Hello, it’s Friday again. In fact, I’m only posting this on Saturday 4.00 p.m. European time ! I’m participating in the A to Z challenge, 10th anniversary, this month. As well as the NaNoWriMo April.
So I’m perpetually on to the next thing !
Write five minutes flat every Friday with Kate and her ‘gang’, on a word prompt given Thursday evening. If you would like to know more or participate in the future. go here
NEXT
Make a list and take what is NEXT.
One by one the chores will be done.
No pressure, enjoy every one.
Work becomes pleasure, seize the Day.
Tomorrow it will be gone.
Now is the next thing in your thoughts.
An idea is precious, jot it down.
The written word stays, speeches stray.
For your life, you only have yourself
to thank and blame.
©susanbauryrouchard
The Last Supper, Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. Official film soundtrack, 1973. go here
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment either on Blogger (writingsusanb-rouch.blogspot.fr) or on Wordpress (lifeinpoetry.home.blog)
Life in Poetry reading, writing, reflecting
April showers bring May flowers
Saturday, 20 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 19th 2019, letter Q
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
If you would like to know more about the A to Z challenge, see today's post or participate in the future go here
In keeping with Tarkabarka Högly's post today, I have tried to encourage you to comment by adding some Questions at the end of my contribution.
Q is for Queen
We can be Queens, just for one day.
Queen on the hill, Queen in our home.
Queen of the people, listen, give, help.
Queen of our emotions, our thoughts.
Queen of our time, our choices.
We can be Queens of our likes and hates.
Gracious Queen with our friends.
Tender Queens to our families.
Loving Queen to our King.
We can Queen away the day.
Dream our futures, write them
in stone, live them together.
Queen the weather, bow to the sun.
Queen the lion and nurture the cubs.
Queen our meals, wash up when done.
Queen our waste, Queen our tastes.
Queen our strife, Queen our Life.
©susanbauryrouchard
Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody go here Live Wembley Stadium, AID concert 1985.
Eddy Vedder, Society, from the Album Into the Wild, musical film score 2007 go here
Thank you for dropping by and reading. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it. If you did, rate it. If you didn't, rate it anyway. Please feel free to post a comment. What are you Queen or King of ?
See you later, as the entry for Saturday is forthcoming. I am officially one day behind.
Thursday, 18 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 18th 2019, Letter P
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
Good Morning World. If you would like to know more about this challenge or are thinking of participating in the future go here
In keeping with Jayden R. Vincente's post today, I will try to respect the ten steps for a better blog.
However I will not be prudent. So I apologize for this post. My intent is not to offend.
P is for Politics
WAR
1984
City at
war..............
With itself
alone
Born from
subtle differences
Lost in the
wakes of time.
A house is
thrown down
Death and
loneliness all around
The cause
is a word in the sacred book
Understood
and misunderstood.
We are
right, you are wrong
You must
die
For you do
not believe
In the same
God as I.
A square
where children played
Reduced to
rumble
Now the
boys and girls play no more
Guns are
their toys.
We are
right, you are wrong
You must
die
For you do
not believe
In the same
God as I.
City at
war............
With those
it should protect
No one will
live between its walls
As long as
they need to select.
©susanbauryrouchard
This poem, I wrote in 1984, another version, I wrote in 1983 during the conflict in Lebanon. I think that unfortunately it still applies today.
Politically Correct doesn't exist: it is a Hypocrisy !
You are either committed to Freedom, Equality and Peace or you simply don't care enough.
This blog is for writing poetry, short stories and memoirs. But it doesn't mean I don't have an opinion on Politics. I do, but I choose to show them elsewhere. That is what I am doing today by writing articles and spreading news about Political Injustices which are costing lives today as they have everyday. They have come to my attention particularly for the past few months.
Notre-Dame can wait ! She's only made of Stone ! She can be rebuilt.
We only have one planet, one climate, one species of every living thing and only ONE LIFE.
So it is time to act for what is important : LIFE and everyone who is still alive today because tomorrow they might not be.
Plus it's my daughter's Birthday and she is not with me. So I am sending her videos to celebrate and Facetiming with her. Also back to the Dentist to check everything is OK. And a meeting for my voluntary work helping poor and hungry children.
