Poem A Day for Day 21

I am posting the poems I wrote today. The prompt was to write a Haiku. So I wrote more than one. I'm posting all of them. They are mostly about nature, but some of them aren't.:) But before that I want to remind you that if you have a post about Earth Day please join this group:

Read all the posts here. Mine will be there too.:)

Here are the Haikus:

Haiku

Haiku #1

Delicate blossoms

gathering on tree branches

Decorate the roads

Haiku #2

Joy resides not in

thinking about what you will do

But in the job done.

Haiku #3

Green covers the ground

Grass sweet smelling and fresh grows

Allergies arise

Haiku #4

Wild violets bloom

in hidden places away

from stomping feet

Haiku #5

Why can’t I ever

find a shoe I’d swoon about

that also fits me?

Haiku #6

We set aside this

day to remember Jewish

Extermination

copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu

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Don't forget that Thursday, April 23rd I will be hosting our guest author, John Wayne Cargile, who is an award winning journalist whose first novel, The Cry of the Cuckoos, is generating quite a bit of discussion. Please stop by to see the interview and post a comment or question. When you post a comment or question you will be enrolled in the drawing for a free e-Book from the author.

Earth Day - 2009 - Bloggers Unite- Living a "Green" Life!

HAPPY EARTH DAY !

Today is Earth Day and as a way to commemorate this I have joined with others in the blogging community in a group called Bloggers Unite. This means that we are concentrating on Earth Day issues. For me this means, putting a stop to global warming, helping to feed the hungry all over the world, controlling disease worldwide, bringing these issues to the attention of everyone in the world!!!

If you look at the Earth from space you see a beautiful blue planet with patches of green and brown. It's like looking at a baby sleeping. You want to pick it up and hold it, but you know that is impossible. We have to care for the Earth as if it were our baby. We must think of ourselves as caretakers, because we will be handing it over to the coming generation and we need to keep it in good shape for them. We need to control the activities of people who don't feel this way. They are selfishly using it for their own greedy ends and they care little about how they leave it. I'm thinking about the ones who have raped the mountains of Appalachia or the companies who have come into the rain forests and stripped them of their resources, the trees. Or how about the companies who use pesticides to fight destruction of crops instead of using organic methods. They don't care about the health of the people who will eat their crops or about what using these chemicals is doing to the Earth.

We must fight these attitudes by becoming models of doing the right thing. Every time you see a company or an individual is destroying the land for their own ends you need to act. Sometimes it is as easy as signing a petition online.

In the past couple of years even when the Bush Administration was allowing companies to destroy our wilderness areas, wildlife groups sent out petitions and I signed as many as I needed to sign to preserve our wilderness areas. Preservation of these areas helps to care for the Earth. The combined power of so many people signing the same petition stopped these companies from being able to destroy our wilderness. The courts took care of them. It was a free, simple, easy way to fight back against the ones who would destroy the land. So if you get one of these petitions to sign don't think they won't work. Sign it and do the wilderness a favor. Become a member of The Sierra Club and Greenpeace. Join the African Wildlife Foundation. Help to keep animals from becoming extinct. Support as many of these kind of organizations that you can. You may get more email, but it's easy to delete the ones you don't want to read when the campaign is over. :)

An easy way to help is to recycle as much as you can. Most towns and cities have recycles added to their sanitation removal. It's so simple to stockpile your recycles and throw them out on garbage day. You can make this part of your life and your children's lives. Buy from companies that have been trying to lower their global footprint. This is a number that takes into account every activity you do to conserve energy. If you own a home consider using a more environmentally friendly insulation and using solar power for energy. Becoming Green means thinking about how what you are doing is affecting the Earth. Work on your own environmental footprint each day. Make it as low as possible. Using products from Green companies helps your footprint too. It can be as simple as changing your dishwashing detergent.

Here are ways that I have tried to lower our footprint and become more Green:

• Recycle all aluminum cans including canned goods, all glass bottles, aluminum take out tins, aluminum foil.
• Keep cardboard boxes separate and follow directions from your sanitation company for how to dispose of them.
• Recycle all magazines, flyers, catalogs, used paper of any kind, in paper bags. When you shred anything recycle the shredded pieces in a separate bag.
• Turn off any lights you are not using. Unplug appliances that are not being used.
• Replace usual cleaning products with "Green" products. One easy way is to buy dishwashing detergent actually made by Clorox that is totally natural. It works very well and is good for your hands. It's called: "green works" and comes in various scents.
• Change your cleaning liquid to one that is "Green". "green works" has products for different uses. See the website to find more. There's another very good product made by a small company called: Bio Green Clean that will clean almost anything and is safe.
• Buy organic vegetables, fruit, meats and poultry. Not only is this better for you, but these products have been grown in a way that is careful to take care of the Earth.
• Boycott products from companies that do not take care of the Earth.
• Protest anything that will destroy the environment either locally, nationally or globally.
• Take your dry cleaning to a place that uses "green" techniques. You will find that the usual dry cleaning smell is not there. Your clothes will feel and smell much better.:)

If you are using any technique that you would like to share please leave a comment here.

