Category: poetry

gratitude · poetry

In the Waiting Room

Sally6 Comments

I was sitting in the waiting room
Lost in thoughts of gloom and doom
Wishing spring was more a-bloom
When my thoughts were interrupted

I had been focusing on my hip
Good God — this pain! Worse than the grippe!
Wishing a magic healing ship
Would sail right over to me!

Instead it was a lady old
Struggling with her earring gold
Who pedalled over and took hold
Of me — my thoughts disrupted

“Could you, would you, help me, dear?
I can’t quite get this in my ear —
I can’t tell if I’m far or near —
It’s hard! I just can’t see!”

Well, I could see her red earlobe
That she had tried to poke and probe
The ear and earring matched wardrobe —
She soon was reconstructed

“Thank you, dear! Thank you so much.”
She patted me — a gentle touch —
Pedalled her wheelchair off with such
Ease. I think you would agree

That helping someone who’s in need –
Performing just a small good deed –
Can lift one’s spirits and can lead
To gratitude unobstructed.

Yep, this really happened to me this week.

Life · poetry

Personal Creed

Sally39 Comments

Life is hard for ev’ryone
Stumbling. Deaf. Dumb. Blind
Focus NOT on Number-One
Be thoughtful. Be kind.

Humans can be inhumane-
Ground up by the grind
Bearing Christ or Mark of Cain
Be thoughtful. Be kind.

Weary, weary, so exhausted
Brawn, might — must I find?
No! None should feel accosted!
Be thoughtful. Be kind.

God, let me be supportive –
Let me know Your mind
Not strong-armed or extortive
Be thoughtful. Be kind.

This is my response to this week’s W3 challenge. The Poet of the Week, Murisopsis (Val — congrats!!) challenged us to write a poem using the theme of our Creed or Spirituality. The poem must include a refrain.

I opted to keep trying Celtic forms. This one is the Cro Cumaisc Etir Casbairdni Ocus Lethrannaigecht.(Try saying that three times fast!) Below are the rules

  • Quatrain (or four-line) stanzas
  • Seven syllables in lines one and three; five syllables in lines two and four
  • Lines one and three end with a three-syllable word
  • Lines two and four end with a one-syllable word
  • Rhyme scheme in each stanza: abab

poetry

Boo!

Sally11 Comments

He presses
Himself to the wall. Guesses
She won’t see him out of view —
Boo!

So surpised!
You! she yells, giggling disguised
As annoyance, but she’s not
Hot

She’s laughing!
The fun is telegraphing
A bond they share. It’s such prime
Time.

’cause sometimes
I think being scared (oft-times)
Is half the fun… More than half!
Laugh!

This is my response to this week’s W3 prompt. POW, Violet, gave us three quotes to choose from to incorporate into our poem — all having to do with “The Human Condition.” I chose a quote from Krystal Sutherland, House of Hollow: “Sometimes I think being scared is half the fun.”

I used a Celtic form called Deibide Baise Fri Toin. Syllable counts per line are 3-7-7-1. Lines 1 and 2 rhymes on 2 syllables. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme on one.

poetry

Listening

Sally12 Comments

The truest love involves more than giddy peaks,
It’s listening, really listening, when the other speaks

Words are words are words. Heck, anyone could say them
When there’s honest listening – that’s where love comes from

Words hit heart, hit home, when one looks between
Beyond simple listening we sees what words can mean

To listen we must step aside and hear with more than ears
Listening in that way leads to love that lasts for years

A sally is a jaunt off the beaten track
And love is really listening even when words lack

This is my submission to the W3 challenge this week. The challenge was to write a Ghazal on the theme of Love. Here are the instructions for a Ghazal:

  • Made up of a chain of couplets, where each couplet is an independent poem;
    • It should be natural to put a comma at the end of the first line of each couplet;
  • The Ghazal has a refrain of one to three words that repeat, and an inline rhyme that precedes the refrain;
    • Lines 1 and 2, then every second line, have this refrain and inline rhyme;
  • The last couplet should refer to the author’s name;
  • The rhyming scheme is AA bA cA dA eA etc.

I read and read and read the instructions and, in the end, did only half of them. I wrote couplets, I had a refrain (though not at the end of the line), and the last couplet refers to my name. But the internal rhyme and the rhyme scheme? – Meh.

poetry

I thought about trashing this…

Sally13 Comments
Art by Glen Martin Taylor

So shattered
Everything that mattered
Broken, unfixable, trashed
Dashed

One person
Opts to better, not worsen
Fashion, build, construct, un-break
Make

When you might think all is lost
That all pieces should be tossed
Giving up has higher cost

This is my response to this week’s W3 Challenge. Here are the guidelines given by the Poet of the Week:

  • THEME: Write a poem to encourage someone not to give up—urging them to persevere, try again, or push forward for just one more time or day;
  • STRUCTURE: Use no more than 11 lines;
    • Choose any form or rhyme scheme you prefer;
  • Optional Inspiration: Consider drawing inspiration from the image and/or statement by artist Glen Martin Taylor above;
    • If you do include Glen Martin Taylor’s statement or repost the image, please give proper credit to the artist.

