A huge thank you to Nolcha Fox from Chewers by Masticadores for publishing my poem and the accompanying cake art.
Category: Uncategorized
Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s prompt, Tanka Tuesday and Thursday Doors #poetry #photography
Update about Michael
Michael had a gastroscope on Monday and we saw the doctor yesterday. He has been diagnosed with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), a condition in which stomach acid flows back up the esophagus (swallowing tube) into the larynx (voice box) and throat. His throat is quite swollen and burned. The condition is being treated with medication. In terms of Michael’s complex medication history, this isn’t that serious for which I am very grateful.
Esther Chilton’s writing prompt
Esther Chilton’s writing prompt for this week is gifts and you can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2024/12/04/writing-prompts-43/
The gifts (tanka prose)
When I was a little girl, my dad landscaped the garden of his aunt’s new house. It was a big job and he spent a few months working there. When he worked on a Saturday, he would take Cath and I with him and we would have to make the best of it and entertain ourselves as best we could in his aunt’s old fashioned and rambling house.
We were scared to go out of the house as the garden was in an uproar with huge machines moving great piles of earth to shape hillocks that would one day be covered with grass or flowers. There was also a small cottage across the cemented back yard. This slightly ramshackle cottage appeared creepy and mysterious to me. Cath and I used to watch the cottage from the back doorstep. It fascinated us. Sometimes we could see shadows moving about inside and always we could hear loud and strange music playing. The reason we were so interested in this cottage and its occupant was that Dad said that the young man who lived there was a drug addict and a disappointment to his mother.
Naturally, this made the cottage as interesting as the locked sweet cupboard to a curious and sheltered child like me who didn’t know what a drug addict was and would very much like to see one.
In between our watch from the back doorstep, Cath and I wondered about the large, empty house looking for amusements. We found them in the form of toilet roll holder dolls. We would remove them from their places atop the extra toilet rolls in the four bathrooms and take them into the kitchen where we could play with them and still watch the cottage. The dolls had crocheted dresses in green, pink, yellow, and orange. The dolls looked a lot like the first flimsy Barbie dolls, but they had long hair, and the skirts of the dresses were very full to facilitate their going over a toilet roll. To me, these dolls were beautiful, and I desperately wanted one.
One day, while we were deeply absorbed in our dolls game, a young man came into the kitchen. He didn’t come out of the cottage but rather from inside the house somewhere. He had long hair and a guitar, but other than that he seemed ordinary. He spoke to us girls and was very interested in our doll game.
The next time Dad took us with him to work, the domestic helper presented us with a doll each. Mine was green and Cath’s was pink. They were from Aunty Roz’s son.
I was delighted with this wonderful gift. So much so that I still have that green crocheted dress. It was a while before I realised the gift was from the drug addict. My delight at receiving the doll helped to mitigate my crushing disappointment in the drug addict who looked just like any other young man in his early 20s.
Magnificent gifts
Slender dolls in fine dresses
With wide, ruffled skirts
Providing entertainment
For two lonely little girls
Tanka Tuesday
This week’s Tanka Tuesday is hosted by David and this is his great challenge:
So, this week’s challenge is to compose a ‘Sekar ageng’ poem , according to the following rules, as laid out by Murisopsis:
Sekar ageng – This Javanese form is traditionally recited as a song. The modern form is comprised of any number of quatrains (4 line stanzas) with 17 syllables per line. Each line is divided by caesurae (breaks) after sections of 4 syllables, 6 syllables and 7 syllables in that order.
You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/12/03/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-javanese-poetry-12-03-2024-syllabicpoetry/
Packing
Looking forward, with anticipation, a big part of the pleasure
Packing snow boots, thermal vests and leggings, fleece lined jacket in pale blue
While drinking wine, white and packed with ice cubes, the humming fan turned to high
It’s nearly time, to fly across the world, fast forwarding seven hours
Sunflower Tanka
Colleen has shared the cover of the forthcoming Sunflower Tanka journal which is a joint effort between Colleen and I.
You can read more about the cover and Sunflower Tanka here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/12/06/sunflower-tanka-cover-reveal/
Thursday Doors
These are some photographs of doors I took while walking around in the Netherlands in May. You can join in Dan’s Thursday Doors prompt here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/12/05/random-doors-and-december-schedule/
Travelling
I am travelling to Japan on Monday so I will be posting and visiting a lot less until 6 January 2025. I have a few scheduled posts going out and I will pop in and visit you all when I can. Wishing you all a wonderful festive season.
