Laura Bruno Lilly

The road ends, but the journey continues...

Category: Writerly Thoughts (Page 3 of 10)

October Poet (part one)

October 13, 2021 /

Khaya Ronkainen

Khaya Ronkainen, poet

Khaya Ronkainen is a South African-Finnish writer. Her work is largely inspired by nature but often examines the duality of an immigrant life. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Seasons Defined and From the Depth of Darkness, published through her imprint. Some of her work has been anthologized as well as featured in various publications. She is currently at work on her third poetry collection about all things pandemic and political. To learn more or connect with her, visit her blog at www.khayaronkainen.fi

Depending upon which hemispheric season you find yourself occupying – grab a mug of hot cocoa or a tall glass of iced tea, sit back and savor the following (he)art to (he)art conversational interview.

LBL: Very early on in the perusal of your two chapbooks, I realized an intersection of yours and mine outlook on life. First and foremost, it’s the one of understanding, compassion and experience in being displaced with an even further deep desire to be the troubadour sounding the existence and needs of others in various states of being within displaced communities.

The other main intersection is that of our shared birthday month! Your poem, Summer was a real eye-opener as I think there is a natural tendency for us all to relate deeply to one’s birth month and consequent season associated with it.

What would you have me say of you?
Ours is an obscure relationship
You led me believe I was your baby
A summer baby –
Because down south, October simmers
Spring overlapping with summer

What would you have me say of you?
As if immaterial, now you tell me I am
An autumn baby –
Because up north, October teases
Skies weep fearful of winter.

excerpt from Summer by Khaya Ronkainen

I am an October Baby and my favorite season is Fall. You are an October Baby, yet your point of reference is as a Summer Baby.

That particular poem embodies what it means to be fully displaced – by choice or as refugee or for whatever reason. The seasons are a language unto itself and in this case a literal translation brings about a type of confusion!

KHAYA: In our early correspondence, I expressed my delight in learning about our intersection. But I had already suspected that we might share a similar outlook on life. This was probably from a comment you made on my blog about me being a sensitive poet. That comment made me pause because very few people, even in my family, have that perception of me.

I thought: it takes one sensitive poet to see another. 🙂

Your interpretation of displacement communicated in the Summer poem blew me away. Because I don’t know if any readers of my poetry understood or interpreted the poem as you did!

LBL: Let’s explore this a bit further. We share the same birth month and yet we were born into two different seasons. That is a new perspective for me. We are shaped somewhat by when we were born – and imagining myself as a Spring/Summer child is not only foreign to me, but honestly slightly off-putting.

You however seem to have embraced just such a dichotomy – Southern & Northern Hemisphere Seasonal Duality – fully embracing both birthrights. I can’t help but see the symbolism of this playing out in your poetry reflective of your own personal immigrant journey.

KHAYA: Oh, Laura! You made me laugh with the idea of being a Spring/Summer baby being slightly off-putting! I actually find having a claim on both seasons a beautiful contradiction. I guess because it depicts my life.

  • Whale watching season, South Africa
  • Berry picking season, Finland
October’s Seasonal Duality

But you are correct, the dichotomy of seasonal duality is symbolic and plays a huge role in my writing. Poems in Seasons Defined, written over a number of years before being published as a collection, capture this contrast more. They were written from a place of amazement, a sense of awe, not only about love and my second home but I was also seeing my life anew under the microscope of clearly defined Finnish seasons.

I belong to two worlds, and I am at home in both.

Of course, we have four seasons in South Africa but they easily overlap. October, for example, is supposed to be spring but temperatures are already so high that it feels like summer. That’s why I’ve always identified as a summer baby. Then I moved to Finland and what I thought I knew was turned upside down, literally. 🙂

I’ve grown to love autumn, it’s one my favourite seasons. Yet it’s the same season that has the ability to throw me under the bus, if it finds me in a bad mental space. But yes, I’ve embraced it all. I belong to two worlds, and I am at home in both.

…to be continued…commenters will be automatically entered into a drawing for a free autographed copy of From the Depths of Darkness…

What in your life did COVID-19 interrupt?

September 3, 2021 /

That question – cum – title idea for a post has been bouncing around the caverns of my brain for most of this past year. And then a twin question surfaced this Spring as we neared rounding the corner on the Pandemic, bringing with it a glimmer of hope as a surge of people became fully vaxxed (myself included).

What in your life did COVID-19 interrupt?

What in your life did COVID-19 open up?

January 2020 – February 2020
One slice of life we were walking through in bullet points:

  • After a full year of searching, we finally found a business to buy and were in the final round of negotiations for the sale
  • We decided on an area of the country to relocate to, were about to finalize the house hunt and then begin moving – after waiting what seemed like forever to finally do this (I was already 50% packed and ready to go since the beginning of 2019!)
  • Ultimately, we were poised and ready to sign on the dotted line for each of the above
  • Meanwhile the business sale fell through – but we were still on-track with continuing the house search
  • I got sick right before our planned road trip for the final house hunt which in turn delayed that focus and entire move – but we viewed that as a mere postponing of the process
  • Then – March 2020 – COVID-19 took front & center on the world’s stage and everything came to a screeching halt

In our situation, it was more the momentum of our life that got interrupted.

