
Salmon run out to sea.

Springtime comes and the fish jump,
Life awakens all about,
Green water and green hills,
Trees budding in the scent of river water.

New dandelions flower,
Tadpoles turn to frogs,
Cottonwood seed floats in the sunlight,
Yet the limestone blocks of the water tower stand.

I was born on a river,
Where the current never stops.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/31/2008

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Independence...

Independence...

Sparklers and bangers,
Lightning bugs and picnics,
Swimming hard and warm stars,
Love in the Summer,
Watermelon delight.

It seems so easy,
I always think,
But this dream we live,
It needs eyes that see,
Every day.

Keep your heart in it,
While you see those lights.

Sparklers and bangers,
Lightning bugs and picnics,
Swimming hard and warm stars,
Love in the Summer,
Watermelon delight.

It seems so easy.

AquarianM

(C) 07/03/2008
By: Daniel A. Stafford

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Beloit & Janesville, WI underwater, Rock River still rising...

This River I Run:

There's a place I come from,
That little midwestern town by the river,
I can never escape it's call,
No matter how far I go,
Trees green,
Water near the same,
Limestone and dams,
The festivals of summer,
A glimpse of peace crosses my face as afternoon sunshine,
As the boat cruises down the Rock,
I feel at home,
Where I know in my bones,
This place has never left my blood,
In spite of pains,
In spite of travels,
In spite of gains,
This river I run is at the root of me,
These banks hallowed ground,
My childhood screams it's name,
My family's fate has long been surrounded by it,
The seeming languid waters deceptive in their power,
My grandmother and grandfather,
Mother and father,
Brothers, sisters,
Cousins, aunts, uncles,
Near all have watched this water run by,
And timeless times I remember,
As lives flow slowly by,
Their seeming languid pace deceptive in their power,
And I thank God for moments most would call me fool for,
To cherish this small, unknown, struggling town,
This place so often ridiculed,
But as they often say here,
Beloit Wisconsin calls you,
One can leave,
But in some fashion,
Everyone winds up coming back,
Even if just in memory of times loved or hated.
Happy as I am,
I miss the river I run.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 07/16/2001


Wish I could go up & help sandbag or something - it's really bad. Beloit is my home town for those who don't know, and Janesville is right next to it.

http://www.gazettextra.com/photos/galleries/gazette-staff-flooding-photos/

http://www.beloitdailynews.com/shared-content/gallery/?galleryid=1&gallery_page=0&album_page=0&albumid=1&mediaid=82

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Plainfield Live Poetry On Summer Hiatus...

...Summer is a busy time for all of us, and with the increase in prices of...well, EVERYTHING, it's time to take a break.

To be honest, attendance at this poetry reading has been few and far between for a long time. I don't have the time to do much by way of promoting it, other than online, and interest seems to be very low.

If there is any future interest in starting up poetry readings out here in the un-wild West, maybe we can try again, but for now, I'm going to focus on my writing online and let the live readings go.

To all who've come out and spent some fun time reading with me, thank you. It's been a pleasure, and I wish all of you the best.

Sincerely,

Dan

Friday, June 20, 2008

My New Song - Saxophone - "Pacha Mama Prayer"

It's kind of New Age Blues with a Native American beat, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. (Of course, there's no way it could be performed live - it's all recorded in three separate tracks on the computer)

It's kind of New Age Blues with a Native American beat, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. (Of course, there's no way it could be performed live - it's all recorded in three separate tracks on the computer) I play a 1966 Selmer Bundy. The below song was recorded using the sax and my laptop. Percussion is my hands on the table, and I'm doing vocals. The software used is Audacity & LAME MP3 encoder, both of which are free. I recorded this in three separate parts, first the saxophone, then the vocals, then the percussion. Time from melody concept to full recording was one hour. (Pacha Mama = South American equivalent to Gaia, the Earth Mother Goddess.)

http://www.whizzyrds.com/Pachamamaprayer.mp3


I call my sax "Bello".


