monarch butterflies
floating stained glass windows
reflect light’s glory
delicate creatures on winged
migration to paradise
Getty Images
clerestory pilgrimage
19 Sep 2019 2 Comments
in tanka Tags: butterflies, clerestory, migration, monarchs, pilgrimage, stained-glass
pregnant
18 Sep 2019 11 Comments
in free verse
“Tonight, I want you to write a poem of anticipation. Maybe you’re hoping for something wonderful, maybe you’re afraid of retribution, maybe you’re just desperate to get off the bus.” – Sarah hosting at dVerse Poets pub
oh, sweet anticipation
we grandparents-to-be
(again, yes…times ten!)
phone rings, son calling
does he have news? no
he’s coming over and
do i have meal for him?
while he sits at our table
his wife calls him, news?
contractions begun? not
yet, not even warm-ups
grandma must breathe
slowly, deeply, let all
tension exhale, relax
check calendar days
due date comes…goes
reformation needed
18 Sep 2019 4 Comments
desperate pilgrims
risked medieval roads and thieves
hoping to be saved
worst thief was catholic church
selling salvation for gold
Canterbury Tales
Not sure if church commentary is appropriate for a tanka but the true church of Christ should always be re-forming ourselves according to scripture.
mine walks fine line
11 Sep 2019 6 Comments
in rhyming verse, Uncategorized Tags: alpacas, doves, mental health, palm tree, stigma, zoo
in
sanity’s measured continuum
continue to march to drum
did you know alpacas hum?
so
hum to yourself like alpacas do
they won’t bite, but will you?
if howl growl, put me in “zoo”
to
write bright fantastical poetry
under plastical poet’s tree, see?
inflated palm lights-up for free
on
this blog written by “mad hatter”
a pinch of craziness won’t matter
just stir into my pancake batter
as
flapjacks flip, overturn life’s game
healthy dis-ease is recovery’s aim
let go of stigma and false shame!
(give freudian therapy all the blame)
Poeming with Laura at dVerse about mental health. I admire my family members who’ve lived bravely through mental illness to recovery. NAMI is a national organization in the U.S.that offers resources and support!
nowaki (windstorm)
07 Sep 2019 3 Comments
windstorm passes through
time to pick up sticks again
branches down in grove
price paid for shaded farmstead
how nature attacks her own!
purple-urple
04 Sep 2019 33 Comments
in ekphrastic, poem for children, rhyming verse
Mish at dVerse Poetics inspires us with the lovely art of Beverly Dyer…and today I did paint one wall of our living room “purple suede”!
paint a purple wall
pluck a purple plume
pick a purple wildflower
play a purple tune
write a purple poem
wear a purple dress
climb a purple mountain
make a purple mess
eat a purple plum
fly a purple kite
plant a purple garden
dream a purple night
tired of my purple riot?
let’s do violet!
Purple Wildflower by Beverly Dyer
celebrate labor day
01 Sep 2019 27 Comments
in haibun
My greatest labor was bringing each of my boys into the world and working with them as a mother at home. What shared joy to participate in the creation of new life! What secret thrill to feel the first delicate flutterings inside my womb! What amazing privilege to bear a developing human for forty (plus) weeks, alive and kicking! What relief to finally have him delivered safely into the world!
To carry and birth a child is only the beginning of a mother’s labor of love. It will take everything she’s got, and demand much of what she doesn’t yet have, to nurture this needy little one, to protect the toddler, to train a child, to counsel that teenager and raise him/her to capable adulthood. Thankfully, a mother doesn’t labor alone but often the nesting and nurturing details naturally depend on her.
I’ve worked in hospital dietary service, taught kindergarten students and art classes, balanced farm accounts, fed & bedded livestock, drove tractor, mowed lawn, grown a garden, cooked meals and tutored adults in English. But I’m most gratified by the blessing of raising and home-educating our five sons. To serve my family has been, and still is (with the next generation) my high calling…and the hardest job I’ll ever love.
due on labor day
you were born ten days later
now your baby waits!
