Poetry Contest (Prarie Home Companion Radio)

While listening to Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio show on Saturday, I learned about a free poetry contest. This contest is to be written in iambic pentameter, must be 14 lines in length, and must be a topical love poem. To refresh my memory, I had to look at the definition of “iambic pentameter” and searched here:
Iambic Pentameter

Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called 'feet'. The word 'iambic' describes the type of foot that is used. The word 'pentameter' indicates that a line has five of these 'feet'.... In English, the rhythm is created through the use of stress, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables. An English unstressed syllable is equivalent to a classical short syllable, while an English stressed syllable is equivalent to a classical long syllable.

Eager to try my hand at this contest, here is my submission on love (in iambic pentameter, and 14 lines in length):

If only love could always be just so
That when you listened to my yam’ring heart
With all its boring tales of sad, sad woe
And still could look into my soul with like,
Then I’d consider you my great hero.

But since you won’t share my small thoughts with glee
But do indeed share our bed with dog Jo,
How could I not appreciate you when
Although the animal listens just so
Much more, while you, my dear, don’t give a whit,
And on wintry morns when the cold winds blow,
You mostly disregard my rambling thoughts;

Yet you fetch me coffee at temp zero.
So all in all, you ARE my great hero.
----by nancy mccarroll

To look at all the guidelines for this contest, here is a link to PHC: Guidelines

Good luck to contestants!

Decorative Art

Wikipedia

The decorative arts are traditionally defined as ornamental and functional works in ceramic, wood, glass, metal, or textile. The field includes ceramics, furniture, furnishings, interior design, and architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture. Some distinguish between decorative and fine art based on functionality, intended purpose, importance, status as a unique creation, or single-artist production. Decorative arts, or furnishings, may be fixed (for example, wallpaper), or moveable (for example, lamps).

I first started in the decorative arts in the mid 1970's and was pleased with the camaraderie found in my tole painting classes, as well as being able to provide gifts that were hand made. Then, I painted mainly on wood.

This week Doe Clore, a teacher of beginner and intermediate decorative painting classes, taught her friends and pupils in Fruita. I was fortunate enough to sit in on this class, and produced this tray using techniques that Doe taught. Using acrylics, it took only a few hours to paint flowers and a flag on this wooden tray.


After the paints dried (very quickly, within an hour), I sprayed several coats of an acrylic sealer on the tray.

It should be fun to use, especially on the 4th of July.

Edible Landscapes - Amazing Art

"Incredibly, everything you see in this image can be found in the kitchen. Photographer Carl Warner has painstakingly captured all kinds of food in a series of still lifes".

Use the bar on the right of the screen to scroll down for viewing all the pictures.
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