CYNDI MACMILLAN's Blog
 Writing a biography irks me. How much to reveal? What tidbits to conceal? The Basics: I’m a 45 year-old, stay-at-home mom of an adorable two year old girl. I’m happily married to a wonderful man who is my living contradiction, the quiet to my loud, the calm to my frantic. Life continually amuses, bemuses and confuses me.
My first poem, which I wrote at five, was entitled, “Lov is Magik” and my father kept the fading, folded paper I scribbled it upon in his wallet for decades. I have tinkered in poetry ever since, but my main passion is fiction. My short stories have been published in the local papers. Occasionally, I dabble with creative non-fiction. I have a several chapters of a book completed which I’m hoping to submit to Avalon Books. Despite years of living in Ontario, I will always consider myself foremost a Montrealer. Now living in Waterloo County, home of Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry, I am content in our downsized apartment which is close to uptown, but overlooks Laurel Creek. Though considered Canada’s Silicon Valley, the city is surrounded by a picturesque countryside filled with Mennonites. It is not uncommon to see a Mercedes Benz carefully pass a horse drawn wagon. Even our local hardware stores provide parking for buggies. We have many wonderful festivals, two universities, and culture galore. I spent years as an E.C.E. teacher and adore children. Now, that I have one of my own –after 16 heartbreaking years of infertility – my days are filled with finger paints and drinking imaginary tea from tiny pink tea cups. Sleep is a distant memory and writing is my night time balm. My hubby works evening shifts. After my girl is asleep, my imagination runs wild and I write. I am a Jill of all trades. I've worked as a personal care attendant in a home for young people with physical and developmental challenges. Had a short go as a dishwasher in my younger days, oh joy. I've also been an engraver, a store manager, a cashier at the Sally Anne, but my last job was as at an office where I worked on databases (I WISH I was a geek.) As a newer member of Poetry Soup, I am often dazzled by its diversity,the quiet, shy voices, the bellows in the foreground, the cackles in the corners. There is so much talent here! I love the contests run by its members as I enjoy a challenge.
Nice to meet you! Looking forward to growing together, as writers and friends. Hugs, Cyndi
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Most Recent Blog Post
WHAT DOES SANTA HAVE TO DO WITH THE STANLEY CUP?
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Blog Posted:11/30/2012 9:06:00 PM
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First, what is a symbol?
sym•bol[sim-buh?l] Show IPA noun, verb, sym•boled, sym•bol•ing or ( especially British ) sym•bolled, sym•bol•ling.
noun
1. something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign.
2. a letter, figure, or other character or mark or a combination of letters or the like used to designate something: the algebraic symbol x; the chemical symbol Au.
3. a word, phrase, image, or the like having a complex of associated meanings and perceived as having inherent value separable from that which is symbolized, as being part of that which is symbolized, and as performing its normal function of standing for or representing that which is symbolized: usually conceived as deriving its meaning chiefly from the structure in which it appears, and generally distinguished from a sign.
Some symbols we all know and recognize as such...
1)Flags – I still remember being a Girl Guide and carefully folding the flag, ensuring it did not touch the ground. Flags are created to represent a nation and are treated with respect and care. No longer do we burn a flag if it merely touches the ground, but we do understand what a flag symbolizes, just as we know what the flag flying at half-mass means.
2) Mascots – Ah, yes, Youppie. I LOVED Youppie. As a former Montrealer, I went to my share of Expo games and Youppie was one freakish, out there, bold-scolding mascot. Did I think that Youppie was real? HUH? He’s a symbol worn by a sweaty actor/ham. Yet Youppie had his fans, still does. Yeah, Youppie! Je t’aime!
3) The Stanley Cup/Trophies – The coveted Holy Grail for every hockey fan from here to Timbuktu. The trophy has been reportedly used as a urinal and yet team after team chugs beer from this three foot bad boy, year after winning year. People line up to see this thing. Grown men actually get weepy-eyed as they watch their team hoist this thing into the air. Once, a fan tried to steal the behemoth, claiming it “needed to go back to Montreal, where it belongs!” Here here! LOL. And yet it is JUST a symbol.
4) Wedding Ring- the wedding ring is a symbol of the eternal bond between husband and wife (and these days man and man or woman and woman, hey, all love is good love!) It’s just a band of gold. It holds no magic. Lose it and a marriage will not dissolve. It’s work and commitment that make a marriage last, not jewelry. Yet there are widows and widowers, some who have been without their loved one for decades, who refuse to remove that band of gold. Many die wearing them. Symbols are cherished.
5) Art and Landmarks. Inukshuk were and are created by the Inuit peoples to help them navigate lands with few landmarks. They symbolize endurance, survival, life. It could be said that Inukshuk now have come to be a symbol of the Inuits, beautiful, strong, creative and spiritual. Ask a Scot about the Stone of Destiny... see what happens!
6) The Poppy- A certain doctor named John McCrae was serving in WWI and wrote In Flanders Fields, which has become the world’s most recognizable rondeau and synonymous with valor and a life sacrificed while serving one’s country. Both my grandfather’s served in WWII. One great uncle did not come home. I wear the poppy with respect. Poppy wreaths are laid on the graves of fallen soldiers, still.