Sunday, May 18, 2008

My Trip To The 2008 Chicago Green Festival

My Trip To The 2008 Chicago Green Festival

For starters, I got off to a late start - one of my oldest friends was in town after a couple of years in Spain, so we were out together visiting and shooting pool until close to 1:00 am, by the time I got to bed the night before, it was close to 03:00.

At any rate, I got up late in the morning and started planning my itinerary in the festival guide.
(You can see more about the Green Festivals all over the country at www.greenfestivals.org )

Embedded here is a photo slide show from my trip to the fest. (Uses shockwave flash)




For those of you who may not be able to view the slideshow, there is a web album of the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/AquarianM/2008ChicagoGreenFestivalAtNavyPier

A few highlights:


The main fest exhibit area - about four football fields, I'd guess.


Yours truly at the fest:


The Chicago Skyline as seen from Navy Pier:



The Navy Pier Ferris Wheel after dark - this is around 200 feet tall:



I stopped in and watched the first hour of the Patchamama Alliance's
symposium entitled "Awakening The Dreamer" first off in one of the 3rd floor lecture rooms. You can check out an electronic version on their site, I believe. It was an interesting synthesis of the bigger picture formed by sustainable economy, energy, ans society. I'd recommend it.

After wards, I roamed the booths checking things out.

I picked up some organic lime shea butter at the Trillium Organics booth for my wife Saren - she loves the stuff for skin lotion, and says there's nothing better out there.

I also got her a four ounce pump spray aluminum bottle of citrus eucalyptus spray as an organic bug repellent from Blissoma aromatherapy.

For our friend Jim, I got a note pad made out of Mr. Ellie Pooh paper. This paper is a soft, fibery, acid-free paper made from...elephant dung from Sri Lanka. Apparently, the elephants in Sri Lanka trample the farmers' crops, and so they get upset and shoot them. One way the farmers can make up the elephant damage is by making paper products out of their pooh. According to the brochure, each one produces around 500 lbs of the stuff per day, and it's all veggie and almost pre-processed perfectly for paper making.

To note, there were several other types of treeless paper at the fest; one was made from some kind of bush in Nepal that you can take most of the leaves from each year, and it grows back.

For My wife and I both, I got some red African bush tea, otherwise known as Rooibos. It is of course organic, and caffeine-free. It also tastes very nice. I'm drnking a cup as I type this for you. I got it from Eco Teas.

For myself, I picked up a set of authentic Tibetan prayer flags.



According to the label, the tradition is that you hang them outside in the breeze with a specific event in mind, such as the birth of a child, the beginning of a journey, etc. The prayers written on the flags are prayers of prosperity and success. It is believed that the prayers are carried away on the winds. As the flags become weathered and the prayers can no longer be read, the prayers are believed to have been delivered.

I also stopped by Calvert Funds to get some advice on setting up an IRA that does socially responsible investing. They're going to work out an appointment for ,me to come into their office (which is right in my train station) and look over what I can do.

All in all, I really wish I could have stayed longer.

Now as to getting to the fest, since it was on a Saturday and I got out late, I had to drive downtown - I have a night-limited parking pass for one of the ramps downtown, but on the weekends I can be in there around the clock. However, my parking space is at least four miles, possibly five, from Navy Pier. I walked. There and back. On the return journey, it was after dark and raining. Not horribly hard, but a constant medium-light rain. Needless to say, by the time I got back to the truck, I was pretty damp. (Just so you know, my pickup is V6 and 2
two-wheel drive. I'm 6'6" and 330 lbs, so I can't fit in the majority of smaller vehicles. )

Altogether, it was a great and happy day.

Regards,

Dan

Thursday, May 15, 2008

This Saturday 05/17/2008

I will NOT be at the Green Leaf Coffee House for poetry this Saturday, as it is the only day I can attend the Chicago Green Festival, and one of my oldest and dearest friends is back in town from Spain. Feel free to go down to the Green Leaf and share poetry with each other - I will be at the Green Festival at Navy Pier.

