Life in Poetry reading, writing, reflecting

Life in Poetry reading, writing, reflecting
April showers bring May flowers

Monday 15 July 2019

#FMFriday, 12th July 2019, WILLING

Welcome to Five Minute Friday.
I’m on the Road this week. Stopping over in Nice to search for an apartment for my son who is studying here next year. Then off for ten days in CROATIA, down the Dalmatian Coast. Returning by Venice, then Marseille.

If you would like to join Five Minute Friday, write five minutes flat on a word prompt and sign up with Kate, Here


Today Willing.

Am I willing to change my ways ? I am still the same person I was at 5, 15, 25, 40. My husband calls me the ‘ quincado, the ‘ fifty-teen ‘. However, I am willing to change my actions, if unwilling and unable to change myself. You are what you achieve. ‘ I am what I am’ as Jerry Lee would say.

1989, return from a year in Africa. Consumerism Society was suddenly unbearable. Although in 1987, I had already sensed this: I had wanted to join Volunteers Abroad to teach English and French in schools around the world. I was politely asked to seek employment elsewhere, as my diploma was not that of a teacher of English, but a BA in Business Administration. However I was bilingual English/French, spoke German and Russian and had given English lessons to countless kids around the block. I had also travelled extensively and knew how to adapt to different cultures. My will and abilities counted for nothing because I did not fit into a box. Will and might do not change the world. Actions do. Not speeches or diplomas.

To change the world start by changing your ways. So that is where I started. I earned my living in
jobs corresponding to my diploma.
Then when I had earned enough to choose what I wanted to do and where I wanted to live, I passed my exams to teach English as a foreign language and taught in Spain, English and French to children, teens and adults, in schools and firms.
At the same time, my crusade against consumerism began, changing things in my lifestyle, day by day, little by little.
First, eating seasonal fruit and vegetables, which I started doing in France. Buying my produce from greegrocers, small supermarkets, local butcher and fishmonger, cheese mongers. Buying local or at least French, then Catalan or Spanish products.
From 1994, I started to find organic and environmental friendly products and extended their purchase up till now when my whole shopping cart is solely composed of them.

Little by little, step by step, initiating my children along the way, as they came, grew and left the nest. Planting, harvesting. Avoiding use of the car then reverting to electric and solar, wind based energies for the house. My children walked, cycled to school and gave up most superfluous consumerism habits. Now living on their own, they follow suit by a will of their own and perseverance, initiating others along the way.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment and I will be sure to reply.





Saturday 6 July 2019

⌗FMFriday, 5th July 2019, TAKE the money and run.

It's Friday again. Time for another post of Five Minute Friday. Write Five Minutes Flat on a word prompt.
If you would like to join this group hosted by our loving Kate start-here




Today , the word is Take.


He took the money and ran. He ran, ran and ran again. Soles beating the cobbles, cycles zipping by, cars zooming overhead; balloons floating alone high above. He walked through forests and meadows. He climbed the highest mountain and rolled in the Midnight snow. He hiked down the cliffs, taking the goats' paths. Then, ran some more, on dirt tracks, along railways, over bridges. Across tripping streams, he hobbled. He swam, slicing a lake, Amazons swooping past his auburn locks.

He shuffled, exhausted, over farmland, hearing the bleating of sheep, the bark of a dog, the mooing of cows in pain, awaiting dawn to be milked. He crawled along, undeterred. Finally, the ocean stretched before him. He spotted a boat. He took the water-melon canoe, seized the oars and launched into the waves. He took in the sea air, the salt and the spindrift. He took to the horizon and took in the rays of the setting sun.

He happened upon a shore. He took to the beach, hauled the embarkation onto the rocks. He found a spring behind a copse.
He took the water into his hands and sang to be free and alive.
©susanbauryrouchard


Woody Allen, Take the Money and rungo here
Tom Hanks, Castawayhere
Zulu, Forest Whitaker, go here
Documentary,  Di Caprio's Before the Floodgo here

Joan Baez, Forever Young, LIVE 2016, go here
with Bob Dylan, LIVE 1982, here
Joe Cocker, With a little Help from my Friends, Woodstock 1969, go here
Frank Zappa, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitargo here
Leningrad Cowboys go America,  go here
Cold War Kids, We used to Vacationhere
Hang me Up to Dryhere
Patrick Watson,  The Stormgo here


Deauville, April 2013

Brittany, July 2012

Santonia, Spain, Atlantic July 2014

Pyrenees, March 2019
Biarritz, Basque Country March 2019



Thank you for reading. Please feel free to like/dislike, comment, discuss. And I will be sure to reply.
The haze has lifted, closing on to 40º C. Have an inspiring weekend.