Roberta Writes – Book review: The Metempsychosis Collection by Nicholas Conley #readingcommunity #darkstories
What Amazon says
From the dystopian landscape of Knight in Paper Armor to the journey through the fading mind that is Pale Highway, Nicholas Conley’s novels have brought readers from the cosmic to the microcosmic, in tales defined by contrast — life and death, light and darkness, transcendence and limitation, strength and frailty, dreams and nightmares. Now, in the seven short stories that comprise The Metempsychosis Collection, experience a thrilling passage through closure, catharsis, and rebirth.
The Metempsychosis Collection is a puzzle of seven pieces. As metempsychosis is the transmigration of the soul after death, these snapshots of startling, wondrous, and terrifying moments show a human race perpetually weighed down by pain and loss, yet forever grasping at the stars with hope and aspiration. In each tale, lives are touched, changed, and reshaped. A woman surrounded by her loved ones is faced with a sudden crisis beyond her mortal comprehension. The dawn of real-life super-powered individuals—and the devastation they are capable of—remolds not just the shape of society, but even the most intimate of relationships. The collision of perfect cutting-edge technology against imperfect human memory brings the dead closer to us even as it pushes them further away. A trucker drives into the night with no clear destination, tormented by the mysterious, unearthly cargo that drives her. A sick man ponders his legacy as he struggles not to succumb to an ancient, incurable extraterrestrial disease. Two childhood friends, bonded by hardship, are ripped apart by the most fantastic — yet horrific — discovery of their lives. And finally, an ambitious scientist, following her passions, must escape a prehistoric miracle that threatens the life of her pregnant wife.
Every new beginning closes a book from the past, and every ending opens another. The wheel turns. The world spins. And for every death, there is an awakening.
My review
I wrote this review as a member of Rosie Amber’s book review team. You can find out more about Rosie’s reviews and review team here: https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/.
This is a terrific collection of seven well-written and entertaining sci-fi stories.
He Told Her the Bad News is short and not at all sweet. Instead, it is compelling and relatable in our modern world.
Powers That Be was an exciting and interesting story about a natural event that results in the creation of a handful of people with super powers. This is a tale about guilt, revenge, and grief woven into an insightful review of how individuals fail to cope with extraordinary gifts and fame as well as the impact of misunderstandings linked to strong human emotions. A most unusual take on a romance gone wrong.
Resurrecting the Torn Edge is story about the use of technology to recreate the past from memory. It highlights the imperfection of human memory and the fact that its application to a replication of the past results in a fictionalised product.
Trucker is a story of a woman caught in a time trap of repetitively. Reminiscent of Groundhog Day, Trucker has been on a repeat cycle of life and death for decades. Can she ever escape this unsatisfactory situation?
Shredded Starlight is a tale of tragedy. When an ordinary man’s work life goes horribly wrong resulting in the destruction of his health and life it impacts heavily on his mind and the lives of his love ones. Can Diego make peace with his circumstances and exit this earthly world on a positive note?
The Friend is my favourite story in this collection. A tale of a friendship based on a need for support and sense of belonging resulting in a lifetime of guilt and unfair responsibility by one party towards the other. An extraordinary discovery in childhood changes both boys life paths and wreaks havoc on peripheral figures in their lives. One friend is unable to overcome his circumstances and rise above his unfortunate homelife, while the other goes on to achievement and fulfilment which is flawed by his childhood friendship and the secret the friends share. This secret ultimately impacts heavily on both their lives as its misapplication and a lack of emotional control result in complete destruction.
Cosmosusaurs is an interesting deep dive into the what ifs of the discovery of a surviving dinosaur and its impact on a woman driven to investigate this finding. The effects of a drive to achieve self fulfilment through work and recognition and how that interplays with family responsibility are investigated in this fast paced story.
Nicholas Conway is a deep understanding of the human mind and psyche and he puts this knowledge to excellent use in these fascinating tales.
