In Memorial, 2010

In memorial and reverence stand we
Held our right to be free
Hearts and souls in valor known
Right intention and devotion shown
Battlefields of victory and plight
Through all beheld freedom's light
Others before us in peace they lay
And gather in gratitude we this day
Sons and daughters, husbands and wives
Children of purpose have given their lives
The breath of freedom an endowment divine
Bequeathed to life yours, life mine.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet of the Year
Orangetown, New York

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal's historic photo depicts five United States Marines and one sailor raising an American flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The image is an Associated Press photograph that won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. It was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945.

YouTube - National Anthem USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb_yVxDyB9s

17 syllables of gratitude

life given to me
my decision my release
soul and heart set free.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


17 syllables of gratitude
to
~ Clare ~

Folds of Grace

Petals of providence in folds of grace
Such glory of creation do I see
Hallowed be thy wondrous splendor
Nature in Praise and grandeur be.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Iris Garden, i-Phone Photo, Iris, PFR, Collectible Clicks,©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2010.
click on image for a beautifully enlarged image

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Three Sunflowers

Three sunflowers gifted to me
'Tis the beauty of bloom I do see
Centers of seed and abundance true
God's glory in wondrous full view
Humble and proud they grow and stand
These the gifts of the Creator's hand.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Three Sunflowers in a Vase, Oil on Canvas, Arles: August, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890.

Alchemy

Hues of golden light
Iris petals to enfold
Warm deep and bright
'Tis alchemy I behold.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Gold Iris, iPhone Photo, PFR, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2010.

Iris

petals of violet hue
sun's golden glow divine
this grace of creation
delicate splendor sublime.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Iris, i-Phone Photo, PFR, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2010.

The Gift of Iris

grace and beauty
petals enfold
splendor of creation
be the story told
breath of sun
'tis bloom's array
praise and glory
to this our day.

Rose Marie Raccioppi



Iris Garden, Photo, Karen Krinitz, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2010.

Orion

Stellar winds and distant stars
Sweeping waves of light afar
The splendor of Orion here told
Starbirth colors crest and enfold.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Astronomy Picture of the Day: Orion Nebula: The Hubble View, NASA.
click on image for a beautifully detailed view

Sunflower

The sun and moon I do see

In this sunflower gifted to me

Stars and galaxies be they too shown

Within your petaled universe all is known

Bloom ablaze with shimmering light of gold

Within each seed the Creator's story told.


Rose Marie Raccioppi


Still Life With Four Sunflowers, Oil on canvas, 1887, Kroller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890.

Michael Hoppe

Melodies of Light

Celestial seas of grace
Vistas of splendor
Waves of stellar grandeur
Silent winds
And I the music
Resounding melodies of light.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Wings of Spirit

A cloak
A garment
Interwoven
With our
Days
Nights
Months
Years
And then
We gather
New threads
Understanding
Vision
A knowing
And this time
We weave
Wings of Spirit
And take flight
To our
TRUTH.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Dove, Wings of the World, Watercolor, Shirl Hathaway.

SELF ~ ONE ~ ALL

The mounting quest and fervor real
This heart knows not to conceal
Open to feel, touch and mark desire
Pleading passion, flame and fire
And I to heed passion's plea
In all sensibilities I not flee
This breath of SELF within to call
The ecstasy of ONE of ALL.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Ecstasy of St. Teresa, 1647-52, Marble, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1598-1680.

The Cornaro Chapel, in the left transept of the Church of S. Maria della Vittoria in Rome, is the greatest single commission of the Cornaro family outside the field of architecture and one of the most inspired monuments of art history. Cardinal Patriarch Federico Cornaro acquired the chapel rights in January 1647 and commissioned its design and execution by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, 1647-52.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/spiritual-ecstasy.html

"Spiritual ecstasy is not a feeling or an idea but a shift of perception in which direct contact with spirit is made. Being in ecstasy does not have to express itself through intensity of any kind. The biblical injunction “Be still and know that I am God” is an invitation to ecstasy.

I prefer the spiritual definition because it is inclusive of the physical and the mythical. The most famous example of spiritual ecstasy is probably that of Saint Teresa, who dreamed that an angel came and pierced her heart with a golden arrow. She describes this experience in intensely physical terms, as a burning pain that was almost unendurable until it wondrously transformed itself into equally intense pleasure.

The mythic ingredients of the angel and the arrow are unmistakable once we think back to the god Eros with his quiver and bow. In her ecstasy Teresa felt nothing less than the intimate embrace of God, and the erotic and mythic overtones of her experience make it no less divine. Being supremely spiritual, her ecstasy is able to include every level of interpretation.

