Poems and Ponderings

This is one of my favorite poems of the english language and I shall restrict my postings to those only, unless requested otherwise... Annabel Lee     It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Went envying her and me- Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That t...

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water-drinkers.   ~Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Satires With that in mind: where is my wine then?

I started reading veeery early, some of my early memories are Peter Rabbit, Pooh Bear and a  story book with  Fairies. Because I grew up with an older and a younger brother I got to read Karl May, Jules Verne and the like. I still remember when my mother gave me one of her books, I must have been 10, Gone with the Wind. Well after all the boys books it was definitely something different and it took me a long time to start reading this one but once I started I could not stop. Later as a young woman I read this book again and took a lot of courage from it. Once when I was ill my father came home with a book just for me, what a treat!!!   Little Women by Mary Alcott, which is still  my absolute favorite book , and my favorite character was Jo! Jo is a very unconventional person, a free spirit if you wish, she has a big heart and is the writer to be, she would always withdraw into the attic to write equipped with apples... In the years I have read many boo...

There is so much going on in our lives that we seem to think we don't have time to write, trust me you have time, 10 - 15 minutes a day is all you need. You could get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning, write in the bus, in the train, in your break, after lunch, after dinner, you WILL find time if you WANT to write, trust me. And always, always have a little notebook in your hand/bag, pocket or car. The other day driving to my hardware store, I had a strong sense of my late husband sitting next to me and as I was <talking> to him a few lines for a poem came to mind. I recited it over and over again until I could stop and write it down. Then I kept this little booklet of A6 in my hand, wrote down some more lines with my booklet on the bonnet of my car and  a some more while I was in the hardware store... Looking back it must have looked quite funny, but then again being at the hardware store one could imagine I was writing down my list... lol

Visit wikihow on how to Freewrite at the following link: http://www.wikihow.com/Freewrite I was introduced to Freewriting during workshops I attended and found it to be a valuable tool in opening up to write. Usually I have a vague topic in mind  which I write on top of the page and then I start writing, nothing planned, nothing organized, just allowing the words to flow. Quite often I find I drift away from my chosen topic and that is fine as well as it shows me there is another story lingering in my subconscious mind wanting to come out and be written Freewriting is an exercise to help to get your muse flowing.  Write - do NOT stop until your timer goes off. Do NOT lift your pen from the paper, even if this means writing, "I don't know what to write," over and over again. Write nonsense, write anything, but don't stop writing . Look back over what you've written and see if anything sparks your interest. If so, use it as a point of departure for anoth...

When I lived out in the Valley, Riebeek Valley that is, ever so often I would hear the Eagle's cry and would watch them for as long as possible. It is a love I shared with my late husband so whenever I hear the Eagle calling I would be thinking of him as well.  So here is my little poem in freestyle. Eagles soaring in the sky Majestic, free, soaring high Calling for its mate to join In a dance of love and life Calling, soaring, endless sky   2008, © JSZ, Angelique   

Dance Entrancing, enchanting Return of happiness Fairies dancing all around Magic © JSZ,Angelique, 2011 or taken from my previous poem Be Dance barefoot Feel the earth Be in the moment Now © JSZ,Angelique, 2011 There seems to be some different opinions in regard to the structure of a Cinquain , but I think I got pretty close here. Try it yourself it is not that difficult... As you can see I love creating poems and poetry!