I look forward to seeing all of you in mid-June.

All the best, and Write On -

Dan

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Film Screening of the documentary "All In This Tea".

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

On Saturday, 04/26/2008 at 7pm Central, I will be hosting a screening of "All In This Tea" at the Green Leaf Coffee House.

What: Film Screening of the documentary "All In This Tea".

When: Saturday, April 26th, at 7pm CDT

Cost: Free, but call ahead to reserve seating as capacity is limited to just under 40 persons.

Where:

Green Leaf Coffee House(located in Sun Plaza)
2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G
Aurora, IL 60504
630-851-8410
greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net

Contact: Jillmarie or Shannon

Description:

It's A Tea-cup Universe...

An ancient bush reigns,
Upon the misted hills of China,
Stone trails nearly forgotten,
Walking a way of antiquity.

Can you taste the world or the sky?

Ten days of weather in a basket of leaves and buds,
How high a bush sits on the hill,
What lies far beneath our feet,
How did hands move - long or fast or gentle?

A family art as fine as butterfly wing breezes.

Everything modern can move mountains,
Dead dirt and dull uniforms,
Machine-printed cheap art for the masses,
Careless rush of rough touch.

Stubborn - the seeker of ancient heart.

Masterworks revived from the crush,
Uniqueness in a land of conformity,
Living tradition tied to nature,
Poetry in cupped hands and scent.

Taste it - it's a tea-cup universe that awaits.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 03/31/2008

Upon watching the documentary film "
All In This Tea," I was touched by the sheer poetic beauty of the ancient hills of China, covered in fields of tea bushes. For centuries, master tea makers have captured the nuances of location, weather, tradition, soil, and water in small cups, allowing the pass one's lips as liquid art. Every detail of environment is captured in each cup, every scrap of a bundle of tea's history blends with the water that makes it, and tells an intricate story in flavor to those who may listen.

Nearly overpowered and under threat of extinction by vast commercialization in the form of mass tea exporters, this was feared a dying art. Through the efforts of a man from the West who knew the true flavor of honestly authentic hand-made teas, a hole was pushed through the wall. A new way opened up for the art to survive, and thrive.

>From the factories to history to the smallest hand-crafted details and most ornate ceremonies, this is the visual poetry of tea's truth, and how it is both coming home to China and appearing in America. As a cup of tea warms the hands, "
All In This Tea" warms the heart, with knowledge and hope.

See it on the
Sundance Channel Tuesday, April 29th at 9:35 pm Eastern and Pacific.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Due To Excessive SPAM on the Yahoo Group...

I have changed the membership settings to require my approval for new members to join. Hopefully, that will keep our discussion list free of hot porn dates and trojaneers.

Dan

Friday, March 28, 2008

Sisters of the Heart

Sisters of the Heart



We are sisters of the heart
More than siblings of the flesh
We're two hearts one spirit
An intricate delicate mesh

We laugh and we cry
We fight and we sing
We love and we hate
But always we know one thing

Deep down inside
Where no others can see
We're never alone
There's my sister and me

We're two of a kind
Two souls woven in love
To comfort one another
Sent from God above

And if the time come
One of us must leave
Must return to God
Oh sister do not grieve

Our bond will not be broken
Though separation hurts so much
We'll still be sisters of the heart
Still keep in touch

We'll be whispers in the wind
Sunbeams dancing in our hair
A twinkle in each others eye
With each other everywhere

We'll always be together
No matter what befall
Not even death can silence
Sisters of the heart after all!

© Russ Pergram

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Notes From March PLP At The Green Leaf...

Live music & poetry intermixed - not bad. Russ Pergram & I spent a good bit of time discussing writing in general, some specific points of technique on punctuation, and writing projects each of us are working on.