My usual Poem A Day post follows this one. Happy Earth Day!!!! What are you doing for Earth Day?

There's more, but I want to be truthful and show you what we are doing in my family. Becoming more Green is a slow process, but it will be worth it if everyone does it a little. Yes, it would be wonderful if we could get every company to do it. They are after all the worst offenders, but at least we can start with our own family and homes. Until the next time. Hope you try some of these products. They're great! (This is an unpaid endorsement. :))

Poem A Day for April 12, 2009

This is a picture of "The Rising" the memorial to all the victims of 9/11 who lived in Westchester. It is located in
Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla close to where I live. See Correction to know why this is here.



Our internet was down for almost the whole day and now it's only working on my daughter's computer. We're having trouble with the router and Verizon is overnighting us a new one which will not be done overnight and reach us tomorrow, Monday. No, it will reach us on Tuesday. So why do they call it overnighting?:)

Today's poem is about my own experience when you have two adult children living at home and they have relatively no money and accompany you to the movies. Is there such a thing as too much family time? When I was their age I was married and living far from home.:) But these are different times and sometimes we have to accept that our children are not going to be living our lives. I do wish that both would start living their own though.:) This is all in reference to the poem for today. Here is the prompt:

"I want you to take the phrase "So we decided to (blank)" and fill in the blank. Make that your title and write a poem. Some possibilities include "So we decided to plant a tree" or "So we decided to burn a hole in the sky." (from Poetic Asides with Robert Brewer)

Here is my poem:

So we decided to go to the movies

With two cars instead of one
Because a fight always happened
when we were all in one car
Because you with your attitude
created a storm powerful
as a tornado with your
Picking at the scab of our pride
healed during the week when
you barely noticed us
But opened and sore on weekends
when your attention fell on the
weakest of us that day

Wise decision to leave you alone
in your car listening to your own
radio programs, alone with your
thoughts about the outside world
Where people much more interesting,
more accomplished than we
spoke to you across air waves

Better to arrive at the movies
refreshed from our stop for coffee
with pride intact
No tears, no arguments, no
reconciliations, no hurt feelings
No one threatening to stay in the car
Just peace, the slight high from the caffeine,
and anticipation of the movie to be seen
Much better to meet in the parking lot as
strangers might instead of pretending.
copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu
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Here is something that all bloggers might want to do. Join Bloggers Unite from Blog Catalog and put this badge on your website before April 29th. Go here: http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/unite-for-hunger-and-hope



I just joined and will be writing a message about world hunger on that day. That's all you have to do. You join and pledge to write an article about world hunger on April 29th.

Thank you to all of you who commented on Katie Hines' interview last week. Remember her book, Guardian is coming out in June.

This week I do not have a guest author, so I am going to highlight another blog. Each day I find more and more great blogs both on the Networked Blogs and on Blog Catalog. I am actually finding it almost impossible to read every blog I want to read. So I am going to have to make a schedule so I get to everyone's blog!:)

Correction:
On the day I wrote my poem about The Kensico Dam I put in that the stone monument was for the workers on the dam. I was wrong.:) What should be there, and I have changed that whole stanza, is the monument is for the victims of 9/11 from Westchester. There are names of every person who perished on 9/11 from Westchester County etched into individual marble pieces in a circle around this huge steel scultpture that comes from all sides and meets in the middle. It's very moving.

Here is the original stanza:

They renovated the park last year
Built a stone memorial displaying photos of
turn of the century men who worked here
in North White Plains. When most of it was
forest and farms. If not for the workers who
toiled to make it happen, this park would never be.
And where would New York City get its water?
copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu

Here is the changed stanza:

They renovated the plaza last year
Built a stone memorial displaying names of
the victims who perished in 9/11 from Westchester
Honored the turn of the century men who worked here
in North White Plains. When most of it was
forest and farms. If not for the workers who
toiled to make it happen, this park would never be.
And where would New York City get its water?

Until the next time hope you had a very Happy Easter Sunday and that you will continue to comment.