Tag Archives: free poetry resources

#SoCS: Celebrating 100 Days

Feet on the Ground by Maria L. Berg 2022

If you’re curious and want to look back over what I created every day for 100 days, you can click on October 2021 in the column on the right under Archives, and hit “older posts” at the bottom of each page until you get to October 1st when this posting streak started.

Head in the Sky by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness

It’s stream of consciousness Saturday. The prompt for today is “In the.”

Wading In

In the gray
in the office warming
in the office chair
in the house that
rejected its drainpipe
tossed it to the porch
In the expectation
of a possible visit
for repair In the
cleaner, but still messy
interior with the vacuum out
and waiting in the fifth
hour since waking, still hazy
drinking coffee and
chomping on a candy cane
In the morning pages
in the artist sketchbook
in the middle of the desk
I let the words flow in the
stream of consciousness I hope
to wade in all day

New Poem

For today’s new poem prompt I browsed my WordPress Reader and found:

Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC). Today’s word is Answer.

Paeansunplugged’s Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday is Clean Slate.

Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #243 is Temerity. This challenge includes a word limit of exactly 69 words.

Facing the Future

If, after a year of temerity,
one finds oneself in disparity
and wishing for a clean slate

wait, and think if erasure
is truly the only answer
before taking such a drastic step

all those hard-earned failures
failed better to face again
and the neural trauma
it will take to clear
every foolish and rash
deed from your pate

might be worth this heap
of embarrassment
in the end

Kitty Yells 100! by Maria L. Berg 2022

And we have arrived! Here we are at the end of the journey: 100 days of photographs and poetry. It has been fun, and I have explored so many new ideas, techniques, and forms. I hope you have enjoyed my triumphs and failures through this writing experience. I’m going to attempt a week (or two) off, then come back with some new experiences for 2022.

If you’ve enjoy the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. If you get a chance to take a look, please press the hearts on the images you like. It will help my work get noticed. Thank you.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Unlocking New Doors

Wonder World by Maria L. Berg 2022

I’m sitting at my desk, looking at these pictures, singing “This is freakin’ fun, this is freakin’ fun.” Though many of this morning’s experiments didn’t work (the filter didn’t work with my other lenses, so I couldn’t put “WONDER” on the mountain), I’m still so excited about my ability to put words in my world. I love to put wonder in the world and it is also one of Of Maria Antonia’s 2022 Weekly Photo Challenge prompts. It was also fun to discover that the color of the ink is captured, so that can add more possibilities. I’ve decided, as a little side project, I’m going to put my favorite words on my world, one a day all year. I won’t post them here, but maybe at the end of the year, I’ll make a book of them or something.

A fish-eye lens view of the lake and sky with the word "WONDER" in orange floating in the clouds.
A Sky Full of Wonder by Maria L. Berg 2022

New Poem

Poetic Bloomings Prompt #367 – Old or New challenges to write an “open door” poem or a “closed door” poem.

Opening Doors

A revolving door is
at first, fun, exhilarating
pushing the heavy bar
running in circles
watching sidewalk then lobby
park then escalator
man walking dog
woman with briefcase
through the glass

Now I’m stuck and want out
to reach my destination
but I’ve built up speed
and inertia keeps
a body in motion

I want new doors
perhaps heavy oak
with worlds of secrets behind them
I want keys to locked doors
big, ornate, heavy keys
that are kept in locked chests
that need little keys to unlock them
because the process
is the adventure
and unlocking those doors
opens awe and wonder
that won’t come around again

Wonderful Snow by Maria L. Berg 2022

I haven’t heard from any of you yet about what you would like to experience this year on Experience Writing, so I thought I would try a poll. Thank you in advance for sharing your answers.

Happy Reading and Writing!

#SoCS: Resolve to Dissolve

Sky Writing by Maria L. Berg 2022

Today, in response to Of Maria Antonia’s 2022 Weekly Photo Challenge prompt “A New Year,” I tried something I’ve been thinking about. Using the same clear plastic that I used for my “snowglobes,” I created a filter with written words and put them in the world. This opens up so many possibilities, an exciting discovery to start the year.

