Monthly Archives: March 2021

Paper Cranes

Paper Cranes

Hope trickles down in purple rain 
As I wait for the morning light
Amidst one thousand paper cranes.

Anxiety flows through my veins,
Cries of anguish deep in the night.
Hope trickles down in purple rain.

The robins sing in sweet refrain,
Welcoming the sun with delight
Amidst one thousand paper cranes.

Bury my fears, bury my pain, 
Spilling tears and ink as I write.
Hope trickles down in purple rain.

Breaking free from these heavy chains,
I am a lone dove taking flight
Amidst one thousand paper cranes.

Simple words can never explain
Depression’s devastating plight.
Hope trickles down in purple rain 
Amidst one thousand paper cranes.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
March 26, 2021

I was going to write a light-hearted ditty about bears having a picnic in the forest, but I just couldn’t make it work within the confines of this week’s Blogophilia prompts. The Prince lyrics and the paper cranes steered me to write this villanelle, a poetry format I have not written in a while. It was fun, like putting a word puzzle together. I love that kind of challenge!

One of my favorite fairy tales was the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It brings back wonderful childhood memories of Mom reading us bedtime stories from an old book.  I just purchased an enchanting book for Posie that also features this illustrated story.  I can’t wait to give it to her and better yet, read it to her!

The paper cranes/purple rain image above was created by me…using commons pics from Pixabay.

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 2.14 Topic: The Three Bears
Hard Bonus (2 points):  Use a lyric from a Prince song (“purple rain” from Purple Rain; “I am a dove” from I Would Die 4 U) 
Easy Bonus (1 Point): Mention “paper cranes”

This Week’s Pic

SECRET PHRASE GUESSES:

  1. Fairy tales (in blog)
  2. Goldilocks & the Three Bears (in blog)
  3. Wonderful childhood memories (in blog)
  4. Bedtime stories (in blog)
  5. Childhood imagination
  6. Shadow dancing
  7. Childhood dreams
  8. Dreamland
  9. Read me a story, Mommy!
  10. Alone in my room

Topic:  Leta    Picture:  Stormy

Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox

Ides of March haunt me
as I sulk in my bedroom
wallow in darkness

winter winds persist
robins ruffle breast feathers
at the hint of snow

shades of ivory
floating free from the heavens
melting on impact

new dawn breaks golden
sun rays caress tulip buds
cherry trees blossom

feel the world shifting
on cusp of spring equinox
birdsong lifts my heart

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
March 20, 2021

Meet & Greet:

Happy Spring and Happy Anniversary to us!  My real name is Colleen Marie Keller Breuning and I’m a faithful Blogophiliac to the core.  I can’t believe it’s been 14 years that we’ve been blogging together in Blogophilia! 

I joined in 2008, the very first season — not sure the exact week, but I estimate sometime between Week 11 & 15. I remember seeing Blogophilia when it first launched, but I just lurked a while because I wasn’t sure if I was up to the challenge. I believe I saw a few of the poets and writers from other Myspace groups posting there – DJ Myke, Violeta Falo, Craig Fallon and Dahlia Ramone come to mind. I decided to dive in head-first with a revealing emo poem. I think Tyler Myrth joined about the same time as me or a few weeks later. And I do not think I’ve missed one week since then, despite vacations, illnesses, crazy work hours, exhaustion, life in general and lack of motivation! 

The thing I love most about Blogophilia is the friendship and camaraderie within the group. I have met several of the present and past participants in real life: Violeta Falo, Dahlia Ramone, Christine Wichman and Lisa Kessler. And the funny thing is I met all of them during various trips to California. I would love to meet more of you in the future! Let me know if you are ever in the Northern VA/Washington DC area. I would be happy to meet you at a winery (but of course)! 😉

