Bridge Banter: An Original Fairy Tale Poem

I know I haven’t been posting much at Wild Rose Reader lately. I apologize. It’s been an extremely busy summer. I had hoped to write reviews of two poetry books for today--but I never got around to doing that. I spent most of this week shopping, preparing food, and packing for our third trip to Maine this summer. Instead of the reviews, I’m posting another poem from my unpublished collection titles Excerpts from the Fairy Tale Files. The following poem is a conversation between the Third Billy Goat Gruff and the Troll that lived under the bridge.


BRIDGE BANTER

I’m Billy Goat Gruff, the third. I’m tough.

I’m muscle-bound and mean.

And I’m the boss so let me cross

To reach the pasture green.


Well, I’m the troll. I’m brave and bold

I’m really getting sick

Of bearded deer trip-trapping here

Around my bailiwick.


You will not pass to reach green grass.

I’ll kill you, Gruff. Now scoot!

I’ll stand my ground—so turn around

And find another route.


You ugly troll, I’ll reach my goal—

It’s written in the story.

Now eat your pride and step aside

And things won’t get too gory.

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At Political Verses, I reposted a poem about Glenn Beck titled Dead Beckoning. The post includes a video of Beck on FOX TV and a link to Glenn-Harried Glenn-Lost, a recent segment on The Colbert Report. Here’s the link: Glenn Beck Revisited.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at A Wrung Sponge this week.

The Small Graces August Auction Is On!!!

Wouldn't you love to own an original painting by children's author and illustrator Grace Lin? All the proceeds from the Small Graces auctions will benefit The Foundation for Children's Books, a small non-profit organization in Boston that is making a big difference in the lives of young readers by bringing children's book authors and illustrators into under-served schools in the Greater Boston area for visits and residencies..

The August Small Graces auction has begun! This month's painting (below), done in gouache on watercolor paper, is being auctioned now through Friday, August 14. Click here to bid now!

Rain Barrel: An Original Poem

I began working on a poem late last night/early this morning to post for Poetry Friday—but I didn’t have time to finish it. So…I pulled out Rain Barrel, a poem from A Home for the Seasons, an unpublished collection of memoir poems that I wrote many years ago. The poems in the collection relate the experiences and happy times I had at the home of my maternal grandparents.

My “Dzidzi”—grandfather—truly had a green thumb. He loved working in his vegetable garden in summer. He kept a big wooden barrel for collecting rain water next to the cellar door. The “we” in the following poem refers to me and my two cousins. My cousins—both girls—lived in the duplex that my grandparents owned. The three of us spent much of our childhood together.


Rain Barrel
by Elaine Magliaro


Beside the cellar door

stands Dzidzi’s rain barrel.

Deep brown as the earth itself,

it seems rooted in the ground.

In it Dzidzi captures the melting sky

he waters garden flowers with.

We plunge our small tin watering cans

deep into Dzidzi’s wooden well

and pull them out full of fallen rain

we shower over the brown-faced sunflower,

bright pink peonies, and puffy white snowballs.

On sticky summer days, we splash

our arms and faces in its coolness.

And sometimes, alone in the backyard,

I stare down into its dark liquid universe

as if looking for a lost star

that has fallen there.

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My poetic contribution at Political Verses this week is Bah Humbug Exercise: A Poem That Could Have Written by Rush Limbaugh.

At Blue Rose Girls, I have a post about my writer’s block, a poem about poetry, and a link to Poems about Poems: Why Not?, an article by Katha Pollitt at The Nation website.

Tricia has the Poetry Friday Roundup at the Miss Rumphius Effect.

At Political Verses--Another Limbaughrhyme

I have a new post over at Political Verses: A Poem That Could Have Been Written by Rush Limbaugh. I was inspired to begin work on the poem in June when Rush began spouting off on his radio program that "exercise freaks" were the people who were putting stress on our health care system.

POETWEET--or The Poetry of Sarah Palin's Tweets

I have a new post up at Political Verses. It includes a link to William Shatner's follow-up appearance on The Conan O'Brien Show on July 29th. On that show, Shatner recites some of Sarah Palin's tweets as poetry.

POETWEET: William Shatner Recites Sarah Palin's Tweets as Poetry