Summer Daze – in poetry, prose and photos

Any photo can inspire a memory

Any memory can inspire a story

 

 

 

     With each passing day of spring, days grow a little longer, the sun shines a little brighter and gardens bloom in gay profusion.  Birdsong wakes me every morning, and soft breezes beckon me outdoors.  The gardenia-perfumed air kisses my face with cool, fragrant delight.  Oh my!  I could stay out here forever!

     But instead, I think I’ll go a’wandering down some new lane and create memories to warm me through my winters.  Or provide refreshing coolness in the coming summer heat.  I love to walk through neighborhoods I’ve never visited before, or discover hidden paths through a leafy bit of woods.  And if the day’s too hot to walk, just climb into the car and go exploring.

     I remember that day years ago when my husband and I, newly met, rode out together on a lovely spring morning to discover new places and create our own memories—and we happened upon a picturesque little village.

      Soda Shop Stop

                                                                            

It was a small soda shop

in a small little town

where we’d stopped to watch a fair—

a festival scene

on a grassy green—

a party in ginger-ale air.

In that small soda shop

with its bent iron chairs

sitting outside by the door

we stopped

in the heat of the moment

to rest a moment or more.

In the heat of the moment

we stopped

to share a cone

of chocolate ice cream

mounded round as a dream

and dripping its own

tongue-licking cool cream.

Which I licked with you

making swirls of my own

with my tongue glistening pink on that coldness—

for to lick your skin would be a sin                                                    

in public—

condemned for boldness.

                        ~ Elizabeth Guy

 

“Ice-cream is exquisite.  What a pity it isn’t illegal.”

~Voltaire

 

     Don’t you love to conjure up old favorite memories?  I certainly do!  And when I couple them with photos taken on along the many journeys I have made, the experiences seem all too new again.  Exciting with their promise, bittersweet with their completion.  Satisfying, nonetheless.

     All this and springtime too!

Every photo I have brings back a story.

What stories do your photos tell?

Next week…..            

I’ll be on vacation—and eating ice cream!  And making new memories.

Back in two weeks...

                      

 Mouthful of ice cream

Cool green grass beneath bare feet

Smiling summer days

Also, visit my co-author's blog at http://hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com

See his ten-part series on photo prompts to inspire writing at http://www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/

And Don’t Miss…

            English teacher Mara Dukats and writer-photographer Cynthia Staples’ poems “white on white” and “The Absence of Color.” They’re in Part Four of Hank Kellner’s  twelve-part series THE POWER OF PHOTOS TO INSPIRE WRITING at the Creativity Portal  website http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/hank-kellner/using-poems-and-photos-to-inspire-writing-part-4/,  as well as Anna J. Small’s writing assignment in "Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World"

            Also, read more about Reflect and Write in the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/

Another Helpful Source for Inspiration

For more photos and information not included in this blog, please visit http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013), 153 pages, $24.95.

Why Him? In photos, poetry and prose

Every photo tells a story...

...and here's one of mine.

 

More and more in my travels here and abroad, I see young couples entangled in a romantic embrace, lip-locked like barnacles to the hull of a ship.  It’s sometimes quite bemusing.  Often I wonder, “What does she see in him?”

My co-author, Hank Kellner, who frequently travels with me, loves to do street photography and has amassed albums of his work.  I enjoy leafing through those images and choosing one or another to inspire a poem or a story.

Take for instance this couple, caught by Hank Kellner’s lens, exchanging a kiss along one of the river walks that edge the shores of New York City.  The following photo and poem combination appears in our book, Reflect & Write (Prufrock Press, 2013).  And, for anyone not familiar with the name Zac Efron, feel free to substitute the name of any man whose mere physical countenance makes women sigh with longing and get all starry-eyed and tingle-toed.

“Anyone who’s a kisser I’m always interested in.”  - Cher

No Zac Efron

He’s no Zac Efron

I’m sure you’d agree,

But he’s kind of cute I think.

With a slow easy smile

That’s part of his style

And a little “come here” wink.

His tattoos cover much that’s not seen

But at least there’s no ring in his nose.

‘Though his brain’s not too keen,

If you know what I mean,

And he favors the oddest of clothes,

Yet, he’s the one I chose.

I don’t understand it myself.

I guess the answer is this—

‘Though he belches and scratches and snores,                                                  

Often sucks his teeth with a hiss,

When he takes me in his arms

I simply cannot resist,

As he lowers his lips to mine—

Oh my!  He can certainly kiss!

                        ~Elizabeth Guy

Ah yes, Spring is in the air, the pheromones flying everywhere!  Even old codgers are not immune. 

I remember several years ago when a widowed friend became romantically involved with a gentleman, and their relationship turned serious.  Her son asked her, “Why him, Mom?”  She told me afterwards in confidence, “I really couldn’t explain it at the time.  I mean, you can’t tell your son something like, ‘Well, when he kisses me I melt like an ice cream pop in a steam room!’”

Do you have any photos that inspire you to write?

Coming next week~                   

What is this boy thinking?

 

Also, visit my co-author's blog at http://hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com

See his ten-part series on photo prompts to inspire writing at http://www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/

And Don’t Miss…

            English teacher Mara Dukats and writer-photographer Cynthia Staples’ poems “white on white” and “The Absence of Color.” They’re in Part Four of Hank Kellner’s  twelve-part series THE POWER OF PHOTOS TO INSPIRE WRITING at the Creativity Portal  website http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/hank-kellner/using-poems-and-photos-to-inspire-writing-part-4/,  as well as Anna J. Small’s writing assignment in "Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World"

            Also, read more about Reflect and Write in the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/

                          A Helpful Source for Inspiration

For more photos and information not included in this blog, please visit http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013), 153 pages, $24.95.