Rosie's Victories

This picture of a rose named "Hot Pink"
 is from www.wholeblossoms.com.

I have one life to live.

I am determined to live to the fullest.
The big “C” isn’t slowing me down.
Breast cancer is serious
    and so is being a wife,
    mother, and friend.
I am rocking HOT PINK.
I am fighting like a GIRL.

October is National Breast Cancer Month.  On October 1, I took my poem from a feature called “Life’s Victories” an Orlando Sentinel feature that highlighted the story of one breast cancer survivor each day.  Today on this last day of National Breast Cancer month, I choose to close the month with another poem about a breast cancer survivor.

 

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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Sandy Slams

Read books about
Hurricane Sandy

Cyclone Sandy roared ashore,
paralyzing the nation’s epicenters of power
plunging small coastal communities into crisis.

Cyclone Sandy crashed ashore--

a freak event–a late-season hurricane,
hemmed in by weather bands,

gobbling up the energy of the Gulf Stream,

raking the coast, growing into
a ragged thousand-mile storm,

growing in power, pushing a wall

of seawater onto shore,
forcing rivers to run backwards.

A plodding ogre of a storm,

casting tropical storm winds
from the Carolinas to Maine.

A threat to millions,

substantial storm surge, high winds,
a week of misery for the Northeast.

It seems the hurricanes are passing Florida by and smacking the North.

 © 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

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Souls to the Polls

 A line of cars,

               vans,

               church buses

               backed up for blocks.

Voters participating Sunday

in “Souls to the Polls”—

an early-voting tradition. 

The traditional day

for early-voting

is the Sunday

just before Election Day.

This year Florida shortened

the number of days
for early-voting,
eliminating that Sunday.

You can take a Sunday away,

but you can’t take away

 Our Vote!

Our Voice!

 

The procession of vehicles parked.

The people walked.

Dark suits, long dresses,

jeans and dress slacks,
heels, sandals, and sneakers.

They walked the narrow path in the grass.

They walked across the railroad tracks.
They walked past the political signs.
They walked like they were in a parade.

It was amazing to see

the unity in the community.
Today was about coming together.

The image of a parade of mostly African-American people (Hispanics and Muslims

participated too) proudly marching to the polls to cast their votes gets me misty-eyed. 

It brings back memories of the civil rights marches. Shame on the Florida Legislature

for trying to interfere with this tradition! Kudos to the churches for refusing to be deterred.

 

© 2012 by Catherine Giordano

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This picture is from www.orlandosentinel.com

America

This election is a fight about identity. 
It’s about who we are.
It’s about who we aspire to be.

Obama leads among women.

Obama leads among Latinos.
Obama leads among African-Americans.
Romney leads white men.

Republicans vow to “Take back our country.”

They never say from whom.
We can guess.

Issues of race, power, and privilege—

front and center.

The nation has changed.

We are a nation of racial and ethnic minorities.

The world has changed.

We can assert, but not dictate.

Obama embodies the America of now.

Obama is right choice.

Romney will repeal health care, give tax cuts to the wealthy, turn Medicare into a voucher program, rescind equal rights for women, African Americans, immigrants, gays and other minorities, and with Supreme Court appointments, turn this country so far right we will never recover.

 

Romney is the Right’s choice.  Obama is the right choice.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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This picture is from http://www.addictinginfo.org, a website with a lot of good info about the election.

Insight

Mitt Romney will lose in November.

His political epitaph will read:

What a tangled web he did weave

When he constantly forgot

What he last pretended to believe.

Sometimes the poetry gods smile on me and I get a ready-made poem.  This poem came from the 30-word rant column without any attribution.  Thank you, anonymous contributor.  

 © 2012 Catherine Giordano

This picture is from tumblr

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Farm Fresh

Farmers markets—
a place to make connections
with the people who grow our food.

Florida has so many farmers,

passionate about what they do,
growing on small boutique farms,

Winter Park Farmers Market,

Saturday morning,
at the city’s old train depot.

Farmers Markets are a place to connect not only with farmers and purveyors of artisan food (jams, relishes, etc.), but also a place to connect with friends and neighbors.  Support local farmers and support your community.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

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This pictue is from www.unlockorlando.com

 

Sandscapes

When Florida’s coastal winds blow—
soft coquina red sands
mix in with harder-packed white sands—
creating wind-blown sandscapes,
a continuous miles-long modern-art painting.

Swirls, dabs, strokes of red crushed coquina,

undulating patterns of white sands,
creating dreamy vistas, surreal scenes.

Nature’s own beach-bound art work.

You can see these sandscapes on Volusia County beaches when the winds blow from the northeast as they do in the fall.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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Get beach front property (sort of)
This mural gives you a beach view
no matter where you live
Click here for more into

 

Lil Joe and Slip

Lil Joe, the manatee—the story of his life

continues to amaze— reunites with an old pal.

 

Lil Joe—plucked from a shallow river

in east Orange County,

marooned, starving,

dehydrated, underweight,

the knobs and creases of his skull visible,

his ribs bulging,

the loose skin of his concave belly

bunched up.

 

 Lil Joe—taken back to Sea World Orlando

where he had lived as an orphaned newborn—

reunited with Slip, his long time aquarium mate,

two kindred spirits.

 

Lil Joe, a pudgy bottle-raid orphan;

Slip, his mother dead of birth complications. 

Slip, like Lil Joe hardly knew his mother.