Snow Writing by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness

It’s stream of consciousness Saturday. The prompt for today is “resolve.” I am resolved to have a day of stream of consciousness. Let those thoughts flow unfettered. When I looked up resolve, I was surprised to find it’s almost a janus word. It has the definition I expected: to come to a definite or earnest decision, but it also means to break up or disintegrate. It also has the musical meaning to progress from dissonance to consonance which could work well as a triple meaning in a poem. If my song ends resolved, is it determined to act, dissolved and broken, or just not dissonant? It can also mean to clear away or dispel (doubts, fears, etc.), so in that way it is a janus because if you resolve an issue, you can come to a decision about it or clear it away and dispel it.

New Poem

For today’s new poem prompt I browsed my WordPress Reader and found:

Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC). Today’s word is Harbinger. I am a big fan of the word harbinger.

Paeansunplugged’s Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday is Light.

Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #242 is Goodnight. This challenge includes a word limit of exactly 45 words.

On the Cusp

We have said goodnight but
light’s fingertips grip the horizon
the triumphs and horrors dissolve
and for a moment peacefulness
smells like melting orange dreamsicles
and the chill of brain-freeze
does not hurt but excites
almost every note I breathe
is a harbinger of resolve

A Bright & Shiny New Year by Maria L. Berg 2022
Dreaming of a Happy New Year by Maria L. Berg 2022

If you’ve enjoy the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. If you get a chance to take a look, please press the hearts on the images you like. It will help my work get noticed. Thank you.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Return with the Snowglobe

Waking Up Inside a Snowglobe by Maria L. Berg 2021

This morning I received a real snowglobe world.

My Snowglobe Footprint by Maria L. Berg 2021

New Poem

The prompt at Poetic Bloomings today is Prompt #366 – Many Happy Returns which challenges us to write a return poem.

Fleeting

She will never return
that woman of yesterday
before this morning’s snow
before the candycane
melted in this coffee
she is but a blip of history
a snug memory
of the woman I used to be
She will never return
that woman of this morning
before putting on boots
to make footsteps in the snow
before grabbing the camera
to make snowglobes
before jumping back
under the covers
to cuddle with the cat
and listen to him purr
she was still half asleep
and she stayed there
with all the possibilities
ahead of her
I will never return
the me staring out the window
at the large white flakes
falling from the thick gray
meeting the water, so I
really do feel like I’m
in a snowglobe
I am but a moment
now a snug memory
a blip in history
I will never return

Receiving Snow by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoyed the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. While you’re looking, please click the hearts to like the images on the RedBubble site. It will help my work get attention. Thank you.

December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!

#SoCS: Everything is yummy when you give it away.

The Spirit of Altruism by Maria L. Berg 2021

Today’s prompt, altruism, inspired me to finally make an open hand bokeh filter. I like how it turned out. Then I had fun filling it.

Giving is Growing by Maria L. Berg 2021

Stream of Consciousness

It’s stream of consciousness Saturday. The prompt for today is “yum.” My family gathered for gift giving last night and my mother made the most delicious strawberry cake. Yum. This morning I put the super-soft slipper socks that my sister gave me onto my frozen feet and wow they are yummy. I opened the Starbucks mug from my bother and it came with Holiday coffee which I am drinking. Yum. And it’s perfect with the old fashioned donut holes I bought for this morning’s breakfast. Yum. But the yummiest was waking up to my favorite kitty who came to cuddle with me and gave me loud purrs for Christmas. So yummy.

Handful by Maria L. Berg 2021

New Poem

For today’s new poem prompt I repeated what I did last week and browsed my WordPress Reader and found:

Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC). Today’s word is Memento.

Paeansunplugged’s Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday is Gift.

Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #241 is Din. This challenge includes a word limit of exactly 19 words.

Weihnachtsgespann

Through the din
of crumpling paper
and electronic toys
she presented an
unwrapped gift,
a delicate memento
to cherish.

Helping Hands by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoy the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. If you get a chance to take a look, please press the hearts on the images you like. It will help my work get noticed. Thank you.

December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Jingle Bells by Maria L. Berg 2021

A few days ago I realized that Bells managed to get on my prompt calendar twice. I thought about replacing it, but then I concluded that I hadn’t done much with the bells filter I created the first time around. I had some fun detailing my bells with pieces of label stickers.

Ringing in Christmas by Maria L. Berg 2021

New Poem

The prompt at Poetic Bloomings today is Prompt #365 – Do You See What I See? which challenges us to write from the perspective of an item associated with Christmas.

