April Lynn James, Soprano, etc.

Another from October 2011. Even though I'd practiced yoga for years, I was still finding meditation hard. Madison, too. 

I tried following my breath, but it ran away.
Exactly where it’s gone, I really couldn’t say.
I looked around the…

If anyone else is going through financial or career crises, take heart! Madison and I are making our way through a very rough patch at the moment. It's not the first time, though. This sonnet dates from October 2011, and…

People have some peculiar ideas about Time. Madison sets the record straight.

Time flies when you’re having fun, they say, but they’re wrong.
Dancing’s what Time does, and most often to a song
of Time’s own composition. Being quite nimble,…

Spirit rules matter.

I’m the complete master of my own density!
Oh. . . I think I meant to say “my own destiny.”
Matter and energy are quite the same, you know.
One travels very fast and the other quite…

During trying times, one must take care not to lose one's enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm? Lost it; it’s gone out the door,
flown the coop, said bye-bye, sailed away from the shore.
Who knows when I shall ever hear from it again?…

From October 2011. Imagine you've fallen down a rabbit hole and gone wandering through some woods. You get to a clearing, and there's a house shaped like a teapot. In front of this, there's table set for many people, but…

Sometimes one needs to be serious. Or does one?

Enough of being whimsical! Time to get serious!
Oops! I had meant to say “slightly delirious!”
Time to let go, start making nonsense of it all.
Time to let the words…

From September 2011:

If you wish to catch a bus, if that is your goal,
best to bring a net along with your fishing pole.
And if you bring Annette, do tell her I said, “hi!”
It’s really been far…

Yes, of course it’s fun to write, but sometimes there's just so much of it to do, and still more, and more yet again! This sonnet is for such times.

We’re done today with writing! We have had enough
of…

How many of you have tried, and failed, at “time management”? This sonnet is for you.

Time will not be managed, but will negotiate
if you are quite sincere and will, at any rate,
be considerate of Time’s sensibilities,
Time’s…

Still in August of 2011. May it bring a smile to your face.

Oh my stars, a marble! Is it yours?. . . No. . .?!
It may be one of those I lost a while ago.
They were in…

A theme once explored is worth exploring again with even more wordplay. Madison is the guardian angel of my sense of humor, after all.

One must take into consideration the Time.
Soothe Time’s ego, that’s the way! Wax more sublime.…

More from August 2011:

Life doesn’t feel at all the way it did before.
No consuming passions, no running out the door
to catch the latest trend, hitch wagon to a star.
Stars, I’ve heard, are mortal and now I…

More words of encouragement. Also from August 2011.

Do what you want to, or I’ll think you insincere,
or at the very least, I’ll say that you’re unclear
about who you claim you are. My advice?
Find a way to…

You know how sometimes you hear a well-worn phrase and then flip it over in your mind to see what happens? No? Well, it's something Madison and I do with regulariTEA, hence, the opening line of this rhyme:

Time wounds…

“You have a way with words.” Do I? Which way is that?
Down left? Up center? Circling like a bat
with a tea tray in the sky? Ha! I could not resist
although I’ll try harder next time, if you…

One must take into consideration the Time.
Soothe Time’s ego, that’s the way, wax more sublime.
You’ll find, like as not, Time will do your bidding.
I’ve found it myself. Er, no, I’m not kidding.
Time and I, you see,…

Non c’è un paradiso: there’s no paradise.
Ebben. Con un sorriso–smile–here’s some advice:
Never let unthinking hordes chase you from your dreams,
though you’ll find tedious and deafening their screams.
Reach for a star so high that your hand vanishes.…

Another from August 2011. Madison giving a little reassurance. 

Peculiar times call for peculiar measures.
Peculiar measures breed peculiar pleasures.
I admit to being in a peculiar mood.
Nothing that’s ordinary does me any good.
“Be sensible!” they shout. Ah,…

From August 2011. Madison musing about the moon.

Moon, hide not from me, for I’ve done nothing to you!
Don’t count me among those who would misconstrue you
as the one who monthly drives us from our wits.
I, myself,…

Since yesterday's post was so long, this one will be quite short.

Time is done with flying, and will now take the bus!
But that’s not cause for crying. Oh, please don’t make a fuss.
I think Time’s going slower…

Also from July 2011, this sonnet got me in trouble, and it hadn’t even been written yet! Warning: this post is a bit longer than others, but it gives you some idea of why I called my first postdoc years…

From July 2011:

The editor? She’s out today. I’ve sent her home.
I have sent her packing. The editor must roam
for she takes too much to heart what I have to say
and turns my words, my phrases and…

This, our second sonnet, came through two days later, on June 30, 2011. I blogged about this sonnet in an earlier post. See that post here: https://aprillynnjames.com/blogs/april-plus-madison-s-blog/posts/7635851/the-second-madisonnet

If you don't wish to jump to that post, then don't. Just know…