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Monday 30 September 2019

Poetry Monday: Beauty

May I just start by saying that when you're using Blogger it's a bad idea to use the "back arrow" button at the top of the window (as opposed to the back arrow within Blogger) . . . I wiped out my post doing that, just before I was about to hit Publish.

At least I THINK that's what happened. Whatever the cause, my post was gone.

Fortunately my poem was only three lines long and easy to re-create.

Unfortunately I also had fifteen funnies underneath it. Not hard to reconstitute, but time-consuming. They'll be coming in a separate post later this week.

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is .....BEAUTY (courtesy of Diane).

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me in exploring this topic, or choose one of your own. Leave a poem in the comments, or post on your own blog. If you do the latter, please leave a comment so we can find you. Have fun!


*****

It was a busier than usual week for me, but I kept the poetry topic simmering on the back burner of my mind. There's so much that can be said about "beauty", and I was trying to narrow it down and find the angle that would hook my interest.

I kept coming back to the same thing, over and over. And when the deadline was looming and my brain was mush, I did what I often do under those circumstances:  I chose a structured poem format and condensed my thoughts to their shortest form.

Real Haiku is more complicated than just the number of syllables each line contains (5/7/5), but I am ignoring all the rules except the number of syllables for the sake of simplicity.

Because I can.

That's the beauty of Poetry Monday. Nobody is marking your work. Nobody is grading you on following the rules. You're your own boss :)   

*****

Beauty - A Haiku

Why don't we all just
Remember that what counts is
Underneath our skin?

 *****

That's it, from a very tired Donkey.

Next week's topic will be .............. PAPER ............ Good luck!

Stay tuned for those funnies, and have a pleasant week :)


A reasonable facsimile of my face just after I lost my post . . .




51 comments:

nothoughtsnoprayersnonothing said...

Thanks for the head's up about the "back arrow" button. I've never done that boo boo. Now that you've mentioned it, I will probably do it. So 'thanks' alot. lol

I don't write much haiku because as you mentioned it is so much more than the syllables. But even getting the 5/7/5 to work is not always easy either. I like yours very much!

I only recently found your blog and Poetry Monday. And you did mention last week that beauty would be the next topic. So I prepared a little something in anticipation. Going back to my corner to spiff my poem up a bit. I will return!

Elephant's Child said...

Has anyone told you how beautiful you look when you are angry?
Love your poem. Haiku are beyond me. Mind you, I don't want to look underneath anyone's skin. I will take that beauty as a given and not investigate.

nothoughtsnoprayersnonothing said...

https://nothoughtsnoprayersnonothing.blogspot.com/2019/09/poetry-monday-beauty.html

My beautiful entry.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

You went right to the heart of what is true beauty. Well done!

Sorry that you lost your funnies, but your one was purrfect.

Susan said...

Beauty (in all its forms) will save the world, I believe. We just need to keep throwing it in until there is no room for the nasty stuff.

Joan (Devon) said...

Hello Jenny, beauty does indeed lay below the surface as the saying, 'you can't tell a book by its cover'. So true!

My poem is also short today as I didn't decide until this morning what to write. Anyway here it is.

Beauty is a sleeping child,
Lost in an innocent dream.
Knowing they're wrapped in arms of love,
And part of a family team.

Beauty is in all living things,
The wild and the tame.
Wouldn't do for any of us,
To be exactly the same.

Beauty is all around us,
Enjoy it while you can.
Taking time to savour it all,
Before we flush it down the pan.

I'm afraid most of my poems always veer towards nature as it is something I'm quite passionate about. I'll try to steer away from nature next week, but can't promise as paper is made from trees, yes?

Take care and have a good week, Jenny.

LL Cool Joe said...

Amen to the poem.

Oh how irritating it is when a post disappears. I've had that and I won't mention the words that have escaped from my mouth at the time.

Marie Smith said...

Lol. Great choice of photo!

The poem says so much in a few words!

jenny_o said...

Oh, excellent! Looking forward to hearing back from you!

jenny_o said...

I didn't think about the literal meaning! Oops :)

That cat's face cracks me up. Although, he was probably very angry and possibly bit somebody right after the shutter clicked.

jenny_o said...

Well done! I've left a comment on your blog :)

jenny_o said...

I'm re-thinking that poem after reading EC's comment and realizing the literal interpretation is rather gory :D

jenny_o said...

I hope you're right, Susan!

jenny_o said...

Nature is amazing, so don't censor yourself, Joan!

I like the image in the first stanza especially. Thanks for posting your poem!

dinthebeast said...

It really burns my duck when I lose a big chunk of writing because something went wrong and I neglected to save it anywhere while I was doing it.
So then I grumble under my breath and set to typing it all again, and try not to trip over the fact that my second drafts are usually better that the first drafts anyway...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it's on the beholder to make sure some beauty gets in there often enough to keep healthy and sane.

I like your poem, and I didn't even think about *looking* underneath any skin.

-Doug in Oakland

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

Hahaha! Now I'm remembering my brother telling me that beauty is skin deep. But nasty goes right to the bone!