7) Family Crests – are created to symbolize a family’s traits and to show the characteristics the clan holds dear, ha ha, supposedly. My maiden name is Gordon. I am proud of my Scot’s roots and yes, I love bagpipes. And yes, I sigh over men in kilts.
8) Faith symbols –The Jewish Kippah. The Peace Pipes of Native Peoples. Buddha figurines. The Christian Cross. The Om. Wiccan shrines. They are not what we worship. They are only symbols of the Divinity of our belief. All should be respected. Better yet, all deserve to be brought out into the light so these symbols can be better understood.
9) The Olympic Flame. The flame symbolizes the Olympics. Prometheus stole the flame from the god Zeus. Now, go ask Michael Phelps if he thinks Zeus is real and is going to smite him with Greek lightening. No? Now ask him if the Olympic flame moves him in any way? Bet you will get a different answer.
And finally, yes, you knew I was going there...
10) Saint Nicholas/Kris Kringle/Santa Claus, a symbol of giving at Christmas.
My stepmother was a Christmas freak. She loved everything Christmas, especially Santa Claus. She decorated each room until there was NO room. There were Santa candles, pillows, figurines, snow globes. Man, I have no idea where she found the stuff. She’d knit, embroidery, needlepoint and cross stitch Santa.
I still have the Christmas cards she sent me! I read them each year with a box of Kleenex. I only had this incredible, funny, maddening woman in my life for ten years and Christmas has never been the same since she passed away.
And whenever I see anything Santa Claus-ish, I think of her and both laugh and cry.
Santa is symbolic to me. It does cheese me off to see “him” plastered onto car commercials, selling beer, in the window display of the Stag shop.
Santa means 'her' to me. And Santa might mean a dead father to another, a lost child to someone else... Santa CAN BE more than a symbol of commercialism. Santa IS more than a symbol of commercialism. At least “he” is to me.
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My Past Blog Posts
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THE IRONY OF MY IGNORANCE--RE: BANGLADESH
Date Posted: 5/19/2013 7:15:00 AM |
HO HEY: WRITE ME A PUB SONG, WINNERS!
Date Posted: 5/14/2013 9:16:00 PM |
A LOVE LETTER TO INDIA... A TRIBUTE, FOUND ON THE CONTEST PAGE, update on pub songs
Date Posted: 5/14/2013 6:47:00 AM |
PRAYERS AND CONCERN FOR BANGLADESH
Date Posted: 5/7/2013 12:34:00 PM |
Daily Haiku: The journal of Contemporary Haiku
Date Posted: 5/7/2013 5:30:00 AM |
DOES ANYONE HAVE NEWS OF OUR LINDA-MARIE?
Date Posted: 5/7/2013 4:51:00 AM |
HAIKU AND PHOTO-- Use as a prompt, share news, whatever
Date Posted: 5/5/2013 4:54:00 PM |
HAIKU AND PICTURE... feel free to use as a prompt, add a haiku, thought, news, whatever! <3
Date Posted: 5/4/2013 11:16:00 AM |
MOMMY BLOG: TACTICAL PARENTING
Date Posted: 5/1/2013 8:35:00 PM |
SOME OF THE PEOPLE ON SOUP. WHO I THINK YOU ARE. TAKE A PEEK!
Date Posted: 4/29/2013 8:14:00 PM |
SYLVIA, A CROWN OF SONNETS, FOR CRAIG & ALL PLATH FANS
Date Posted: 4/26/2013 4:11:00 PM |
Sak Vid Pa Kanpe, ghostwritten... YO RUBEN!
Date Posted: 4/25/2013 12:10:00 AM |
NEXT DARE, FIX SOMEONE'S UNFIXABLE. PROVE IT CAN BE DONE! WHO'S IN? RUBEN, I TAG YOURS... LET ME DO IT!
Date Posted: 4/24/2013 5:43:00 PM |
OH, LORD, I SWORE I'D NEVER SHARE THIS... JUST FOUND IT... CIRCA 1998
Date Posted: 4/24/2013 4:58:00 PM |
OLD SERVING OF CRAP FOR PD AND RUBEN... COME 'N GET IT WHILE IT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN
Date Posted: 4/23/2013 3:43:00 PM |
Z IS FOR ZARIA, WINNERS and CONGRATULATIONS!
Date Posted: 4/16/2013 10:30:00 PM |
NEW CONTEST, HO HEY: WRITE ME A PUB SONG
Date Posted: 4/11/2013 8:33:00 PM |
A POEM FOR FRANCINE ROBERTS, FREE VERSE
Date Posted: 4/10/2013 8:32:00 PM |
ONTARIO'S PROVINCIAL FLOWER-- Photo for all, but especially for PD
Date Posted: 4/10/2013 11:22:00 AM |
THE THORNY CROWN, A RONDEAU
Date Posted: 3/28/2013 9:57:00 PM |
SOUPERS, PLEASE READ. AN IDEA I SENT TO TPS. WATCHA THINK? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THIS, TOO?