So long Folks, see you tomorrow.
Cloud cover today in Toulouse.
Thank you for reading and feel free to comment, disagree, argue and vent your opinions. I can take it !
Radiohead Creep go here
Imagine John Lennon go here
The Man who Sold the World David Bowie go here
Women don't Cry Bob Marley go here
Alice is 24 today
Wednesday, 17 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 17th, letter O
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
In keeping with Tarkabarka Hölgy's post today (thank you, by the way for hosting),
I would like to thank all you Wonderful Bloggers who are still hanging in there and visiting my blog. I would like to apologize for not visiting the master list more often and to those for whom I have not left comments (although I have, but due to a computer glinch (glich ?), the blog did not accept my Google account post. This only happened on Blogger, on Wordpress, it recognises me immediately!). Just now, my mouse conked out, had to go recharge the battery: technology getting back at me for critisizing it. The World works in Mysterious ways.
If you would like to know more about this challenge or participate in the future go here
O is for Origins.
Thank you to Roland Clarke, my long distant cousin, for prompting the idea by his comments on letter K.
Up, Up, Up and Away
In my Beautiful Balloon.
Green Christmassy Carpet
and icy Apartment.
Boiling water falling
from the Angry 2nd floor.
Holding Hands
with Alice Brake.
So long the road Home.
Stingy building.
Roller-Skating on pebbled ground.
Saving up for a Bag of Marbles.
Golden trees and long green alleys.
Walking about in this lifeless town.
Watching the Walls go up.
Choosing the yellow-flowered wallpaper.
Meeting Sophie by the letterbox.
Best friends at first sight.
Lost to years and growing up.
You can't fight where you belong.
A poem I wrote in 2002 in my early morning notebook. It sits on the shelf of my night table, open at this page. This is the first time I have typed it up, although I had my first IMac in 2001.
My Father was FRENCH, half- 'Breton', half- 'Brie'.
Jean-Louis Baury, son to Robert Baury and Louise Colombelle, born in 1931 in Rabat, Morocco.
My Mother is English, half-Yorkshire, half-London.
Patricia Dunkley, daughter to Albert Dunckley and Kathleen Arter, born in 1932 in Bournemouth, Dorset.
They were married in Bournemouth in 1956. They lived in Paris. My father worked for American Express Travels. My mother, at UNESCO as a trilingual translator of reports: English, French and German, after having worked for NatWest in Bournemouth for 5 years.
They moved to L' Etang-la-Ville, West of Paris, near the Fôret de Marly, when my sister, Kathleen Louise Baury was born on 13th of May 1962 in Poole (My mother made the trip so that her daughter would have English nationality as well as French). My mother stopped working and they lived Happily Ever After !
Not so lucky. In 1965, along came another...daughter: me. Susan Françoise Baury, on the 13th of ........April, in Poole, Dorset (same story). It's my grand-mother Louise who wanted to call me Françoise. Maybe they were expecting a boy and she had thought of François, very French....' Les Francs ' to counteract the fact that her only son had chosen an English girl, of all people ! The Hundred Years War still beating strong !
When I was 3 months old, we moved to NICE on the Côte d' Azur for my Papa's work. In July 1966, we moved to New York, Staten Island: as the Dutch said, when they discovered and colonised New Amsterdam, " Is Taten Island ? " (Brooklyn humour), no offence to all you Dutch Bloggers.
Papa was then working for the French Line: planning the crossings for the FRANCE, Le Havre - New York and its cruises in the Caribbean mostly, until its Round the World trip in 1974. I crossed the Atlantic on the ship and went to the Caribbean . I remember coming down the gangway in Barbados and being fascinated by the musicians on their tin drums : the image stuck although I have never been back to the Caribbean. Definitely on my bucket list ! My mother says I can't possibly remember (I was 2 and a half) but what does she know, she can't see inside my head, Thank God ! (or whoever...)
