My World

(Photo and haiku by Dawn Pisturino. Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.)

Thanks for visiting my world!

Dawn Pisturino

June 5, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

“Drunken Poet” on Spillwords Press

Drunken Poet

by Dawn Pisturino

I’m a drunken poet,

Whirling around

In the ecstasy of Divine Love.

My heart pounds wildly in my chest,

Beating a staccato drum roll.

My head explodes with divine revelations,

Driving the stars from the heavens.

The sun dances in the sky,

Revolving with bright colors

That blind me. . .

Please go here to read the rest.

Thank you so much!

Dawn Pisturino

May 20, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Elizabeth Spencer Carey, Patroness of Poets

(Miniature portrait painted by Nicholas Hilliard, date unknown)

Elizabeth Spencer Carey (1552-1618) — my 5th cousin 15 times removed — was the daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp and the wife of Sir George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon. She is best remembered for her patronage of the arts in Elizabethan England and sponsored the poets Edmund Spenser and Thomas Nashe and the composer John Dowland.

Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) is best known for his poem, The Fairie Queene, first published in 1590 with the aid of Sir Walter Raleigh, which glorifies Queen Elizabeth I and the Tudor family.

The poem is an epic composed of 6 books. All total, the poem contains 36,000 lines and 4,000 stanzas. Spenser invented the Spenserian stanza to write the poem, with 9 lines in each stanza. Eight lines were composed in iambic pentameter with the last line – the alexandrine – in iambic hexameter. The rhyming scheme came out to ABABBCBCC.

In a sonnet dedicated to The Fairie Queene, Spenser honored his patroness as follows:

“Ne [no] may I, without blot of endless blame,

You, fairest Lady, leave out of this place,

Remembrance of your gracious name

Wherewith that courtly garlond [garland] most ye grace

And deck the world.”

Carey was also Spenser’s inspiration for Muiopotmos in 1590 and the character “Phyllis” in Colin Clots Come Home Againe.

Thomas Nashe (1567-1601) was a poet and playwright, but he is best known for his novel, The Unfortunate Traveller. Whenever he was short of cash, he wrote erotic verses, which earned him harsh criticism.

“And make me happie [happy], stealing by degrees.

First bare hir [her] legs, then creepe up to her knees. . .”

John Dowland (1563-1626) wrote numerous songs and instrumental pieces. His most famous instrumental piece is Lachrimae, or Seaven Tears. One of his most famous songs is “Flow My Tears.”

Flow My Tears

“Flow my tears, fall from your springs,

Exil’d forever let me mourn;

Where night’s black bird her sad infamy sings,

There let me live forlorn.”

Later, Carey’s daughter, Elizabeth Frances Carey Berkeley, took on the role of the patroness of the arts.

~

NOTE: I WILL NOT BE POSTING AGAIN UNTIL SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023. Thanks!

~

Dawn Pisturino

May 17, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Brave Thoughts

(Photo and haiku by Dawn Pisturino. Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.)

Dawn Pisturino

May 10, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Humans Only

(Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash)

HAPPY MAY 1st! Old Man Winter is gone, and Summer is officially on its way!

~

Recently, I read posts on LinkedIn and Reddit about A.I. and how it seriously impacts freelance writers and content creators. Freelancers sell their services to clients and rely on repeat and new customers to make a living. Content creators may be freelancers or work for a company. The spotlight on A.I. has made customers wary of freelance writers and creators to the point where they are canceling contracts, refusing to pay for work already completed, and questioning the integrity of the writer/creator’s work. To put it bluntly, customers don’t want to pay for content generated by a robot. Since it’s hard for freelance writers/creators to prove they have not used A.I. in some capacity, customers react to the spread of A.I. with paranoid accusations against them. (And some do use A.I. for limited uses.) I see this problem getting worse, not better, as A.I. is used increasingly in the creative arts. I have not seen any articles about how this affects companies using A.I. or the people who work for them.

If you are using A.I. to generate blog posts, artwork, poetry, prose, or any kind of creative effort, revealing it and which A.I. program you are using would be a good idea. If people know this out front, they cannot accuse you of deception.

I use Grammarly to correct my punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors. Otherwise, my writing is generated by my own brain.

HUMANS RULE!

Dawn Pisturino

May 1, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Wedded Bliss

(Photo by Jabber Visuals on Unsplash)

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”

~Ludwig van Beethoven~

I was listening to a variety of music and paid close attention to the lyrics. Some of the lyrics were so beautiful; they astounded me and reminded me that song lyrics are poetry, too. And that reminded me that long before I fell in love with poetry, music was my muse.

People often comment on the lyrical quality of my poems. If they have a musical quality, it’s because I played piano for many years, studied music and music theory, composed music, sang, married a jazz pianist, and listened to many different kinds of music, from hardcore classical to hardcore heavy metal.

I also read all the classic English poets when I was a teenager and studied French for many years, which is a very musical and rhythmic language.

The marriage of music and poetry is a story of wedded bliss. Although they can function independently, the result is sublime when partnered together.

Dawn Pisturino

April 28, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Fire and Brimstone

(Photo by Dawn Pisturino. Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.)

I woke up the other morning with this haiku in my head. I hadn’t used my Photoshop account for a while, so I created this post using one of my photos. Enjoy!

Dawn Pisturino

April 24, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Desert Haiku

(Photo by Dawn Pisturino. Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.)

I was experimenting with Canva to make Instagram posts and came up with this haiku. Enjoy!

Dawn Pisturino

April 19, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Twisted Limericks

(Classic illustration by Heinrich Hoffman)

I published my PDF chapbook for children and adults, Twisted Limericks, on Scribd.com about ten years ago and posted it on WordPress. I recently upgraded and revamped it to share again.

You can view/print/download it for free on Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xyCYWrhUn6riYEiDltpC1T3RAICm4DdJ/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for stopping by!

Dawn Pisturino

April 17, 2023

Copyright 2011-2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Out of My Comfort Zone

(Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash)

I’ve been expanding my boundaries and moving out of my comfort zone:

I wrote my first short script for a scriptwriting challenge and submitted it. I also participated in reading, evaluating, and scoring 12 short scripts written by other writers in the challenge. I got valuable feedback in return for my script.

I turned my short script into a short story, which was harder than it sounds.

I’ve been studying screenwriting and working on my first feature-length screenplay.

I’m writing an opera libretto (the lyrics) for my daughter.

I’ve been writing poems and submitting to new publications. And yes, I get rejections like everybody else.

I’m still writing short stories and poems for Gobblers & Masticadores, Masticadores USA, and Masticadores India.

I’m still working on the novels I started and editing a middle-grade children’s book I finished.

If I disappear for a few days, it’s just because I’m busy with these projects. I always follow up on comments, likes, and follows.

Grazie!

Ciao!

Dawn Pisturino

April 12, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.