ashes to ashes
accept own mortality
from dust back to dust
human life is fragile when
disease or disaster strikes

posting poetic prose
23 Feb 2026 2 Comments
in senryu, Uncategorized Tags: ashes, death, dust, mortality
ashes to ashes
accept own mortality
from dust back to dust
human life is fragile when
disease or disaster strikes

18 Feb 2026 13 Comments

dawn’s existential
questions ask me:
what am i good at?
and what do i love?
i love my husband;
his hands, his habits
committed promise
to live life together
(companionship with
mutual understanding
that most differences
aren’t worth a fight)
i have need to write,
feel compelled to,
fulfilled by it…you
may say i’m good at
poetry is universal
language; to bask in
bare beauty of words
is to love like a nerd
prayer as life breath;
God is always near
whether or not i can
feel (or love) Him
Jesus seems easier to
love, harder to obey…
but “we love because
he first loved us” yes!
____________
Quote from 1 John 4:19. Written in response to journal prompt/pic by Dawn at:
https://enthusiasticallydawn.com/2026/02/15/all-the-love-journal-prompts-week-3
Also check out dVerse poets where Sanaa hosts “The Evolution of Love”.
04 Feb 2026 19 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: dental floss, love, pearls, sheep, simile, smile, teeth
We’re smiling at dVerse where Dora hosts Poetics and serves similes…
(credit: AI image from adobe.com)

a smile is like a sweet simile
to what can it be compared?
much more than simply
an upside down frown or a
show-off row of perfect pearls
like Solomon’s ewes with twins,
Shakespeare’s half-murderous grin,
or Carroll’s elusive cat (doth scat)
my love’s desire is to coax yours,
your smile my wit’s reward as our
hearts entwine like dental floss
to what can poetry be compared?
aye, a simile is like your sweet smile!
13 Jan 2026 22 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: baptism, chaplain, church, cornerstone, prison, walls
make one bad decision
or follow foolish friends
and train ride ends with
[ time inside the walls ]
hyper little boy in glasses
grew to be prison chaplain
found his niche ministering
[ to guys inside the walls ]
they have watched men die
but won’t cry except when
another sinner is baptized;
[ set free inside the walls ]
we’ve been taken through
frisked before entering gate
blessed to worship too with
[ church inside the walls ]
Melissa hosts poetics at the pub with Johnny Cash singing his Folsom Prison Blues…
12 Jan 2026 18 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: camping, eyes, love, miles, smile, time, vista, wonder

“Time goes faster the older you get”
i realize it’s true, especially the good times
meandering multiplied (s)miles,
you and i on camping road trips;
every curve reveals
another vista of love’s wonder upon
bespectaculared smiling blue eyes,
mirror pools of creation’s beauty.
Quadrilles and smiles with De and dVerse poets today 🙂
09 Dec 2025 13 Comments
our friendship, not hemmed in
by time or location, offers ample
ease for plenty of free movement.
we started on school bus, bobbin’
as fresh-facing kindergarteners;
as middle schoolers, we darted
on bicycles to local pharmacy,
spacious park or shopping mall
to gather summer memories. in
high school and college, took
backstitch or two along the way,
but eventually stood witness as
each took vows binding ourselves
to husbands (promises we’ve kept).
an old favorite friendship that can
stretch seamlessly across the years
and distance; comfortable and warm
as a patchwork quilt; hearts appliqued
with sisterly love, lined with laughter,
covered with grace-patterned shalom.
For my dear friend, Joyce ❤
Joining with dVerse Poets to “sew” some poetry together!
23 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: hope, light
alone in the dark
waiting and watching with hope
God’s kingdom coming!
Spirit is deposit of
amazing inheritance.
_____________
From today’s sermon by Pastor John Lee on Micah 7…when the darkness is deep, we look for the Light!
08 Oct 2025 17 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: autumn, fall, geese, harvest, leaves, moon