…is what it opened up…

What about you?

Late June, Early July: Hello!

July 6, 2021 /

Yep, I’m still here!

So, it’s been another ‘Colorado Day’. Meaning: a non-swampy South Carolina type of day. Sunshiny lower humidity with high temps…reminiscent of the Mile High weather I’m accustomed to. Inviting me to indulge in a modicum of activity like taking a walk around the block unencumbered by the normally oppressive atmospheric humidity.

It’s been this way since early Springtime.

Nice. However, to be fair, 39% humidity is considered thick humidity in the Colorado high country – but here? Sweet bliss.

Spring walk 2 mimosa
Spring walk 1 magnolia
Spring walk 2 magnolia
Spring day 1 front porch view
Spring day 2 front porch view

The entire country is broiling and truth be told, our respite from high humidity is a concern.

We’ve had the occasional soaker rains. Which I so enjoy – as do the frogs!

🙂

But for the most part, the swamps are pining for the soupy wet summer days of old.

The summer, she is yet young.

Perhaps tomorrow?

Tadpoles by the side of the road after the rains

Poetry as a Pandemic Life Line

April 30, 2021 /

~~~
Today, this last day in April 2021, is also the last day of National Poetry Month.
~~~

Poetry is a life line.

me, Laura Bruno Lilly

Poetry speaks to our aloneness and draws us into a community of common experiences.

Allusions illuminating the seen and unseen – the felt or unfelt.

Resonant expression. Targeting the heart. Melting into one’s soul.

Before, during and post Pandemic – Poetry is a life line.

Thanksgiving Family ZOOM Time

Pandemic Potpourri #6

April 20, 2021 /

It’s been awhile since I wrote one of these posts.

t’s been awhile since I’ve posted, period.

I’m tired. I’m worn out. I’m wasted. Yet, excited to be alive.

Sounds paradoxical.

Perhaps the title of this should be renamed, Pandemic Paradox #1.

Just sayin’…

Three weeks ago, while standing in line for over an hour to get my first vax jab, my line-mates and I rejoiced that we ‘got this far’ through the Pandemic. We even fist-bumped as we each left the 15 minute sit area afterwards. I felt like dancing a jig and until the first stirrings of side affects occurred, I did enjoy a bit of rambunctious behavior around the house!

Today marks the day I received my second vax jab. I was delightfully surprised to see one of my first jab line-mates round the corner into the 15 minute sit area after my second jab today. We ‘caught up’ and reconfirmed our thankfulness for having gotten ‘this far’ and not taking anything for granted.

It did my heart good.

As I left, we fist-bumped a final farewell…and took care to resist the urge to hug.

Mama’s got a new bag of beans!
I opened a new bag of beans today.
(for me that refers to the only beans worth opening – coffee)
They are potent.
As if I’d been imbibing decaf these past weeks rather than the real deal.
The beans know.
🙂

While our latest Family photo (shown below) was taken during a not-so-recent ZOOM Thanksgiving in 2020 we continue to stay close.

I am hopeful that we will gather face-to-face during Family Dinner some day, some how in the months to come.

I wish the same for you and those you hold dear.

Thanksgiving Family ZOOM Time
The Fam, ZOOM Thanksgiving 2020 (l-r: new-to-the-family Lindsey & son Joe in Colorado, Hubby Terry in our living room, me in my studio, son-in-law David & daughter Michelle in Michigan)

Hope, I know, is a fighter and a screamer.

Mary Oliver

Outstanding Blogger Award

March 18, 2021 /
Thank you Mariss for nominating me for this award. Along with the honor it bestows, it also gives me a chance to break out of blogger’s rut!

In keeping with Mariss’ attention to word definitions (she ferreted out what exactly a blog award nomination really means) I thought I’d first focus on what the name of the blogging award she nominated me for really means.

outstanding: adj (1611) 1. standing out – projecting 2a. unpaid 2b. continuing; unresolved 2c. publicly issued and sold securities 3a. standing out from a group – conspicuous 3b. marked by eminence and distinction syn: noticeable  

Webster’s 9th new Collegiate Dictionary, 1988

Personally, the part of that definition I can relate with is 2b. continuing; unresolved.

Which segues easily into question number one of five to be answered with regards to accepting this blogger award!

