Travel Bags

The month of July is approaching its end and weather is really hot over here. We have been beaching more than we used to over the past couple of years, and it’s a good thing we live by the beach, as it is.

The poetry and creative prompt challenge of ‘July, Oh my!’ is also coming to an end. To sum up, I made a sincere attempt to enjoy it and came back to poeming by using it. I hoped there will be others to keep company, but there have been none, apart from one poem written and the intention for more. Anyway, I didn’t do anything to popularise the month, and that was partly due to the fact that I wasn’t sure in my own participation. In a word, I felt myself not very reliable as a host.

jom-27-trabaIt is time for the July 27th prompt and the poem: Travel Bags.

It’s good if they’re only travel bags
And not those people use
for moving out and maybe
going away to break
the ties they have enjoyed
to some extent
or other.

So, travel bags, as long as
you bring them back
are wonderful to carry,
full and empty,
every now and then.

©2013, soulmary

Car Travel

It is nearing the end of July and it is very hot. Roughly a month ago, while I was still inventing the prompt list, I was foreseeing such heat. That is true. But, to be honest, I was hoping that would be the case over the whole month, and exactly when we were on holiday at the swimming pool, the weather was not that good. What is good is that we live by the sea and what was lost at the swimming pool, was compensated at the beach 🙂

jom25-carOK, it is hot and travelling by car is a normal way of going on holiday. Of course, people still use trains and coaches, but more and more choose car these days. The prompt for July 26th is Car Travel and here is my poem take on it.

Round and round
They go – the wheels.
Back and forth you move
– the gears.
Trees run by or crawl
Scenes shift fast
or they glide,
Until all passenger
just fall asleep
In love with the
scenery around.

©2013, soul mary

Summer Nights

Every summer rock concerts takes place during a summer night. Or, if you follow the band, that may occupy many summer nights. There are also many other exciting things to do at that time. A lot of stories and sweet dreams are created from the combination of summer nights and good time. Maybe you will walk on the beach, or around the moon-lit lake. Maybe you will be sipping a cocktail near the pool, or on board a yacht. Any way it is happening, summer nights are born pregnant with lush memories.

jom23-summerThe July, Oh my! prompt for July 23rd is Summer Nights. Here is what I created.

Summer nights and July morning
A leather jacket taken from my back.
‘Twas hot, believe it or not
Too hot for leather jackets
Too slow time marches
to remind me now of
Summer nights to fill
the air with kisses
The grass is black and
pricky
But it’s summer,
believe it or not.

©2013, soul mary

Rock Concert

There was a time when teenagers divided into rock and disco fans. A lot more in the way of distinction came along that line, but so many years later, I know that none of that is of any significance. Back then, however, it was at the core of your self-identification. I sided with those going to rock concerts rather than discos. I met plenty of weirdness on my way, which would most likely be the case as well, had I chosen to go the other way. You know the thing I mean. One cannot escape that.

jom-22-rockThe prompt for July 22nd in my July, Oh my! challenge is Rock Concert. Read on for my take on it.

Rock Concert

Outsiders chose that.
Hot chicks went to disco.
What’s wrong with Rock
Is that it’s hard
You break your scull
against it.
And someone breaks your heart.
But that’s another story
Quite irrelevant to rock,
The concerts, or your
petty love-affairs.

©2013, soulmary

Fried Eggs

One thing is in common for all locations and seasons: time is never enough. So, what’s for dinner, we often think. Or, for breakfast… Although, usually breakfast is far easier to conjure up. I used to hate eggs when I was a child. Dad would always make them scrambled, but he mixed them in the pan, so they would end up looking so bizarre and repulsive that I just couldn’t bring myself to like them. Not eating that was never an option, as my dad was pretty insistant I ate regularly. With good reason, too. Things changed in that matter, definitely. Recently, I rediscovered that meal, but I still don’t eat eggs scrambled.

friedeggs-jom20The prompt for JOM, aka July, Oh my! is Fried Eggs. The day is July 20th, weekend is time for rest, not for cooking.

stepping on eggshells is
hardly difficult
if you have no purpose to
preserve them
whole.
Eat the eggs, throw the shells!
Happy morning after!