music of mysterious season
every extra-ordinary evening
when fall’s awe-calling and
autumn’s beat thrum-drums.
dry cornstalks quiver in crisp
whispers of sweater weather as
honky geese migrate late, and
de-fruited trees leave with a sigh.
orange pumpkin planets shimmer
eerily in phantom-tastical gleams
of the ghostly harvest moon-beams
that pierce clouds’ flimsy shroud.
Join dVerse Poets where Dora invites us to “trip the October light fantastic.”
10 Sep 2025 8 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: attic, dead, memories, mouse, pettiness, pillow, pride, soul
Melissa challenges dVerse poets to write to a quote from one of Leo Tostoy’s books…

ancient dust thickly lies…
obscures discarded objects
personal mysteries unsolved
hidden in dark attic of soul
what is this discovery?!
favorite forgotten pillow
stuffing needs fluffing…
still choke on puffed pride
look in that corner box
something small, hidden
away…yuck! dead mouse
of musty, moldy pettiness
keep cherished photographs
of loved ones’ kindness but
let dirty dogged memories
lie sleeping and undisturbed
_______
(alternative title: pride & pettiness, but that’s another author)
09 Aug 2025 2 Comments
real presence of God
joy of knowing Jesus’ love
new life in Spirit
18 Jul 2025 6 Comments
Hubby and i are traveling cross-country to Alaska with our camper. I’m sharing our journey here with haiku/tanka and a few photos…whenever i get a round
vast miles of forest
cut by cold stony rivers
reflected in lakes
sweet wilderness refresh in
beautiful b.c. rockies

earth built by design
each mountain, ocean measured
Lord, we are humbled!
. . . . .
rest in wildernes
grateful for livestream worship
home church blessing
hammer clangs anvil
indigenous blacksmith works
coaxing coals to flame
natives’ wellness camp
drums thrum wild call in twilight
black bears dance

boat’s prow cuts blue glass
of pristine lake’s reflection
cruising on mirror
. . . . .
abundant snowfall
in Whitecourt, Whitehorse, White Pass
winter in a word
. . . . .
rush for klondike gold
icy stairs up chilkoot pass
move ton of grubstake
. . . . .

evergreens rustle
glimpse tawn fur of animal
young buck crosses path
. . . . .
alaskan hunger
fresh pink salmon on blue plate
at the fat mermaid
. . . . .
misty mountains drive
matanuska glacier passed
mystery concealed

glacier receding
like old fisherman’s hairline
rough moraine exposed
even permafrost can thaw
leaving roads to heave in wave
. . . . .
view obfuscated
perhaps great mountain is myth
denali’s cloud shroud
. . . . .
sizzle of bacon
hubby fries pancakes outdoors
pure maple sweetness

fall colors appear
fireweed blooms to red stem tip
chill air turns hearts south
…it’s time to head home!
03 Jul 2025 6 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: adventure, alaska, beauty, travel
As my husband and i embark on a roadtrip, “The Great Alaskan Get-Away” (as our fourth son called it), i hope to record our trip with haiku and also share some photos here…
. . . . .
little white chapel
welcomes interstate travelers
prayers for safety

scent of pine on breeze
soft-bristled ponderosa
cover hills in black
. . . . .
rock cut-away glints
precious metals vein granite
black hills central tracks
old “eighteen-eighty” railroad
steam engine pulls train up grade

whee! we ride e-bikes
along george michelson trail
bump over wood bridge
. . . . .
i feed him almonds
toss halves to striped ground squirrel
he eats on haunches
. . . . .
presidents in stone
home of the free and the brave
history’s heroes

Happy birthday, America! Remember your heroes and hold to your ideals…
visit montana
big sky hospitality
panning for gold and garnets
old friends, old west towns, old bones
glacial mountain views
. . . . .
mountain majesties
stand on leftover snow patch
breathe in alpine air

home sweet camper home
nestled in stand of tall pines
relax with husband
. . . . .
four wheel drive pickup
narrow one lane gravel road
explore old ghost town
miners found gold and silver
Garnet booms…then abandoned


walk trail through tall trees
red cedar and black hemlock
ferns grace forest floor
. . . . .

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