Michelle Garren Flye's Blog, page 15

Day 9: Happy National Poetry Month!

I did another live on Instagram today. You can check it out by clicking on the lovely picture below:

Day 8: Happy National Poetry Month!

Translation is an art in itself; it is the re-creative process of transforming the magic of one language into the magic of another.

—Kahlil Gibran

Recently I have jumped on the train of people watching Korean dramas. I never thought I could be so addicted to watching television with subtitles! It’s not that I’m a language snob, it’s just that I’m lazy.

And yet, here I am, watching one Korean drama on Netflix after another. There seems to be a never-ending supply of them. And they all tell compelling stories with humor and intelligence and empathy I can’t seem to find in most of the stuff coming out of Hollywood these days.

Recently I’ve been watching to the end so I can catch the translators’ names. I always say a quick thank you to these gods of language because without them I would never understand these beautiful stories I’ve fallen in love with.

I ran across the quote at the top of this post the other day and it got me started thinking about the art of translation. I wrote this (very) rough draft while thinking about translation. I will admit the image I used in the poem was more Japanese than Korean because I think it is beautiful the way Japanese writing falls from the top of the page instead of our bland left to right thing.

Don’t be surprised if you see this poem in my book of love poetry. Love comes in many forms and I definitely love that someone takes the time to translate beautiful things. A note, though, that it will probably take some editing for this one. I just wrote it and I’m not sure about the format, the rhyme or even some of the wording. And that last line seems sort of…bland.

Translation

By Michelle Garren-Flye

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Words drip into my ear,

hang from an imagined sky,

but I am helpless to hear…

They are a mystery in my eye,

and I despair until you appear.

(I’m glad you didn’t miss my cry!)

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Oh, draw your finger down the vine

of cryptic crosswords I cannot crack—

the codes of other worlds I want to find,

the loves of other dreams I cannot track.

Your key to this language is sublime—

my translator is the gift for which I thank.

Photo and poem copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye

Day 7: Happy National Poetry Month!

It’s 11:15 a.m. I have not written a poem to share. Nope. So I’m going to write one right now. Live…ish.

Excuse me a moment while I go find a prompt I like.

Oooh. Found one. On this website. Number 10. “Create a gallery of your heart. Take readers on a guided tour of what they might see there.” That immediately sparked my imagination. So here goes.

Heart Gallery

By Michelle Garren Flye

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Watch your step, it’s showing its age

this old heart gallery of mine.

But really the cracks set the stage

and let the artwork shine!

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Over here, memories of days gone—

you’ll see Mama’s picture set up high—

and the nest from which I’ve long since flown,

those who watched as I took to the sky.

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Baby pictures, treasures—it may seem inane—

letters of old love, scraps of life on display…

Most of it appears designed to cause me pain—

the open book of my past I failed to file away.

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I will not banish any of it from my trove,

because, above all, I feel only love.

It’s 11:45 a.m. I just finished the edits. It’s not bad. A sort of sonnet. What do you think?

Maybe I should’ve used the moon for a prompt? I’ve done it before, though.
Photo and poem copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye

Day 6: Happy National Poetry Month!

Sorry to be a bit late with this one, but I wrote it literally an hour ago. Had to let it sit for a bit to make sure it’s not too bad to share. I don’t think it is. What do you think?

Wanna?

By Michelle Garren-Flye

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Warm sun burning skin,

wind’s touch cools, swirls sandy beach—

but I am not there.

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Wanna come with me?

We’ll watch the waves crash ashore,

feel peace for a while.

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Wait, though, I’m not sure…

Waves, wind, and sand are precious.

Do I wanna share?

More Beach Evening Primrose. Aren’t they just so pretty? Photo and poem copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye.

Day 5: Happy National Poetry Month!

Good morning! I’m feeling kinda good this morning because I did something last night that I haven’t in a while. Instead of firing up Netflix after my shower, I pulled out my computer…and wrote a poem.

It turned out pretty well, too.

I’m not going to share it here, though. Sorry. I’m not being coy, but I do want to save something for my book of love poetry, and this one fits.

However, I am going to share a poem. I write a haiku to post on the message board at my store (I own a bookstore). I write a haiku every month for that message board. Of course, they’re promoting reading/books, but it’s fun and keeps me in the 5-7-5 practice.

Anyway, I finished my April one a bit late this morning, and thought I’d share it here for my daily poetry post. It’s something a little different to keep things spicy!

Photo and Haiku copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye

Day 4: Happy National Poetry Month!

So I may have missed my mark by a few hundred years. I believe I belonged in the time of romantic poets. Shelley, Byron. Keats, Dickinson… Today’s successful poets write about social issues in a way I wish I could write. I’ve tried. It mostly (a few exceptions) ends up sounding trite.

But writing love poetry, romance, looking at the moon—that’s my jam, man. lol. (what decade am I actually living in?)

