AUTHOR NOTES

GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

“HAIKU AT MIDNIGHT” is included this week for April 8, Day of Silence. The poem was found among the author’s papers and may have been written around the same time as “Rear View” (see this site March 2022), or simply at a time of exploring the haiku form which fascinated this author. She researched the form delving into how the Japanese language, unlike English, has spoken sounds that act in effect as punctuation (indicate a pause, for example.)

REFRACTIONS—the poetry of Robert Roxby

“WALK INTO THE WILD WITH ME” first appeared in the author’s collected poems, Reflections on a Life. In his poetry journal, he noted that the scene described in the poem is from 1933 in a “small special valley near Wheeling [West Virginia].” The poem is included this week for April 6, National Walking Day.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“MY NAME,” is the result of a poetry workshop exercise  which challenged the poets to create a poem about their names. This selection seemed appropriate for this week’s National Name Yourself Day, April 9.

 

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SPLINTERS FOR APRIL 2023

  1. Try your creativity by beginning with a preposition for every line in a stanza but the last as Kathleen Roxby does in THE STORYTELLER, the keeper of histories for the first week of April. The pattern for her poem is four stanzas of three lines each beginning with a unique preposition and a fourth line which is the same for each stanza.
  2. Create a poem based on your name. See Kathleen Roxby’s My Name this month.
  3. Try your skill with the syllable haiku using 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the last. Haikus tend to focus on nature and the final line is often a twist on what has proceeded. There are four example of haiku on the site this month.
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.

Guidelines for submission:

  1. List Splintered Glass prompt which inspired the work in the text of your email.
  2. Submit material to be published as Microsoft Word document. Submission should not be longer than one page. Editing will not be provided, please be careful.
  3. Include two brief sentences about the author. Example: Michael Whozits is the author of A Book and The Curl, a blog. He is a retired pilot and avid surfer.
  4. Submission must arrive no later than the 3rd Wednesday of the month in which the Splintered Glass prompt appeared. Only one reader’s submission will be selected for any given month.
  5. Send submission to karoxby@gmail.com.

 

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THE STORYTELLER, the keeper of histories

behind the willow tree

above the tents

beyond memory

he waited

 

between fog and rainbow

among the fairy folk

against the night

he waited

 

past yesterday

through the day

across the centuries

he waited

 

beside the stream

down the sky

underneath my song

he waited

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TIJUANA CHILDREN DREAM

Once in time in the sunlight land

South of the border and the Rio Grande

A heart could turn to the children at play

Where laughter was sweet as dawn of day

 

But the hours moved on and the sun burned down

And the laughter of children no longer is found

In the places or fields of their destroyed town.

A heart may long for that enchanted sound

 

And may search the shadows of faded light

Lured by memory, but while dark is supreme

The children like birds in their feathered night

Will be silent as they sleep and dream

 

For a morning to blossom sunshine bright

With music and songs (the darkness all gone)

With carefree laughter: sounds to delight

A heart with joy in a new rainbow dawn

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THE GLORY

Perhaps God had something special in mind

When he granted America so much in richness.

A mountain range of iron ore, almost inexhaustible coal

veins.

Minerals in great quantities in every state.

Ground so fertile, it grows more than any place elsewhere.

Forests so great they boggle the mind with trees.

Places so beautiful, only God could have produced.

 

Yosemite Valley, Grand Canyon of the Colorado!

Lake C’oer D’Alene; vast fields of California poppies

Where only a desert was; yet such small delights

Lovely patches of violets, a mountainside of rhododendrons

Blowing gorgeous colors of the rainbow as the wind waves

A holy place in the Sequoia forest in which to pray

A waterfall so high and narrow, the mountain separated

So that waterfall could reach the goal it sought

A place called Bryce Canyon, so achingly beautiful

I should write a poem about that place alone.

A river gorge, looking like some gigantic stage

On which to present majestic plays

Waterfall blowing across a cliff face: a bride’s veil

Especially when it reflects the setting sun.

And five great lakes to mark a border blessed in peace.

I don’t know what God has in mind for us

But, I sure wish I could live long enough to see.

 

 

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AUTHOR NOTES

GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

“TIJUANA CHILDREN DREAM” was written for submission to the poetry contest sponsored by the PanAmerican Festival held in Lakewood, California each year. The author, however, was long fascinated with the Spanish language and people. Her daughter had recently returned from a humanitarian aid visit to Tijuana around this same time. It is possible the stories she told contributed as inspiration to this poem. The poem is included this week for both National Children’s Day (April 2) and Find a Rainbow Day (April 3).

REFRACTIONS—the poetry of Robert Roxby

“THE GLORY” is included this week as a nod to Find a Rainbow Day (April 3). The poem was found in the author’s poetry journal.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“THE STORYTELLER, the keeper of histories,” is the result of a poetry workshop exercise in which the poet begins most or all lines with a preposition. Like the other poems this week, this selection seemed appropriate for Find a Rainbow Day (April 3).

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SPLINTERS FOR APRIL 2023

  1. Try your creativity by beginning with a preposition for every line in a stanza but the last as Kathleen Roxby does in THE STORYTELLER, the keeper of histories for the first week of April. The pattern for her poem is four stanzas of three lines each beginning with a unique preposition and a fourth line which is the same for each stanza.
  2. Create a poem based on your name. See Kathleen Roxby’s My Name this month.
  3. Try your skill with the syllable haiku using 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the last. Haikus tend to focus on nature and the final line is often a twist on what has proceeded. There are four example of haiku on the site this month.
/0 Comments/by

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.

Guidelines for submission:

  1. List Splintered Glass prompt which inspired the work in the text of your email.
  2. Submit material to be published as Microsoft Word document. Submission should not be longer than one page. Editing will not be provided, please be careful.
  3. Include two brief sentences about the author. Example: Michael Whozits is the author of A Book and The Curl, a blog. He is a retired pilot and avid surfer.
  4. Submission must arrive no later than the 3rd Wednesday of the month in which the Splintered Glass prompt appeared. Only one reader’s submission will be selected for any given month.
  5. Send submission to karoxby@gmail.com.

 

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REMEMBERING CRAYONS

Sixty-four colors

All in one box!

A Christmas gift,

Even though coloring books

Were not my favorite thing.

 

Why was it so important

To color within the lines?

Why couldn’t a horse be blue,

Or the grass pink?

 

But those sixty-four colors

Were really tempting.

So many choices.

Some awful like “Flesh”

Which wasn’t.

And Silver and Gold

Which weren’t either.

 

I soon found favorites

Red-Violet, Burnt Sienna,

Orchid, Turquoise,

Sky Blue, Lemon Yellow

And plain Green and Red.

 

I played with the others

But they rarely made me

Smile the way my favorites did.

Sometimes I just liked to look

At all sixty-four sitting in the box

And think of possibilities.

That was good, too.

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