Barbara Froman's Blog, page 3

Futility 2021

“—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth’s sleep at all?”
(“Futility” by Wilfred Owen)

Your sugar plastic meat free life,
your efforts to conserve,
preserve environmental health,
consumption of some friendly bugs
and supplements
(because because) and seven hours
every night, and exercise,
(yes)
runs and walks and weights
to make you strong and pump
your cells with oxygen
that keeps you toned, and feeds your brain,
which you work more with puzzles,
articles in journals
and the latest books you l...

Petal Shock

You loathe me.

I can tell by the way
you drive dulled prongs
into the soil
and twist.

Or plunge your rusted wedge
into my heart of secrets,
to loose my grip
on life.

I see the way you look at me
when I resist,
the bile rising in
your eyes.

What is it that offends?

Your vapors leave me
breathless, stinging,
withering
on Why?

Don’t you know your war is folly?

For even as I wilt,
my sister sheds her crown of
fresh seed tears
in grief

to spite your pride.

©2016 by Barbara Froman

qualified

Here’s a game for you….

In order to play, you’ll need your change purse, a jar or box, a comfortable place to sit, and access to cable TV news.

Before you start watching, you’ll need to know that you’ll be listening for two expressions: “Sort of” and “Kind of.” It’s important to realize that these synonymous expressions can be used in two different ways. First, as means of defining or clarifying type, as in, “A morel is a sort/kind of edible fungus.” Second, as a means of qualifying o...

So Far….

Transverse Line by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923

We’re almost a month into 2021 and I’ve had some revelations…

…starting with a piece I wrote when I was 19, which I thought was pretty good, but which was decidedly NOT. It didn’t sound like me. Rather, it sounded like the work of a young woman who was trying to impress her teacher by writing something she thought he’d like.

I suppose it was all part of the learning process. But, I would never play it for anyone. In fact, it left me wondering ...

Shuttered Spaces

Painting by Philip Froman

The painting above has no title. My father completed this when he was in his eighties, after taking up a brush for the first time in his seventies. He was a genial man, my father, with torrents of unrealized dreams dammed up inside him. If you look closely, and listen, you can almost hear those dreams crash against the cliffs. Although I should have, I never thought to catalog his work. What I do know is that two of his paintings stood out among the dozens he produce...

Are we?

Photo by Stephen L. Syverud

Whenever I hear someone assert, “We are better than this,” I wonder.

As much as I want to believe that people are basically good at heart, I’ve seen too many act out of self-interest, rather than a common good, succumb to the reassurance of herd mentality, than strike out against it, follow unethical orders, than defy them. There are always exceptions, but often, not enough. It feels as though people will defend their behavior, no matter how inconsiderate, corru...

Waiting…

…until after the election to post again.

VOTE.

Peace.

©2020 All Rights Reserved

No, No, No, and No

Photo Courtesy of Public Domain Pictures

One day, I threw some slightly stale bread into the yard for the birds that love to forage there. Within minutes after I got up the back porch stairs, and into the house, a critter, much like the one in the photo above, its cheeks stuffed with as much of the bread as it could gather, was on my porch scratching at the back storm door.

I rapped gently on the glass, hoping to scare it off, but it wasn’t fazed. It lifted onto its haunches, begging for m...

Missing Pieces

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

I knew an elderly widow who drove her family crazy about lost items. At first, it was an array of them, which sent her children and grandchildren scurrying to places she might have left them. But, as the years went on, the amount dwindled, until there were only two.

The first of these was her husband’s wedding ring, which she was sure she’d dropped in a church while attending service one Sunday. Her children went back to the church with her and searched, but turn...

Yum

So, I’m thinking, a tub or two of this stuff softened, some sugar, vanilla, two or three eggs, maybe a dollop of sour cream or yogurt for extra creaminess, beaten until smooth, poured into a graham cracker crust, and baked.

I could go for that….

©2020 All Rights Reserved