Thanksgivukkah

CLICK HERE

A once in a life time event

Bringing together two holidays;

One sacred,

One secular.

An historic overlap--

Thanksgiving

The first day of Hanukkah.

Two holidays—

Both joyful,

celebrating
religious freedom.

CLICK HERE

Two holidays--

Both beloved,

bringing families together.

Thanksgiving. Hanukkah,

Thanksgivukkah.

  





Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah fall on the same day.  It won’t happen again until 79811.  Such a rare even just had to be commemorated with a news print poem.



Order a batch for the holiday

The last time it happened was in November 29, 1888 when thanks giving was on the last Thursday of the month and Thanksgiving fell on the fifth Thursday of the month.

 

© Catherine Giordano 2013

Please like, share , and tweet. Please follow by email.
(See box just above the shopping cart.)

Click the links to go to amazon.com.  I'll earn a small commission on whatever you buy. No extra cost to you.

Navy Yard Shooting

A two-hour shooting rampage—

Twelve people shot to death.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Shots fired.

A dozen died.

Another act of violence.

Another mass shooting.

Another rampage.

There is something evil in our society.

There is something wrong.

Another massacre.  Another day of hand-wringing.  Another day of inaction on gun safety. 

©  Catherine Giordano 2013

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing."

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my posts.

Is this our only option now?  Click here to look inside.

Fun

Have Fun with
 SpongeBob SquarePants

Bored?

Channel your inner kid.

Bring back a sense of play.

Appreciate a wink of whimsy.

Think lighthearted.

We all need this in our lives.

Consider adventurous playfulness,

levity, and a sense of fun.

Be as wild as you want to be.

The most important thing in life

is being willing to laugh.

In my essay, “The Amazing Gift of Laughter”, I say declare today “Act Like a Kid Day.”  (It’s in my book, “What Ifs, If Only’s and So Whats.”)

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing."

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

 

Lionfish

CLICK HERE

Very greedy lionfish,

gobbling up

shrimp, crab, and reef fish.

They deliver a painful sting

that can produce

severe swelling.

A threat, a nuisance,

that cannot be eliminated.

But, they’re tasty.

If you can’t beat them, eat them.

They are here to stay

Make the best of it.

 

© 2012 Catherine Giordano 

The Orlando Sentinel had an article about lionfish in last week's paper and it reminded me of this poem from January 4, 2012 that I never posted. They are still a problem.

7/24/14: More news about lionfish in the Orlando Sentinel.  This time it is about a cookbook for lionfish. Sales of the book benefit marine conservation. This book would make a great gift for divers, fishers and chefs. If you are interested in learning more about culinary solutions to other invasive plants and animals, check out  eattheinvaders.org .


Click here for more on lionfish

 
Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing."

 

.

Running

Click Here to learn more about running

                                                             

Running

    full-speed,

         as fast as you can—
              Exhilaration.

Running,

     utterly pure,
        just you alone—
           Heart blessed.

Running,

    close to flying,
        strong and free—
            Endorphin-infused joy.

 

I used to enjoy going out for a jog.  Now, I have back problems, so no more running.

 

This is an August 2012 poem that I did not post to this blog last year.

 

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles. 

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

Not Guilty

George Zimmerman is a free man.

The jury acquitted Zimmerman.

Jurors found Zimmerman acted
in self-defense

when he shot Travyvon Martin,

an unarmed teenager.

A tragedy.

A travesty.

A heart breaking outcome.

In the wake of the verdict,

can Trayvon Martin rest in peace?

To the dead we owe the truth.

And outrage!

What I like most about this type of poetry is the freedom I have with the words I select, and the words I drop, to create a message and tone so different from the actual news story.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Use the search function above to see all of the other news print poems about Trayvon Martin.

 

Please share this poem by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.

Please "follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.


Order a Trayvon Martin Not Forgotten T-Shirt

Spire Tops Trade Center

Workers cheered.

Spectators applauded.

The spire, draped in an American flag,

set atop One World Trade Center.

The silver structure

will serve as a broadcast atenna,

a signal for aircraft

a symbol of the resurrection

of One World Trade Center.

It’s a proud day for the city.

With the 408 foot spire added, One World Trade Center is 1,776 feet high, symbolic of the year the United States declared independence.  It is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. It took 11-plus years, but New York City has now restored its skyline.

© 2013 Catherine Giordano

Please share this poem by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing." 