I Worry She’s Forgotten Me

I stand in this dark corner
by the closet in the hall.
She moved me here
to clear a path for the couch,
but never put me back by the door.
She left a windbreaker
and a floppy summer hat
as if to define me,
define my purpose,
or a purpose I once had.
This change of station
has me worrying
that she won’t use me this year.
But I was filled with anticipation
as the festivities started early.
She pulled out decorations
and new lights arrived
and then more came.
But something’s wrong:
she moves the lights
from room to room
hanging them in colorful defiance
of the encroaching dark,
but she takes them down again.
A week ago, she set up Santa’s village
and fixed the toy shop’s roof,
but now it’s put away.
It’s as if she’s taunting me
every single day.
The first year, I felt strange,
out of place, over-dressed
and embarrassed when she
hung lights and decorations
where coats and hats
were meant to be.
But as the gifts lay at my base
and I saw the smiles
in my lights
on her face
I began to enjoy
my stand-in role
she created.
Every year she has added
to my Christmas costume.
Last year colorful ostrich feathers
bedecked me as a modernist palm.
And yet I stand bare
my basic shape of function showing.
Will she or won’t she?
It’s torture,
this waiting,
not knowing.

Christmas Bells Are Ringing by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoyed the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. While you’re looking, please click the hearts to like the images on the RedBubble site. It will help my work get attention. Thank you.

Let the Heavens Ring by Maria L. Berg 2021
December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!

#SoCS: Nostalgia for Opposites or the Opposite of Nostalgia

Picking the Happy Memories by Maria L. Berg 2021

Last night I made a candle filter. I thought I would try it with the fisheye lens technique to create flickers of nostalgia.

A Flicker of Nostalgia by Maria L. Berg 2021

Stream of Consciousness

It’s stream of consciousness Saturday. The prompt for today is “opposites.” In my experience opposites attract, but today I am more interested in nostalgia and its opposites. Living in the moment is the opposite of nostalgia, but aren’t my perceptive filters and emotional experiences in the now driven by those memories I would dwell in if nostalgic? Isn’t it healthy to face, visit, perhaps dwell in them a while, looking toward the future? Is it futurism that is the opposite of nostalgia? Or are they both a form of fantasy? I pick and choose which memories create a warm glow in the same way, as a futurist, I pick and choose which signals and drivers to extrapolate into possible futures. Nostalgia itself triggers cycles of fashion and entertainment, wanting to bring the best memories into the present only starts their cycle into the future, so where is the opposite?

Wired for Nostalgia by Maria L. Berg 2021

New Poem

For today’s new poem prompt I repeated what I did last week and browsed my WordPress Reader and found:

Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC). Today’s word is Bite.

Paeansunplugged’s Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday is Variegated Skies.

Quickly’s prompt is Pretending.

Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #240 is Pavonine: of or resembling a peacock. This challenge includes a word limit of exactly 81 words.

A Peacock-Feather Fan

This roaring wind and rain
bite through the heavy gray
Yearning for the day’s opposite,
I imagine variegated, pavonine skies
hues of blue and green
water and sky in conversation
Waves crash as if ocean-side
If only this nose tickle
was from salt and sand
As I fill another tissue,
I pretend a peacock-feather fan
in hand, wispy tendrils tickling
As I create a delicate
breeze to dry my perspiration
on a lovely opposite day
of peaceful relaxation far from now

The Sounds of Nostalgia by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoy the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. If you get a chance to take a look, please press the hearts on the images you like. It will help my work get noticed. Thank you.

December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!

I Hear Hooves on the Roof

On the Rooftops by Maria L. Berg 2021

This morning I cut a new filter. I made a reindeer and I really like how it turned out. I had so much fun making reindeer fly around outside.

Reindeer by Maria L. Berg 2021

New Poem

There’s a fun prompt over at Poetic Bloomings today. Prompt #364 – The Muse in Music challenges us to pick a Christmas song title and use it as the title of a poem.

I Hear Christmas

I hear Christmas in the crackling fire
in the wind at the window
tap, tap, tapping to get in
in the chime of the doorbell
the creaking of hinges
the clanging of silverware
and scraping of plates
in the turning of the record player
the fun familiar songs of youth
the somber traditional songs or yore
of birth and death and forgiveness
in the tearing of paper
and crumpling of bows
in surprised laughter
and disappointed woes
I hear Christmas coming
like lights turning on
each day another room
until all the brightness at once.

Takeoff by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoyed the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. While you’re looking, please click the hearts to like the images on the RedBubble site. It will help my work get attention. Thank you.

In Flight by Maria L. Berg 2021
December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!

