Speak to the Queen

my chin up
I’m focused on the future,
like a queen

Inside every woman is a queen. Speak to the queen, and she will answer. — Norwegian Proverb

Notes: I’ve traveled every few weeks recently, and my day job and family have been utterly consuming. Finding the time and energy for poetry hasn’t been easy. I start poems. Edit poems. Leave them unfinished, unready to publish. It’s akin to writer’s block, but instead of having nothing to say, I have too much. I’m already thinking about the next trip (Mexico this time and Spain after that). I quiet my mind and collect my memories. Perhaps new poems will come as I sort photographs. I admire travel bloggers that blog as they go. I need the quiet.

This photograph was taken from the double decker bus I rode around Dublin in July, snapping windows and doorways. I expected none of them to be in focus, but I was lucky with a few, like this one. This turns out to be a hair salon with a perfect name. Every woman is queen of her own life. I started this post the day before Queen Elizabeth II passed and as I returned to edit, it made me sad. But the tide has turned, and it’s started to make me happy again. Maybe it will make you happy, too.

Writing Tip: This poem is a lune (an American Haiku) based on the number of words rather than syllables, 3-5-3, invented by Robert Kelly. A lune doesn’t need to reference nature, contain a theme or cutting words but each word should count. I decided it was a good form for being positive. Here’s a taste of Robert Kelly:

science is the same as poetry
only it uses the wrong words

— Robert Kelly “Science”