 

In twenty-ten they were set free at Blue Spring,

where the warm spring water

attracts hundreds of manatees each winter.

The two went their separate ways. 

 

This year, Slip, stressed by cold,

was taken back to Sea World Orlando.

Later, Lil Joe was rescued from the Little Econ.

Lil Joe and Slip are together again.

 

I wrote a news print poem about Lil Joe on  9/21/12 .  I am fascinated by manatees, so when I saw the story about Lil Joe in today’s paper, I had to continue the saga of this amazing sea mammal.

 

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

This picture is from http://emol.org

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Hiking

Hiking is a wonderful way to connect,

Get exercise,

Get way from distractions—

TV’s, computers—

refocus on the world.

Walk in the wilderness.

It’s fun and low stress.

It’s about the journey,

Not the destination.

Relax,

Enjoy trail adventures.

We all need a little quiet time in a natural environment, hiking in the woods, a walking on a deserted beach, cruising in sailboat in the Caribbean.  Sll things I used to do, but seldom do anymore.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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This picture of hikers is from www.theoutdoorsguy.com
 

Gridiron Girls

Girls are about frilly pink things?

Girls are all about everything dainty and sweet? 

These girls love blood-stained uniforms;

These girls love the punishing pursuit of football—

Tackle football. 

The gall  of women

playing tackle football

in an all women’s league.

Why on earth would women want to play tackle football?

Why on earth would men want to play tackle football? 

They enjoy it. 

They let women get shot at in war;

might as well let them play football too.

Let your little girls play tackle football.

Not all little girls are breakable.

I thought Gridiron Girls (it's a documentary) was a fun topic for a poem.  Play tackle football?  I won’t even watch football.  But to each his own—If the girls want to play, more power to them.

 © 2012 Catherine Giordano



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Freak Out



CLICK HERE
to order pumpkin decoration

FREAK OUT

Treat-size candy,

super jumbo mixed bag,

Witch’s hat

Masquerade mask

Kids Costumes

Pets Costumes

Pumpkins

Trick or Treat

Frightful Halloween Fun

All on Sale

Unbeatable Prices.

I took today’s poem from an advertising insert to the newspaper.  Halloween has become another big commercial holiday.  No matter, its fun to have three big holidays over three months, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano 


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On Climate Change

Rising sea levels,

caused by hotter temperatures,

having dramatic effects.

Sea level rise causing flooding,

damaging infrastructure,

ruining fresh water,

challenging our capacity

to respond.   

Our collective economic

well-being, the safety of future

generations is on the line.

People of conscience

are rallying
in solidarity.

The world is at stake.

The costs to humanity,
an indisputable reality. 

New technologies for energy will help avoid the greenhouse gases that are responsible for climate change while creating new industries and prosperity.  It’s win-win.

 

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© 2012 Catherine Giordano

I found this picture at

http://www.what-is-global-warming.com

Biker Festival

BiketoberFest is back.

Harley Davidson Riders

Leather and Jeans

Rock Concerts and Beer

Riding

Partying

Having a Good Time

It’s what we are about.

 

BiketoberFest was started in 1992 by the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau to draw tourists during the slow season.  The four-day event (October 18 to 21, 2012) draws 100,000 people and brings in $200 million dollars.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

This picture is from http://www.dillonharley.com

 

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Free Fall

Felix Baumgartner
steps off the small ledge
of a space capsule for a 24-mile plunge

t

o

 

e

a

r

t

h.

The highest

balloon ride and parachute drop;
the fastest and longest free-fall this side
of Oz.

The most spectacular

publicity stunt in history, this surreality
-television event had a happy ending, going off without
a hitch.

A two-and-one half hour

balloon ride up; a much quicker
journey home, breaking the sound barrier,
landing safely.

A four-minute free-fall

faster, further than any man in history
without shattering anything more than a few
records.

Felix Baumgartner fell from 128,000 feet, taking a 24 mile plunge to earth, going from 834 miles an hour to zero.  He wore a pressurized flight suit to keep his bodily fluids from turning to gases. You can watch it on YouTube.

Have a mentioned before that I don’t like heights… or speed?

 © 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

This  picture is from http://guardian.co.uk

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Obama Up

Energetic,
aggressive,
Obama
went after his challenger
attacking
Romney
on his plans
for the economy.

Romney’s plan--

make sure
the folks at the top
play by a different set of rules,
lower tax rates for the wealthy.

Romney

saying things that are not true.
Romney
on the defensive.
Romney’s
math not adding up.

Obama displayed toughness.

Obama gained ground.

Obama is back, handily winning the second debate. I don’t know what was wrong with Obama at the first debate; maybe he was just exhausted. 

Obama called Romney out on his lies.  Governor Romney, when the moderator has to intercede to tell you that you are not speaking the truth, you might as well just pack up and go home.

Romney’s demeanor at the debate showed who is is—an arrogant bully.  At the first debate he sported a smug smile, during this debate he had a tight smile.  The smug smile said “Ha Ha I’m winning;” the tight smile said “I’m losing.”  

At the first debate I thought he wanted to break out into a victory dance.  At the second debate, I thought he wanted to stomp his foot through the floor like Rumplestiltskin.

 

Romney reminds me of Rumplestiltskin--

consumed by his desire for gold, exploiting the weak, furious in defeat--

so I’m using this illustration from http://storynory.com to illustrate this poem.

I had to add this picture of Romney's tight-lipped smile (scowl) that I found on Huffington Post. 

 

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