Poetry and Potpourri .... October 24-25-26, 2003

10-24-2003 | JustAmy, St.Louie1 and Mama_Bear

[JustAmy]

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The Poetry Branch has been in limbo since the prior hostess left FreeRepublic April 15th 2003. We've since learned that said hostess has lost her posting privilege. That being the case, and Jim Robinson having given his ok, I wanted to renew the thread.

FreeRepublic is blessed with many fine poets, and we look forward to seeing their poems posted on FR once again. There were many non-poet FReepers who visited the Poetry Branch for the camaraderie; we hope they will return.

I would like to invite everyone to visit and relax at Poetry and Potpourri. Hopefully you will renew old acquaintances for chatting, sharing jokes, telling stories, posting cartoons, etc. Everyone needs a place to escape from the everyday news, make Poetry and Potpourri that place.

...................

The Belvedere's Guardian Wolf ~
the always charming, lovable, huggable,
LouieWolf.

[The Mayor]

Through prayer, finite man draws upon the power of the infinite God.

[firewalk]

Good morning
beautiful day here
hope it is where you are too

[Calpernia]

Morning. Off to the farm today so the kids can pick pumpkins. Be back later.

A Short History of the Pumpkin

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in North America. Seeds from related plants have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 to 5500 B.C.

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion." American colonists changed "pumpion" into "pumpkin."

Native American Indians used pumpkin as a staple in their diets centuries before the pilgrims landed. They also dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. Indians would also roast long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and eat them. When white settlers arrived, they saw the pumpkins grown by the Indians and pumpkin soon became a staple in their diets. As today, early settlers used them in a wide variety of recipes from desserts to stews and soups. The origin of pumpkin pie is thought to have occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and then filled it with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in the hot ashes of a dying fire.

Pumpkins and Halloween

The origin of Halloween dates back at least 3,000 years to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced "sow-ain"). The festival was held starting at sundown on October 31st and lasted until sundown on November 1st. It was similar to the modern practice of the New Years celebration.

On this magical night, glowing jack-o-lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles.

Samhain was not the name of a "Lord of the Dead", no historical evidence has ever been found to back this up, it was simply the name of the festival and meant "Summer's End". It was believed that the souls of the dead were closest to this world and was the best time to contact them to say good bye or ask for assistance. It was also a celebration of the harvest. It is still treated as such today by those who practice Wicca or other nature based religions. It has absolutely nothing to do with satan, who was a creation of the Christian church.

When European settlers, particularly the Irish, arrived in America they found the native pumpkin to be larger, easier to carve and seemed the perfect choice for jack-o-lanterns. Halloween didn't really catch on big in this country until the late 1800's and has been celebrated in many ways ever since!

[MeekOneGOP]

Mornin', everybody ! Happy Saturday !

Don't forget to set your clocks BACK one hour tonight !

Have a cup while you FReep !

[Alamo-Girl]

Beautiful! Thank you!

[Libertina]

October hello pumpkin lovers :)
Good morning, I love all these pumpkins. I know some people say it's a "bad" time, but I just love Halloween and all the decorations, weather, and colors. Have a geat day everyone!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hello everybody.

Summer Shower
By Emily Dickinson

A drop fell on the apple tree,
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roads,
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected lutes,
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fête away.

[Jen]

Hello FRiends! It's college football day. Go 'Noles!!! See y'all later.

---

Abort, Retry, Ignore

by Lucy Blades

Once upon a midnight dreary,
Fingers cramped and vision bleary,
System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor,
Longing for the warmth of bedsheets,
Still I sat here doing spreadsheets:
Having reached the bottom line, I took a floppy from the drawer.

Typing with a steady hand,
I then invoked the "save" command
But got instead a reprimand: it read, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
Was this some occult illusion?
Some manacal type intrusion?
These were choices Solomon himself had never faced before.

Carefully I weighed my options...
These three seemed to be the top ones.
Clearly I must now adopt one; choose: Abort, Retry, Ignore?
With my fingers pale and trembling
Slowly toward the keyboard bending,
Longing for a happy ending, hoping all would be restored

Praying for some guarantee,
Finally I pressed a key.
But what on the screen did I see? Again "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
I tried to catch the chips off guard -
I pressed again, but twice as hard,
But luck was just not on the cards, I saw what I had seen before.

Now I typed in desperation
Trying random combinations.
Still there came the incantation "Abort, Retry, Ignore."
There I sat, distraught, exhausted,
By my own machine accosted
getting up, I turned away and paced across the office floor.

And then I saw an awful sight
A bold and blinding flash of light
A lightening bolt that cut the night, and shook me to my very core.
The PC screen collapsed and died.
"OH NO! MY DATABASE!" I cried.
I heard a distant voice reply, "You'll see your spreadsheets...nevermore!"

To this day I do not know
The place to which our data goes.
perhaps it goes to heaven, where the angels have it stored.
But as for Productivity, well,
I fear this has gone straight to Hell.
And that's the tale I have to tell - your choice: Abort, Retry, Ignore.

[JustAmy]

Daisies

Daisies are the friendliest flowers
That grow beneath the sky.
They nod and wave for endless hours
To every passer-by.

When on the hills in early spring
Their happy faces smile
In answering to their beckoning
I'd journey for a mile.

I put them in my crystal vase
With baby's breath and rose,
And they assume a stately grace
As any flower that blows.

They laugh and whisper through the days,
When night comes on apace,
I seem to see in star-bouquets

A daisy's smiling face.

By Laressa Cox McBurney
Published in 1938

[JethroHathAWay]

Thankyou for the lovely poem about the loon JA! It made me meditate on loons too! Here is the poem:

Loons at Twilight

It was just a lovers quarrel
but it sent me out to the lake
in winter
the treacherous moon
that spoke of love in summer
was spinning like a silver disc
in a gray-blue sky that promised
to do me injury if I stayed

How could that girl kill me
while professing her love?
I guessed there must be more to the heart
than I ever knew.
I flicked my Marlboro
at the moon and then I heard
geese calling over the wind
"Move on" they seemed to say
but meditating on forgiveness
I saw that they were liars
for after all
they were sleeping
not in the south but on a bed of ice!
Then overhead, I heard a sound
like water falling, like
fairies calling, like icicles crashing
when winter melts away!
A pair of laughing loons
were winging out onto the water --
fearless or clueless, they were uncaring
of life's little storms.
I drove that old red pickum-up
truck back to town.
The AM-PM was open, so
I bought that girl a winter rose
and left it on her car.

[MeekOneGOP]

... And that's the tale I have to tell - your choice: Abort, Retry, Ignore.

ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ...

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly BACK !

Essential piece of equipment was not delivered, so Gala Field Trip cancelled for next weekend.

...now where was I...

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly BACK !

Essential piece of equipment was not delivered, so Gala Field Trip cancelled for next weekend.

...now where was I...

[Libertina]

Daisies are the friendliest flowers! Didn't Meg Ryan say that in You've Got Mail? I love daisies too.

[PoorMuttly]

hey...it wasn't THAT important, Jim...

[Jen]

Hey Muttley! Still confined to the backyard then? Poor pup. Would you like some tasty Skwerl Souffle?

[PoorMuttly]

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jen]

Great! Just run on over to my backyard and catch 6 of them. I'll heat up the oven.

You don't mind skinning them, do you?

[PoorMuttly]

The skin is the best part. Tails kind-of stringy, though.

Rocky a personal friend....so I can't go too far.

[Jen]

I know Rocky! He recently enrolled in my Rodent Air Force flight school. Here's a video of some of his recent training.

Turn up your speakers so you can hear Rocky's narration.