Thursday, November 17, 2016

New and Old

[Jane Austen] stepped forth as an author, breathing gaiety and youth, robed in dazzling light.
~Elizabeth Jenkins


An old poem, a new winner, and a new giveaway! Our Orchestral Etsy giveaway winner is...

LINDA MITCHELL!

Congrats, Linda! I will email your gift card to you a.s.a.p.


Bee on butterfly bush by Jim

And now, a poem I wrote during a swap for Keri (who keeps bees).

Exhortation to a bee

By Tabatha Yeatts
For Keri

My present elegancies have not yet made me indifferent to such matters. I am still a cat if I see a mouse.
~Jane Austen in a letter to her sister


When laden low
and wandering drowsily,
humming a song
of your own invention
as your belly hangs
down, full of sucre soup,
and your legs, ablaze with gold,
dazzle dust specks
that float even more lazily
than you –

berate yourself not,
when even in this lumbering
state, with appointed tasks ahead,
you find yourself drifting
toward a bloom that has just
come of age –

like an author
when she sees a
swath of untouched page,
when a flower opens –
a bee is still a bee.

************

One more giveaway! I'm giving away a copy of Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold, the first installment in a series of adventure mystery stories that are one part travel, one part history and five parts adventure. This first installment of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series introduces Kitty Hawk, an intrepid teenage pilot with her own De Havilland Beaver seaplane and a nose for mystery and intrigue. A cross between Amelia Earhart, Nancy Drew and Pippi Longstocking.


If you want it, email me at tabatha(at)tabathayeatts(dot)com before December 1st.

************

Friendly Fairy Tales has the round-up. Thanks, Brenda!

15 comments:

Diane Mayr said...

That is one masterful poem, Tabatha!
as your belly hangs
down, full of sucre soup

Perfect!

Brenda at FriendlyFairyTales said...

I love how you bring your poem round to the JA quote at the end there, as a poet with a comment box, an author with a blank page or a cat when I see a mouse. Well done, great images.

jama said...

Nice job on the poem! Love the Jane Austen connection. :)

My fave lines:

and your legs, ablaze with gold,
dazzle dust specks
that float even more lazily
than you --

dazzle dust!

Whispers from the Ridge said...

Love, love, love that last stanza! Nicely done, Tabatha!

Linda B said...

It's a beautiful poem, Tabatha. Every time I read it I think of still another way to apply it to a life.

I love "you find yourself drifting
toward a bloom that has just. . ."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whispers from the Ridge said...

Thank you, thank you...for your kind words and for saving me from my typo!

Bridget Magee said...

Beautiful, Tabatha! Your words: "swath of untouched page" are an invitation to write every day. =)

Jane @ Raincity Librarian said...

Aren't bees just wonderful? Your poetry inspires me to tackle that untouched page and let my own creativity flow.

Ruth said...

Oh, your bee is so lovely - and the author connection is perfect! Thank you, Tabatha. (And no, I haven't heard about the Pablo Neruda fashion show but I'm going to Google to see what I can find!)

Suzanne said...

I like your ode to bees. We need to cherish the bees these days. Suzanne of http://artalsolife.com/

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

Love the poem, Tabatha - so full of imagery and life. And a perfect quote from Austen, which sounds exactly like something she'd have said!

Doraine said...

Beautiful poem, Tabatha!

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

This is fantastic, Tabatha! It hums along beautifully, and leaves my head full with drowsy-rich imagery.

Carlie said...

I love the "legs ablaze with gold."

Donna Smith said...

Oh, goodness! I found myself chuckling a: "berate yourself not"..."with appointed tasks ahead, you find yourself drifting toward a bloom"...
I may have to make myself a poster of this to remind myself not to be too hard on myself when I wander off to words that want writing, when I have a to do list long enough to have chapters.