Morning and ... Light Upon Brush and Palette

demanding are the many tasks at hand
a perception, a plan, action in command
intention and focus be the alert of the day
the gift of time and a knowing provide the way
how sweet when vision is newly held clear
when the din of despair is silenced and gone the fear
how comforting is this moment's embrace
when within heart, love the soul does place
how knowing is this Spirit's call
when resounding with the grace of ALL
the clamor and chaos hushed they be
felt is the gentle peace within me

light upon brush and palette beckons anew

the rising light be the Muse calling on to you
the day by Creation's plan does unfold
led I be by the Divine WORD ever told.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Morning Light, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2012.

The MASK

What be this restlessness I feel

These impressions but illusions real

See behind the mask beyond the veil

See the denied pain that is yet to prevail

The masquerade and pretense held to conceal

The SELF that TRUTH alone is to reveal

Reveal, I hear this night command
Cloak not the quiver of shadow close at hand
Remove pretense and the mask donned to conceal
The TRUTH, the deep knowing, this knowing real
Confront and resolve, the petition summons a call
Beyond all consideration, TRUTH to lay bear ALL
To the plea of this petition I to heed
And TRUTH, 'tis ever the rightful creed.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_mask

Firmament

... beauty skyward...

Firmament

This ever changing firmament
I lovingly behold

Shades, hues and tones

By the light enfold

Sweeping streaks of colors ephemeral

Etch upon the soul.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Astronomy Picture of the Day 2006 January 20 LL Ori and the Orion Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team

For your added enjoyment..

Firmament - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6QlIBV1Drg

Curtain Call...

... inspired by a calling for an ever new performance of life, this our choice... 

may we answer willingly to ENCORE...ENCORE...

Curtain Call

drama of my mind
theatre of my soul
the curtain drawn
the script written
the lines rehearsed
the drama to unfold
what illusions will seem real
what deceptions will be masked
what TRUTHS will be honored
what story will be told
am I backstage acting out a role
what lines do I repeat
what drama do I make real
what of life do I behold
what scene includes me
what scene bears me no place
what re-write is there to consider
or is all foretold
a calling heard
open the curtain
here to stand 
this the moment
I in command
illusion bears no veil
deception wears no mask
TRUTH IS and I AM.

applause
bravo
curtain call.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Curtain Call, Image, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2012.

In Tribute to Josephine Carella 1924 - 2012

Josephine Carella

1924 ~ 2012

Love and service ever her way

Faith and vision to embrace her day

Many a smile, many a tear she did share

And ever held be her heartfelt care

Daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, each role did she live

Service, understanding, support, all with grace she did give

Her soul in peace in the heavens shall prevail

A life of purpose and devotion we do hail

Josephine, shall in our memories and hearts be known

For the blessings and grace she has so lovingly shown.

In gratitude,

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Josephine Carella, Haverstraw town clerk, dies at 88

www.lohud.com

Josephine E. Carella, the Haverstraw town clerk for the past 36 years, died Friday at her home with her family at her side. She was 88.

One of the longest serving elected officials in the state, Carella was part of the old school of Haverstraw politicians, many of them of Italian-American heritage, many of them first-generation Americans, and most from either Haverstraw or West Haverstraw village.

Carella began serving in 1977 and faced almost no challengers during her 36 years as town clerk as voters re-elected her every two years.

“My mother was not the typical, run-of-the-mill politician,” her son, Bernard, said Saturday. “She loved people. She loved serving the public.”

In addition to her son, she is survived by a daughter, Carolyn Andrews of Stony Point, three grandchildren and one great-grand daughter.

The George M. Holt Funeral Home in Haverstraw is handling arrangements. Visitation is private. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m., Monday at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 46 Conklin Avenue, Haverstraw. Burial will follow at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Haverstraw.

The family requests memorial can be made to the American Red Cross for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Thanksgiving Unto You...

Thanksgiving Unto You...

held yet ever so free
this feeling of gratitude grant I unto thee
within this heart and mind of mine
the graces of life, spirit and time
the past and present visions greet
people, places and memories sweet
abundance and bounty, the harvest be known
the gift of labors, the seeds be sown
seedlings and bloom, our blessings received
within all be the Creator conceived
breath and BEING in celebration anew         
this a Thanksgiving unto you.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York 

The Veteran in a New Field, 1865, oil on canvas, Winslow Homer, 1836–1910.

