G is for Green

I love spring, I love sunlight and light breeze! And I love that in April and May I can really enjoy those in Scornicesti, because it's packed with green herbs, grass tress and flower, especially wild flowers.

In spring and summer the green and the wild flora tame the grey resting in the town's old buildings. 

through small gray buildings

in the April light I smell

stains of green, of spring

I enjoy walking around the town, strolling around the hills surrounding Scornicesti. I enjoy their serenity, their silence and peacefullness.

spring oasis,

the wild fields in April night

calling my echo

Sound and more

Carpe Diem

April 9th - Libra (The Scale)

her tongue like a sword,
perfect measurement of truth -
his yin-yang ballance

Gods in written worlds,
poets and historians -
of truth and justice

NaHaiWriMo

April 9 - sound

remembering now

most wonderful sound ever,

her baby first cry

Haiku Heights

April 9 - hunter

through crude-green wheat fields

following the prey's callying -

pheasant hunting night

Poetic Asides

April 9th -

F is for Future

E is for Education

A lot has changed in Romania after 1989, especially in the educational system.

Before 1989, each morning, before classes, students had to sing/listen to the Romanian Anthem. Today, such thing isn't required anymore. That is why you meet children and teens who don't know the name of the Romanian Anthem or its composer's.

not each change is good...

like Romanian Anthem,

today, soon rusty

Before 1989 there was a system rewarding great students and their accomplishments in national and international competitions and contests. Today that system is just namely there and a diploma or the little financial support is just not enough.

I was a student in today's system and then a teacher, too. I didn't feel motivated to learn in such a country, in such a town, in such a system but I was lucky to have a mother who knew how to motivate me and make me love learning. Today's democracy has impacted the educational system in a negative way. 

My parents remember their time in school with great pleasure, enormous respect for their teachers and they knew how to learn. The accent was on the quality of study.

They also had a few days a year when they had to go work in a field or an institution to get accustomed with work and learn to appreciate the value of work. Today this kind of practice is formal and it doesn't touch its goal.

I remember my time in school as a child with respect, but I was always eager to get out of the system to be on my own. As a teacher, I can tell that the quality of education has decreased even more from when I was a student and I don't think this is going to change soon. This is the very reason I left the system.

I regret the fact that Romania is going in this direction because there are a lot of great things about the country but without education, the good will soon disappear.

history and past

and Romanian Anthem -

all forgotten now

Catching Up

Carpe Diem

April 4th - Gemini

I recognize it,

when looking into his eyes -

my Gemini soul

her Gemini half,

so unlike herself, a summer

for her winter soul

Carpe Diem

April 5th Imagination - Wisteria 

her purple evening...

in dim sunset light, she hopes

wisteria dream...

his sweet proposal

under the bluish flowers -

wisteria "yes"

Carpe Diem

April 5th - Special - Golden Tree

golden flowers tale:

their love as strong as always,

match made in heaven

just golden flowers 

witnessing their happiness -

"yes" whispered with love

Carpe Diem

April 6th -  Crab/cancer

lost crab on the beach -

I feel more alone than the sea

without summer breeze

Carpe Diem

April 7th - Leo

brave as a lion,

he opened his mouth, proposed...

emotional "yes"

Carpe Diem

April 8th - Virgo

on each of church walls,

Her adoring smile to us:

the purest of all

NaHaiWriMo

April 4th - celestial

celestial hopes - 

my thoughts this April evening

shaping into dreams

celestial hopes -

I wonder: my ancestors

wanted something else?

NaHaiWriMo

April 5th - favorite place

dark thoughts washed away -

under April heavy rain

country side orchard

NaHaiWriMo

April 6th - sport

April morning walk:

sleepy people watching time -

my smile grows wider

NaHaiwriMo

April 7th - precipite

heavy rain today -

washing away all my sins

inside the small church

NaHaiWriMo

April 8th - red

discreet smile around -

a red flower in her hair

against evil eye

Haiku Heights

April 4th - Drone

a drone in the past,

her hopes for his sweet, light kiss

now reality

Haiku Heights

April 5th - Eggshells

smashing some eggshells

for a special piece of art -

the cry of a bird

Haiku Heights

April 6th - Fire

ghosts of memories -

in the moonless April night

some camp fire stories

Haiku Heights

April 7th - Open Day

rainy April day

thick mists around the mountain 

a thunder's echo

Haiku Heights

April 8th - Grasshopper

grasshopper's journey

through the wheat fields...

no wheat blade's that tall!