Thursday 4 July 2019

⌗HOT-IWSG Wednesday 3rd July 2019.

It's time for another IWSG Wednesday, hot, hot, hot.
If you would like to know more, or join the Insecure Writers Support Group go here


Today HOT Wednesday.

It's July, so now we're cooking! 

Temps are up, fall is beginning to look darned good, but we need to take time and celebrate 
HOT #IWSG Wednesday.

Thanks Alex!

And it's not too late to visit all of the great July hosts and say hello: 





The Question of the Month is "What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?" The question is optional, so I'll opt to answer it as best I can. 


My response ( Susan Rouchard )


Most of them. As they say ' Write what you know '.
Who do I know better than myself ? It took me some time to get there but my writing stems naturally from my unconscious : she, he or it (Sie, Er oder Es) had me pinned down for who I was from the start.

In the first short story I wrote, at about 12, my character is a boy who runs away from home when his father leaves. Why is he a boy ? Because I'm a tomboy, the son my father never had. He was disappointed on having two girls. He didn't know the first thing about girls.
He was an only child. To please him, I became that son. When we were in New York, my hair was kept short until 3 and a half. Passers by would stop and comment : ' How lovely (or the NYC equivalent), you have a girl and a boy ' .
Why does this boy run away ? Because like me, he flees toxic situations: a strong survival instinct. He is quiet though, unlike me but he has the same  keen sense of observation. He assesses a situation and draws his conclusions, thus learning the lessons of life through experience, trial and error.  Not taking for granted what an adult may tell him is the truth. Very Independant minded. That's it, now I'm on Jung's couch ! ' Proceed, proceed ', he says to me or ' Weiter, weiter. '

My second story is about a boy, yes again, who lives in the Future on a planet, not necessarily Earth, or come to think of it not necessarily in the Future. Not the same space-time continium anyway. A student of mine, an algorithm Genius who worked at the CNES ( Centre National d' Etudes Spaciales ), devising ways to ' count ' the stars via satellites whose algorithms he designed, once said to me ' You are an extra-terresteral',. My feeling exactly, at times.. He was actually sending messages, at the time, via social networks (end of the nineties, so the premises) to see if he could find any Aliens living on Earth ( of course they probably wouldn't have told him if they were..). ' You think too much ' I thought, but didn't say anything, so as not to hurt his feelings. Poor guy, may he rest in peace with the stars. He died in 2010 of a rupture of the brain, anevrism (is that how you say it in English ?). His widow said to me that he spoke fondly of the best English teacher he had ever come across. He was young, maybe 50. He left a younger wife and two small sons.
To come back to my second male character, he was about my age, 14, curious, outspoken and much more an extrovert, like myself, than my first hero.In this imaginary society, he was of an age when he was to go through the rites of passage to become a fully-functioning adult. I envied him because he could be what I couldn't : Himself. In an environment which thrived on each individual's uniqueness. Without setting out to mold them and constrict them into rabbit hatches. In order to then lead them like sheep through life with a whip and a whistle, as I felt society treated us.

