Goodbye, HELLO
Wave goodbye to what has been.
What’s to come we welcome in
with clear-eyed hope sincere as snow.
Let Old Man Winter gust and blow—
each snowflake year still melts away
to Auld Lang Syne. Therefore, today
we bid farewell to all that’s been.
All that will be, we welcome in.
Felicia Sanzari Chernesky
Wishing you a peaceful, prosperous, and poetic 2012!
We recently received a small slew (a slewlet?) of new residents for The Octopus Garden to share with blogopus readers in the new year, including one built with a numeric sense of humor, another advertising his favorite beverage (root beer), and yet one more that lovingly defies the notion that the octopus is not an embraceable creature.
In the meantime, we’ll close 2011 with “Mathilda,” a crayon doodle I created during a brainstorming session to set this blog swimming in the digital sea.
As a child I liked to draw almost as much as I liked to read. And while I hadn’t yet discovered writing, my penchant for purple already existed. It’s been my favorite color for as long as I can remember. To me, purple embodies energy, inspiration, beauty, endless possibility, and the marriage of faith and “magic” that fires the act of creation.
And while we may say we finish a painting, a poem, a composition, what we create never really ends. We carry what we read, see, hear, and make with us forever, modulating on and re-fashioning themes and motifs in our next works.
In my first post, I wrote that blogopus “is a work in progress, and part of my poet/writer’s journey.” At that time, I imagined reaching a certain number of reader “hits” by year’s end. To my shock and delight, we’ve passed that number. However, blogopus is a learning curve that’s just taking the first bend. There is no clear view of where it will lead, although I’ve also sketched a careful map to follow along the journey.
So—is Mathilda Robby Octopus’s mama, BFF, paramour, or muse? What do you think?
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We welcome you with eight open arms!
Best Words Ever is on holiday until the new year, but hibernatory post-holiday sluggishness has engendered new terminology among my circle of wordsmiths:
parsnippish: led by inertia and leftover Christmas cookies to daydream or doze.
Think of a cat curled in a sunny corner—or more accurately a husband snoring open-mouthed on the couch while the television loops through the day’s sports scores.
Given that a parsnip, though delicious, tends to look like a carrot in desperate need of shuteye—or a spray tan—I find the term fitting.
Add there’s no need to get parsnippity if you don’t care for new words or root vegetables, a pair of silk velvet poet’s cuffs, or a nap, will do the trick.
p.s. People from Parsnippany, New Jersey, may find this post appealing.
This morning I shared pancakes, eggs, and coffee with a friend at a local country café at a table bright with brisk December sunshine. We lingered for a long time catching up (the get-together was terribly overdue), but when we noticed platters of burgers and fries being served to the tables around us, we knew it was time to head back out into busy life.
We exchanged Christmas presents during breakfast, and while I received some really wonderful gifts this year, the gifts my friend gave me had extra-special meaning.
One was a pair of silk black velvet poet cuffs, to be worn beneath a long-sleeve blouse or jacket with Victorian flair. I buttoned them around my wrists and immediately ached for quill and parchment to pen a sonnet!
The gift was lovely, thoughtful, and inspiring—and I’ll treasure them.
Actually, my desk is populated with items that encourage me to write poetry and prose: a pair of fuzzy dice, a golden pear ornament, telling fortunes from take-out cookies, glittering rocks brought home from a Colorado adventure. I’m sure collecting inspirational tchotchkes is common practice for writers and artists, but I wonder how many of us take it a slightly strange step further.
For example, I have a beloved ratty sweater I wear while editing manuscripts. And to keep creativity flowing, I often wear a fabulous pink rhinestone jellyfish ring (Ebay!) that engulfs my ring finger. While completing a YA novel manuscript I wore an old apron, because one of the main characters ran an inn in the 1830s and many important scenes took place in the inn’s kitchen. And I’ll admit to one more. I put on a pair of giant disco ball earrings (salvaged from an old Halloween costume) when working on a particular middle grade novel manuscript. Don’t ask why; they help me think like a fourth-grader.
These items put me in a writer’s mindset. They are not triggers to embrace a particular genre or form, but rather a reminder to go for it—no holding back.
Creating is exhausting, and it’s like what I say about cooking: unless you’ve used every pot, pan, and utensil in the kitchen cabinets and the smoke alarm is going off, you’re not putting everything you have into it.
Please don’t be concerned—I write this (half) in jest. The other half of creation is good planning. I’m also an organized individual who likes to prepare for all possible courses of action. But I’ve sometimes wondered if this strange combination of care and abandon helps establish healthy ways to ward off fear and writer’s block.
The white that winter will surely bring is nothing more than the blank page waiting to be covered. Think those velvet poet cuffs will stay lovingly preserved in their pretty box?
Not a snowball’s chance.
Today’s Best Word Ever is gadzookery: the use of archaisms.
Methinks this utterance rolled off quill and tongue anno Domini 1955.
“Tobias, I beseech thee!” Mother cried.
“Come hither and mark thy duty. Homework awaits.”
“Alas and alack—I perish!” gasped Toby, feigning a faint.
SEASON’S GREETINGS WORD LOVERS!
Best Words Ever will return to ring in the New Year on January 2, 2012!
"Rainboctopus," drawing by Rainbow Conway
Our newest addition to The Octopus Garden comes by way of Tumblr.
Made by Rainbow Conway with “colored pencil, pen, love,” both octopus and artist have some skills! More of Rainbow’s artwork and poetry can be found on Tumblr at “EsotericExcogitation.”
Rainbow, thank you for sharing your creation with blogopus readers. Who can resist a guy with eight arms, top hat, and bumbershoot?
p.s. Did you know that blogopus is also on Tumblr? (No hipster cephalopod would be caught without a Tumblr account.)
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Help us populate The Octopus Garden.
It’s classy, melodious, and dashing!
Today’s Best Word Ever is facinorous: horrifically wicked, infamous.
An archaic adjective, from the Latin, facinorosus, facinerosus, from facinor-, facinus, “an evil deed, crime.”
Little Miss Muffet was frightened away by a facinorous fiend that filched her farina.
"Breakfast of Toy Makers," by Charlie the Elf
Need some oomph to get through those last-minute holiday preparations?
Nothing jingles an elf’s bells better than a hearty breakfast…
Straight from the North Pole, here’s Charlie the Elf’s take on a famous recipe for success, sure to put steam in your sleigh!
Ingredients:
Cold leftover spaghetti
Pancake syrup
Chocolate syrup
Sugar cubes
Miniature marshmallows
Colorful candy-coated chocolate (preferably red and green)
Sprinkles (the more colorful the more magical…)
Toss gently, dig in—and watch the sparkledust fly!
Today’s Best Word Ever is eye-service: attendance to work only while being watched.
From the 1530s, “work done only while the master is watching,” i.e., slackers in breeches.
The boss returned early from lunch and the staff—quick to pay him eye-service—scrambled to hide their beach balls, knitting, mountain goats, and castanets.