I wrote this little poem yesterday. It was much less good until I wrote it today. Now it’s much gooder. To give you an idea, this is the original ending:

I seek you when I fall asleep at night

but this poem will need a good rewrite.

I was definitely right about that. So here’s another one for my collection of love poetry that is yet to come:

Missing You

By Michelle Garren-Flye

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I miss you when I look at the moon

and know you won’t be back soon.

I’ve made loneliness into an art

to which I have devoted my heart.

On the radio, I may hear a tune—

against your charm, I am not immune.

Oh, can’t you rescue me from this plight,

steal me away from all anger and fright?

This love is most inopportune,

painfully made and roughly hewn.

It pokes holes in my soul, leaves me

with a wish I wish most wantonly.

Yesterday’s primrose. Photo and poem copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye

Day 3: Happy National Poetry Month!

Today, we have a new poem.

But before we get to that, I saw a few of you joined my live yesterday. It was on my Instagram. It was sideways. Lol. My daughter reassured me that people could turn their phones if they wanted to watch it, so I did save it to my Instagram, so you can go check it out if you want. I was nervous. It was honest-to-god my first-ever live. I’ve posted videos before, but I can stop and redo those if I mess up or whatever. This one’s got me fumbling for words and misreading and everything. All in five minutes! What entertainment.

Anyway, I haven’t gotten any actual questions about poetry to answer yet, so I probably won’t do another live until next Sunday unless something comes up before that I think would make more sense to answer live than here on my blog.

And now, a poem! I actually wrote a poem I kind of like! This morning!

(I’m a bit excited.)

It’s about a primrose.

No, really. A primrose. I took a picture of a Beach Evening Primrose this morning and it turned out super good. Plus, a friend sent me a poetry prompt last night from another poet/writing coach who suggested that we find something in nature that inspires us and write a poem about it. I intend to post this picture with the poem on Instagram and tag her to see what she thinks, hopefully. Her name is Ann Kroeker. She wrote a really nice poem about a pinecone. You should look her up.

Poem and photo copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye

Day 2: Happy National Poetry Month!

Going live in 3…2…

Day 1: Happy National Poetry Month!

It’s National Poetry Month and I have no idea what to do with it. I’ve come at this for the past few years with a real plan. Haiku, renga, a poem a day.

I’m clueless. I’m clueless because I’ve been fighting writer’s block since my mother passed away. I miss her so much and the last decent poem I wrote was a goodbye to her written a few days before her death because I knew it was coming.

I’m not saying this because I want you to feel sorry for me. I’m just saying it because I truly don’t know what to do this time around. I was in the midst of writing love poems, which was really kind of fun, but now I’m stuck. It’s hard to write about love when the person who probably loved you the most in this world is no longer in it. And I’ve written enough morose stuff. I won’t go back to that but that’s where my heart is right now.

So… This National Poetry Month is a bit different. For me. For anyone who wants to follow, I’ll be doing a bit of everything from live poetry readings on Instagram (I’ll announce when on here) to posting whatever I’ve managed to write that day. Today I’m posting a thought and a picture I took yesterday. I’m already planning a short live poetry reading tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. EST. If you have any questions you want to ask me about poetry, send me an email to mgflye (at) yahoo.com or just comment here.

Copyright 2023 Michelle Garren-Flye

Hello

I won’t lie. That’s a hard word to say sometimes.

I wish I lived in a culture that used the same word to mean both hello and goodbye. It’d make it easier, wouldn’t it?

I’m saying hello now because the last post I made was Goodbye. And it was me saying goodbye to my mother. More than a month ago. Saying goodbye sucks. When my kids leave to go back to their own lives. When I hang up the phone with my father now. When a friend I’ve waited a long time to see leaves again. I hate that word. That strangely cheerful sounding, heart-wrenching, chillingly lonely word.

Goodbye.

And yet, having said goodbye to the woman I loved most in this world, somehow it’s been even harder to say hello again to all of you. Maybe it’s because it feels like everything I say echoes in a hollow space. (As a poet, I appreciate that hello and hollow rhyme so well…) But I’m saying hello now because I know there is more to be done here. I have plans for National Poetry Month in April that include this blog. So I will say the word that, strangely, begins with a syllable that describes where I sometimes feel I am stuck.

Hello.

Two words, so very different in construction, not at all alike in sound,

So very difficult to say.

Hello

By Michelle Garren Flye

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A whisper of a word over an abandoned grave—

soft breezes blow spring grasses around

and I am searching for redemption.

Courage, the wind whispers, try to be brave,

don’t hesitate, reach for the crown

and your place in life with strengthen.

But in the end, I am naught but a slave,

helpless and a bit of a letdown—

even if I have your attention.

Hello is too much, I can’t do it, I say,

my face marked by an anguished frown,

Goodbye hurt too much; hello is no fun.

Hello, from me. Sometimes I forget to smile. Selfie by Michelle Garren-Flye.