IMPERFECT II

Two people in a conversation amount to four people talking. The four are what one person says, what he really wanted to say, what his listener heard, and what he thought he heard.
~WJ Bryan

Happy Poetry Friday and Happy National Poetry Month! I'm celebrating a new book: IMPERFECT II. It's another poetry anthology for middle schoolers. Last time, the poems were about mistakes; this time, the theme is poems about perspective. The themes fit together well.

I didn't have any plans to do a second book (or I would have called the first book IMPERFECT I) but this one grew from a seed of an idea the same way the first book did, something that nagged at me until I went ahead and took the plunge. It was a bit of a difficult process, not gonna lie, and I teared up when I saw my copy. (The first time I've done that!)

Preston gave it the lick test

Want to know who's in the book? Come visit the IMPERFECT II blog! The poets are all listed, plus we will feature poets' bios on an on-going basis. I will be posting there every day or nearly every day in April.

I made a Pinterest Board for IMPERFECT II which has quote pins, art perspective lessons, thoughts about thinking, etc.

Today's poem is about someone who realizes that their point-of-view may have limitations they aren't even aware of:

All But Blind
by Walter De La Mare

All but blind
In his chambered hole
Gropes for worms
The four-clawed Mole.

All but blind
In the evening sky
The hooded Bat
Twirls softly by.

All but blind
In the burning day
The Barn-Owl blunders
On her way.

And blind as are
These three to me,
So, blind to Some-one
I must be.

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Leaving you with a song! This book is written, but what comes after...the rest is still unwritten!



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My Juicy Little Universe has the Poetry Friday roundup today. Thanks, Heidi!

писанка

Egg hunts are proof that your children can find things when they really want to.
~Anon.

For Art Thursday, we have pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs). I'm posting it early in case it inspires you to make your own!

A pysanka is decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs using a wax-resist method. The word pysanka comes from the verb pysaty, "to write" or "to inscribe," as the designs are not painted on, but written (inscribed) with beeswax. (Wikipedia)

Mix of traditional Ukrainian, diasporan and original pysanky
Luba Petrusha

Easy Pysanky
How to make your own Ukrainian pysanka Easter egg
Instructables: Pysanky - Ukrainian Egg Dying

Just remember

The amazing thing about love and attention and encouragement and grace and success and joy is that these things are infinite. We get a new supply every single morning, and so we can give it away all day. We never, ever have to monitor the supply of others or grab or hoard.
~Glennon Doyle

I enjoy Rudimental and this song hit the spot today. Rudimental featuring Will Heard:

My Poem is life

Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.
~Charles Bukowski

For a while during the winter, I couldn't find anything outside I wanted to take a photo of. The snow and ice had made things look interesting for a bit, but they were gone. The birds were too skittish. Now, the buds are back. Yay!

Today's poem, from "Song of Winnie" by Gwendolyn Brooks:

My Poem is life, and not finished.
It shall never be finished.
My Poem is life, and can grow.

Wherever life can grow, it will.
It will sprout out,
and do the best it can.
I give you what I have.
You don’t get all your questions answered in this world.
How many answers shall be found
in the developing world of my Poem?
I don’t know. Nevertheless I put my Poem,
which is my life, into your hands, where it will do the best it can.

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The Poem Farm has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Amy!

Shield of Ukraine

During the war, every minute is important and every investment counts.
~Liliya Syvytska

Today's art supports Liliya Syvytska's Shield of Ukraine fundraiser.

Shield of Ukraine
by Leonardo Fierro

The Mermaid Song

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
~T.S. Eliot

Last week, I shared a Ukrainian folk song's lyrics for Poetry Friday. This Saint Paddy's Day, I have an Irish one. Addendum: At first I assumed that the mermaid just knew the ways of the sea so she could tell what was going to happen, but then I wondered, "Is she MAKING it happen?" I don't know mermaid lore, but she does seem cheeky, raising a glass -- and they've barely left land! I also wondered whether the captain had tried to make a deal with her. What would the mermaid have asked for? A date for Friday night? Someone who could spell "mermaid"? I don't know but whatever it is, the captain can't manage it.

The Mermaid Song

It was a Friday morn when we set sail
And we were not far from the land
When our captain, he spied a mermaid so fair
With a comb and a glass in her hand.

Chorus:
Oh the ocean waves do roll
And the stormy winds do blow
And we poor sailors are skipping at the top
While the landlubbers lie down below, below, below
While the landlubbers lie down below.

Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship
And a brave old skipper was he
"This fishy mermaid has warned me of our doom
We shall sink to the bottom of the sea."

Then up spoke the first mate of our gallant ship
And a well-spoken man was he
"I have me a wife in Boston by the sea
And tonight she a widow will be."

