Thanks for all your visits in 2012, and especially to anybody who rented and bought the books. WordPress have kindly just provided the following statistics for the calendar year 2012. It was another great year on fmpoetry, but those poetry in stationary motionless mirroring zebras from 2010 held on to the number one most viewed blog spot. Happy New Year: Best Wishes for 2013.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 11,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 18 years to get that many views.
Hi, it’s Greenygrey; thanks to Susie for her innovative and efficient countdowning introduction to the last Werewolf of Oz episode. Sometimes it seems as if Christmas and New Year television is all about repeats, and it is nice to watch old programmes and films at a time of year when a lot of the spirit is about looking back at the year and meeting familiar people.
Original 1960 theatrical release poster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
New Year Spirit
We like to get into the spirit here this year, with lots of Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps repeats. Grey was reminded of its epic travel quest across Oz for freedom when we watched the recovered and reworked very long Spartacusdirectors-cut film, with lots of extra footage; we remember the original from a long time ago.
On a more negative note, we were horrified to see that greenygrey witches were the baddies in Shrek Forever After. Not good for our image that. Here’s some nice greenygrey Shrek images to recover:
Anyway, an episode of Werewolf of Oz should get us over our blues, although it finds Grey firmly entrenched in the blue of Rainbow Valley:
36. Blue on the Other Side of Green to Yellow
As we crossed from green forest to hills of blue
and the yellow completely faded from view
I encountered the poem, Shropshire Lad,
written by Alfred Edward Housman when sad.
I read it intently because I was
on walkabout in the land of Oz.
He also wrote of terrain with such a hue,
but while he longed to return to that view,
for me it was just another rainbow colour
on my journey to and fro, hither and dither.
—————————————————————————————————-
Notes
Alfred Edward Housman and poem (Shropshire Lad).
Walkabout (Aussie film).
Marc Latham’s 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections is now featured on Front Row Lit. Folding Mirror poems from the book and this site included as examples are:
Between City and Sky, Let Your Mind Fly
Jet Landing Through Cloud
Dawn Cinderellas Pink Candy Dance
Previously unpublished reflections from the book are also included with the Folding Mirror poems.
Hi, it’s Susie Dentinfang, I hope you enjoyed all your nut roasts and sprouts over the holidays, and haven’t been worrying too much about Grey, Bonzo and Elle in the Rainbow Valley. Thanks to my fantastically foxy colleague Wachel Wiley-Coyote for guesting in my last planned blog, and I’m delighted to say that I’m now back on tip-top form. Moreover, as it’s the Full Moon tonight, I don’t have to do any more countdowning. It was a great moon last night, so I hope it pops through the clouds again tonight.
Full Moon HDR (Photo credit: qwincowper)
Werewolf of Oz in the Rainbow Valley
As I was free from countdowning, the Greenygrey said I could fulfil a dream I’ve had for many moons, and that’s to introduce an episode of my favourite book of the twenty-first century: Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps.
So I thought I’d combine my countdowning with my introducing, to create my own inimitable style. And here it is: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Werewolf of Oz:
I didn’t want to leave the comfort I felt in green, and the way it reminded me of Green, but I thought I could hear the song We Gotta Get Out This Place again. I opened my eyes and saw that Bonzo and Elle had been joined around a bush telly by the Animals I dreamt about in Latham, Western Australia. I took the hint and rose from my slumber. Between my decision and standing up, the Animals and telly disappeared, leaving just Bonzo and Elle sitting on the grass.
They were very understanding about my time-out, saying it was nice to see me awake and refreshed. I didn’t mention seeing the other stuff, as they might have thought I was losing it!
The original cover of Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (1975) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I certainly did feel refreshed, and it was as if my sleep had provided the green light to speed through green. It wasn’t long before I could see blue-ridged mountains in the distance. I remembered how Green and I passed through blue-ridged mountains on our North American ramble, meeting those two chaps searching for the lonesome pine.
Thanks for visiting fmpoetry in 2012, and hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.
Great news from the Poetic Asides website, where De Jackson, who was featured on this site a couple of years ago, has been named one of their poet laureates for the year.
Hi, it’s Greenygrey. Thanks for all your visits this year, and to those who’ve bought or rented our books. We thought there was only one way to bow out for the holiday season, and that’s with another thrilling episode of your favourite werewolf travels Australia to the theme of Wizard of Oz book.
It seems that Grey has already had a book full of adventures, but it was only a quarter of the way through its journey when it entered the Rainbow Valley on the border between the Northern Territory and South Australia. Have a great holiday!
34. GREY’S DREAMTIME IN THE RAINBOW VALLEY
After thanking Croc and Heath for their advice we waved farewell to the Hughmongers. It rather tired us out, as for a relatively small town their numbers were humongous.
We soon reached the red rocks entrance into the Rainbow Valley, and it got real colourful from then on.
Rainbow Valley (Photo credit: igormazic)
Red
Red animals abounded within the red of Rainbow Valley. Within the first hour I’d seen red kangaroos, red foxes, red-necked wallabies and redback spiders. Although we could see them clearly, and walked amongst them, no animals acknowledged our existence.
English: Red Kangaroos are common in central Australia, although they tend to avoid people. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It was also red hot there, but the red river did not entice us to its banks.
Mars was the only celestial object visible in the sky, and it glowed brighter than I’d ever seen before; it was indeed a red planet.
Orange
The red turned to orange after a few miles, and the temperature cooled somewhat. I was all of a sudden reminded of Halloween, and the autumn/fall season. I saw no animals in orange, and instead it seemed to be full of fruit and vegetables.
Pologne – Toussaint 2010 (Photo credit: mayanais)
The natural goodies included pumpkins, nectarines, mangoes, carrots, apricots; and of course, oranges. But even though they looked delicious, we didn’t feel the desire to devour.
Yellow
Orange faded to yellow an hour or two later, and it felt as if we were inside a golden paradise. It was as if all the gold in the universe was spread out in front of us.
Pot of Gold in Arkengarthdale: particularly intense rainbow with its pot of gold somewhere on the valley floor between Faggergill and Whaw. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But even though the gold looked shiny and beautiful, we didn’t feel tempted to extract it and weigh ourselves down; instead, we continued our walkabout.
Green
Sometime later; I was losing track of time to tell you the truth; the yellow turned green, as if mixed with blue. Memories of my Green surged through me. Our happy times together in the past lifted my mood, but then I thought of our current situation, and it made me lethargic.
Green Vegetation (Photo credit: Bohemianism)
Thick vegetation also made passage difficult, and tired me out further. I suggested a rest stop, and fell into a deep sleep soon after sitting down.
Hi, it’s Baron Wolfman. The human world didn’t end yesterday, on December 21st, like some people claimed from interpreting the Mayan calender, but something extraordinary did happen in the Greenygrey world this week. Yes, it was an honour to witness Andy Wolfhol at work, creating his extraordinary Week-longWinter Solstice Cycle.
Art of Magic
Cover of Tommy Cooper
Like a Rolf Harris painting that develops out of nothing, or a Tommy Cooper magic trick that works, we think ol’ Wolfhol pulled that one off, and proved he’s still got what it takes to create extraordinary works of art.
I was still reflecting on it when I started reading Carrie Clark’s 46 quotes for reflection in 2012 article for Matador Network.
The article has lots of great mirror images combined with inspiring quotes. Moreover, many of them are greenygrey. Picking out my favourites reminded me of my Greenygrey debut, when greenygrey bridges were the subjects. Here’s my favourite greenygrey images from the article:
Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem celebrates Winter Solstice 2012 in the northern hemisphere, and the Summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere. Lighter days and summer and are now heading northwards, while darker days and winter are on their way south; to meet half way at the spring/autumn equinox in March. Hope you have a great Solstice, Christmas and whatever you celebrate; and holiday season.
The poem mirrors line for line (outer and outer etc) in the two halves more than the lines rhyming. Here it is:
Revolving earth at winter solstice on the northern hemisphere. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mid-Winter Rainbow’s Pot of Gold
dye me grey
December day
winter waves
winds chill down
feather home
heating insulation
pigeons roost
solstice boost
ascended shortest day, midwinter peak fall
skiing ravine
eagles flight
sunshine returns
fleeting promise
wardrobe coat den
spring beckons
January joy
grate my desire
mistYmuse 