Poetry Friday: A Quick One

A view from Cerillos State Park outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.

It’s been a week!

Last Thursday, I took our cat, Callie, to our son’s in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It’s a three-hour drive from where we live in the Northwoods. He also has a cat and we switch off watching each other’s feline when we travel.

I stayed Thursday and Friday night. Friday, I met a good friend for coffee. It had been a year since we’d seen each other – too long. Sometimes life gets in the way of things you should make time for. Friendship is one of those things. I did some errands that afternoon since I was close to the stores I used to frequent when we lived in the area.

Saturday, I attended the dance recital of another dear friend’s daughter. I was touched to be asked to attend and again made time to be there. Her daughter is finishing 9th grade and has multiple talents. This might be the end of her dance classes and thus her last recital. Several stories are brewing here that I want to write about but just haven’t had time. I keep the ideas on my phone since that is always with me. Stay tuned.

After enjoying the recital of one hundred or more dancers, I hit the road to go home – another three-hour drive. I got home and finished packing. My husband and I were leaving at midnight for a quick, five-day trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We had been to Santa Fe in February of 2020, just before the pandemic started, and decided it was time for a return trip.

We flew out at 5 am Sunday morning after a 3-hour drive to the Twin Cities. Luckily, we didn’t have any flight issues, transferring at Dallas for the last leg.

While in Santa Fe, we hiked in the mornings and visited art galleries and museums in the afternoon. Our trip was quick but the weather was glorious. We just forget how brown and aird it is there! It takes a little bit of time to get used to it. Luckily, their hiking trails go through some green areas.

View of the area around Santa Fe from Dale Ball Trails. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.

I’ll write more about our trip in a future post. There’s art to share, plants to note, and food to drool over. We love the Southwestern United States and Santa Fe in particular.

Yesterday, we flew home. Again, no issues but we left at 6 am for the airport, and by the time we walked in the door of our cabin last night, it was 10 pm. We were up until midnight, watching the most recent episode of Top Chef to wind down. A long day.

And, today is Poetry Friday!

I haven’t had a lot of time to write this week. And I have to apologize for being behind on my return comments. I will catch up this week. Thank you to those who have written about my previous posts and the poetry anthology.

But I’ll share what I’ve been working on. I have three or four poems in the works to try and submit to literary magazines by the end of the month. I have also been self-editing my novel. No, I’m not done with it but it’s been months since I wrote anything new, so I needed to refresh my memories of the storyline.

I am using Pro-Writing Aide (Free Version) and like it so far. Do any of you use that editing software?

I’ll hop back on that task today.

Finally, I’ve received many congratulations and kudos regarding Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. I will place an order soon to make them available on this blog, but in the meantime, you can order from Amazon! Anyone who has ordered from Amazon and could leave feedback about the book would be greatly appreciated.

The author of the book on Medium.com review is getting ready to post – I will share that as soon as I can.

I’ve had an inspiring week. What inspires you? I’d like to know.

I’m inspired by travel, color, and nature. Over twenty-five years of being a creator, those inspirations have not changed.

Lizard at Cerillos Hills State Park, New Mexico. © Carol Labuzzettam 2024.
Desert Cacti at Santa Fe Botanical Gardens, Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.
Scenes From Santa Fe 

Red blossoms galore
Hide spiny invitations 
On the desert floor

What attracts me to this arid land?
Yellow blooms stand tall on dust
While green lizards run for cover 
Under the brown musty brush.

The Pinon Jay is missing,
Sadly, not one to be seen.
Leaving Juniper berries for another critter
To gobble up and make the ground clean.....

Beginning Draft by Carol Labuzzetta, 2024

Arid Cerillos State Park, New Mexico. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.

The Poetry Friday Round-Up this week is being hosted by the talented Michelle Kogan! Thanks for hosting Michelle!

21 thoughts

  1. Carol, it was nice to read about your travel adventures. Glad you are home safely! I do love the arid southwest myself too. That green lizard catches my eye. The photos are so lovely, and your poem is a nice snippet of the scenes from Santa Fe.

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  2. Carol, it was nice to read about your travel adventures. Glad you are home safely! I do love the arid southwest myself too. That green lizard catches my eye. The photos are so lovely, and your poem is a nice snippet of the scenes from Santa Fe.

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  3. Carol, you accomplish more in a week than most people do in two months! I love your exploration of what attracts you to the desert. So much to observe and explore there!

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  4. Whew! A wonderful whirlwind. Thanks for sharing your Santa Fe adventures; I went there two decades ago with three girlfriends the year we all turned 40! Magical place.

    It’s wonderful seeing the blog-love for your new anthology – CONGRATULATIONS on sharing this collection with the world!!

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  7. This time will fuel new writing, I’m sure, Carol. I’ve been to Santa Fe many times, just last October for the annular eclipse. It is dry, but holds lots of magic, too. I’m glad you had the time to return! I’ll leave the review I wrote for “Picture Perfect Poetry” on Amazon today! Thanks again for all your work!

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  8. Wow, you have been busy! Glad everything went smoothly and you had fun. Recently reviewed a Georgia O’Keeffe picture book that came to mind as I read about your Santa Fe trip. Have never visited, but you and the book have piqued my interest 🙂 Congrats on publishing your new anthology!!

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  9. Carol, thanks for taking me on a trip to Santa Fe. I have never been there but one of my uncles lived there and told me some stories of the area. Thanks for the vivid photos that have different landscape than here in VA.

    The line in your blog that attracted my attention is “Sometimes life gets in the way of things you should make time for.” Very true.

    Best of luck with your submissions. As soon as I recuperate from the surgeries and meds, I will start thinking about Picture Perfect Poetry.

    Enjoy your trip.

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    1. Carol, I have to apologize to you. I have been very neglectful of returning blog comments. I’m sorry you had to have surgery. I hope this finds you recovering and doing well. I’ve only got one set of poems submitted. I’ve been working on another set but I’m trying not to obsess over them. That’s hard for me – but I realize it gets me no where! I’m glad you liked the Santa Fe post. It is a very cool area and yes, very different than the Eastern Seaboard or New England States.

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  11. My husband and I took a road trip over a year ago out west from NY. Santa Fe is beautiful, the landscape and plants so exotic to us. You are busy writing and I hope it’s going well. I am posting on Friday this week about Ekphrastic Nature Poetry. Have a great week.

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