Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 24

Robbie’s Inspiration – Repost: A marvellous post created by Resa for Square Peg in a Round Hole #poetry #bookreview #art

A huge thank you to the amazingly creative Resa McConaghy for sharing a splendid review of my latest poetry book, Square Peg in a Round Hole.

Resa is a Costume Designer in film, television & Digital media and has credits with: Showtime, ABC, Disney, CBS, CBC, Hallmark and more. She is also an artist and a lover and promotor of art. Resa promotes nature conservation and designs and creates beautiful gowns from recycled material. You have to see them to believe how gorgeous they are.

You can find Resa’s beautiful gowns here: https://resamcconaghy.com/

You can find Resa’s fantastic posts including her excellent sketches, as well as street art photography, here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/

Square Peg in a Round Hole – by Robbie Cheadle

Robbie’s Inspiration – Repost, my poem What shall we do with the feathers? Posted on MasticadoresCanada #poetry #cats

Thank you to J re Crivello from masticadorsCanada for sharing my poem What shall we do with the feathers?

What shall we do with the feathers? By Robbie Cheadle

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday poems and photographs #TankaTuesday #poetry

I meant to post this last night, but I was just too tired. My aunt took a turn for the worse and had to be moved to the high care unit. She was very anxious and started hyperventilating and panicking. It helps if I’m there as a familiar face, so I spent a long time at the hospital yesterday. There is something very exhausting about hospitals, especially the bright lights, beeping machines and intense atmosphere of high care. She was stable when I left.

The first two poems are in response to last week’s TT challenge and the last three are in response to this week’s TT challenge. You can see the other contributions to this week’s challenge here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/06/18/24-seasons-syllabic-poetry-challenge-no-39-6-18-24-part-i-the-summer-solstice-june-21-july-6-geshi-%e5%a4%8f%e8%b3/

Winter Walk (99 syllable poem in three stanzas of 5/6/11/6/5 each)

Ground awash with leaves

Crunch, crunch, under my feet

Bundled in inadequate winter clothing

I exercise in loops

Round and round the house

***

Six loops, that’s enough

Wind burns extremities

Stopping at the woodpile, I fill the large crate

With easy-burn kindling

And heavy wood chunks

***

Flames flicker to life

Fire soon roars, twigs crackle

Grate an inferno of blue, red and yellow

People gather to enjoy

Warmth around the fire

Cactus Angels (shadorma 3/5/3/3/7/5)

Winter light

Gives cacti haloes

Angelic

Appearance

Shining with a clear and cold

Icy brilliance

Picture caption: the cactus angels which inspired this poemHorrid June (shadorma 3/5/3/3/7/5)

Horrid June

And her twin, July

Miserable

Frigid pair

Cold backside welcomes freezing

Frontside; no upside

This poem was inspired by a post by Rebecca Budd including a reading of Douglas Malloch’s poem June: https://rebeccasreadingroom.ca/2024/06/16/s4-e6-june-by-douglas-malloch/

Floral Bird (shadorma 3/5/3/3/7/5)

Red throated

Bird of Paradise

Basking in

Winter sun

Migration a distant dream

For this floral bird

Picture caption: red throated Bird of Paradise flowerDisco dancing (shadorma 3/5/3/3/7/5)

Reflections

Dancing on water

Shimmying

Hip Hoping

With lithe water nymph partners

Winter disco fun

Picture caption: Isn’t this picture amazing. It is of the dam at Emmerentia

Robbie’s Inspiration – W3 112 Haibun #poetry #W3

II. Jude’s prompt guidelinesFORM: HaibunPOETIC DEVICE: Onomatopoeia (3x)THEME: “The Beauty of Night”

According to the Oxford dictionary, onomatopoeia is the ‘formation of a word which describes its sound’. It is a poetic device that adds sound to your poem.

You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2024/06/19/w3-prompt-112-weave-written-weekly/

My haibun

This haibun isn’t what I planned to write for this challenge. Yesterday, I received a message from my elderly aunt saying she had been to the doctor because of severe pain in her kidneys. The doctor had administered an intravenous antibiotic and painkiller. I told her I’d keep my phone on in case she got worse and needed help. I slept badly and had a very bad dream. I woke up very early with a terrible feeling of trepidation … I’ve had this sort of dream and feeling of anxiety before and it’s always ended with a traumatic medical experience.

