So February 26th is the date to seize the day and write Carpe Diem, well a Carpe Diem poem too! While the phrase is ancient (almost), and became popular when Robert Frost wrote a poem titled Carpe Diem in 1938, the Carpe Diem Day is more recent. Learn more about the history of this day here.

The poetic form titled Carpe Diem is independent of the national day observation but it was interesting to me since I had put the form in my Poetic Sundays draft in January hoping to use it soon. And realized that it makes perfect sense for me to seize the Carpe Diem day to feature the Carpe Diem form!

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Poetic Sundays: Seize the Day and Write a Carpe Diem Poem

The Carpe Diem poetic form was created by Pat Simpson in August of 2010. Its concept is simple, to seize the moment and write about what is making you happy.

What is the Carpe Diem Poetic Form?

The Carpe Diem poem is an attempt to seize the happiness of everyday moments and capture those in words. It is a syllabic decastich written in one single stanza and has no metrical or rhyme requirements. The only requirements it does have are to write about what makes you happy and to follow the syllabic count across those 10 lines of the poem.

A Carpe Diem Poem’s Characteristics

So a Carpe Diem poem’s elements are that at its most basic, it is:

• stanzaic: is a single stanza of 10 lines
• syllabic: follows a syllabic scheme of 8/6/4/2/10/2/4/6/8/10
• themed: write about anything that makes you happy
• free of rules of rhyme and meter

h/t: poetscollective,

My Carpe Diem Attempt to Seize the Day

Somethings (someones) that make me happy..

My Happiness Quotient
Sweethearts two, they take up the space
You know – the one – that place
called heart. The two,
they do
fill it up with just being who they are!
Daughter
mine, and my son…
Sunray, sunshine my own!
The two, they do fill up my heart
With hugs, pecks, smiles, tears, things both sweet and tart.
~Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

On My Blog & the Blogosphere

My recent posts since and including my last Sunday Scribblings:

• Honoring Amazing People For Black History Month: Picture Book Biographies
• Sunday Scribblings #135: Saluting The Song of the Smoke

& at Home

It is snowing here in the Bay Area!! And loads of it too… a dusting of white on all the trees and mountain tops around us as we step out of our home…. A wondrous unexpected sight indeed. Family visiting us from the East Coast mentioned they were actually feeling colder here than back home for them…Not the best pic but it was cloudy when we hiked on our favorite local hiking trail.

Upcoming

On My Blog & Homefront

posts and such, as always…

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of February/March include: Lawrence George Durrell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Steinbeck, and Peter De Vries on the 27th; Hermione Lee, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket!), and Tony Robbins on the 28th/29th; Ralph Ellison and Robert Lowell on 1st March; Dr. Seuss, Peter Straub, Olivia Manning, and John Irving on the 2nd; James Merrill and Patricia MacLachlan on March 3rd followed by Khaled Hosseini, Toru Dutt, Dav Pilley, and Julia Cameron on the 4th of March; Sarah J. Maas on March 5th; Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Gabriel García Márquez on the 6th
• It is Read Across America Day on the 2nd of March.
• Jewish Book Week is observed annually in the UK, and this year it is from February 26 – March 6th.
• March 4th happens to be National Grammar Day and World Book Day (UK/Ireland) is celebrated in the UK and Ireland on March 4th (A similar event is celebrated April 23rd here in the US).
• Newspapers in Education Week – Starts the first Saturday in March 
• Will Eisner Week – March 1-7 – this is to encourage us to read, experience, dream in graphic art form.
• March is International Ideas Month, so let those ideas flow!
• National Ghostwriters Week as well as National Write a Letter of Appreciation Week take place from March 1 to 7.

Foodie Celebrations

• Feb 27th is National Strawberry Day and National Protein Day too, so maybe a yogurt strawberry smoothie?
• National Chocolate Souffle Day on the 28th of Feb lets you end the month with sweetness along with National Pancake Day!
• March to a healthy start for the month of March with healthy(-as can be) treats. It is National Fruit Compote Day and National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day on the 1st of March
• And then some more healthy-ish delights for it is National Banana Cream Pie Day on March 2nd
• It is apparently 33 Flavors Day on March 3rd (3/3!!)
• Followed by National Pound Cake Day on the 4th of March as well as National Snack Day.
• National Cheese Doodle Day, on March 5, celebrates cheese doodles
• And last but not the least, we have National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day on the 6th of March as well as National Oreo Cookie Day! So maybe some cheesecake topped with oreos?

Other Celebrations

• World NGO Day and National Polar Bear Day are on the 27th of February; you can also step back in time for it is National Retro Day
• National Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Day is March 1st and also International Women of Color Day
• World Music Therapy Day – March 1st; and music is definitely therapy. Listening to music helps so much..
• It is also World Teen Mental Wellness Day on March 2nd.
• March 2nd also happens to be National Old Stuff Day; so find a way to reuse, recycle, and repurpose your old stuff.
• Another celebration for everyday – National I Want You to Be Happy Day  on the 3rd. It is also National Day of Unplugging where, for a 24 hour period, running from sundown to sundown starting on March 3, unplug devices as much as you can.
• A quirky holiday to observe – it is Talk In Third Person Day is observed every March 3.
• World Wildlife Day is celebrated on March 3rd annually.
• Celebrate your sons on March 4th for it is National Sons Day
• March Forth is celebrated on, well, March 4th! This day is to help us marching forth towards our goals (remember the ones we made as resolutions early in the year?)!
• It is Namesake Day on the 5th of March, so find out more about your name, and maybe reach out and say hello to someone who has the same name as you, just for the sake of it!

Multi-day events

• National Eating Disorders Awareness Week – Begins the Last Monday in February
• National Invasive Species Week – Begins the Last Monday in February
• Given who I am, I had to add this one: National Procrastination Week – First two weeks in March (or when it is convenient)
• Telecommuter Appreciation Week – Always the Week of Alexander Graham Bell’s Birthday – March 3. (And remote work is almost the norm now)
• Of course March is Women’s History Month.
• It is also National Craft Month and Irish American Heritage Month in March.

Related Reads to Help You Seize the Day

• Poetic Sundays: Fairy Tales and Poems
• Check out the Strategies For Parents website which offers many useful articles related to grammar and more

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! How do you plan to seize the day? Will you write a carpe diem poem? As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?