In July 1971, we made our last crossing on " Papa's boat " as my sister used to call the FRANCE, even in front of his boss ! This is the crossing I remember, I was six and a bit. There was a sea-water pool on the ship and that was all I could think about as we unpacked in our cabin. I was fighting with my sister over who would get the upper bunk bed and I fell on my back, wind knocked out. Mummy said I couldn't go to the pool, I had to recover in the cabin. I made such a fuss, saying I was alright, that I went anyway. After a few laps, good thing I could swim (we had gone to the YWCA in New York) as the pool had no shallow end and was deeply sunk to ensure there was no risk of spillage in unclement weather, I felt sick and had to be dragged from the water.
One evening, we were allowed to go to dinner with the adults in the fabulous first class dining hall. For dessert, I ordered Crêpes Suzette, to the horror of Mummy and the amusement of Papa. The waiter came and performed the ritual in front of me, with his saucepan, his bottle of Grand Marnier and his lighter ! I was over the moon !
We arrived in Le Havre and went straight to Paris. For the rest of July we stayed in a hotel in St Germain-en-Laye called 'Le Cèdre'. Our furniture would take 2 months to arrive by container and ship, at least one container. We would have to wait a whole year for the second, in which there was...my bicycle ! Boo-hoo ! August we spent in Bournemouth with my grand-father and Auntie Ann, who lived together in Mummy's childhood home in Parkstone, Wharfdale Road.
In September, we moved into a horrible flat in Maisons-Lafitte, West of Paris, near the Seine.
After 5 years in New York, I could read and write in English ( when I opened my mouth, however, I spurted a broad Brooklyn accent, so much so that Dilys Barré who interviewed me for the British Section of the Lycée International, said to my mother that she should put me into the American Section. She said NO). I couldn't speak a word of French. ( My parents always spoke English at home. My father's English was so much better than my mother's French when they met, so it just became the language of the home ). My sister had forgotten all the French she had learnt in Paris and Nice, so we were equals in that respect.
I started 1st Grade (I had gone to Kindergarten in Great Kills), 11ème in France (now CP, Cours Préparatoire), in September 1971. The first day, I walked into class with Alice Brake, who was new too and we stayed best friends until she moved to Portugal in 1976. She gave me my cat, Tibby, a kitten of her own cat. Tibby died in 1985 when I was in my first year of Business school in Lille. I was stricken.
In July 1972, we moved to Chambourcy, a village on a hill, just outside of St Germain-en-Laye (where the Lycée International was).
We finally had a house, with a garden. I met Sophie François by a letter box one day, while we were visiting the house under construction. We were a gang, the two of us. The others children called us " Les Siouses ". I lived there until September 1984, when I went off to Business School in Lille, North of France.
©susanbauryrouchard
Thank you for reading and bearing with me ! Have a nice A to Z, ' O ' day. Please feel free to leave a comment, whatever crosses your mind, and I will be sure to reply.
Brilliant sunshine this morning, here in Toulouse, France. The Westerly wind has now brought clouds from the Atlantic. The tulips have bloomed, their petals swept away. The yellow roses are out, the red ones are 'teething' !
Tuesday, 16 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 16th 2019, letter N
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more and maybe participate in the future go here
A special thanks to John Holton today for his post to make things easier for everyone and offer even more encouragement.
N is for Nothing
I had Nothing planned for today but I found a poem I wrote for one of my Open University Creative Writing courses (A 215) from back in 2009. This was for the Final Exam, along with another poem, My Father in My Bones, that you can find in my ⌗28days challenge MOURN post, on this blog, February 24th 2019.
The latter was published in the Program Anthology of December 2012, theme Remember. The former isn't as good, but I'm still fond of it, like all my little babies..The real ones I love much, much more, to the Moon and Back.
Between
Two Nowheres
The
other half of half-afraid opens many a door
Brenden
Kennelly
Where
does half-afraid stop
and
half-not-afraid start ?
Where
does despair end
and
elation begin ?
Between
sinking and floating
the
edge is slim.
A
spark, a smile, a hug
surges
from stomach to mind.
And
I'm on top of the wave.
The
faster the surf, the fear
disappears,
never even there;
but
the crash in the foam
is
all the deeper, as if I care.
Between
two nowheres,
as
somewhere can become
nowhere,
in an instant.