Another thing I love about Blogophilia is that it’s the ONE thing that has kept me writing consistently every single week!!! Honestly if not for that weekly challenge, I would probably be quite lazy and just not write. I try hard to find at least an hour or so on a Friday or Saturday to dedicate to writing. If you do the math, since we have now completed 13 years, that is roughly around 676 weeks of writing challenges! (WOW!!!!!) That means 676 poems that I otherwise may not have written on my own. I also love that the different challenges (some very boggling) often lead me down a rabbit hole, and I end up writing something I normally would not write. The one thing I most regret is not having enough time lately to visit everyone’s blogs. It weighs on my mind that life is so busy that I can’t even do the reading I WANT to do. Work and life circumstances have been taking up the majority of my time recently. I apologize and hope to do better! *sigh*

So thank you for the years of dedication to our group and the writing inspiration, Marvin Martian and the entire gang of Blogophiliacs! I love you all!! ❤

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 1.14 Topic: Happy Anniversary to Us (Topic Provided by Marvin)
Bonuses – Choose up to three bonus suggestions and use in your blog to score 2 points each (6 points maximum):  From the list Marvin provided I used: 1. Ivory for the 14th anniversary. 2.  Ides of March. 3. Something a 14 year old likes to do – sulk in bedroom

*****MEET & GREET – Score extra points for introducing yourself either on the WordPress blog or the Ecrits Blogophilia Facebook post. Include your name, when you started with Blogophilia and your favorite thing about the Blogophilia writing group/challenges!!!*****

SECRET PHRASE GUESSES:

1. Party Time
2. Hey Mr. DJ
3. Hit the Dance Floor
4. Move it to the rhythm
5. Get into the Groove
6. Pump up the Jam!
7. Techno Beat
8. Mosh pit
9. Dancing machine
10. Let the rhythm move you

This week’s pic

Stray

Stray

Dark loner wanders as the sun goes down,
Dirty asphalt beneath his weathered feet.
Straying on, past the far edges of town,
There is no vacation on these mean streets.

Though winter is waning, bitter winds blow,
He shivers behind a ramshackle shed.
His fur coat matted by cold rain and snow
As visions of summer dance in his head.

Searching for solace, hungry and alone,
A life counted with every waking breath.
The black specter of fear gnaws at his bones,
Too many years he has eluded death.

Your journey is over, so close your eyes…
Fading deep into the nights of goodbye.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
March 12, 2021

A sonnet for all the stray cats that I would love to save…. 😥 ❤

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 53.13 Topic: Vacation
Hard Bonus (2 points): Include a Grateful Dead Lyric or Title (“Cold Rain and Snow” and “In the nights of goodbye”)
Easy Bonus (1 Point): Mention a Fur Coat

SECRET BONUS GUESSES:

This week’s pic
  1. Snake in the grass
  2. Snakeskin 
  3. Venomous reptile
  4. Mortal coil
  5. Hissy fit
  6. Viper
  7. Rattlesnake
  8. Slithering away…
  9. Leather for my snakeskin boots
  10.  The sidewinder sleeps tonight

Topic:  Craig   Pic:  Christopher

Inspired by the music:

The Mourning Light

The Mourning Light 

no sign of the sun
the morning is full of storm
framed by steel gray clouds

the heavens melt down
weeping angels fill the sky
shedding bitter tears

the mud and the roots
drown in relentless sorrow
shallow and hollow

restless winds of March
ruffle the raven’s feathers
ashes to stardust

sepia snapshots
the essence of life wavers
in the mourning light

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
March 5, 2021

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 52.13 Topic: Melt Down
Hard Bonus (2 points): Incorporate a line from a Pablo Neruda poem (The morning is full of storm; the mud and the roots)
Easy Bonus (1 Point): Include a character from Dr. Who (Weeping Angels)

Secret Phrase Guesses:

This week’s pic
  1. Mad Scientist
  2. Kitchen Chemistry
  3. Weird Science
  4. Science Experiment
  5. Back to the Future
  6. High School Chemistry
  7. Test Tubes
  8. Wild Hypothesis
  9. Love Potion #9
  10. Crazy in Love

Topic:  Christine   Picture:  Christopher