You can purchase The Metemphsychosis Collection by Nicholas Conway from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DLBRR75V
Roberta Writes – d’Verse poetry challenge: Nove Otto #poetry #d’Verse
Grace’s challenge is as follows:
Poetry challenge: Write a poem using the Nove Otto poetry format. Suggested themes are November, endings or beginnings, and gratitude (in the USA, it is Thanksgiving Day). A Nove Otto poem is a nine-lined poem with 8 syllables per line (isosyllabic). The rhyme scheme is as follows: aacbbcddc.
You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/11/28/poetry-form-nove-otto/
Face turned towards the golden light
Sprawled on a branch at a great height
Leg muscles deceptively lax
Eyes appear closed as if he sleeps
The unaware misfortune reaps
So swiftly the leopard attacks
Fat bird goes down in spray of blood
Falls to the ground with boneless thud
Cat’s gorging natural climax
This video depicts a leopard attack on a troop of baboons. It isn’t my video.
Roberta Writes – Book reviews: Bugbies by Dave Williams #readingcommunity #bookreview
What Amazon says
These are not traditional zombies. These people have been zombified by parasitoid wasps. These are bugbies.
They don’t roam in search of brains to eat. They serve as hosts for wasp eggs and larvae, which aim to grow into adult wasps and find new hosts for the next generation.
Bugbies is about several people who are impacted by this fantastical shift of one wasp species to jump hosts from another insect to humans. Charlotte, who was nearly turned into a host. Isha, the neurosurgeon who treats her. Lucia, an entomologist who is brought in as an advisor. Brock, who wishes to buy a bugbie and show it off to his friends. His wife Daniella, and their gardener Lewis, who deal with that decision and take action in response.
My review
I really enjoyed this unique and interesting story. I am not sure what genre it is, but for me it’s a mix of sci-fi, dystopian fiction, family drama, with just the right amount of non-fiction information to make it work. The novel is told from the points of view of several characters from different backgrounds and social standings and I really liked that. It gave insight into the themes and main story line form a variety of different perspectives and was a clever way to share certain fact patterns and information. The author also made use of other innovative ideas like sharing the content (in writing) of homemade you tube videos shared on the internet and also blog posts. Another unique way of sharing events and information outside of the main characters lives and scope of knowledge.
The story starts off with Charlotte who is feeling unwell. Within a short period, Charlotte slips into a coma and her husband races her to the hospital. Charlotte undergoes a series of tests and astonishes the neurologist and the world when the tumours in her brain turn out to be something different to everyone’s experience and expectations. Charlotte is the first, but she is far from the last. The country is soon in the grip of anxiety and paranoia equal to what we experienced during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Lucia Ramirez is a young professor at a university. She is an expert in her field and she introduces different thoughts relating to the unusual situation. She also lectures young students which facilitates the introduction of ideas and thoughts about the situation from the younger generation. Clever! Lucia is a great role model for women as she has worked towards a goal and achieved her aims in a world that has historically been dominated by men.
Danielle Hawkins is the spoiled and wealthy older woman in this story. Her husband is a wealthy man who is desperate to keep up with the Jones or, even better, to be ahead of them. Their son is a spoiled rich kid but he has some redeeming characteristics, as does Danielle. Mr Hawkins is a selfish and egocentrical man who will stop at nothing to show off to his friends and family. I didn’t like him and he didn’t develop any redeeming qualities. He was, however, typical of a certain type of rich man and his actions and behaviours were very believable.
Lewis was my favourite character. He is a young father who has taken a job below his abilities due to need and circumstances. He works hard and tries to improve himself and take good care of his family. He is certainly not perfect and makes some silly decisions, but he is a good guy and he was easy to give wholehearted support too.
I thought this unusual story was well written and nicely paced. I read it quickly and was a bit sad when I reached the end. The ending was satisfying but I really liked some of the characters and could have spent more time with them.
Purchase Bugbies by Dave Williams from Amazon USA here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C9SHLY1V
About Dave Williams
Surely many people are named “Dave Williams” and this particular Dave is a redheaded one who enjoys writing speculative fiction, drawing, and reading. He lives in Maryland with his wonderful wife, two inspirational daughters, and two cats (a lazy one and a playful one).