©2013, soulmary

Air-Conditioner

In a matter of several days, I lost touch with my own poetry challenge. It seems that I really have some time issue. Since I started my new editor job, I seem to have lost the habit to blog regularly. That coincided with the moment I started preparing for my thesis defense, too. I can’t decide which factor affected my blogging routine stronger. Of course, I graduated nearly a month ago, and the thesis was filed in for evaluation even earlier, so that factor at least stopped its interference. Let’s say I took some time to rest. And, surely, working with texts, articles and news all day, not having time to check my social profiles, has a bit negative effect on my. Summer evenings are hardly enough for all I miss during the day, and family is more important than Internet. I believe, though, I am gradually and steadily coming back and today I even took some time to see where next I could submit some work. I do a lot of reading, too. Free time is not abundant, though, when you work full-time and you have a kid, so I have to make some adjustments and do things by priority.

jom19-acTo cut it brief, the prompt for July 19th is Air-Conditioner. That is where the idea took me.

The door will open to the
coolness inside.
All sweat forgotten
as if it had never been there
The breeze gliding
through the upper room
Swipes my forehead
clean of thoughts
And missions failed
Or simply not too successful.

©2013, soulmary

(Of course, you never know which failure conceals success.)

Resort

Recently, I was thinking of General Custer’s last stand. Then I read the historical facts again and found my own memory of the case was far exaggerated. I was a bit disappointed the real story was not that impressive as the one in my head, and very disappointed that I had remembered nearly all wrong. The process notes to the poem that follows would state that, being non-native, I am rather free to make random associations with words and expressions. And yeah, this ‘grass’ thing is correct. It means ‘No way to reach the grass’ and ‘No way grass would grow’. (I mean on the battlefield, for a certain time.) I changed this word three times. First, it was ‘go’, then ‘pass’ and then … well, ‘grass’. 

jom18-resortJuly, Oh my! continues in this 18th Day of July with the prompt: Resort. Here is the logic. ‘I’d use that as a last resort.’ That always has the same association for me. Read on.

When I think of resort
It’s Custer’s last stand I see
No way to grass.

©2013, soulmary

More Is Too Much

After yesterday’s clever prompt, it is time for the next in line of paradoxes. Uhm, you know life is full of colour and I only recently found out that they don’t use ‘towards’ in the US. That version is considered incorrect. Imagine!

jom17-moreToday’s prompt (July 17th) is More Is Too Much. Read on.

More is too much
Do you know when to stop?
How do we measure enough?
It is rarely enough.
Not before it really gets
Too much.

Branch of a Tree

I seem to write about tree branches very often. Usually, I do that in autumn. Normal, when you consider that is the season we see them.

The July, Oh my! poetry and creative is continuing and has reached its middle. I always see tree branches out of all windows I sit by (not so weird, when you think about it). And I always take pleasure in contemplating while looking at them.

teardrops-treebranches-jom15Today’s promt, which is July 15th’s one is Branch of a Tree. Here is my new poem on it. My new haiku.

A branch of a tree
Dripping teardrops all day long
Home for my sorrows.

© 2013, soul mary

Alley in the Park

It is hard for me to stay out of the summer theme. Must be in the air, these days. It is sad that recently I have been hearing troublesome news from outside my country. In my country, we are constantly in trouble these days, and that is so awful that I am trying to avoid discussing it. Yet, what I have in mind are the court and legal proceedings news coming from the US and the travel accidents around the world, the latest one being the train accident in France, just a day before their National Holiday. And that is a national holiday which I think marks a pivotal point in the history of modern humankind. I mean, the beginning of the French Revolution put a start to new/modern life, society, values. As bloody and aweful as it must have been. On a personal note, I’m glad I don’t need to live in that kind of times, I truly am.

Thinking of all that, I am still going on with this July-poetry-thing that I planned and honestly, I’m glad to see that some of my friends take interest in this ‘challenge’ and I even read a poem written to one of my own prompts, and I loved it!

park-alley-jom14We are continuing on our July, Oh my! challenge with a prompt for the 14th day of the month: An Alley in the Park. Should I just toss in that it’s a haiku – it seems a long-way return to my favourite form.

Alley in the park
Hosts all seasons’ smells and tints.
Urban nature’s nook.

© 2013, soulmary