Saturday 3 march, 2007

rel's
Saturday's loquacious musings:

Be fore-warned!!!






Spurge, common name for the family Euphorbiaceae, herbs, shrubs, and trees of greatly varied structure and almost cosmopolitan distribution, although most species are tropical. The spurges are of great economic importance; the sap of most species is a milky latex, and that of the PARA RUBBER TREE is the source of much of the world's natural RUBBER. The genus Manihot includes CASSAVA, the source of tapioca and the most important tropical root crop after the SWEET POTATO. The cactus like euphorbias (genus Euphorbia) are among the most common Old World desert SUCCULENTS and comprise most of the species commonly called spurge. Many are cultivated for their often colorful foliage and the showy bracts enclosing their "naked flowers" (i.e., FLOWERS lacking petals and sometimes sepals). The poinsettia, native to Central America and sometimes classed in a separate genus (Poinsettia), is a popular Christmas plant with large rosettes of usually bright red bracts.

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In the comments to the poem I submitted for Poetry Thursday (March 1st, 2007) Clockworkchris said...

..."Is 20 or 30 minutes quick for a poem? Just curious. I think I will keep my mouth shut about the average time it takes me to write a poem cause it might make you guys feel bad. Maybe that is why yours are always better?"

How long does it take to write a poem? That depends on what kind of poem I am writing, an ode, a sonnet, a haiku, a fib, a tanka or free verse, etc.. Sometimes I've written a verse in a few minutes, another time It might have taken three days. Often I mull a prompt over in my mind for days before any concrete inspiration strikes me. If it is a new form, (at this point, in my "writing" endeavors, every form is new),.It takes me awhile to research the rules that may or may not apply. I wrote a free form poem about my daughter's and my time in different wars. I wrote it in a very few minutes. However it must be noted that I pondered the prompt for many days and I slept on the question for two nights before awakening with the poem presenting itself to me immediately and at which moment I sprang from my bed to capture the words as quickly as possible before they faded in wakefulness. So depending how you look at it, I wrote that poem in 3 days or 5 minutes.

In the same comment section my friend Lee from the Kitchen connection had this to say:

Lee said...

"Whoever your muse is, Rel, she must be quite wonderful!"

First, Thank you to everyone who was gracious enough to comment! All your comments were well received and taken to heart. They are encouragement enough for me to continue to write.

All nine Muses together or individually have sat on my bed and inspired me at one time or another. When they take a hiatus I'm forlorn, when they visit I'm uplifted.

Muses, in Greek mythology, nine goddesses, daughters of the god Zeus, king of the gods, and of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The Muses were believed to inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians. By late Roman times (3rd century to 5th century), each Muse was believed to preside over a particular art: Calliope was the muse of epic poetry; Clio of history; Euterpe of lyric poetry sung to the accompaniment of the flute; Melpomene of tragedy; Terpsichore of choral songs and the dance; Erato of love poetry sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; Polyhymnia of sacred poetry; Urania of astronomy; and Thalia of comedy.
The Muses were said to be the companions of the Graces and of Apollo, the god of music. They sat near the throne of Zeus and sang of his greatness and of the origin of the world and its inhabitants and the glorious deeds of the great heroes. The Muses were worshiped throughout ancient Greece, especially at Helicon in Boeotia and at Pieria in Macedonia.

I hesitate to call myself a poet, a writer, a musician, an artist or a philosopher. With some degree of certainty I can call myself a man, a husband, a father, a sibling and a nurse anesthetist. I earn a living administering anesthetics. I'm paid to to this. I love to sing, and have been told I have a nice voice. I've been paid to sing in my past, so i guess I can call myself a singer. I love to draw (I'd paint too if I wasn't colorblind) but I've never published or sold any drawings, so I don't call myself an artist. I have taken a few hundred thousand photographs, some have been published, so I feel comfortable calling myself an amateur photographer. I've run two half marathons and one marathon and I still hesitate to call myself a runner. I write, I write prose and most recently some poetry. Do I consider myself a writer/poet? Not yet! The muses are coming to visit more regularly these days and I see a new door opening for me and It is thrilling.

The folks I've encountered here in the blogsphere are a super group of kindred souls who are encouraging and kind to each other. This is a magnificent neighborhood to live in. As we grow and prosper perhaps the larger world will take note and realize that divergent peoples can get along, get along peacefully.

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Tomorrow's prompt for Sunday scribblings is superstition . My mind is a blank. Oh don't mistake that to mean I don't know what superstition is. I just haven't got a clue as to what to write about it. I'm not superstitious at all and at the same time I don't want to dis anybody else's beliefs. The Greeks had plenty of superstitions, so maybe the muses will visit my dreams tonight and plant a seed that will grow and bloom in my mind by morning.

Maybe they will bring along the three graces to assist in prodding my imagination.

Graces (Greek goddesses), in Greek mythology, the three goddesses of joy, charm, and beauty. The daughters of the god Zeus and the nymph Eurynome, they were named Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). The Graces presided over banquets, dances, and all other pleasurable social events, and brought joy and goodwill to both gods and mortals. They were the special attendants of the divinities of love, Aphrodite and Eros, and together with companions, the Muses, they sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced to beautiful music that the god Apollo made upon his lyre. In some legends Aglaia was wed to Hephaestus, the craftsman among the gods. Their marriage explains the traditional association of the Graces with the arts; like the Muses, they were believed to endow artists and poets with the ability to create beautiful works of art. The Graces were rarely treated as individuals, but always together as a kind of triple embodiment of grace and beauty. In art they are usually represented as lithe young maidens, dancing in a circle