' Dr Jung, my hour is up and there is so much more from where that came from... Thank you for listening to my rambles. I will not be paying you because I am a storyteller and you should be rewarding me for the entertainment. See you soon. I'll call you when I feel like making another appointment. Have a pleasant day. Here are some treets for you to enjoy and share, so don't play any tricks on me... '
©susanbauryrouchard


Jethro Tull, Heavy Horses, 1978. promo videos, go here
                  Black Sunday, LIVE, 1980, go here
                  Thick as a Brick, concept album, 1972, LIVE, 1977, go here
                  Interview of Ian Anderson and group in the 90's about the creation
                  of Thick as a Brickgo here

Monty Python, Sketch, Adolf Hitler lives... go here


Veronique Sanson, Amoureuse, go here
                             Vancouver  go here
                             Tout est Cassé, Tout est Mort, go here
                             Les Délices de Hollywood, go here
                             Irréparable, go here
                             Bernard's song, go here

Neil Young, Crazy Horse,  LIVE RUST Concert, 
                  Sugar Mountain, go here
                  Out of the Blue and in to the Black, go here

David Bowie, LIVE, Hammersmith, Riverside, 2003, go here

Tracy Chapman, Crossroadsgo here

Marilyn Monroe, We're having a Heatwavego here

Like Crazy by Drake Doremus 2011, with Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, and Jennifer Lawrence, go here and here


2010, on the road to the Mediterranean

Tarragona

Brittany, Beg Mel, Fouesnant, 2012


Thank you for visiting. Please feel free to like, dislike, rate; agree, disagree, discuss. And I will be sure to reply. Have a HOT (cool) IWSG Wednesday.

Going up to 35º C today. So after a spot of gardening this morning, before 10 a.m.
I'm behind my wooden shutters, enjoying Day four of Wimbledon. Nadal- Kyrios up this afternoon, Rafa is wary of his theatrics but will probably give him the thrashing he deserves...so much for uniqueness !

Creativity Takes Courage


Henri Matisse (French Impressionnist 1869 -1954 ).           

                                                                                              go here





Monday 1 July 2019

⌗FMFchallenge, Friday 28th June, WORLD

It's Friday again, time for another post to contribute to Five Minute Friday, hosted by Kate.
Thank her for her hard work in keeping this FMF group alive, on Blogger, Wordpress and Facebook.

Write Five Minutes Flat on a word prompt.



This week World.
If you would like to join the group, and add your blog to the link-up/mailing list go here


WORLD

What a wide Word prompt !
my poem.


Where to is the World Spinning ?

It's rolling, rolling.
Stop the World and let
me off. It's twirling,
it's frantic, it's spinning
off its axis.

The World ? No.
Mankind, Yes.
Who is taking down
all fellow living things
with him.

The birds, the flowers,
the trees, the tiger, the panda,
the elephant, the rhinoceros,
the koala bear, the whale,
the bees, the butterflies.

The Oceans, the Mountains,
the clouds, the sky.
Warnings issued for over
50 years remain unheeded.
Only by too few.

The Earth is not in jeopardy,
It will heal itself.
It will adjust, transform.
Cease to be
the Blue Planet.

If air and water survive,
new species will be born,
with Time. Man may find
an escape route to make
the same mistakes.

All Over Again.

©susanbauryrouchard


He's got the Whole World in His Hands, sung by Nina Simone go here
Biopic on Nina Simone , 2016 go here  and  here and here, again here

Wonderwall, Oasis, go here

TIME AND LOVE

Mr Nobody film by Jaco Van Dormael, 2009 go here
and here, again here and for those who are still following here and for those enjoying all this here
Mr Sandman, film extract, here (spoiler).
Everyday, Buddy Holly, film extract, here
Daydream, film extract, go here
Where is My Mind, film extract, here


Dance Me to the End of Time, Leonard Cohen, poet, musician, singer, philosopher,  He's My Man
Live in London, 2008 go here  ,  Introduction here
Tower of Lovego here
The Futurego here
Anthemgo here
First We Take Manhattango here
I'm Your Manhere

Leonard Cohen 1934-2016biography.
Memorial Concert Montreal, November 2017. go here



Toulouse, June 2019


Pyrénées Orientales, Le Boulou, May 2019


The Mediterranean
Sitges, Catalunya May 2019
Orange and Lemon trees, 
Gardens, Hotel Capri, Sitges

Toulouse, June 2019
Cathédrale St Etienne




our Meadow
Dordogne, June 2019


Merlin's house
Kindergarten Kermesse


How the Children see
The World


In My Garden
no pesticides or fertilisers
the sun, the air, the earth


Thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment, like, dislike, discuss. And I will be sure to reply. Have a lovely and inspiring week with a basketful of roses and positive thoughts.