That’s four years too long.
Our thought, our song
Will not die, will not perish…
Oh there, people, is our glory,
Glory of Ukraine!
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Posts Tagged ‘poetry’
Four Years
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #Ukraine, poetry, Thoughts on February 24, 2026|
Into the Quantum
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, poetry, quantum, Writers, writing, writing contest on May 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
2025 marks the one hundred year anniversary of the development of quantum mechanics, and has been named Unesco’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
It is also a good time to mention a poetry contest I came across, from Brilliant Poetry. I haven’t participated in it, but perhaps it will interest you? The contest goal is to “express scientific wonder and discovery through verse” and poems “must find inspiration in the quantum.”
Do I know what that means? I do not, but it might be fun to let my creative voice play with the idea. Hang on, here’s a quick related video.
And this is a much longer explainer: Physicist Brian Cox explains quantum physics in 22 minutes.
Ahem. Now that you have a bit of background, let’s get back to that poetry contest.
What are the rules?
Contest tradeoffs:
The upside is that there is no entry fee that I can see, and there are cash prizes. Good.
One downside is that by entering, “you give the organizers the right to publish your poem both online and in printed media.” In other words, you’ve essentially given away first world publication rights, so keep that in mind. (On the other hand, the limit is maximum 40 lines, so it may not be a big investment if you’re interested in some experimentation.)
Does this concept tickle your imagination? Submissions close June 20th so you’ve got a bit of time to consider the options, and get into the quantum.
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Dear Day Job: You’re Welcome
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, fun, haiku, poetry, Writers, writing on December 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I spent a non-zero amount of time today writing out-of-office poetry. Because the holidays need more fun:)
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A Poem on the Occasion of the Year’s Last Supermoon
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, NASA, poetry, supermoon on November 16, 2024| 1 Comment »
This weekend marks the final supermoon in what has been a months-long fall cycle of supermoons. If you have a chance to look up, you can see the moon’s super hurrah for the year before its orbit takes it farther away from us.
Here’s NASA’s quick explanation for the supermoon, when the moon is closest to us, and its inverse, the micromoon.
The next full supermoon will be on November 5, 2025. Until then, a micropoem.
Night’s shadows await
the Moon’s sly smile, waxing bright
as She steals the stars.
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In Love and Rest
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, inspiration, poetry, Thoughts, Writers on June 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Stars are Mansions Built by Nature’s Hand
The stars are mansions built by Nature’s hand,
And, haply, there the spirits of the blest
Dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest;
Huge Ocean shows, within his yellow strand,
A habitation marvellously planned,
For life to occupy in love and rest …
— William Wordsworth
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Happy World Bee Day!
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #LifeisBetterWithBees, bees, nature, poetry, world-bee-day on May 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I received an email this morning wishing me a Happy World Bee Day.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Exactly what it sounds like, as it turns out. And that’s exactly the sort of holiday I like to support.
World Bee Day 2024| Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
We all know the bee basics. They’re important pollinators. They make honey. They make buzz. They like to join you at picnics.
But did you know that they also provide us with medicines and even help keep our planet beautiful and healthy?
As I head out to maintain my pollinator lawn, I leave you with this excerpt from “A More Ancient Mariner” by Bliss Carman:
The swarthy bee is a buccaneer,
A burly, velveted rover,
Who loves the booming wind in his ear
As he sails the seas of clover.
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Habits: On Making and Breaking
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, habits, poetry, Thoughts, Writers, writing on April 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Some habits are good, some not so much. How do you break a bad habit (just as a totally random example, like jumping straight into day job work instead of carving out a bit of time for creativity)?
It’s National Poetry Month, so here’s a poem on the subject. And while I don’t necessarily agree with the slightly depressing penultimate line (“unhelped, alone”), I do think the larger message is a good one: if you made it, you can break it.
Habit
How shall I a habit break?
As you did that habit make.
As you gathered, you must lose;
As you yielded, now refuse.
Thread by thread the strands we twist,
Till they bind us, neck and wrist;
Thread by thread the patient hand
Must untwine, ere free we stad;
As we builded, stone by stone,
We must toil unhelped, alone,
Till the wall is overthrown.
— John Boyle O’Reilly
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Robot, Garden, Flower
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, arts, DALL-E, poetry, Thoughts on October 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
System request: An Impressionist painting of a robot in a garden, smelling a flower.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
― William Blake
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
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Five-Letter Poetry
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, poetry, silliness, Thoughts, Wordle, Writers, writing on July 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I may have committed a little Wordle poetry with lunch.
Happy Canada Day, Canada!
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Canada Day, inspiration, poetry, Writers, writing, yay on July 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
It is Canada Day today and I am wearing a red and white beaver shirt and my Tilley hat and we’ve just come back from a long walk through the wild and glorious suburbs of Ottawa. Now I’m going to use the strawberry syrup I made from local berries for a strawberry lime freeze because it is hot and muggy.
I’ll leave you with the start of a poem about this great country; click through the link to read more.
Canada by Billy Collins | Poetry Foundation
I am writing this on a strip of white birch bark
that I cut from a tree with a penknife.
There is no other way to express adequately
the immensity of the clouds that are passing over the farms
and wooded lakes of Ontario and the endless visibility
that hands you the horizon on a platter…
While we’re on the subject of poetry, I discovered the Poetry Atlas, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Navigate to your favorite locale to find an associated poem, like these about Canada:
Poems about: canada – Poetry Atlas
O Canada!
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