There’s an unpronounceable Celtic form called Deibide Baise Fri Toin. Syllable counts per line are 3-7-7-1. Lines 1 and 2 rhymes on 2 syllables. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme on one. So I wrote two of those plus three more 7-syllable lines that all rhyme with each other. Total lines = 11.

poetry

Longing for the window seat

Sally17 Comments

From the window seat on the plane, plain
Stretches out. And sometimes I see sea.
Sometimes it is a sandy beach. Beech
Trees with maple, birch, hemlock wood would
Populate my view. Back row aisle, I’ll
Say that my view is, of course, coarse
Economy class — deaf to my pleas: Please,
I need the window but I know no
One cares! [sigh] Be there in a few. Phew!

This is my submission to the W3 Challenge. This week we are challenged to write an “Echo Verse” which means the last syllable is repeated at the end of each line. It was a fun challenge.

When I fly, which isn’t often, I truly am a window seat person all the way.

Life · poetry

Some things on my “to-do list” that never gets done

Sally6 Comments

Some things on my “to-do list” that never get done
Sleep all night
Lose 10 pounds
Go out for a run

Other stuff on my “to-do list” that I keep passing by
Clean the house
Clean out the barn
Weed the garden — beautify!

What I want on my to-do list instead of all that stuff
Daydream
Moodle
Sketch
or doodle
Make some art with pasta noodles
Play the flute
Or trombone
Spend two weeks without my phone
Call old friends
To just say “Hi!
I’m thinking of you! Okay, bye!”

To-do lists are a tool, that’s all
Whether long or whether small
Crossing items off feels good
Instead of focusing on “should”

The title of this post was a prompt that showed up in Jetpack.

poetry

Writer’s Dice: Nature Poem

Sally2 Comments

Snowy prints
Down the ramp
Whose are they?
Some wild scamp

Perhaps fox
Or wild cat —
Which of you
Would do that?

‘Cross the street
Off you’d go
River-ward
Through the snow

While I slept
There you trod
All unseen
But by God

But, by God,
Prints reveal
You exist
You are real

You are close
You are bold
I must ask
Aren’t you cold?

Today’s roll of the dice: JOYFUL, POEM, NATURE, STRANGER

I decided to write a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire, an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

Also, I decided to look back at the photos on my phone for the first nature photo that wasn’t the moon and use that as additional inspiration.

I am perpetually cold this time of year. It was -7 when I first looked at the temp this morning. Hence the last line.

poetry

Introvert

Sally12 Comments

In the shadow of the forest
In the shadow of this wood
In the shadow of one maple
In the shadow there I stood
In the shadow am I hiding?
In the shadow I’m abiding
In the shadow, in the shadow – all is good

The W3 prompt for this week is as follows:

  • THEME: Explore the contrast between light and darkness;
    • Use metaphor to reveal hidden truths or surprising insights;
  • FORM: Each line must begin with the phrase “In the shadow of…”
  • LENGTH: Exactly 7 lines;
  • TONE/IMAGERY: Create vivid imagery that evokes a sense of mystery or revelation;
    • Aim for a narrative arc that transitions or oscillates between themes of obscurity and clarity.

I got the 7-line part right, so I should get partial credit for that — but no metaphors or vivid imagery. Sorry. Just the thoughts of an introvert who has had a rough week.

Can I go hide somewhere now? In the shadow?

Faith · Grief · poetry · Random Photo Monday

When he died

Sally12 Comments

When he died,
Oh, I tried
To decide

What came next —
So perplexed.
The subtext

Of my grief,
My belief,
Brought relief

This is my submission for the W3 Challenge this week:

  • Theme: The bittersweet, painful, or unsettling aspects of the past and its hold on the present;
    • Optional Challenge: Use imagery of shadows, cracks, or reflections to add depth to the theme;
  • Form: A “square” (e.g., 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, or any other pattern you choose);
    • “Rows” represent stanzas;
    • “Columns” represent the number of lines in each stanza;
      • For example: 3×3 = 3 stanzas of 3 lines each; and 4×4 = 4 stanzas of 4 lines each.

The idea of a “square” poem intrigued me. I wrote 3 stanzas of 3 lines each. I went a step further, though, and made each line 3 syllables — does that make it a cube?