  1. For how long have you been writing a blog?
    This website/blog went live on August 30, 2013 (and the journey continues…)
  2. What made you start?
    from my first post: “The obvious answer to this is of course, ‘Why not?’  I, however, could think of many reasons ‘why not’ whenever it was suggested to me to begin blogging. The biggest one being: anybody and their uncle can write anything and put it up into the nether-land of cyberspace for all to see regardless of quality. And then I remembered that was one of the main reasons I’d balked at recording my first cd. As a working musician, I’d done demos and was busy with gigging, teaching and performing. After all, anybody and their uncle can record anything for all to hear regardless of quality; it is all so easy to do these days…I needed someplace to showcase my (he)art, give voice to our between-homes journey and perhaps even enlighten others of the parallel communities filled with invisible ones living among us in 21st Century America. And blogging is yet one more tool to get what needs to be said out there.“
  3. Why do you continue to blog?
    Unresolved stuff mixed with Pandemic stuff.
    Pandemic stuff is probably understood by most.
    Unresolved stuff – beyond the scope of this blog post!
  4. Have you ever met any of your fellow bloggers face to face? If so, how did it feel?
    Nope. Never. But plenty of Almosts.
    I imagine it will feel like a crazy-fun disconnect-reveal simultaneously turning into an old friend/new friend reunion type thing – Let’s do it!
  5. Do you write regularly? If so, why?
    Yep. Different reasons – daily entries in my Morning Pages since 1997 help in sorting through issues/plans/ideas/clearing out/etc. Other writing is for pure pleasure of creative expression.

Now it’s my turn to nominate and ask a few questions. To those nominated, there is no obligation to take up the challenge of answering and asking the questions. If you do accept, then please answer the questions, nominate 5 other bloggers and then compile a set of 5 of your own questions.

Have Fun!

The Questions:
  1. What’s the first thing (or two) you’ll do once you ‘get your shot’ and/or the world otherwise opens back up after the Pandemic?
  2. What makes you break into your ‘happy dance’?
  3. What was your favorite subject when you were in school?
  4. Which of your blog posts is your favorite and why? Please provide a link.
  5. Coffee, tea or ????
Two of my favorite things: goats and dark roast coffee

Snow Joy (Poem)

February 10, 2021 / 
Snow Joy
Laura Bruno Lilly ©2020
I don’t want to gaze upon its sparkly freshness.
         
              I don’t want to observe.

I don’t want to talk about it or take pictures of its transformative effect upon the common everyday landscape.

I don’t want to sit in warmth and take in the frosty view through my studio picture window.

              I want to leap and dive and splash about.

              I want to be in it.
To be clear, this is not me, but an unknown kindred spirit!

gif credit

Mariss' Kantha

Pandemic Potpourri V

November 21, 2020 /
Mariss' Kantha
October’s Kantha Piece by Mariss Stevens

First and foremost, I just had to show off this piece by my friend, Mariss. I’ve long admired her fiber art – and her curiosity about trying new techniques. After attending a course given at the South African National Quilt Festival in 2019 on Kantha stitching (pre-COVID – remember when?), she decided to experiment with the stitch form by making monthly samplers. As she says, “What has caught my imagination is how the simple running stitch can be used to produce such varied patterns and effects.”

Coincidentally, she began her samplers in January 2020 and they have since become a form of meditative creation for her as this year of the Pandemic has persisted & progressed. (click here and here for photos of each month’s sampler thus far)

Changing gears: How about a little help with my poem WIP? Below are two versions of Making Bread. If you feel so inclined, please read through both and then in the comments below let me know which word you prefer. I waffle between the two of them. Oh and, anybody notice the relationship between the Kantha piece above and something else on this blog post? If so, let me know about your discoveries in the comments.

Making Bread – poem WIP version #1:

                  Making Bread - poem WIP
                         (LBL - MMXX)

Making bread
I become a Builder.

                   Hands kneading.
                   Yeasty gases expanding.

Making bread.
I watch as it shapes a story.

Making Bread – poem WIP version #2:

                  Making Bread - poem WIP
                         (LBL - MMXX)

Making bread
I become a Builder.

                   Hands kneading.
                   Yeasty gases ballooning.

Making bread.
I watch as it shapes a story.
And last, but not least, just because this is how I’m feeling right now…

7 year itch on WP begins

August 15, 2020 /
Happy 7 year bloggoversary!

Well folks, this month, 7 years ago I pubbed my first blog post.

This year, I completed a long overdue update & overhaul of my site, announcing its 2020 Grand Re-Opening just last month. Perfect (yet unintended) timing for my 7 year bloggoversary.

Bloggoversaries come and go. Case in point: #5 was all but forgotten. And with #6 I made up for that by posting a little something for 6 days in a row. I thought that was challenging.

Who knew this year I’d tackle the whole enchilada? 🙂

Oh, and, if not for the encouragement from an early blogger buddy* 2 years into this, I’d not be here at all…

The true gift of this project was its ending becoming a beginning

me, upon completion of my 2020 website revisioning & Grand overhaul

*Thank-you, L.Marie!

Finding Home (Poem)

July 13, 2020 /

Finding Home
by Laura Bruno Lilly
© 2020

I’ll know.

When it feels right.

Deep down in the dark moonlight

filled with desert delight

and

mountain might.

Finding Home.

Where past meets now and future hopes crystallize.

Where how and why are captured

kept as secret gardens – growing spirit – with a side of fruit.

A slice of juicy watermelon slaking my thirst.

I belong.

inspired by Gavin Luke’s piece…thank you poetic muse

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