Date Posted: 3/27/2013 4:53:00 PM |
LINDA IRMA --- PD---- LOVE AND SYMPATHY CARD, SOUPERS PLEASE SIGN.
Date Posted: 3/26/2013 6:03:00 AM |
101 WAYS TO OUT YOURSELF AS A POET. WHAT MAKES A POET... FOUND HERE.
Date Posted: 3/25/2013 5:02:00 PM |
PALADIN, FREE VERSE
Date Posted: 3/21/2013 9:32:00 PM |
INTRODUCING MY NEW FORM: the I DO NOT CARE
Date Posted: 3/20/2013 8:27:00 PM |
My Poems
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| Date Posted | Poem Title | Form | Categories |
| 5/22/2013 | ALL FALL DOWN | Sestina | death,history,london, |
| 5/18/2013 | POETRY | Free verse (vers libre) | poetry, |
| 5/13/2013 | MADE IN BANGLADESH | Ghazal | change,clothes,death, |
| 5/10/2013 | Contemporary haiku | Haiku | children,family,mother,sw |
| 5/7/2013 | LOVE CLAMORS, A DIRGE FOR CIVILITY | Villanelle | care,people,rights, |
| 5/6/2013 | haiku for Catie | Haiku | games,sexy, |
| 5/5/2013 | SUNDAY SOJOURN | Haibun | garden,morning,time, |
| 5/3/2013 | a cluster of men | Haiku | summer, |
| 5/3/2013 | haiku - For Moms | Haiku | life,may,mother, |
| 5/3/2013 | haiku 7 - verbless | Haiku | seasons, |
| 5/2/2013 | FLOWER FAERIES | Quintain (English) | fairy,flower, |
| 4/28/2013 | WOMEN, FOR DEBBIE GUZZI | Free verse (vers libre) | friendship,gender, |
| 4/26/2013 | SYLVIA, FOR CRAIG CORNISH, FOR ALL PLATH FANS | Crown of Sonnets | life,poets,writing, |
| 4/20/2013 | THE POET'S CREED | Free verse (vers libre) | poetry,world,writing, |
| 4/18/2013 | TYPEWRITER | Free verse (vers libre) | lust,writing, |
| 4/17/2013 | IT---FOR A TEACHER AND FRIEND ON HER RETURN | Free verse (vers libre) | poetry,writing, |
| 4/11/2013 | GET ME TO THE PUB | Lyric | funny,life,places,song,me |
| 4/10/2013 | TWELVE DOLLARS, UNLESS PRICED DIFFERENTLY, dedicated to Francine Roberts | Free verse (vers libre) | nostalgia,women, |
| 4/9/2013 | haiku 2013 | Haiku | flower,food, |
| 4/8/2013 | THE ADJECTIVE IMPERATIVE | Couplet | on writing and words,word |
| 4/1/2013 | MY JANE | Sonnet | romantic, |
| 3/31/2013 | haiku for Charles | Haiku | nature,people,time, |
| 3/28/2013 | THE THORNY CROWN | Rondeau | easter,faith, |
| 3/26/2013 | THE FIRST OF APRIL | Haibun | holiday,hope,pain, |
| 3/24/2013 | CRUCIBLE | Villanelle | hate,suicide,teen,heart,h |
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Fav Poems
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| Poem Title | Form | Categories |
| The Sowing | Free verse (vers libre) | devotion |
| Ten Little Toes | Rhyme | daughter,lifeold,old,,gra |
| Woodland Rhapsody | Quatrain | inspirational |
| Contradicting Keats | Sonnet | introspection,life |
| Surrender to Love | Rhyme | loveme, |
| A Totum Pole Ode | Concrete | native american,people, |
| MORE DREAMS TO ROW | Rhyme royal | inspirational,life, |
| FALLEN LEAF | Dizain | nature, |
| When the Tab Comes Due | Free verse (vers libre) | inspirational,introspecti |
| Lighting My Candle From Within | Quintain (English) | caregiving,introspection, |
| The Kirk by the Sea | Couplet | nostalgia,religion,love, |
| Moonlight On The Ward | Choka | health,life, |
| Nocturnal Poetry | Rhyme | imagination,life,poetry, |
| Slumber | Epic | dedication,epic,slam, |
| FROSTY MOONLIT STROLL | Couplet | inspirational,seasons, |
| Our Thanksgiving | Light Poetry | holiday, |
| Tomorrow's Grace | Etheree | peace, |
| A New Star Shines Above Hawaii | Rhyme | dedication,music, |
| UNSPOKEN | Lyric | angst,love,people, |
| Jesus, Our Savior | Shape | religion,life, |
| Monarch of Summer | Verse | animals,devotion,inspirat |
| Untouched | Rhyme | forgiveness,me,me, |
| Midnight Pearls | Than-Bauk | introspection,love, |
| Beaucoup Blooms | Terza Rima | nature,spring,spring, |
| On Heaven's Doorway | Narrative | inspirational,life,care,c |
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