Category: poetry

poetry

Signs of Hope

Sally15 Comments

Dandelions: dreams, prayers
Each seed holding hardy hope
Wind blows it beyond our dares
To where we thrive, more than cope

The poem started off as another unpronounceable Irish form — but the form had way too many rules, so I made up my own rules: a quatrain, every line 7 syllables, abab rhyme scheme. I suppose I should make up a name for it?

“Every seed is a bit of Optimism” — this sign was one I painted to go on our barn. When I took it out to the barn, though, it was hard to read from the road, so I painted over it and painted this one instead:

I’ve watched people turn around and come back to photograph the sign on the barn. Some even hop out of their cars and pose in front of it.

We all need reminders of hope, right?

Thank you to Sadje who came up with the prompt of “HOPE” for W3 this week.

Faith · poetry

Adrift

Sally13 Comments

Adrift
In a coracle
No oar
Unmoored
Belonging only
To the One
Who authors
Currents
And winds

This is my response to the W3 prompt this week which is to write a free verse poem of not more than 12 lines with a theme of belonging.

I’ve been feeling a bit at loose ends lately, like I’ve lost my footing. Even my faith, which has been my bedrock, has felt shaky. Belonging to a church feels like a crock. Speaking Christianese, which once felt so natural, now feels false.

I am, indeed, unmoored — and yet I belong.

A to Z Blogging Challenge · Bible Study · poetry

Nazareth

Sally6 Comments

Can anything good come out of Nazareth? — John 1:46

It’s a speck
On the map
Nazareth
Let’s recap:

It was home
To a mere
300
(so I hear)

Nothing big
Nothing key
Just a spot
Zilch to see

Yet from there
Came the Christ
Who for us:
Sacrificed

This year for the A-to-Z challenge, I’m challenging myself to write a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire every day. I can’t pronounce it, but I can tell you that it’s an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

Additionally, I’ve been collecting questions for a few years — specifically questions from the Bible. I have so many questions.

Turns out the Bible is full of questions.

So, I’m using questions from the Gospel of John for this challenge.

poetry

Folly

Sally8 Comments

A ladder
Propped up (could he be madder?!)
‘gainst barn on sawhorses, planks
Tanks.

No surprise
It failed — who would/could advise
Such a scheme? Only a fool
(You’ll

Soon agree)
Maybe you’re thinking “newbie” —
Nope! That’s not it either. See —
He

Was skillful
But also way too willful
To listen to any sense
(Dense)

Just foolish
And, like a donkey, mulish
Stubborn. He thought it would work.
(smirk)

To foresee
(he could not) those sheep, carefree,
Stampeding through his death trap
(Crap!)

He survived!
This story is not contrived;
It’s true. I heard it last eve —
Steve

This is an Irish form called Deibide Baise Fri Toin. It’s made up of quatrains with an aabb rhyme scheme. Syllable count 3-7-7-1. Lines one and two rhyme on a two-syllable word; lines three and four rhyme on a monosyllabic word.

This is in response to the W3 prompt: folly

A to Z Blogging Challenge · Bible Study · Faith · poetry

Many

Sally3 Comments

What are they for so many? — John 6:9

A few loaves?
And two fish?
What are they?
Futile wish

That somehow
These would feed
A crowd? Ha!
No, indeed.

And yet once
Broken, they
Did just that —
“How?” You say

Magic? Was
It Divine?
I don’t know –
Yet, I dine

This year for the A-to-Z challenge, I’m challenging myself to write a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire every day. I can’t pronounce it, but I can tell you that it’s an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

Additionally, I’ve been collecting questions for a few years — specifically questions from the Bible. I have so many questions.

Turns out the Bible is full of questions.

So, I’m using questions from the Gospel of John for this challenge.

A to Z Blogging Challenge · Bible Study · poetry

Love

Sally4 Comments

“Simon, son of John, do you love me…?” John 21:15, 17

Oh, the ache
To be asked
This question
Three times! Cast

Your net! Catch
Some fish — these
Were easy!
Yes, a breeze

Compared with
Do you love
Me? It hurts
To think of

Peter — so
Brash, headstrong
Impulsive
Sometimes wrong

Forced to think
And reply
Yes, yes, yes —
You know I

Do. You know
Ev’rything.
Follow you?
Anything!

This year for the A-to-Z challenge, I’m challenging myself to write a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire every day. I can’t pronounce it, but I can tell you that it’s an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

Additionally, I’ve been collecting questions for a few years — specifically questions from the Bible. I have so many questions.

Turns out the Bible is full of questions.

So, I’m using questions from the Gospel of John for this challenge.

Confession: I got stuck on K. It sits in my draft folder, half-written. I’ll circle back — but, for now, I’m moving on with L.

poetry

April

Sally10 Comments

Oh, April!
Daffodil
Of the months!
You instill

Joy, delight,
Hope, laughter —
Yes, laughter!
For after

The muddy
Wretchedness
Of March (I
Must confess –

While I don’t
Hate winter,
I notice
Hope splinter

At the ups-
And-downs of
Cold and snow)
How I love

To see the
Trillium
The snowdrops
The Lilium

I love the
Happy sight
Of flowers
And more light

The W3 prompt this week was to write a poem about April.

poetry

“Who am I & What is My Purpose?”

Sally7 Comments

Lord, let me be a ten-tug worm
That stands its ground as best it can
Or grips its ground as case may be
While robin works as worm hit-man
Though odds are stacked against me e’er
Though I can’t win — not with this plan
Though life is ever hopeless for
The principled who’s no yes-man
Give me fight ‘gainst the stronger-than

It’s rare these days when I miss the W3 challenge, but I did this week.

The challenge was to write a nine-line poem under the title of ““Who am I & What is My Purpose?”

I am frustrated with my job. So. Freaking. Frustrated.

Today, I had a conversation that I walked out of shaking my head and saying, “I can’t.”

Then I vented to the HR person.

Then I went for a walk. On my walk, I saw a robin tugging a worm that wasn’t giving way. It was a losing battle for the worm. I think it always is. But, for half a second, I was rooting for that worm. I knew at best, though, it would get torn in half. Not much of a best, eh?

The worm gave way.

The robin ate it.

I continued my walk.

Who am I? I’m the kind of person who fights a losing battle because I believe in it.

What is my purpose? To (hopefully) make the yes-man think.

A to Z Blogging Challenge · Bible Study · Faith · poetry

Judge

Sally5 Comments

“Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” — John 7:51

people are
quick to judge
then often can’t
even budge

when they hear
facts that tell
another
tale. Lord, quell

my judgment
change my mind
let me be
open, kind.

This year for the A-to-Z challenge, I’m challenging myself to write a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire every day. I can’t pronounce it, but I can tell you that it’s an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

Additionally, I’ve been collecting questions for a few years — specifically questions from the Bible. I have so many questions.

Turns out the Bible is full of questions.

So, I’m using questions from the Gospel of John for this challenge.

A to Z Blogging Challenge · Bible Study · poetry

Identity

Sally2 Comments

Who are you? John 1:19

Who are you?
Who are you
Really? What
Do you do

That makes you
You — unique
Distinctive
So to speak

Why are you?
What is your
Purpose? What
Are you for?

Who are you
Really? Know
Yourself. Be
You. Now go.

This year for the A-to-Z challenge, I’m challenging myself to write a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire every day. I can’t pronounce it, but I can tell you that it’s an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

Additionally, I’ve been collecting questions for a few years — specifically questions from the Bible. I have so many questions.

Turns out the Bible is full of questions.

So, I’m using questions from the Gospel of John for this challenge.