Writer's Digest Poetic Aside
April 4th - hold that...

hold that memory

of us in the green garden

in the pink sunset

hold that memory 

of our fingers together 

in the last sun gleam

hold that memory

of our beginning, that day,

in the April breeze

Writer's Digest Poetic Asides

April 5th - plus

nothing but cold wind.

this April, nothing but wind

plus my broken heart

carving in tree bark

YOU + I = a heart,

spring sun in his eyes

Writer's Digest Poetic Asides

April 6th - post

he used to be mine,

sending love letters, but now

my post box's empty

Writer's Digest Poetic Asides

April 7th - sevenling

two hearts colliding,

two lives united, forever

following same path

two lives united,

two souls as one forever...

new life emerging

my beautiful niece, the light on my sister's path

 

Writer's Digest Poetic Asides

April 8th - instructional poem

Writing Haiku

writing a haiku

the when, the where and the what...

kireji and words

in two images,

only seventeen syllables -

a haiku moment

kireji and words,

the when, the where and the what...

writing a haiku

D is for Dictator

Nicolae Ceausescu was born on January 26, 1918. He met future Romanian leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in prison, and succeeded him after his death in 1965. 

In 1944, with the Axis powers starting to lose ground, followed by the Soviet invasion of Romania, Ceausescu escaped from prison. Within a year, as Romania fell under Communist rule, the young leader began his climb to power.

 

Since 1965 he ruled Romania according to orthodox Communist principles, being loved and hated for his regime. The resulting unrest led to the collapse of Ceausescu's regime and his execution in 1989.

This is a very short resume of the incredible historical period represented by Ceausescu's regime.

Romania is one of the few countries to execute its leaders in modern day history. And in spite of  the controversy of his regime, the trial of the Ceausescu couple and their execution is even more controversial. (Not a great way to start a new political chapter in the country's history, I'd say)

That makes you think about change and about the past. Who can guarantee change is good? Who can offer something better than the present? 

decision for all -

the end of a known winter,

the start in a spring

C is for Casa Memoriala Nicolae Ceausescu

Casa Memoriala Nicolae Ceausescu (The Memorial House of Nicolae Ceausescu)

This is the place where Nicolae Ceausescu was born and educated.

The place hasn't been altered or modified. It can easily be confused with a Romanian (National) Village Museum house. 

The interior of the house consists of two small rooms ornanted with traditional objects as if to keep Ceausescu's spirit alive, to celebrate the Romanian way of life from the beginning of the XXth century.

just like yesterday -

historical place unchanged,

mindset altered

In front of the house a statue of the former dictator has been added just a few years ago. Till then, there was nothing letting the passers-by know they're sitting in front of a place that shaped a country leader.

visiting today

I contemplate the watch guard:

statue from our past 

While there, I've taken my time on the verandah, thinking what could have been that made a country side boy grow up to become a country leader.

I'm taken aback - 

I watch what he might have watched,

I sit where he sat

Light

NahaiWriMo

April 3rd - Delta

the danube delta - 

from the shore a fisherman

watching fish in rod

Carpe Diem

April 3rd - Taurus

dandelion date,

just like the horoscope said,

eyeing a Taurus

Haiku Heights

April 3rd - Candle

a single candle

lighting my writing table,

guiding ideas

poetic Asides

April 3rd - tentative

on the verandah

his tentative to kiss her

turns her cheeks rosy

 

B is for Before

We've been here for a long time, ready for the long ride. We've been makers of history, we've been shaping culture and taming nature. 

