Double Dactyl, Anyone?

Studying poetry, meter and its forms this past year or so, has been so interesting. When I feel brave enough to try a new form, it is both scary and exciting at the same time. It feels like working the NYT crossword puzzle. Definitely a stretch for me, but a great way to keep the brain in shape.

Your "crossword clues"in double dactyl, are the form's "rules" for the poem. I use them to think of the words that will fit. But, instead of counting squares for letters, you count stressed and unstressed beats.

On this Poetry Friday, I want to share with you one of my favorites:

Here is a link to The Writer's Digest information about Double Dactyls.

I stumbled across this form when exploring options to use for a children's poetry collection I was working on. It was so much fun! And the dancing way the poems felt when I read them was exhilarating.

After much brain strain and adventurous hunting for just the right words, completing these double dactyls made me giddy. I think I sat and read them 10 times, just enjoying how the beats moved over my tongue. :)

With out further adieu, I am excited to share two of my double dactyls.

Can you feel that delicious DUM da da beat?

You smiled, didn't you... I knew it!

Thank you to Carol Varsalona at https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/ for hosting this week. Be sure to go to her post to see all the other wonderful poets!

Trails

Walking through cathedral pines, sun beams piercing the cool air, lighting my path.

Heaven.

I don't think there is anything I enjoy more than my walks in the woods.

Each one filled with discovery...

...of color

and texture.

something that makes me laugh...

My "Prego Tree."

or something that makes me say, wow.....

Art installation in Southboro Mass. Strips of wool of every color,

found in a grandmothers attic and made into flowing sculptures

This week, I came across a photo of a texture carved by beetles into a log. It inspired this weeks "Poetry Friday" post. I hope you will enjoy it and stop by this weeks host- Jan @ Bookseed Studio and see the lovely poems posted there.

Here is my poem for this week.

Little Artists

When a toddler experiences the many forms of art early in life,

it is like putting a pan of water on to boil.

Some of the flames:

• the musical lullabies his parent sings

• images and words in picture books

• and the tactile experience of discovering texture and color

invisibly start to heat up his unexplored creativity.

Quietly, almost unnoticed, a kind of joy and creative excitement begins to percolate inside him.

He wants to touch, hold, and taste all the delicious things around them. Art is being discovered and celebrated with their every sense.

Tiny hands begin to give expression to the toddler's new creative feelings, each time:

• lullabies are sung

• blocks are stacked and tumbled

• crayons are grabbed and pulled across a white page in random strokes

• play dough is squished and oozed out between surprised fingers

• or tiny hips and limbs sway in their first dance.

Tiny hearts find inspiration in every hour of everyday:

• in the warm light dappled on the backyard leaves

• on the soft pastel and vibrant primary color petals of garden flowers

• tasting new shapes and textures of food

As long as the "child's pot" is replenished with inspiration and experiences, art will boil and flow out of pens, keyboards, brushes, fingers and mouths for a lifetime.

Creative expression can also come in unexpected places:

Art isn't just a class that you take in elementary school (although that, itself can be life-changing for some) it expressed in every action we take, every word we say and in every career we have.

I have expressed this creative energy in so many varied ways during my life:

• at 5:00 a.m. in our local bakery, setting up the freshly made croissants in the case and making the signs.

• as an admin in a publishing company in my correspondence, and decorating for holiday parties.

• using my sewing machine in the design and creation of bridesmaid dresses, curtains and quilts.

• with the squeeze of a decorator bag full of frosting on a birthday cake.

I thank my uncles, Tom and Butch who listened, and watched and cared enough to nurture those first little bubbles of creativity in me... the sparkle in their eyes, their sweet fascination with each creative thing I did as a child, sharing their own art and processes, and encouraging me at a very young age to explore their art supplies and express my self in any way I wanted. I have been blessed. This is why we as creatives, must walk through the world with the eyes of a child, filled with curiosity and excitement at even the smallest thing.

Will a dab, dot or messy smudge

lead to a showing in a gallery?

Or a toddler steeping you a pretend cup of tea...

...become a chef?

Or stacking and tumbling blocks

lead to being an architect?

Maybe, possibly..... some childhood murmurings do go on to become passions, and passions to amazing careers.

An adorable recital...

might lead to this....

Or...

it could just have been one of many creative moments in a child's life that are

for the pure joy of it, and nothing else.

Although,

it may in the end, lead to this....

and isn't that beautiful.