Then up spoke the bosun of our gallant ship
And a brave young man was he
"Well I've got a sweetheart at Salem by the sea
And tonight she be weepin' for me."

Then up spoke the cook of our gallant ship
And a crazy old butcher was he
"I care much more for my pots and my pans
Than I do for the bottom of the sea."

Then up spoke the cabinboy, of our gallant ship
And a brave young lad was he
"I'm not quite sure I can spell mermaid
But I'm going to the bottom of the sea."

Then three times around spun our gallant ship
And three times around spun she
Three times around spun our gallant ship
And she sank to the bottom of the sea.



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There's No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Ruth!

Éirinn go Brách

A (true) friend's eye is a good mirror.
Is maith an scáthán súil charad.
~Irish proverb

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Some Irish art for Art Thursday:

Harmony
photo by Spleodrach

Mosaic
by Desmond Kinney

Detail from 1974 mosaic mural of the Irish epic "Táin Bó Cúailnge" (the driving-off of cows of Cooley)
by Desmond Kinney
Photo by Illustratedjc

Urban art mural of the Seek Festival, Dundalk, County Louth
photo by DSexton

Tambourines and elephants

There's a giant doing cartwheels, a statue wearin' high heels.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
~John Fogerty

For Music Monday, a song from Quiero Creedence, a Latin tribute album to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Gaby Moreno with "Lookin' Out My Back Door":



An original (that wasn't covered on the album):



My other favorite from Quiero Creedence is Bang Data's Fortunate Son (Fortunate Hijo).

We’ll gather periwinkles together

“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.”
~Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)

Vinca major by Tero Karppinen

For Poetry Friday, we have light lyrics. A popular Ukrainian folksong Підманула підвела (You Tricked Me) tells a story about a "girl who plays with the feelings of a young man in love." He certainly keeps coming back for more. The translation site explains, "Don’t worry; this song is joyful, and you will not find even a glance of sadness there. A young Ukrainian man is not scared by difficulties!"

Підманула підвела:

You have told me that on Monday
We’ll gather periwinkles together
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down

Chorus:
You tricked me,
You let me down,
You’re making me, a young man,
Lose my mind.

You have told me that on Tuesday
You will kiss me forty times
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down
(chorus)

You have told me that on Wednesday
We’ll wrangle up the cattle together
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down
(chorus)

You have told me that on Thursday
We’ll go to the concert together
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down
(chorus)

You have told me that on Friday
We’ll gather wild strawberries together
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down
(chorus)

You have told me that on Saturday
We’ll go to work together
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down
(chorus)

You have told me that on Sunday
We’ll go to the wedding together
I’ve come, and there you aren’t,
You tricked me and let me down
(chorus)



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Poetry For Children has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Sylvia and Janet!

Треті Півні

Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.
~Karl Lagerfeld

For Art Thursday, Треті Півні:

The Workshop Треті Півні (translated from Ukrainian folklore as "time before dawn")

The Workshop Treti Pivni is a team of photographers, stylists, makeup artists and promoters united by the love towards Ukraine and a wide desire to open the beauty and unique culture of their country, to show the wealth of Ukrainian national costumes from different provinces through photographs.

The stylist and founder of the Workshop is Dominika Dyka. She recreates the ancient looks by dressing people in Ukrainian traditional costumes with a headdress to show old-time traditions and outfits. Recreational projects of this workshop include taking photos of ordinary people, not models, so they can get a chance to get in touch with the history of their motherland.

See more on My Modern Met or Instagram.

DakhaBrakha

The name DakhaBrakha means «give/take» in the old Ukrainian language... Accompanied by Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian traditional instrumentation, the quartet’s astonishingly powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a trans-national sound rooted in Ukrainian culture.

For Music Monday, Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha:

Ukrainian Art

“I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian.”
—Pablo Picasso about Maria Prymachenko (1908-1997)

For Art Thursday, a bit of Ukrainian art.

Last week, the Ivankiv Museum was burned by Russia, destroying 25 of Maria Prymachenko's works.

Maria had childhood polio. Surgeries in Kyiv in the 1930s enabled her to walk. From an article by Rebecca Bengal: "Back in Kyiv, Prymachenko met her fiancé, Vasyl Marynchuk, before he went to war, never to return. Her brother was shot dead by the Nazis. Prymachenko returned to Ivankiv as a single mother, working on a collective farm. She embroidered flowers against a black backdrop of a tablecloth and did not pick up her paintbrushes again until the late 1940s."

Our Army, Our Protectors
by Maria Prymachenko

A Dove has spread her wings and asks for peace
by Maria Prymachenko

Love
by Alexander Milo

In Search of Destiny
Viktor Kryzhanivskyi

Self-Portrait
by Tatiana Yablonska