Dave Williams blog: https://davewilliamswriter.wordpress.com/
Dave Williams Amazon US author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dave-Williams/author/B08662D961
Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday: Silver Linings #poetry #TankaTuesday
Yvette’s Tanka Tuesday challenge is to write a syllabic poem about a silver lining. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/11/26/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-silver-linings-11-26-2024-syllabicpoetry. I am sharing two poems today. One is an older poem that is rhyming verse and the other is a new poem that is a tanka.
The Silver Lining
Clad in dirty shoes and shorts
his face streaked with dirt,
he swoops past like a bird in flight
thrilled with disaster to flirt.
***
Like nothing you’ve ever seen before
the skateboard on which he rides,
a platform piled high with recyclables
no one his wild recklessness chides.
***
A pair of dark eyes, wild and bright
glow beneath his unkempt crop,
he takes a sharp corner rather wide
there is no-one to make him stop.
***
We find our pleasures in different ways
it’s human nature to laugh and enjoy,
he’s found a way to make the most of life
treating his load like a favourite toy.
Positives (tanka)
Finding positives
Of silver or otherwise
Essential to health
Holding on to pain and grief
Eats holes in our minds and souls
My latest watercolour painting of a lighthouse seemed to go well with this topic:
Roberta Writes – In Touch With Nature: The African Spoonbill
My November In Touch With Nature creature is the African Spoonbill. I have written a rensaku poem to share information about this fascinating wader.
Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.
Roberta Writes – d’Verse With a little help … #d’Verse #poetry
Lisa‘s prompt for this week’s d’Verse Quadrille is with. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/11/25/dverse-q213-with-a-little-help/
Waiting with you
I’ll be with you
When the artificial sleep comes
My mind will be with you
During your time in theatre
I’ll be waiting for you
When you open your eyes
I wish I could take your place
I can’t
But I’ll wait with you
Michael is having another small procedure on Monday, 2 December.
These are two of his recent artworks both in charcoal:
Roberta Writes – Reblog: Guest post at Entertaining Stories: An Elephant’s Trunk
Thank you to amazing fiction writer, C.S. Boyack, for sharing a post for my Sesi says goodbye to Granny book blog tour. The post is all about an elephant’s trunk and shares some amazing facts about how elephants use their trunks.
Craig writes entertaining posts about writing, his muse, and the development of his remarkably imaginative fantasy books. If you haven’t tried one you really are missing out.
Roberta Writes – Chinese Dragon Colour Palette for d’Verse and Thursday Doors
I’m a bit late for this challenge hosted by Kim, but this is my dragon poem for d’Verse’s Legendary Creatures prompt. You can read other poet’s contributions here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/11/19/legendary-creatures/
I have also snuck in Esther Chilton’s challenge for this week which is wishes. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2024/11/20/writing-prompts-41/
Chinese Dragon Colour Palette
Red scales for good luck
Adorn his snake like body
Mythical creature
Main guest at dragon dances
And various festivals
***
Shimmering in white
Twin offspring of sun and moon
Mythical creature
One symbolic of virtue
The other, death’s harbinger
***
Mythical creature
Magnificent in yellow
Emperor’s right hand dragon
Provider of sage wisdom
Guiding power’s central mind
***
Shining golden coat
Powerful sun deity
Mythical creature
Wishing humanity well
He brings great prosperity
***
Soothing blue and green
He aids in health and healing
Nature’s guardian
Mythical creature brings spring
Stimulating life and growth
***
Mythical creature
In a multicoloured coat
Fantasy art creation
Flies up to bring down rainstorms
But wishes he had bright wings
If you are interested, this is the presentation I gave at the SA Festival of Children’s Literature in 2023. It showcased a lot of my cake and fondant artwork.
Thursday Doors
I shared a door above, just in case you missed it – smile! This post is for Dan’s Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/11/20/hurry-up-but-not-yet-1linerweds/. The door I’ve shared was inspired by Rebecca Budd’s post about Vincent van Gogh here: https://chasingart.com/2024/11/15/vincent-van-gogh-and-the-chemistry-of-colour/
In addition, I am sharing the cabinet I saw at the Van Gogh Museum. It is the one in which Vincent’s brother, Theo, stored the letters he received from Vincent over his life. It is a beautiful piece of art in itself and it has a lot of drawers.
This is a picture I took of one of the letters from Vincent to Theo:
A few previously unshared photographs of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings.
roberta-writes.com 