Painted through the summer and fall of 1865, not long after the nation came to grips with Robert E. Lee's surrender and mourned President Lincoln's assassination—both of which occurred during the second week of April—Homer's canvas shows an emblematic farmer who is a Union veteran, as is signified by his discarded jacket and canteen at the lower right. The painting seems to blend several related narratives. Most soldiers had been farmers before the Civil War. This man, who has returned to his field, holds an old-fashioned scythe that evokes the Grim Reaper, recalls the war's harvest of death, and expresses grief upon Lincoln's murder. The redemptive feature is the bountiful wheat—a Northern crop—which could connote the Union's victory. With its dual references to death and life, Homer's iconic composition offers a powerful meditation on America's sacrifices and its potential for recovery.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

~

Lincoln's Signed Proclamation for Thanksgiving
A Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,

Secretary of State

...blessings be ever known... Happy Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving ~ Blessed We Are

Blessed we are
For the passion and allurement of love
For the delicate innocence of each new born
For the wonder of each child’s way
For the meaning we live this day

Blessed we are
For the understanding we seek
For the compassion we feel
For each sunrise we behold
For each story told

Blessed we are
For the striving and the path
For the strength to meet opposition
For the knowing within the Word
For the listening beyond all heard

Blessed we are
For the bounty
For the harvest we gather
For the restful reflection
For nature's perfection.

Blessed we are
For the tender touch that comforts
For the embrace that secures
For the determination to be
This moment blessed and free.

A Most Happy Thanksgiving to All
2012

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Rest at Harvest, Oil on canvas, 1865, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1825-1905.

In Delightful Preparation... Baskets Brimming

Baskets brimming now sit before you 
Cranberries of such brilliant red hue
Wash and sort and place in a deep pot
Add orange juice, a bit of water, not a lot
Cook slowly and for that added touch
Maple syrup for sweetness, not too much
Cinnamon a sprinkle or two or three
Such sumptuous savor does surely please me
Thick and chunky a most delicious preparation 
Cranberry sauce, a yesterday, a now, in celebration.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York


Cranberries, Photo, Dayna McIsaac.

Awakened

day's awakening
eternal sunrise of soul
rejoice in glory.

gone the echoes and laments of days past

anew BE this mind, this heart, within soul cast
a child of the universe and Creation's grace
ever evolving within the depths of soul's place
confront and resolve be the calling command
within this faith held is libation's hand
nature's knowing and guidance true
life in new splendor brought on to you
shackled no more for I am free as the wind
silent no more for I am the thunderous storm
despairing no more for I am the dawning day
thirsty no more for I am lakes and rivers clear
lost no more for I am each guiding star
confined no more for I am vistas wide and far
hungry no more for I am bounty and harvest divine
this the awakened faith mine
the awakened
the awakened
the awakened faith mine. 

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Awakened, Photo, PFR, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2012.

Alchemic Interlude

...'tis night... haiku reflections...

earth's celestial light
roots behold alchemic grace
such divine accord.


The Crowing Light, the ALPHA ~ 
the initiation ~ the beginning ~ Spirit's Call.  
The Manifestation, the OMEGA ~ 
the end, Eternal Life.
The Heavens ~ The Earth

 I am the Alpha and the Omega, 
the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 
Revelation 22:13


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Alchemic Interlude, Image, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2012.

...food for thought...ah sweet is the savor... A Bit of Mama's Pride

The apple rests in the palm of my hand
Here I hold the bounty of God's command
Quartered, peeled and cut in preparation
Applesauce to be the transformation
Maple syrup for that hearty sweet touch
Cinnamon stick, lemon juice not too much
Plumb raisins for added texture and flavor
Cook and stir, oh such aroma to savor
Applesauce made with love and set aside
Jars to hold delight and a bit of Mama's pride.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York


Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses, Oil on Canvas, 1890, Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906.

...and so it is a storm anew in Tappan, New York Tenderness and Temper

Tenderness and Temper

A gossamer veil of wind, snow and light
Settled and cloaked in crystal strokes of white
So delicate be these touches upon fallen branches and bough
Beauty shall we behold be the storm's silent vow
Fury and calm be the mood of Nature at hand
Ask  I what forces be there presently in command
Listen I to the night winds of November's storming path
Hear I that a new dawning awaits beyond the wind's wrath
Cold be the night as gusting winds from the north do blow
Pristine be the falling and wind swept snow
Tenderness and temper be this night's domain
Nature's province in storming splendor holds its special claim.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Tappan, New York

Photo, CAR, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, Collectible Clicks, 2012.