April showers bring May flowers

Tip tap tippity drip drop
Tinny splattering on the car top
Flattened discs merging into one another
Erased by squeaking wipers as my father
Splashes through sneaky pothole puddles
Landing where earth and sidewalk muddle
Soaked, budding florets dance and sway
While we try to stay dry on a rainy day

Creation of the day for NaPoWriMo day 28.

What I saw in the rainforest (NaPoWriMo #25)

Found on Pinterest on the board "beautiful nature" by Sarah Ulhaas

In the greenest of jungles I saw a plethora of feathered, furry, scaly creatures,
With rainbow coloured, poison spewing, gravity defying features.

Almost magical stunts I saw when walking the rainforest without a rush.
Secret superpowers of every animal hidden within the brush.

Thin rays of sun stream through dense, entangled canopies shining tiny spotlights.
I saw flower faces unfurling and shiny beetles hooked in fights.

From the sky it is endless emerald framed by deep blue seas that glisten.
I saw a sea of bark and leaves, waves stretched over a nation whose voice is heard if you only listen.

And looking closely I saw little patches in nature’s elaborate quilts.
Edges of barren palm trees where the forest vines slowly wilt.

There are little surprises beneath the sand, under trees of coconut.
I saw the growth of ‘progress’, which I fear is anything but.

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The prompt was to write with anaphora, a repeated phrase, in this case the simple “I saw.” Whenever I think about the damage that has been done to rainforests and that is still occurring today, I feel so ashamed of the human race. It is so sad to think of the diversity and history that we have lost in order to harvest some more oil or lumber or whatever to fuel our money – based society. I do think the mentality that progress is making more money is what is causing the sustainability dilemnas we are finding ourselves in. Anyway, I won’t write more on this here, but possibly in the future.

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

Seashell Wishes (NaPoWriMo #19)

Very pretty! Photo source: Ayse Balin on Pinterest

Said the snout otter clam to the shoulder blade sea cat,
How I wish I could swim like you.
I hear of great sunken treasures like the Lazarus jewel box but I’m stuck in this patch of the blue.

Said the shoulder blade sea cat to the sparse dove,
How I wish I could fly like you.
Above heavy bonnets and Peruvian hats, and by the glow of the incised moon too.

Said the white sparse dove to the striped engina,
How I wish I could race like you.
With a whistling strawberry top, and power to shatter the air, these Atlantic Turkey wings are overthrew.

Said the striped engina looking at a woody canoebubble,
How I wish I could float like you.
To aimlessly wander in unequal bittersweetness, and not deliver one more false cup-and-saucer or shoe.

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This prompt was to use seashell names in a poem, I’ve included the ones I’ve used in a list:
Peruvian Hat
Snout Otter Clam
Strawberry Top
Incised Moon
Sparse Dove
False Cup-and-Saucer
Striped Engina
Shoulderblade Sea Cat
Woody Canoebubble
Heavy Bonnet
Lazarus Jewel Box
Unequal Bittersweet
Atlantic Turkey Wing

It’s all quite nonsensical but fun, and the poem became a sort of whimsical narrative. Somehow it may have weaved its own moral as well, can’t quite define it though. What do you think?

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

Ruba’i (Help me think of a better title? NaPoWriMo #18)

A.k.a. “Spring’s Dance” as suggested by Sean or “Return of the Geese” as suggested by Steve:

The wobbly song of geese return behind slate grey clouds of an inland sea
Branches are fuzzy with halos of buds, except the brave green needles of the pine tree
Clicking coffee cups echo up the stairwell and reroasted lunch unmildens lazy air
The sun has yet come out to play, but paved roads exist now to reality.

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I honestly don’t know what to say except I’m sad Easter break is over. I couldn’t even come up with a title so if someone has a suggestion please let me know. I don’t know if I’m just unsatisfied to go back to school or dreading the hectic run to the end of the year, but mornings are so different when you know you have a full day to do whatever you want.

Reference from the NaPoWriMo website:
Today I challenge you to write a ruba’i. What’s that? Well, it’s a Persian form — multipe stanzas in the ruba’i form are a rubaiyat, as in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Basically, a ruba’i is a four-line stanza, with a rhyme scheme of AABA.

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

There is Another Sky – Inspired by Emily Dickinson (NaPoWriMo #8)

Taken on a walk in Parry Sound, Ontario.