Scornicesti is situated in an arid, agricultural area and it has been atested that the ground where our town stands today has been populated since late neolithic. There have also been discovered traces of Dacian settlements from the 2nd century B.C. and Daco-Roman settlements from the 1st and 2nd century A.C., which is a very important period in the shaping of the Romanian culture, hence the name "makers of history."

traces of the past...

how much of what must have been

is still underground?

they made history

and history changed with them -

cherishing today

In 1918, Nicolae Ceausescu, the former president and dictator of Romania is born in Scornicesti, which was at that moment just a small village. After Ceausescu became Romania's president, Scornicesti started blooming and it finally received the status of town in 1989, shortly before the Revolution which lead to the removal of Ceausescu from his position and then to his death. Ever since Scornicesti stagnated, as if the time had stopped.

what once ascended,

reaching a maximum bloom

is now forgotten

 

 This is one of the town's emblem's over time.

April 2nd Blend

Carpe Diem

April 2nd - Aries

reading horoscopes,

calm and cool in April sun,

looking for a sign

backyard party time:

celebrating her birthday,

she makes spring look dull

NaHaiWriMo

April 2nd - empty

under night lanterns

I wander contemplating 

empty city streets

Haiku Heights

April 2nd - butterfly

blue butterfly wings

emerging from their cocoon -

spring moon for guidance

spring love momories:

shyly, the boy relives his

butterfly-light kiss

Poetic Asides, Writer's Digest

April 2nd - bright/dark

a moment ago
the sun ceded place to clouds -
world from bright to dark

COVER REVEAL - RACHEL MORGAN

Title: The Faerie Prince
Author: Rachel Morgan
Publication Date: May 30th 2013
Description:
Guardian trainee Violet Fairdale is just weeks away from one of the most important occasions of her life: graduation. After messing up big time by bringing a human into the fae realm, Vi needs to step up her game and forget about Nate if she hopes to graduate as the top guardian of her year. Everything would be fine if she wasn’t forced to partner with Ryn, her ex-friend, ex-enemy, current ‘sort of friend’. They might be trying to patch up their relationship, but does she really want to spend a week undercover with him for their final assignment? On top of that, the possibly-insane Unseelie Prince is still on the loose, free to ‘collect’ as many specially talented faeries as he can find—and Vi is still at the top of his list. Add in faerie queens, enchanted storms, complicated not-just-friends feelings, and a murder within the Guild itself, and graduation is about to become the least of Vi’s problems.

Aren't these great?
Go visit Rachel to learn more about her writing!

A is for Around

Around Scornicesti

This isn't a traveler's log. It's just a statement of the thoughts and impressions of a wondered through her hometown, in the first day of April. It's a journal page with reflections about a small town forgotten, abandonned to oblivion.

About two months ago, I've read an article which was saying that Scornicesti is "just as renouned as New York for Romania's post-revolution generation."

Today I've been walking around, thinking, asking myself what is it that people really know about Scornicesti? The answer was easy to find: it's just the name that is known because it's the name of the hometown of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania's dictator.

in the April sun,

contemplating my small town,

I write down my past

I've thought about its history, its past and present and about what it represents today for Romanians. I know that the older generations have divided opinions and the young ones might not even know the name.

on history lane

each step I've taken today

has been recorded

"Welcome" sign -

in the April morning sun,

road to Scornicesti

At the end of my walk, I knew Scornicesti is known only by name nothing more. Not anymore.

Sccornicesti, just a name

written in our history...

what about the place?

Catching Up ;)

Carpe Diem

March 31st - willow

hazy silver moon

reflected in midnight's lake -

willowy dreams

April1st - Zodiac

behind the window

the moon travels through my world -

constellations peek

written in the stars,

my fate, my dreams, my whole life

right now unfolding

NaHaiWriMo

March 31st - tension/release

a soft April breeze

over the verdant meadow

releasing spring gifts

April 1st - smooth

under the spring sun

she slowly opens her arms - 

the smooth April breeze

Haiku Heights

April 1st - Ascend

just after sunset,

from behind sring mountains peaks

proud moon ascending

Poetic Asides - Writer's Digest

April 1st - arrival

surrounded by light

I walk through the budding trees - 

April 1st is here

I've been out of the net for the last couple of days so now I'm catching up. now this is the (Inter)national Poetry Month and I'll celebrate it by taking part in all these challenges and with good news: another of my poems published in a magazine. Happy writing and have fun, everybody!