What usually makes ecstasy so intense and extreme is not the experience itself but getting to it. The common images of God or an angel coming down from heaven to pierce, shatter, and penetrate the ecstatic one do not have to be taken literally; they serve to remind us that many layers shield us from contact with spirit. To receive the gift of ecstasy is an exquisite experience, as told in a remarkable passage from Greek Orthodox manuscript written a thousand years ago:"

For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ’s body
Where all our body, all over,
Every most hidden part of it,
Is realized in joy as Him,
And He makes us, utterly, real.

Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997).

Bernini ~ TRUTH

The first cry of a child
Its tender grasp and soft touch
Its reaching for life's embrace
Truth the calling of the soul
Its longing for the Oneness of Being
Its ever present quest of the Divine
Truth the will of Creation
Its expression in the soul of humanity
Its line, form, structure of the sublime
Truth the revelation of beauty
Its ever present call be it known
By the hand with God's Grace shown.

Rose Marie Raccioppi



La Verita, TRUTH, White marble 1646-52, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1598-1680.

By The Hand Of The Artist ~ Creation's Beauty

How shall I choose to spend my days

Be they in gratitude and praise
How shall I choose to see your face
But by your smile and loving grace
How shall I feel this Presence known
By Creation's beauty eternally shown.

Rose Marie Raccioppi



Agnolo Bronzino, "Head of a Smiling Young Woman in Three-Quarter View", ca. 1542-43.
Charcoal and black chalk (with stumping), highlighted with white chalk,
on white paper; some outlines stylus-incised.
Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts

Simon & Garfunkel - Sound Of Silence

Restless dreams
Calling heart
This moment in quest
For LOVE be known
The GLORY of SELF
Echoes of the SOUL
Whispered in the sound of silence.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

In Dedication to Clare

Haiku Mood - At My Door

'tis morning to greet
the calling at my front door
a songbird in flight

the light of the sun
quivering of grass and leaf
sweet fragrance of bloom

leaf, petal, feather
delivered by gentle winds
gift of bloom and bird.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Front Door, Photo, CAR, Collectible Clicks©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2010.

In The Light Of Day

Graceful be these arcs of the heavens
Embraced in the light of day
Crescent Venus and Moon
Each an opulent array.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Astronomy Picture of the Day, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
click image for larger view

Raphael

Haiku

soul of the artist
create in eternal quest
line, form and beauty.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Heads and hands of the Apostles, Black chalk, c.1514, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), Italian High Renaissance Painter, 1483-1520.

Haiku ~ Words to Image

beckoning palette
the lure of paint and passion
brush strokes of color.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Quest, Watercolor, Rose Marie Raccioppi, http://www.apogeeart.com


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BEING

BEING

Vistas of splendor
Wings a flutter
Moving waters
Mountains majestic
Voices in PRAISE
So be these wondrous gifts
The Earth, the Heavens
The BEING of days...

...and on to you ever with love dear...
Jeanette and Tony

Rose Marie Raccioppi





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Rider Of The Stellar Winds

Rider of the stellar winds
Light years away
Through the Orion cloud
Dawning in glorious array
Opulence majestic
Be there shown
Resplendent grandeur
In distant vistas known.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Astronomy Picture of the Day
The Magnificent Horsehead Nebula
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100513.html

Journey of Night

Loss and the beauty of what was
The winds carry the haunting call of past and present
The heart beats the memory, the lament
The soul knows it is the dark and the light
The morning and the noonday gone to the journey of night
The journey of night ever in pursuit of the awakening dawn
To this our life and love belong.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Night Journey, Watercolor, Rose Marie Raccioppi, Skyscapes, http://www.apogeeart.com

Upon The Field

The dew upon the field so wide so vast
The kiss of nature in drops of water cast
The bloom ever in color and splendid array
The blessings of Creation this very day
The loving grace of field and bloom bright
The gentleness of petal to hold God's light
Such is the splendor and love of the Presence we share
This array of divine beauty in God's care.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Oat And Poppy Field, Giverny, 1890, Claude Oscar Monet, 1840-1926.

In The Light - Just Because It Is

A butterfly with colors wondrous and bright
Magical wings of black, gray, yellow and white
A butterfly sings ever to me
With a chorus of leaves from the tall oak tree
A butterfly flutters flutters by
In the light of the sun and the blue blue sky.

Rose Marie Raccioppi



Facebook | Ing Van De Vyver's Photos - First SA Butterfly Census Weekend
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?pid=5888682&id=622791110




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Horowitz Plays Appassionata Sonata -Third Movement

Appassionata

This pulsating pleading passion
rapture and pain
ecstasy grasping for the eternal
fleeting frivolity
thunderous echoes of silence
maudlin, tempered and dark
despair dispelled
the sounding ascension
awakening
movements of innocence
joyful exuberance
the spirit as itself
all sound
all silence
being
quell not these passions
the yearning fires of the soul
devour pain and loss.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Liszt: Consolation No.3 in D flat major

Known Be This Awakened Heart

The coolness of morning dew upon leaf
The gentle ripple of moving waters
The caress of soft winds
The feel of shimmering veils in sounds I hear
The embrace of each piano key
And known be this awakened heart.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Franz Liszt
1811-1886
Consolation No. 3

HOROWITZ - Beethoven APPASSIONATA op.57 1st mvt.