Chilly winds under an overcast day
Chase the sprouting hopes of spring away
But the rain bearers they shall also blow by
There is another sky

As obstacle shadows into vision set
By failing light, don’t you forget
Dawn after dusk follow in line
There is another sunshine

Endless silent fields across the horizon
On walks beside the restless waves of Poseidon
The uncertainty makes the heart sorest
Yet here is a little forest

Its leaves are ever green,though frost it has seen
Within faded forests are unfading flowers
Tended by bright bee hum and a patient some
One just like you. Into the garden, come!
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This is based on Emily Dickinson’s poem “There is Another Sky,” which contains so many beautiful phrases, I was moved to write with it instead of Cesar Vallejo’s rather sombre poem in the official prompt. I stayed with the theme of optimism in this version, and have a feeling I will be reading this as food for the soul in the future. Thank you Ms Dickinson.

And thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

Walks ’til Magic Hour

Source: photok12.org/?q=node/11

Oh glorious day!
Sunshine blazes through canopies of green, crowds filter into High Park
A blackbird calls, its red and white marks peeking through the brush
Algae foams above the pond, where breezes sweep through the gardens
Strolling a maze of hedges and wading pools
Sit with face to the sky, indulge in quenching fruit salad and gelato
Hike hidden sandy trails imagining a place without city noise
Emerge into picnics, lawn bowling games, and playground cheers
Snapping photos and laughing chats all the way
Have a mini barbecue in shady grass, with softened rays of the dying hours
Contemplating why we work so hard to seclude ourselves from nature,
When we love so much to wallow in it?

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Perfect way to end the long weekend: had an absolutely fantastic time with my family and my only regrets are that I had homework nagging the back of my mind and that I didn’t reapply sunscreen, not because of sunburn, but because it is too soon to already get this tanned. Summer feels so close but so far away, and I am feeling very unmotivated to go back to school and don’t-even-mention exams. I just have to remember to live every moment because before I know it, grade 11 will be finished.

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

World Heritage Sites: Nature and Culture Conservation Unite

Courtesy of famouswonders.com

MACHU PICCHU: A UNESCO World Heritage Site

A world heritage site is a place in any country of physical or cultural significance that is protected from major industrial changes. A list of world heritage sites is created and monitored by the World Heritage Programme and the UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization) World Heritage Committee, which is composed of 21 state parties. The program was officially founded on November 16, 1972, with several organizations contributing to its ideas and campaign. By 2010, 911 sites have been listed, with about 700 cultural and 180 natural. Sites such as the pyramids in Egypt, old cathedrals, and the Great Barrier Reef are recognized as treasures to the whole world and humanity, and so are preserved so that everyone can enjoy them.

Machu Picchu is a creation of the Inca Empire before the Spanish Conquest in the 15^th century. It is often called “The Lost City of the Incas” and is believed to have been built for the emperor Pachacuti. It stands 2,340 m above sea level and is located in the Urabamba Valley in Peru. It is made with polished dry-stone walls, in the classical Inca style, with three primary buildings: the Intihuatana, the Room of the Three Windows, and the Temple of the Sun.

Its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. [1] The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna. [1]

The estate was started around AD 1400 but abandoned a century later at the time of Spanish colonization. Although known locally, it was brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. [2] In 1981, Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary and in 1983, a World Heritage Site. In November 2010, Peru and Yale University reached an agreement in which all artifacts held in Yale from Bingham’s collection in the 20^th century were returned to a Peruvian university.

Works Cited:
1. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/274
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu

Published from Geography class 2010.

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

Woe of May Flowers

Warm breezes gently breathe, stuck in stuffy nose
Yellow dust of unhatched life surf waves of the air flows
Soaking up the sun and green and reach for a tissue
I love spring, I only wish I didn’t have – achoo!

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

Cotton Candy (NaPoWriMo #24)

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kepkake/6218911183/

Skies flush pink by a setting sun
As purple clouds float lazily
Amorphous stripes like cotton candy undone
Fluffy strands look good enough to eat

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Yesterday’s anagram prompt proved very difficult, so I’m sorry to disappoint but here’s another sky poem instead. There is nothing like seeing the colours with your own eyes for even a camera can’t capture the full brilliance of nature’s colours. I saw a rainbow today too, as it was rainy, but I didn’t include it because that would be much too sweet for my taste.

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” -Aboriginal proverb (NaPoWriMo #22)

Take care of our planet
For all its little creatures
We owe them the experience
Of exploring Earth’s natural features
Like blizzards, rainforests, coral reefs
Oceans and skies of bright blue
Take care for everyone who shares this planet
Especially for those who must one day be stewards too.

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I know this one’s cliche, but I love our planet so this butterfly and rainbow thoughts just spew out. Happy Earth Day!

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead