10 Jul 2020
by jeannepoland
in Poetry, put on a happy face
Tags: a channel of creativity, a strickland explosion, friendliness campaign, Harvey Ball, lefter of the left eyebrow, master of photo framing, not a money-driven guy, put on a happy face, the breathing soft, the disgonaltilt, the eyelids relaxed
master of photo framing
lifter of the left eyebrow
the diagonal tilt
the eye lids relaxed
the breathing soft
a channel of creativity
a strickland explosion
Today is the birthday of the man who designed the ubiquitous “Smiley Face,” Harvey Ball, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1921.
He was co-owner of an advertising and public relations firm in Worcester in 1963, and when two insurance companies went through an unfriendly merger, he was hired to create a “friendliness campaign” to ease tensions between resentful workers. He thought of the color yellow, which is cheerful, and drew a circle with a smiling mouth inside. That wouldn’t do, though, because if you looked at it upside down, it looked like a frown; he added eyes and the Smiley was born. “There are two ways to go about it,” he told the Associated Press. “You can take a compass and draw a perfect circle and make two perfect eyes as neat as can be. Or you can do it freehand and have some fun with it. Like I did. Give it character.”
He was paid $45 for the design, and the first order was for 100 buttons. Within just a few months, they were selling by the millions. He never tried to copyright the design or expressed any regrets over not getting a cut of the profits, according to his son. “He wasn’t a money-driven guy. He used to say, ‘Hey, I can only eat one steak at a time.'”
(I’m not money driven either.)
04 Jul 2020
by jeannepoland
in have patience and indulgence toward the people, Poetry
Tags: and with mothers, argue not about God, arouse men to burst the chains, forever refresh our rightshave a devotion to them, give alms, go with uneducated, greet men, have patience and indulgence toward the people, labor, love, This is what you shall do, Thomas Jefferson, Walt Whitman
This is what you shall do…
This is what you shall do
by Walt Whitman
“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”
“This is what you shall do…” by Walt Whitman, from the preface of Leaves of Grass. Public domain.
Jefferson turned down a request to appear at the 50th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C.; it was the last letter he ever wrote, and in it he expressed his hope for the Declaration of Independence:
“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be … the signal of arousing men to burst the chains … and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. […] All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. … For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”
03 Jul 2020
by jeannepoland
in Poetry, sleeping
Tags: Billy Collins, defending in all degrees, every night, facing the other way, hotel room, listening for hoof beats in the ground, Sleeping on my side, sleeping or praying, the East I ignore, theatres and silverware, turn my back on half the world, where I am, you are there
sleeping or praying?
Sleeping on My Side
by Billy Collins
Every night, no matter where I am
when I lie down, I turn
my back on half the world.
At home, it’s the east I ignore,
with its theatres and silverware,
as I face the adventurous west.
But when I’m on the road
in some hotel’s room 213 or 402
I could be pointed anywhere,
yet I hardly care as long as you
are there facing the other way
so we are defended in all degrees
and my left ear is pressing down
as if listening for hoof beats in the ground.
“Sleeping on My Side” by Billy Collins. Permission by Chris Calhoun Agency, © Billy Collins, from his collection Whale Day and Other Poems
02 Jul 2020
by jeannepoland
in Poetry, the garden
Tags: answer me, created garden, Father, garden in Harlemville, joy, mercy, NY, temptation's call
garden in Harlemville, NY
created garden
joy mercy, temptation’s call
Father, answer me!
30 Jun 2020
by jeannepoland
in at the computer in the 1980's, Poetry
Tags: at the computer in the 1980's, big feet, caricature, curly hair, exaggeration, fly, Jeanne's outstanding traits, outstanding characteristic, Quicksilver, wrap around long fingers
a caricature is an exaggeration of an outstanding characteristic
can you locate Jeanne’s outstanding traits?
curly hair to wrap
around long fingers and big
feet to fly “quicksilver”
29 Jun 2020
by jeannepoland
in contronym, Poetry
Tags: apology, bolt, bound, cleave, contronym, Daniel Stewart, dust, fast, left, mysophobia, OCD, peer, rare, sanction, single word with contradictory meanings, use a word 3x, weather
from Facebook this am
Sentences using some of these contronyms:
(Using a word 3x is supposed to imprint it on your vocabulary)
1 My daughter has mysophobia, and she’s getting a dose of it during this pandemic.
2 In my watercolors I frequently dust fine particles of color to suggest a texture.
3 The stallion bolted as soon as the bolt was secured!
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