#SoCS: Mistletoe and Other Tree Parasites

Holiday Parasite by Maria L. Berg 2021

Yesterday I discovered a new technique through another happy accident. I left my lights on after the shoot yesterday, and noticed how they reflected in the glass of the sliding door as if they were outside. I used that to create bokeh in the trees this morning. It’s a great discovery for taking outdoor bokeh on a rainy day.

Romantic Parasite by Maria L. Berg 2021

Stream of Consciousness

It’s stream of consciousness Saturday. The prompt for today is “tree.” In preparation for today’s photo prompt, I read up on mistletoe, and learned that it is a parasitic plant that grows on trees. It not only strangles its host tree and hurts its growth, it is also toxic to humans. Romantic, right? Makes you want to kiss someone? Since it’s toxic, it’s been used medicinally in many cultures. The whole kissing under it appears to be spawned of male toxicity, as in the white berries are a sign of virility because they represent sperm? Oh, creepy traditions.

New Poem

For today’s new poem prompt I repeated what I did last week and browsed my WordPress Reader and found:

Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC). Today’s word is Certify.

Paeansunplugged’s Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday is Crimson.

Molly Shea wrote a fun Cleave poem called Gym Membership. A cleave poem might be a fun challenge for today.

Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #239 is Smuggle. This challenge includes a word limit of exactly 66 words.

That was a fun bit of discovery. And I think I’ll try to wrap that all into my sleep theme for December. Let’s see what that all inspires.

Crimson Morning Light

Even when certified, I must sleep
officially declared possessing, my eyes close
meeting certain standards, my breath slows
no law covers this nightly transport
the dream smuggler of kermes vermilion
a scale insect, a sap parasite
writhing with nymphs, squashed to crimson
the color of the light behind
my closed lids, the pulsing blood
singing the sun, rising to greet
sneaking through curtains, the day begun

Kisses in the Trees by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoy the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. If you get a chance to take a look, please press the hearts on the images you like. It will help my work get noticed. Thank you.

The Changing Focus Blogging Challenge

December’s theme is Rest, Sleep, and Hibernation.

Motivation and Reward: The pleasant dreams calendar is working. Look at all those stars. Last night was the first night so far that I slept through the night, and I remembered a small part of a dream.

Tools: Still having a cold, and thus being tired, really exhausted, appears to be the only sleep tool I’m using at the moment.

The multi-media project: I started playing with the soothing sounds I’ve been collecting, and I could listen to the kitty purring with rain and wind all day. Here’s the beginning of what I came up with so far:

Soothing Sounds by Maria L. Berg 2021 (recommend listening with headphones).

I’m starting to explore my feelings about sleep in my daily poems, and since I rediscovered my Z filter, I’m catching lots of dreamy Zs in my photos. So some imagery is starting to take shape.

Dreamscapes One and Two by Maria L. Berg 2021
December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Goodwill Toward

Goodwill Toward by Maria L. Berg 2021

It’s fun to have a mix of specific and abstract words for prompts. When I think of “bells,” I have a specific image in my mind of what bells look like, but what does “Goodwill” look like? I had fun exploring different ideas.

Creating Goodwill by Maria L. Berg 2021
See No Evil
Hear No Evil
Speak No Evil

New Poems

Today I’m going to continue to explore Rest, Sleep, and Hibernation as a poetry prompt for the Changing Focus December project.

The Dream Harvest

I dream of reaping
a deep sleep
a sleep so deep
that I can’t crawl out
until morning

to make it deep
I heap the blankets
on the clean sheets
on the queen-sized bed
and fall in

in the room
of perfect heat
for my feet
I’ll meet an ease
in degrees of appeal

and a treat so sweet
to keep sleeping
through the stream
of scenes that seep
and leak through

the sheer veil
I’ll seek meals
of meaning there
in my deep sleep
when I’m dreaming

I also grabbed my Z-shaped filter and caught some Zs.

Catching Zs by Maria L. Berg 2021

If you’ve enjoyed the photographs I’ve been taking, I’ve added some to my RedBubble store and I’m excited about the new products. The abstract bokeh really lends itself to product design. So fun. While you’re looking, please click the hearts to like the images on the RedBubble site. It will help my work get attention. Thank you.

Lifting Up by Maria L. Berg 2021
December Daily Prompts by Maria L. Berg 2021 Please leave your links in the comments. I hope you will join me.

Happy Reading and Writing!