Uncategorized – Colleen Keller Breuning

Black Swan

Black Swan

See her glide across liquid fields of blue,
The shape of water morphing in her tracks.
Through dappled clouds, bright rays of light shine through
As dewdrops glisten on her feathered back.

Dark silhouette, epitome of grace,
She shadow dances from dusk until dawn.
A sweet ballet, accolades to embrace:
Proud moments in the life of a black swan.

But seasons in the sun fade too quickly;
Youth and beauty were never meant to last.
Your essence lingers in my memory,
Until the final curtain call is cast.

Good night darling, in morning may you wake
From golden slumbers on this pristine lake.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
May 8, 2021

I wrote this Shakespearean sonnet after being inspired by the beautiful Swan Lake Theme by Tchaikovsy. This musical piece brings back such wonderful childhood memories of listening to vinyl records with my Dad and my Mom …. we all loved Tchaikovsky music!! Where does the time go? *happy tears*

Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms out there! Sending love and peace!
xoxo Colleen

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 8.14 Topic: A Proud Moment
Hard Bonus (2 points): Incorporate 2 Beatles Song Titles (Golden Slumbers, Good Night)
Easy Bonus (1 Point): Mention an Oscar Winning Movie (The Shape of Water, Black Swan)

SECRET BONUS PHRASES:

Seasons in the sun (in blog)
Silhouette (in blog)
Shadow Dancing (in blog)
Jumping for Joy
Sunset
Leap of faith
Forever Young
Tumbling
School’s out for summer
Greeting dawn with open arms

Topic: Tyler Pic: Irene

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”

SECRET PHRASE GUESSES:

Fairy tales (in blog)
Goldilocks & the Three Bears (in blog)
Wonderful childhood memories (in blog)
Bedtime stories (in blog)
Childhood imagination
Shadow dancing
Childhood dreams
Dreamland
Read me a story, Mommy!
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 14^th 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

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:

Mad Scientist
Kitchen Chemistry
Weird Science
Science Experiment
Back to the Future
High School Chemistry
Test Tubes
Wild Hypothesis
Love Potion #9
Crazy in Love

Topic: Christine Picture: Christopher

Blood Moon

Crickets harmonize
a rhapsody in August,
sweet background singers

Pregnant clouds hover
in crisis of confidence,
summer rain debate.

Warm wind blows gently,
dissolving clouds to fine mist;
light shines through its haze

Earth casts dark shadows,
aligning with sun and moon
in black velvet skies.

Raging with color,
Luna rises triumphant,
on her throne of blood.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2015
September 28, 2015

Between Black and White

Between Black and White

Between black and white, there lies a lot of gray.
Colors mingle, fading away in a torrent of tears.
I was stuck in the past, longing for yesterday…
Caught up in a tangled web of pain and fears.

Colors mingle, fading away in a torrent of tears,
Heart crushed beneath an avalanche of sorrow.
Caught up in a tangled web of pain and fears…
The hours slipped away with dread for tomorrow.

Heart crushed beneath an avalanche of sorrow,
Tripping over countless lies and a barrage of sins.
The hours slipped away with dread for tomorrow…
In games of a kid – rock paper scissors – nobody wins.

Tripping over countless lies and a barrage of sins,
I could no longer distinguish between truth or reality.
In games of a kid – rock paper scissors – nobody wins…
When merely breathing seems an exercise in futility.

I could no longer distinguish between truth or reality,
Drowning in a deep pool of denial every single night.
When merely breathing seems an exercise in futility…
I lifted my head, opened my eyes to the purest light.

Drowning in a deep pool of denial every single night,
Replaying the tape in countless loops inside my mind.
I lifted my head, opened my eyes to the purest light…
Finally, a place to rest and leave my troubles behind.

Replaying the tape in countless loops inside my mind,
Searching for answers, testing the limits of my sanity.
Finally, a place to rest and leave my troubles behind…
This was the beginning of my quest for serenity.

Searching for answers, testing the limits of my sanity,
Learning secrets of a dark world I didn’t want to know.
This was the beginning of my quest for serenity…
With the stark realization that I had to let you go.

Learning secrets of a dark world I didn’t want to know,
I slowly gained the strength to cast away the strife
With the stark realization that I had to let you go…
In time, you healed, bringing color back into my life.

I slowly gained the strength to cast away the strife;
I was stuck in the past, longing for yesterday.
In time, you healed, bringing color back into my life…
Between black and white, there lies a lot of gray.

This is a deca-pantoum poem dedicated to my son Vincent. Thank you to all my family and friends who knowingly (and unknowingly) supported our family with love and prayers during our journey…. I am eternally grateful.

Dance of Life

Perched by the open window
tiny dancer bathed in glow
beneath a veil of green eyes
gilded lily in disguise.

Faded scars cannot erase
sad memories from a place
where sticks and stones broke her bones
sharp lessons learned long ago.

Dodging minefields, cat and mouse
secrets hidden in old house
one magic moment has turned
to cold dust where fire once burned.

Sinews, muscles stretch and thrash
finding strength amidst the ash.
though hope seems lost with no trace
she exudes amazing grace.

A strong breeze from down under
pushes sorrow asunder
as she glides forth, free from strife
in this mystic dance of life….

The Nestlings

The Nestlings (A Quatern)

When Monday mornings come around,
The air is filled with precious sounds.
Pitter patter of tiny feet
Upon the deck, tasting sweet treats.

The scent of lilacs spins me round
When Monday mornings come around.
Endless summer in cloudless skies,
See the sparkle in clear brown eyes.

I long to touch you, soft and new,
Your tender feathers tinged with dew.
When Monday mornings come around,
The wonders of nature abound.

Soon silence screams above the din
As melancholy closes in.
My heartbeat echoes without sound
When Monday morning comes around.

Colleen Keller Breuning
August 4, 2015

Lifeline

Lifeline

The veil of sadness
fell down upon me,
invoking dark shadows
and shades of melancholy.

Crimson tears trickle,
scarring and burning.
The world tilts and spins,
the pages of life keep turning.

The mind grows weary,
witness to brutal violence.
It longs for quiet sanctuary,
seeking justice and penance.

The lifeline has been cast out
into the sea of great sorrow.
Just hold on tight to the rope,
Until the sun rises tomorrow.