Poets Salon: “Abundance”

POETS SALON

– 10/28/20

Hosted by Kath Abela Wilson

Overwhelming. How much time dreaming, how many waking hours, how can I measure? How long will this go on? Once, while my former husband was dying, I went out and swept the stoop. Small circles, I watched them form, and disappear. This I can do, I said. And ever since it has worked this way, I have worked this way…watching the tasks accumulate, in abundance, in small circles that disappear.

the ease of it
make more than you need
and give some away

~ Kath Abela

Abundant Blessings, alcohol ink painting by Christine L. Villa

Christine L. Villa

My pandemic days often start with an abundance of circles. Every morning, when I open my eyes, I see my dog’s button eyes staring back at me. The clock on the wall says it’s time to take her outside. In the backyard, dapples of sunlight dance around the pots of pansies and succulents as she winds around the trees and bushes. After her morning playtime, we go straight to the kitchen. While my sunny-side-up eggs are sizzling on the pan, she slurps some water from her bowl. We begin our afternoon activities. She naps on her favorite couch or sits right behind my back until it is time for our evening walk. I, on the other hand, do my work on the computer or drop splashes of colors on my craft paper. Like the circles on my art pieces, I feel safe and protected in my own little world.

millions of dots
in the dark sky

from within

in limitless possibilities
my mind and heart
expand

Ο Ο Ο

Abundant luck. Digital painting by Christina Chin

Christina Chin

Some Days are More Special

The grocery store shelves were empty and while the world was running down, I did the best with what I have, the bare necessities. I continued writing, painting, crafting mail art and everything in between chores believing “This too shall pass” so I kept breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise.

birdsongs
outside my window
morning dewdrops

all day long
circling blossoms
crimson sunbirds

afternoon rain
around the saguaro
garden blooms

another day
its just another but
today is special

zoom dinner date
cakes topped with meringues
my mother’s birthday

fattened hens
and ducks in the pens
mid-autumn

In August 2020, I started making cranes for the Memorial Crane Project, Honoring Matter. A crane for each of the COVID-19 victims. To date, there are 25,000 cranes collected, we are still making and sending. Currently, there are 1900 names and stories received.

Ο

Cranes are flying (Photo – Christina Chin

Abundance: Quotes and Credits

Christine “Chrissi” L. Villa is an all-around creative explorer residing in North Highlands, CA. She’s a children’s book author, haiku and tanka poet, publisher, speaker, photographer, visual artist, and a crafter. Her books, poems, photos, and artwork have won awards and recognition. Her collection of Japanese short-form poetry is entitled The Bluebird’s Cry. Chrissi is the founding editor of Frameless Sky and of Velvet Dusk Publishing. She is also the editor of Ribbons, the journal of Tanka Society of America. She can be reached at her website.

Christina Chin, Kuching, Malaysia, is always excited and inspired by nature, enjoys quietude, writing short poems and painting. She’s the 1st place winner in the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Sakura Festival 2020 Haiku Contest. 1st prize award winner in the 8th Setouchi Matsuyama International Contest in 2019. Recently, she won two of City Soka Saitama’s 2020 prizes, and earned five merits in the World Haiku Review 2020. She’s published in the multilingual Haiku Anthology (Volumes 3-6) and the International Spring and Summer Saijiki issues. Christina is published in Haikukai(俳句界) one of Japan’s biggest monthly haiku magazines. Her poems appear in Akita International Haiku Network, African Haiku Network, AHS Frogpond Journal, the Red Moon Anthology, Akitsu Quarterly Journal, The Asahi Shimbun, ESUJ-Haiku, Presence, Chrysanthemum, The Cicada’s Cry, The Zen Space, Wales Haiku Journal, Prune Juice, Failed Haiku and Cattails (UHTS) and many more awards and accolades to her name. She also maintains an ongoing scheduled blog of featured and published haiku.

A Ring of Roses. Alcohol ink painting by Christine L. Villa

Send short poems, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kath Abela by Facebook message or click here to email her directly. We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple Submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, comments on the theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, if possible.
3. No attachments except photos.

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