A
light out in the dark
switches
off, suddenly.
And
shadows creep
and
smother me.
©susanbauryrouchard
Sorry it's a tat dark ! I'm in a better place now.
To cheer you up, here are some songs that I have been listening to these past few days.
Ring o' ring o' Roses from Charlotte Gainsbourg's Album REST, 2017. I got this for my Birthday on Saturday, to see the video, go here
and the official video for the REST album as a whole in which her children appear, two girls and a boy, go here
Nothing Else from the album SNOW, by Angus and Julia Stone, 2017. Also a Birthday present.
I got a Woman by Ray Charles, extract from the movie Ray, 2005, go here
Another birthday present, (3 CD Album) as I've just seen the film and didn't have any of his.
A song which I find a bit sexest but symptomatic of woman's place in society in the 50's. Even more so for an African-American woman from the Southern States. The way Ray also treated his women ! go here
And to dream. Also listened to this morning, from the Blue Double Album, 1967-70.
Lucy in the Skies with Diamonds, The Beatles, 1967, all you ever wanted to know about the song,
go here and to listen to the song in full, once more with the beautiful video from St Pepper,
A Fool on the Hill, The Beatles, 1967, the video from the film Magical Mystery Tour, go here
for the full song, go here
and to link up with my poem : Nowhere Man, The Beatles, 1966, performed LIVE, Circus Krone Munich, go here
That's all Folks for today, see you tomorrow. I have some time at last to visit more of the Master List. Thank you for reading and bearing with me ! Have a nice A to Z, ' N ' day.
Heavy rain all night and this morning, early, here in Toulouse, France. The Westerly wind is now chasing the clouds away, a slice of blue, here and there, the sun peeping, shooting rays on my desk in waves.
Braganza, Portugal, July 2017
Please comment and I will be sure to reply.
Monday, 15 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 15h 2019, letter M
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice ' M ' day. Brilliant sunshine here in Toulouse this morning. Covered over now. Cool wind from the East.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !! But I'm behind in the NaNoWrite, 1500 words out of 10 000 because I'm concentrating on research and building bridges with my contacts.
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more about the challenge and maybe join us in the future go here
M is for Madness
You chase after A's like there's no Air.
You're right there isn't.
Busy like a Bee, you grope at straws.
You had C in Maths in 5th grade,
clinging to crumbs. But 20/20 in J. High.
You had A in French Grammar in primary,
0/20 in French spelling, a year Later.
Go Figure.
You were branded D for Dunce,
F for Fantasising, except everthing
that happened to you was true.
You loved to frolic in the fields,
climb trees.
Eat Doughnuts with Cream and Jam.
You grasped at every galvanating
experience , seizing the Day.
Ellation was your Elixir.
Halt there !
They Hollered. Hell is never far away.
Heaven, easy peasy.
Instilled by restrictions and blows,
your Life can't take Flight.
Lessons learnt the Hard way.
You watched Skippy the Kangaroo,
and dreamt of being a Koala bear,
a panda.
You sang ' Kookaburra sits on the old Gum tree,
merry, merry King of the Bush is He ' ,
and Listened to ' Le Sud '.
' She's Half-Mad '. No,
the World Is.
©susanbauryrouchard
If you would like to listen to Le Sud, go here
and Kookaburra.
We sung it at school and made a record in 1972 with the British section of the Lycée International of St Germain-en-Laye, under the direction of Dilys Barré, our British Section's teacher. A book/record album recorded by RCA, a French record company, in association with Hatier the editor. She taught us to sing, to play the recorder and to dance. Later on, we performed a musical, The King and his princesses, I think it was called. All my year group got to be princesses, except for me who was an urchin, because I was too tall and skinny ! But I was the understudy of a Peacock, because I danced well and was a quick learner. As luck would have it, on the evening of the performance, she fell ill ! But she recovered before she was due to go on ! Oh ! Well ! I had my moments on the stage later, when I was 15, in Our Town, as the sister of the Hero with a lovely speech, up on a ladder (at the window sill), about the Stars and the Universe.