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

Click Here for World Trade Center items.

Kisses

On his album

“Kisses on the Bottom”

Paul McCartney

takes a casual stroll

down Tin Pan Alley.

Classic songbook fare,

the core of countless jazz albums,

McCartney’s stab at the nostalgia market,

framed as a Valentine’s Day gift

to his new wife, Nancy.

A late career roll,

this slow dance with the misty past.

A let-down.

These songs are meant to swing;

McCartney lets them plod.

Sometimes you need to know when to quit.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Please share this poem by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.

Please "follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

Florida Film Festival

Here's the poster for the 2013 Film Festival.

Film.  Food.  Fun.

Catch the latest films.

Mingle with celebrities.

Chat with filmmakers.

Florida Film Festival:

The best cinema.

The hottest parties.

The fabulous food.

Non-stop fun. 




CLICK HERE

to look inside

The Florida Film Festival starts next Friday, April 5, 2013.  Here’s a news print poem I did about it last year.  I took it from an ad.  Here is the poster for the 2013 Florida Film Festival.

Please share this poem by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.

Please "follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

State of the Union Focus

Our unfinished task:

Restore the basic bargain

that built this country—

the idea

that if you work hard,

if you meet your responsibilities,

you can get ahead,

no matter where you come from,

no matter what you look like,

no matter who you love.

Our unfinished task:

Make sure that government works

on behalf of the many,

not just the few.

Barack Obama’s speeches are so poetic that I have to do very little to them to transform them into a poem.

  

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Please share this poem by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

This picture is from http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com

Pickles

Pickles lead mysterious lives,                                                     

Click Here to Order Specialty Pickles

trolling the briny depths.

They seem content.

Shoulder to shoulder

tightly packed,

treading their bracken aquarium.

The pickle fisherman

descends two brave fingers

into the cold green waters.

The angler tastes sweet and salt

herb and spice

chilly present and summer past.

In a previous life,

the pickle knew warm days

and cool smooth skin.

It lived a previous life as a cucumber.

Everybody liked my poem "Ticked Off" (see December 19, 2012 post) that was about cucumbers, I thought you might like this one about pickles.  This poem bout pickles is from August 22, 2012. 

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Please share  by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" 

Please "follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

Click Here for this and other books about pickling

River-of-Grass Beast

This picture is from http://smithsonianscience.org

A monster Burmese Python,

captured in the Everglades,

breaking the state size record,

stretching seventeen feet seven inches,

bursting with 87 eggs.

This thing--monstrous--

A foot wide.

The snake-- under surveillance--

fitted with a radio transmitter,

like a captured spy,

a double agent, a Judas snake.

It’s usefulness at an end.

it was euthanized.

CLICK HERE
to look inside

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Please share this poem by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.

Please "follow" so you don't miss any of my poems.

 

On Tuesday August 14, 2012, there was a story in the Orlando Sentinel about the Burmese Pythons in the Everglades.  I did a news print poem about it, but I didn’t post it because I used another poem that day.

Florida has instituted “The Great Python Challenge” to try to reduce the numbers of these snakes in Florida.  It’s a one-month hunting season for pythons with a prize of $1,500 for whoever kills the most and a $1,000 prize for whoever gets the largest.

Burmese pythons in the Everglades are big news right now.  Senator Bill Nelson was out hunting pythons last week, and Stephen Colbert did a segment about the python hunt on his show this week. 

The Best of 2012

My new book is available on amazon.com.  News Print Poetry: The Best of 2012 

It was fun going back and reviewing the year in poetry. The hard part was choosing which poems to include in the anthology. They are all the best.

I ended up including 179 poems. I selected those that concerned important events, those that worked particularly well as poems, and those that just tickled my fancy.  

I hope my readers will want to have the hard copy. It will be fun to reread the poems in coming years and remember the events of 2012. 

It  makes a great gift for someone born in 2012 or someone with any significant life event (marriage, graduation, etc. during the year.)  

The poems are taken from news stories in the Orlando Sentinel so many of the poems are Florida-centric or Central Florida-centric. It make a nice hostess gift when you sty with friends or family in Florida, a nice  housewarming gift for a new Florida resident, or a nice gift for Floridians to give to the folks "up north."

Further, your purchase of this book will be your gift to me. The blog was a labor of love for 12 months, but earning a little money from my "labor-of-love" would be nice.

 Please share this post by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.