Witch Blood

In the cold, darkness of the pre-dawn, magic is at its strongest. Swoosh! Swoosh! I feel my blood moving through my body. Bungolian* blood. Witch blood. Blood tinged with the mythology of the black dog of East Anglia and the ancient ghosts of Bungay Castle. It passes subtle messages through my nervous system. A warning of difficult times ahead. Manifesting in a dream.

Ring! Ring! The sharp call of the phone pulls me out of my state of morbid anxiety. A hangover from the dream. It’s my aunt.

Pant! Pant! She’s in appalling pain. Can barely speak. Dream warning manifests as a trip to the emergency room.

Now I’m waiting …

***

Ring! Dream mist forms shards

”Hello!” Slice into tense mind

Night’s message unveiled

*My family come from Bungay in East Anglia. My mother always tells me the women have a sixth sense due to our witch blood. I don’t take her seriously, of course, but I do always have a bad dream and a feeling of anxiety before something goes wrong.

I spent the whole day today in the Emergency Room at the hospital. I arrived with my prostrate aunt at 8am and left her on the ward in the hands of the nurse at 5pm. She has a chronic kidney infection and stones.

I spent the first 5 hours sitting in the waiting room while the doctor and nurses ran test after test. It was like being at a busy airport. During that period two patients arrived by helicopter and three ambulances arrived. There is a sort of fascination to watching all this activity and organised chaos.

I spent another 2 1/2 hours helping the nurse as she was in great pain and very anxious. I also helped with her move to the ward. The ER nurse asked if I was a nurse. I told him that I’m not but that I have 21 years of practice with ERs and hospitals and nursing sick people at home.

Picture caption: Door from the inside of the ERPicture caption: Helicopter 2 – the patient was an elderly man who’d fallen and broken his hip. He came from a remote farm and the ambulance couldn’t cross the river. I spoke briefly to his daughter in the waiting room. Her wait wasn’t very long as he went to surgery.Picture caption: 2nd ambulance. The patient was a teenage boy who’d fallen and hit his head very badly. I spend a few hours with his young brother in the waiting room while the mother did the necessary with the older boy.Picture caption: Helicopter 1 just after its arrivalPicture caption: Helicopter 1 close up. The patient had a heart attack. His elderly mother accompanied him and she was in quite a state. I got her a coffee and listened to her story. He was admitted and she left for the ward.

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: My June Treasuring Poetry guest is Michelle Ayon Navajas, talented poet and editor of Hotel by Masticadores

Today, I am delighted to introduce talented poet and editor of Hotel by Masticadores, Michelle Ajon Navajas. Michelle shares her thoughts about poetry and I’ve shared my review of her latest book, Locker.

Thank you for being a wonderful guest, Michelle.

Treasuring Poetry – Meet talented poet, author and editor of Hotel by Masticadores, Michelle Ayon Navajas and a review #poetry #poetrycommunity #bookreview

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: Colleen Chesebro shares a post about And the Grave Awaits

Huge thanks to Colleen Chesebro for sharing this beautiful post about my new collection of paranormal short stories, And the Grave Awaits.

“And, the Grave Awaits,” by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Robbie’s Inspiration – W3 #111: Golden Shovel Poem and Winston Churchill’s War Rooms, London #poetry #Churchill #W3

I was selected to chose this week’s prompt and this is it:

II. Robbie’s prompt guidelines

A “golden shovel” poem is a poetic form wherein each word of one line from another poem serves as the end word of each line for a newly constructed poem.

You can read more about golden shovel poems and find some examples here:

https://poets.org/glossary/goldenshovel

For this week’s W3 prompt, chose a quote by any famous or well-known politician, artist, writer, or poet and write a golden shovel poem.Identify your famous person in the post. 

You can join in W3 here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2024/06/12/w3-prompt-111-weave-written-weekly/

The Best Directions

I am not known for my skills in diplomacy.