Here is the song sung by a choir of children, as our record is not on You.tube and I don't know how, for the life of me, to transfer a vinyl onto MP3 !
Our record
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
Sunday, 14 April 2019
#FMF April12th 2019, LACK
Hello, it’s Friday again. In fact, I’m only posting this on Sunday, 7.30 a.m. European time ! I’m participating in the A to Z challenge, 10th anniversary, this month. As well as the NaNoWriMo April.
So I’m lacking time this month !
Write five minutes flat every Friday with Kate and her ‘gang’, on a word prompt given Thursday evening. If you would like to know more or participate in the future. Go here
LACK
We think we lack time to do all what we need to or would like to accomplish. In fact, I think we just don’t take the time to complete the essentials. Take time to wake up in the morning: stretch, be lenient on your back, bring your knees up before lifting your head and roll out of bed.
Take time to eat and drink, just looking out the window, or listening to your loved ones around the table. Take time to wake up your body : light massages, warm up exercises, easy stretches.
Take time to finish tasks before going on to the next one : planning ahead is a very important one, that saves you time later. Accept to be interrupted but be firm. Switch off your phone or lock the door!
Most people in the world lack food and clean water, basic freedoms and rights. Modern slavery is very much alive in most countries rich and poor. In France, 12 year-olds and younger girls from North-African villages are sold by their fathers with the promise of a home and education in France, only to find themselves as slave-maids to wealthy city families. They often live in sculleries or even closets without enough food, clothes or warmth, let alone an education ! When they are older, they are the victims of sexual abuse and end up on the street. Even the children of these Bourgeois households are passive accomplices. One word to a teacher would send social services and the police in to free the slave. Russian and Eastern European young girls often suffer the same fate in Western Europe, paying dear money to come over to receive an education and work, only to find themselves the slaves and whores to unscrupulous Business men and women !
We must endeavour to change all these breaches of freedom : but let us not lose our food and clean water in the process ! Let us not forget our rights, but also our duty which comes with these hard-fought rights. To save the environment in which we live, to save true democracy which is becoming scarce in our societies.
We must not give up from lack of determination and hope.
If you would like to know more about modern slavery in France in 2019 Go here
Copyrightsusanbauryrouchard
Have a pleasant weekend.
Please feel free to comment and I will be sure to reply.
So I’m lacking time this month !
Write five minutes flat every Friday with Kate and her ‘gang’, on a word prompt given Thursday evening. If you would like to know more or participate in the future. Go here
LACK
We think we lack time to do all what we need to or would like to accomplish. In fact, I think we just don’t take the time to complete the essentials. Take time to wake up in the morning: stretch, be lenient on your back, bring your knees up before lifting your head and roll out of bed.
Take time to eat and drink, just looking out the window, or listening to your loved ones around the table. Take time to wake up your body : light massages, warm up exercises, easy stretches.
Take time to finish tasks before going on to the next one : planning ahead is a very important one, that saves you time later. Accept to be interrupted but be firm. Switch off your phone or lock the door!
Most people in the world lack food and clean water, basic freedoms and rights. Modern slavery is very much alive in most countries rich and poor. In France, 12 year-olds and younger girls from North-African villages are sold by their fathers with the promise of a home and education in France, only to find themselves as slave-maids to wealthy city families. They often live in sculleries or even closets without enough food, clothes or warmth, let alone an education ! When they are older, they are the victims of sexual abuse and end up on the street. Even the children of these Bourgeois households are passive accomplices. One word to a teacher would send social services and the police in to free the slave. Russian and Eastern European young girls often suffer the same fate in Western Europe, paying dear money to come over to receive an education and work, only to find themselves the slaves and whores to unscrupulous Business men and women !
We must endeavour to change all these breaches of freedom : but let us not lose our food and clean water in the process ! Let us not forget our rights, but also our duty which comes with these hard-fought rights. To save the environment in which we live, to save true democracy which is becoming scarce in our societies.
We must not give up from lack of determination and hope.
If you would like to know more about modern slavery in France in 2019 Go here
Copyrightsusanbauryrouchard
Have a pleasant weekend.
Please feel free to comment and I will be sure to reply.
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