That's one of the fun things about the smaller readings like the Green Leaf PLP day often is. With less people than the large shows, we can have more interactive discussion mixed in with the poetry, and keep it less formalized and rigid. If you get thirty or forty poets in to read, you have to be tight on time limits and just read on and on, with not much chance to break it up.

Not that the bigger readings aren't good or appreciated - they are. They are just a different thing altogether. It's like apples and pears. They're both sweet and come from trees, often with green skins, but they taste different. This is why I keep on truck...er, reading.

Toward the end of the afternoon, we were talking to Shannon Prahl, one of the two sisters that own the Green Leaf Coffee House, our kind and wonderful host. (Jillmarie is the other sister.)

They have a lovely pair of pictures up on the wall from when they were little girls. One is clearly from Summer, one from Fall. Russ and I decided to write a poem about each of the pictures. Russ is doing Summer, I am doing Fall. I took a phone-cam picture of the two large photos on the wall and e-mailed them home for the two of us to work with. Below is my effort. I'll post Russ's work here when he has it ready. (And after he e-mails it to me.)

Thanks for reading, and Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Dan

Green Leaf Gals Fall...

image

Steps and stairs,
A house number by heart,
Cool breath,
Miss you, puppy dog.

So long...

Leaves out of sight,
Never out of mind,
All about the yard,
Were in neat piles raked.

Sign of a season...

A cameo moment,
Camera-captured forever,
"Who, me?"
"Not I wags the dog."

A smile and whistle for such innocence...

Scattered gold and brown,
Wind-blown in their time,
Rustles and frost long faded,
Like clouds in the sky.

They remember the leaves even still.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford - poem, Prahl family photo.
© 03/15/2008

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

March PLP Reading at Green Leaf Coffee House

PLP Reading at Green Leaf Coffee House

March poetry : open mike - Green Leaf Coffee House Poetry Circle

The afternoon will start of with a poetry open mike and / or poetry and writing discussion, and end with co-writing a poem for December.

Date: Saturday March 15, 2007

Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Repeats: This event repeats every month on the third Saturday.

Location:

Green Leaf Coffee House, 2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G Aurora, IL

Poetry readings will ORDINARILY be held the Third Saturday of the month from 1pm to 4pm at:

Green Leaf Coffee House(located in Sun Plaza)
2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G
Aurora, IL 60504
630-851-8410
greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net

Attendance is free of charge and all poets and spoken-word artists are welcome to read.

Contact Dan Stafford at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Plainfield_live_poetry/post?postID=zbYmiUupdQukZzJQBTy7jUYPgiTkXvuQ7SHgEmGrheGcoN6Pkyu82oFbQtA3x4gisRNU7N48DTLMqBLr or 815-483-8878 or Jillmarie at Green Leaf Coffee House (greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net)

Sun Plaza is located on the far Southwestern portion of Eola Road about two miles before it intersects US Hwy 30.

Please forward this message to anyone you feel may be interested in reading or attending.

Friday, February 15, 2008

A new blog about learing "The Empty Hand"

Just a quick note, I've started a journal about learning the art of Karate called "The Empty Hand." (Karate literally translates to "Empty Hand" in Japanese.) You can find a bit of humor and also insiders' notes on what it's like to be learning a martial art. Stop on by The Empty Hand at http://karateemptyhand.blogspot.com/ any time.

Regards,

Dan

Monday, February 11, 2008

February PLP Reading at the Green Leaf Coffee House

PLP Reading at Green Leaf Coffee House

January poetry : open mike - Green Leaf Coffee House Poetry Circle

The afternoon will start of with a poetry open mike and / or poetry and writing discussion, and end with co-writing a poem for February.

Date: Saturday February 16, 2008

Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Repeats: This event repeats every month on the third Saturday.