Passion's Pulse

Passion's pulse in command
Piano keys await your hand
Sounding this array of emotion
Fingers set in waves of motion
God, Truth, Power, Love and Grace
Known with each finger placed
Piano keys voice spirit’s calling plea
Presence, reflections, lyrical reverie
Gloria Patri be the praise, the claim
Held is this grandeur in the Creator's name.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Letters~Words~Yantras~Mantras

Letters
Each letter a yantra
Form
Configuration
Seen
Felt
Each letter a mantra
Sound
Voiced
Heard
Silent

Words
Symbols of sensibilities
Echoes of consciousness
Thoughts
Mind in translation
Create, speak, sing, write
Define
Need
Desire
Quests
Visions
Define
Objects
Emotions
Ideas
Spiritual longings
All
Reflection
Upon
LIFE
A word, a state of Being
LIFE
The ever present sounding of
Love
Inspiration
Freedom
Eternal.

Creation's Command Light Years Away

The pulse of a nebula in a vista vast
Wondrous beauty in this universe cast
An array brilliant of color and light
To astound the heavens this very night
The life of a sun-like star a halo divine
From light years away to this moment mine.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Astronomy Picture of the Day
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100509.html

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Happy Mother's Day

Mother and Creation in Celebration
In Reflection

There is purpose and plan
Within each heart of man
When life is given anew
The gift of time is bestowed upon you
Days to mark a quest, a desire
And known be life's passion, life's fire
Peace and love to embrace each day
And known be the Glory to God I pray.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


After the Bath, Oil on canvas, c. 1901 , Mary Cassatt, American, 1844 - 1926.

This A Monet

This a Monet and this moment real
I in the embrace of this morning in May
The rhythmic sound of rain upon leaf and bough
Birds nesting and in flight outside my window
So sweetly they herald this day new
Lush green dogwoods and azaleas
Dressed in white flowering splendor
And then the sun's light
Morning gives its gift to noon
This a Monet and this moment real.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


The Luncheon, Monet's Garden at Argenteuil, Oil on canvas, 1873, Claude Monet, 1840-1926.

Swaddled In The Baptism Of Time

Swaddled in the baptism of time
Thought and being
Solitude
Moments of intimacy
With the inner secrets of SELF
Woven threads
Yesterdays the weft
Tomorrows the warp
This cloak of life woven
Textured by the visions of heart
Patterned by the quest of soul
Moments in freedom's embrace
A silent resonant call is heard
Wonder, oneness, echo a repose
A return to innocence
Swaddled in the baptism of time.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


“I Am Half-Sick of Shadows," Said the Lady of Shalott, 1915, Oil on canvas, John William Waterhouse, 1849-1917.

Reflections, paint, brush, and then ~ Phoenix Rising

Despair, devastation

Deliverance I declare
Rise I as the Phoenix
From the ashes
The dark spirit
A faded illusion
And I free
Free.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Phoenix Rising, Watercolor, Rose Marie Raccioppi, ©2010.

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun

Form and purpose
limits and freedom
seedling and rooting
bloom and fruit
harvest and gratitude
my life in passion known.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

In Tribute to
Vincent Van Gogh
1853-1890


Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun, 1889, Oil on canvas, Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Of Creation

Daughter, mother, grandmother, child of God's grace
With loving gratitude upon my heart your hand to place
Creation's call and nature's gifts of caring praise
Life's awakenings to fill these bequest of days
A time set aside to hail and in thankful celebration
Mother and the ever present bounty of Creation.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam



~Consider a gift for Mother's Day~

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Echoes of Many Voices

Within this very moment
And seven scores past
Echoes of many voices
Upon pages in words cast
Hearts aquiver, souls in quest
Thoughts, perceptions, truth
Love, purpose, to hail our behest.

Longings, reflections, grace and gratitude
Within wisdom's heart be they ever mine
Words of thinkers, lovers, the moods of a day
And the touch of the known Divine.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


"Words are things, and a small drop of ink
falling like dew upon a thought
produces that which makes
thousands, perhaps millions, think."

Lord Byron, 1788-1824


My son Christopher lovingly gifts to me

"The Finer Things of Life"
A Compilation by H.S.
The Rosemary Booklets
London
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd.

A collector's booklet treasure


"The Finer Things of Life," Book Photo, CAR, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2010.