Mary Carroll-Hackett's Blog, page 64

Daily Prompt Love s Burning

2 April 2017

Make art about what’s burning, about the fires you’ve inherited. 

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Happy National Poetry Month! <3 The Language Issue by Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill

Another favorite poem, and poet. 

The Language Issue

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill

translated by Paul Muldoon

I place my hope on the water

in this little boat

of the language, the way a body might put

an infant

in a basket of intertwined

iris leaves,

its underside proofed

with bitumen and pitch,

then set the whole thing down amidst

the sedge

and bulrushes by the edge

of a river

only to have it borne hither and thither,

not knowing where it might end up;

in the lap, perhaps,

of some Pharaoh’s daughter.

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Daily Prompt Love <3 What My Parents Gave Me

1 April 2017

Daddy reciting Yeats  Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild: With a faery, hand in hand. For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand…and I went out to the hazel wood,. Because a fire was in my head….

Mama reciting Kipling  Though I’ve belted you and flayed you, By the livin’ Gawd that made you, You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!…as she mopped our lil trailer floors….

and Wordsworth and Coleridge and Blake…Little Lamb who made thee. Dost thou know who made thee. Gave thee life & bid thee feed…the sing-songy hopefulness of Edgar Guest, the inquiry and longing of Emily Dickinson  I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too?….and Poe  But we loved with a love that was more than love— /I and my Annabel Lee—

and always, always, always Frost  Something there is that doesn’t love a wall….Say something to us we can learn/By heart and when alone repeat./Say something! And it says, ‘I burn.’/But say with what degree of heat….

and the one they both would use to reassure and encourage their odd and poet daughter, who even then, they understood, would have to scuff and stumble to find her own way

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Oh and Whitman!!!  Still the poet I read most frequently, still the singer of my wild child’s heart

Thank you, Mama  Thank you, Daddy   I owe all the poetry in my life to both of you. We had very little materially, but oh the poetry

Make art about what your parents gave you. 

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National Poetry Month Prompt Love! Join Us on Facebook for 30 Prompts for 30 Days!

Happy National Poetry Month! Ain’t gonna lie–Kinda really love that Poetry Month is the same month as my birthday

Happy National Poetry Month! A Blessing

Has to start with one of all time favorite poems ❤ 

A Blessing
by James Wright





Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness   
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.   
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.   
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me   
And nuzzled my left hand.   
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.





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Prompts to Celebrate National Poetry Month! Join Us on Facebook and Write Something Beautiful Every Day :-) Collective Creative Power Is Magic! <3

My daily postcards to my elected reps have been mailed, my phone calls made, but my most important action today is to support and empower and encourage my community of writers and artists, however I can

Friday Call for Submissions Love :-) <3 Peacock Journal

Seems appropriate

Daily Prompt Love <3 Eyes of the Stars

31 March 2017

Twice this week, I’ve dreamt of peacocks.  I also saw one alongside of the road.

In Greco-Roman mythology the peacock is identified with Hera (Juno) who created the peacock from Argus whose hundred eyes (seen on the tail feathers of the peacock) symbolize the vault of heaven and the eyes of the stars.

In Hinduism the peacock is associated with Lakshmi who is a deity representing benevolence, patience, kindness, compassion and good luck.

Similar to Lakshmi, the peacock is associated with Kwan-yin in Asian spirituality. Kwan-yin (or Quan Yin) is also an emblem of love, compassionate watchfulness, good-will, nurturing, and kind-heartedness. Legend tells us she chose to remain a mortal even though she could be immortal because she wished to stay behind and aid humanity in their spiritual evolution.

In Babylonia and Persia the peacock is seen as a guardian to royalty, and is often seen in engravings upon the thrones of royalty.

In Christianity the peacock symbolism represents the “all-seeing” church, along with the holiness and sanctity associated with it. Additionally, the peacock represents resurrection, renewal and immortality.

Themes of renewal are also linked to alchemical traditions to, as many schools of thought compare the resurrecting phoenix to the modern-day peacock. Along these lines, the peacock is a colorful symbol of transformation. Like the phoenix, the alchemy peacock can remind us that we can rise out of our darkest moments. It’s a metaphor that speaks about dying to the ego-self, and being reborn into a new life of awareness, spirituality and illumination.

Make art inspired by the peacock. 

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Daily Prompt Love <3 Rise

30 March 2017

Make art about empowering others, about being empowered, about sharing empowerment, about how we rise. 

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Daily Prompt Love <3 If Only

29 March 2017

Make about being heard, about needing to be heard. 

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