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

Veering toward nature is so...natural!
Okay, that's all I've got!
Love your poem!

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

Bwahahaha! Oh those 'angry' words!

Red said...

I can see why this was rolling around in your head all week. This also fits in very nicely with racism.

Janie Junebug said...

After you hit the back arrow, I wonder if reloading would have returned everything to you. Probably not. It would be too easy. I have a "beauty" poem on my blog at dumpedfirstwife.blogspot.com. It's a poem I wrote long ago.

Love,
Janie

jenny_o said...

There may have been a few of those words floating around here last night, too, Joey :D

jenny_o said...

I love that photo; it makes me smile every single time :)

It's a good thing that poem was so short - losing the post didn't matter quite so much!

jenny_o said...

You know, that's something I've noticed too, that if I lose something and have to start from scratch it's usually better written. I think writing it the first time helps to solidify our thoughts, and that can only be a positive influence on the subsequent draft.

If I was really gung ho I'd start writing everything twice, but I'm not so I won't :D

jenny_o said...

Yes! I was thinking that when I wrote it, Red!

jenny_o said...

I will definitely try reloading if I make that mistake again. Or maybe I'll do a test post to see what happens, and then I'll know for sure if there's a fix.

I'm going over right now to read your poem. Thank you for contributing, Janie.

jenny_o said...

Just coming back to urge other readers to read Janie's poem - I loved it.

Joanne Noragon said...

Paper!
This happened in a blog I think you don't follow. One person who did (does?) read that blog would drop a pebble. The author of the blog asked several times to have the pebble symbol explained. The person who left it did not explain, so eventually I did. The next time I saw the pebble, under it the blog author left a scissors emoji.
Little things amuse me these days.

messymimi said...

Excellent sentiment, and i'd be that angry if i lost a post, too.

jenny_o said...

Little things always amuse me :)

jenny_o said...

I was just SO tired and it was late!

baili said...


yes once hitting the back arrow and second time by refreshing the page it happened to me either dear Jenny !
i am sorry because i know it is annoying when you find it just disappeared after writing by using all the essence of your head

beauty umm..! i think you pour the ocean in glass once again so not just successfully but BEAUTIFULLY
yes beauty is what we have under our skin and how we bring it out even in unfavorable circumstances
hope you get time to rest and feel better my friend! hugs!

Charlotte (MotherOwl) said...

Ahh thanks for explaining what has happened to some of my posts. Some "angry words" may have escaped my lips on those occasions as well.

I love your haiku on human beauty. It made me remember, that I used to write them. Maybe a paper Haiku for next Monday?

River said...

An excellent Haiku. I remember losing a post a couple of times, both when I had almost completed words for Wednesday Stories. now I'm super careful.

Steve Reed said...

I've had that very same thing happen. It's a nightmare. I don't know why that crazy arrow button even exists! Poor site design!

jenny_o said...

Thank you so much, baili. I love your expression "pour the ocean in glass" - it's wonderful!

Hugs to you, too, my friend.

jenny_o said...

I like short poem structures because they make me focus and eliminate all the words that aren't really needed. Good luck with your Haiku!

jenny_o said...

And it doesn't happen often enough to bother typing a post in Word to copy into Blogger.

Just often enough to be aggravating :)

jenny_o said...

Yeah, that's supposed to be a magical get-your-stuff-back arrow, not an arrow of doom! lol

jono said...

I have shared your experience. I didn't cry and I didn't kill my computer, but the disappointment was nearly overwhelming. I have had some big changes in my life, but I think I'll be back someday in the not-too-distant future.

jenny_o said...

I note that you never mentioned whether you said some bad words or not . . . ha ha

I hope you come back soon, Jono - we notice when someone's missing in the blogosphere, you know. Things just aren't quite right with that absence there. I hope the changes were happy ones.

Geo. said...

In our northerly California town of Ukiah they use a 7/5/7 syllable format but I like Haiku too and you wrote a good one.

Janie Junebug said...

Thank you.

River said...

I type my words for Wednesday stories in Word, then print them before copy pasting to blogger, just in case and it's nice to have hard copies to read back on later and maybe find some that can fit together to make longer stories.

jenny_o said...

Well, I admit that took me all day to figure out, Geo. - excellent :D

jenny_o said...

I can see where that would be helpful. There are some things that are easier in digital and some that are better done with hard copies.

37paddington said...

Lovely reminder.

jenny_o said...

I couldn't seem to move on to any other angle on the topic. Sometimes I get stuck!

Infidel753 said...

Well, this item has something of the allure of beauty, of a perhaps rather sinister sort.

jenny_o said...

Well written - even if it IS on the dark side!

Thanks for joining in, Infidel.

Diane Henders said...

Oh, how annoying that you lost your post! I've had oddball things happen with the backspace button, too.

But your haiku was worth the trouble - well said!

jenny_o said...

Thanks, Diane - a haiku is always easy, so easy it's probably cheating, especially when a person ignores most of the rules - hah

That backspace button is usually a lifesaver - not so in Blogger, apparently :)