Saturday, October 3, 2009

A thought about blogging

To blog or not to blog: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to enter text against a sea of troubles,

And by blogging end them?



Yeah, right!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Steak and Onions

This is a pantoum, which is a form of poem where the second and fourth lines of a verse become the first and third lines of the next verse.

It was published in 'Maine Channel Voices in 2008.

It is a true story.




Steak and Onions



My wife said “It's steak for lunch and we need onions.”

I love onions with my steak.

As I went to the store

She she gave me a list.



I love onions with my steak.

I might as well get other stuff.

She gave me a list.

Apples and oranges and milk.



I might as well get other stuff

When I went to the store.

Apples and oranges and milk.

I lost the list she wrote for me.



When I went to the store.

Milk and apples and oranges.

I lost the list she wrote for me.

I thought I could remember.



Milk and apples and oranges.

The oranges looked nice and fresh

I thought I could remember.

Apples too - but which variety?



The oranges were nice and fresh.

Firm and juicy.

Apples too - but which variety?

The best apples came from New Zealand.



Firm and juicy.

And there was something else ...?

The best apples came from New Zealand.

What was it? Oh yes - milk



And there was something else.

The shrimp looked nice as I passed.

What was it? Oh yes - milk.

On my way to the milk cooler.


The shrimp looked nice as I passed.

Shrimp makes a nice appetizer.

On the way to the milk cooler.

All the way from Indonesia.



Shrimp makes a nice appetizer.

I got half a pound of shrimp

All the way from Indonesia.

A gallon of milk plus the apples and oranges.



I got half a pound of shrimp.

As I went to the store.

A gallon of milk plus the apples and oranges.

My wife said “It's steak for lunch and we need onions!”



Jim Todd 2008

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Overture

I started writing poetry in Ted Bookey's class at the Senior College at the University of Maine in February 2008

This is one of my early poems:



OVERTURE : Early Spring in Maine




The land still silent white,

Except for an evergreen hum.

Increasing brown and gray chatter

From the audience of rocks and streams.



The music begins very gently.

Golden flute notes of weeping willows

Too quiet to hear at first

Over the noise of the audience.



The slow silver notes of the birches

Hard to hear early on,

Until the conductor sun pays them

The attention they need.



Then the maples – low French horns of pink

Slowly increasing volume

Until they are a loud tone of red,

Aided by stems of the roadside bushes.



Elms intrude percussive notes of black

Even now hinting at green violins.

Pearly piccolo sounds of pussy willow

Green cello sound of the grass.



Trumpet yellow forsythia fanfares

Introduce the final coda.

Before the full orchestral performance

Of Spring in Maine.


Published in 'Hidden Oaks Poetry Journal' in 2008






Jim Todd 2008

Monday, September 14, 2009

Hi!
This is my blog
(or will be when I've learned enough to design it)

If you're looking for information about me
then

Yes, I'm the Jim Todd
who used to be a psychiatrist
and has lived and worked in many places
including


Aberdeen Scotland

Melrose Scotland
Greenwich CT/Sound View Throgs Neck NY
Rutland VT
Brattleboro VT
Saipan, Commonwealth of the Marianas
Hallowell ME
Randolph ME