In fact, my ability to call a spade a spade is

legendary. I have always found this to be the

best way of remaining true to myself. It’s an art

that many more people should learn. Avoidance of

duplicity of meaning and directness in telling

what needs improvement is my way of helping people

to become the best they can be. If colleagues get to

upset about facing the truth, then they need to go

and get some counselling. To praise mediocrity is to

promote it and make it a way of life. The path to hell

is paved with good intensions. Rather, get in

line to receive proper feedback and advice. It’s such

a good idea to identify areas of weakness. Develop a

plan to improve your performance. Make truth your way

of overcoming obstacles and you will find that

people will trust you and will invest in you. They

will see you as someone who wants to learn. Always ask

for assistance in finding the best way to take things for–

ward. People like others who know how to follow directions.

“Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to help in such a way that they ask for directions.” Winston Churchill

TC and I visited London for 2 days in 2018. We visited Winston Churchill’s War Rooms.

This is what the website says about this museum:

“A branch of the acclaimed Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms are set in the secret wartime bunker from which the cigar-puffing Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill, directed the country’s war efforts. Situated beneath street level in London’s Westminster district, the Cabinet War Rooms were constructed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Little has changed within them since the war came to a close in 1945, though these days, the underground complex functions as a museum, documenting the workings of the United Kingdom’s wartime government.”

These are a few photographs from that visit:

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: Growing Bookworms, Sir Chocolate hosts a fashion show #growingbookworms #cakeart #fondantart

For my Growing Bookworms post this month, I decided to feature a fashion show hosted by Sir Chocolate. I hope you will enjoy the fun. Thank you for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

Growing Bookworms – Sir Chocolate hosts a fashion show #cakeart #fondantart #growingbookworms

Some other exciting news is that Kaye Lynne Booth’s children’s books, My Backyard Friends, are now available for pre-order. Each of these books is illustrated with my drawings and watercolour paintings of birds and small animals like beavers. You can find out more about these books here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/06/11/my-backyard-friends-available-for-pre-order-now/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday and Sunday Stills: pastels #poetry #photography

I have two sets of poems for Tanka Tuesday this past week. A few are set in South Africa and a few are from my recent visit to Europe. You can join in Tanka Tuesday here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/06/04/24-seasons-syllabic-poetry-challenge-no-37-6-4-24-part-i-the-time-of-planting-grains-june-6-19-boshu-%e8%8a%e7%a8%ae/

Southern hemisphere – winterPicture caption: I loved this picture of the peach tree with a shard of light shining through the orange and yellow leaves

My micro poem for the picture above

Bright beam of sunlight

Illuminates orange leaves

Winter sun’s blessing

Winter mornings

Fingers freeze

Hanging out washing

During June

Frigid month

Bitter morning soon gives way

To mild, sunny day

Northern hemisphere

These are a few micro poems I wrote in Amsterdam.

One minutes is raining

The next, its clear skies and sun

Multiple seasons

Picture caption: Raindrops on the pond at Vondelpark in Amsterdam

This is my YT short of one of the ponds at Vondelpark:

***

Dark clouds reflected

Ominous canal frightens

Black depts secretive

Picture caption: canal in AmsterdamSunday Stills

For Terri’s Sunday Stills pastels theme, I’m sharing a few pictures from the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. You can join in Sunday Stills here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2024/06/09/sunday-stills-monthly-color-challenge-can-you-find-pastels-in-the-great-outdoors/

Picture: immersive images of van Gogh’s Garden with Courting Couples.

This is my YT short:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/k6w9swfDxsw

van Gogh’s Peach Tree in Blossoms paintings.

Picture caption: Me standing in front of the Peach Trees in Blossom paintings.

Robbie’s Inspiration: Reblog – a wonderful review of Square Peg in a Round Hole

I was delighted to read international best selling poet, Michelle Ayon Navajas’, thoughtful review of Square peg in a Round Hole. I am truly humbled by Michelle’s appreciation of this book’s creative variety and messages. Thank you, Michelle.

“Square Peg in a Round Hole”, A Book Review