Location:

Green Leaf Coffee House, 2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G Aurora, IL

Poetry readings will ORDINARILY be held the Third Saturday of the month from 7pm to 9pm at:

Green Leaf Coffee House(located in Sun Plaza)
2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G
Aurora, IL 60504
630-851-8410
greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net

Attendance is free of charge and all poets and spoken-word artists are welcome to read.

Contact Dan Stafford at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Plainfield_live_poetry/post?postID=zbYmiUupdQukZzJQBTy7jUYPgiTkXvuQ7SHgEmGrheGcoN6Pkyu82oFbQtA3x4gisRNU7N48DTLMqBLr or 815-483-8878 or Jillmarie at Green Leaf Coffee House (greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net)

Sun Plaza is located on the far Southwestern portion of Eola Road about two miles before it intersects US Hwy 30.

Please forward this message to anyone you feel may be interested in reading or attending.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Our Green Leaf Collaboration Poem

We're getting some nice feedback on Eggnog Latte at a couple of different online poetry boards.

First, the poem, then the comments:

Eggnog Latte...

In the falling afternoon sunlight,
Lazy Fall Sunday afternoon,
A steaming cup of holiday,
Whirls about my mind,
Stirred and lidded hand-warmer,
From which I spill poetry.

As I sip from that cup of memories
Of holidays long gone by
I savor the fragrance of their joy
Amid the velvet echoes
Of loves' sweet caress

Creamy and dreamy,
blackness and fluff
sweetness lingers
covering the bitter bite

Last minute shopping,
frantic wrapping,
hiding all the whimsical surprises,
at last a reward of frothy delight,
time being held still with a sip of holiday enjoyment,
a sense of satisfaction of new memories
being created and old ones passed on.

By: Green Leaf Coffee House Poetry Circle
© 11/24/2007
Contributing Authors: (In order of verse written)
Daniel A. Stafford
Russ Pergram
Shannon Prahl
Mary Andersen


Fom Elle Rush at Mystic Muse:


"DELIGHTFUL!!!
You know I love collaboration, it really helps the creative process along.
Inspiring people are, well..... inspiring!
Awesome & thank you for posting! Invite these Poets to our board!!
"
http://mysticmuse.proboards17.com/index.cgi

From Cottage Rose at Flowing Quills:

" This is a very nice collab Dan. Brings to mind
the song "Memories are made of this" All sweet
things certainly need to be kept in our memory
box. Sylvia"
http://p198.ezboard.com/fthegoldenquillfrm120

From Blueberry Kitten at Flowing Quills:

"Life in a northern town. It sounds like a dream. Make's you feel warm. "
http://p198.ezboard.com/fthegoldenquillfrm120

Saturday, January 12, 2008

January PLP Reading at Green Leaf Coffee House

PLP Reading at Green Leaf Coffee House

January poetry : open mike - Green Leaf Coffee House Poetry Circle

The afternoon will start of with a poetry open mike and / or poetry and writing discussion, and end with co-writing a poem for December.

Date: Saturday January 19, 2007

Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Repeats: This event repeats every month on the third Saturday.

Location:

Green Leaf Coffee House, 2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G Aurora, IL

Poetry readings will ORDINARILY be held the Third Saturday of the month from 7pm to 9pm at:

Green Leaf Coffee House(located in Sun Plaza)
2400 S. Eola Road, Suite G
Aurora, IL 60504
630-851-8410
greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net

Attendance is free of charge and all poets and spoken-word artists are welcome to read.

Contact Dan Stafford at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Plainfield_live_poetry/post?postID=zbYmiUupdQukZzJQBTy7jUYPgiTkXvuQ7SHgEmGrheGcoN6Pkyu82oFbQtA3x4gisRNU7N48DTLMqBLr or 815-483-8878 or Jillmarie at Green Leaf Coffee House (greenleafcoffee@sbcglobal.net)

Sun Plaza is located on the far Southwestern portion of Eola Road about two miles before it intersects US Hwy 30.

Please forward this message to anyone you feel may be interested in reading or attending.