Thirteen Ways of Looking at Thirteen

No...this is not a picture of the path of Hurricane Irene.  It is a colorful depiction of the original 13 colonies of the United States.  Why?  Read on...

13 Ways of Looking at 13

I.                   Friggatriskaidekaphobia – which is the fear of Friday the 13^th, as is…

II.                Paraskevidekatriaphobia – which is also a fear of Friday the 13^th, not to be confused with…

III.             Triskaidekaphobia – which is a fear of all things related to the number 13, which is the polar opposite of…

IV.             Triskaidekamania – which means you must really, REALLY love the number 13.

V.                There were 13 original colonies in the USA.

VI.              It’s a prime number.

VII.            Apollo 13.  Houston…we’ve got a problem.

VIII.          It’s part of the Fibonacci sequence, which is poetic as well as mathematical.

IX.             Teens can’t wait for this birthday, because then they can proudly announce to the world that they are officially teens.

X.                A deck of regular playing cards has 13 spades, 13 hearts, 13 clubs and 13 diamonds.  In addition to a couple of jokers, of course.

XI.             Most modern American apartment buildings do not have a 13^th floor.

XII.          Ancient Sumerian used a zodiac which consisted of 13 constellations and 26 main stars; the shield of the old Slav divinity Prono was decorated with thirteen white points and there are thirteen cords of the harp in Japan.

XIII.       A Bakers Dozen – If you buy a dozen donuts or bagels, you get one extra donut or bagel, which is always a good – and (as I see it) a lucky thing!

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Notes:  This little list above was written in response to a prompt by We Write Poems. 

The idea was to pen something in the same vein [sort of] as Stevens' 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.'  And just so you know, the picture of the map of the original 13 US colonies was not a test to see if you could identify the states by their shapes.  (Ha!)

            Rather, it was posted in conjunction with my list, but more than that, it is also a message to all my friends who live on the eastern seaboard to please take the advised precautions and to please stay safe.

More Shadormas

I had such fun with the Shadorma form yesterday, that I decided to do it again.  Today's prompt responses are brought to you by Poetic Asides (Odd Relationship), Three Word Wednesday (illusion, tragic and evident), Big Tent Poetry (write a poem about being small) and We Write Poems (write a poem about writing poems.)

Learning How To Do Magic Tricks

It’s tragic…

(well, it is if you’re

a budding

magician):

no illusion should ever

be too evident.

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Image courtesy of miniaturerealities,com

Mime Me

He was stuck

behind unseen walls.

Silently

he made space

become a fortress.  I placed

a tip in his hat.

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Uncle Jules

Uncle Jules

was a funny guy

who would ‘steal’

our noses

‘til we couldn’t stop giggling…

then he’d ‘put’ them back.

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Date From Hell

He bore an

extraordinary

resemblance

to Hitler.

(No lie.)  He was pompous, too.

Great next-day story.

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Images courtesy of freewebs.com

Oddly Purrfect Artist Model

On our steps

sat a ginger cat.

She stayed still

in cat-pose

and let me draw her.  She purred,

drank some milk…and left.

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Image courtesy of iheartjapan

Small Shadorma

I am small:

not like ‘Haiku-small’

or even
‘Tanka-Small’

but still…I’m good for those with

small attention spans.

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