Frank invites us to write about “labor” for Labor Day and link to dVerse Poets pub. My husband and I await the birth of another grandchild this month as our middle son is expecting his third child…a daughter!
sea of tranquility
29 Aug 2019 3 Comments
in quadrille, Uncategorized Tags: beach, clouds, dreams, foam, sand, seagulls, surf
Lillian at dVerse invites us to write a quadrille (44-word poem) on the most beautiful word in our language: tranquility
adirondacks sit on
porch of beach house
surf flows in, lightly froths
foam over fine sand…
sucked back to sea,
leaving castaway shells.
seagulls perch on pier…
launch upward in lazy arcs
where white clouds float,
billow, accumulate into
tranquil dreams…
of sunny tomorrow.
photo by lynn
smoke & mirror
21 Aug 2019 13 Comments
in rhyming verse Tags: faults, fools, mirror, reflective, smoke, soul
mirror, mirror, on the wall
could make fools of us all
walking past, we catch a glance
practice pomp and circumstance
if glass surface’s too reflective
naked soul knows we’re defective
we see ourselves, then look away
don’t focus on our faults today
mirror fogs with each warm breath
face clear truth before cold death
scripture’s gracious mirror heed
words of life are what we need
be not afraid to look in mirror
for hellish smoke is to be feared
Joining Amaya at dVerse poetics for a “smoke & mirrors” prompt.
price paid for paradise
17 Aug 2019 22 Comments
in rhyming verse, sestina Tags: creation, fall, man, paradise, redemption, restoration, sacrifice, sin
A man is wed to land as dear as wife
and for his farm he‘ll gladly sacrifice
what is his livelihood becomes his life
such dedication keeps away most vice
invested time gives meaning in the strife
as he creates his own small paradise
reflection of first garden paradise
tilling the land together, man and wife
completely innocent of hate or strife
man gladly gave his rib, small sacrifice
but snake twisted the truth of God’s advice
eating forbidden fruit embittered life
to work in sweat would be man’s lot in life
rebellion led them out of paradise
their eyes opened to every evil vice
still-birth of sin brought pain to Adam’s wife
to cover shame requires blood sacrifice
our fall brought all creation death and strife
seeds of weed, thistle, and thorn now rife
disease and aging process shortens life
to bear children demands self-sacrifice
we cannot find way back to paradise
now shame’s dark secrets divide man and wife
our world is broken by our greed and vice
the Enemy holds captives in sin’s vise
conquers the world with anger, fear, and strife
cools the love between each man and wife
our stubborn pride leads miserable life
the only way to restore paradise
would be a perfect human sacrifice
God’s Son offered himself as sacrifice
divine and human free of any vice
for Christ alone can restore paradise
and put an end to all our sin and strife
if choose to follow him, we find true life
he loves the church as his own precious wife
to work the land ‘mid sacrifice and strife
farmer’s advice says his is still best life
earth’s paradise shared with beloved wife
This sestina surprised me by turning theological…I think it was the repeating/rhyming word choices I made that lent itself to themes of creation/fall/redemption/restoration. A sestina has six stanzas of six lines followed by a 3-line envoi each with a complicated pattern of final words repeated. This challenging form is described in detail by our host Victoria at d’Verse Poets.
translated celebration
13 Aug 2019 12 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: anniversary, flesh, kingdom, Maker, silence, spirit, translation
Tonight for poetics at d’Verse, Laura offers translations of poems by non-English poets for us to interpret and respond with a poem of our own…
Anniversary
And we go on and on,
neither sleeping nor awake,
towards the meeting, unaware
that we are already there.
That the silence is perfect,
and that the flesh is gone.
The call still is not heard
nor does the Caller reveal his face.
But perhaps this might be
oh, my love, the gift
of the eternal Face without gestures
and of the kingdom without form!
by Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) – the pen name of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, was Chilean and the first Spanish American author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.
50th anniversary
oh, my dear,
we would have
celebrated fifty years
together,
if still awake
but here we lie,
on and on
yet
side by side
asleep in
perfect benighted
silence
waiting for day
when our Maker calls
us each by
name
new flesh restored
reuniting with spirit
to fully
savor
the gift revealed
of an eternal kingdom:
to see
face to Face!
by lynn__ American poet 1959 –
unfrazzled
12 Aug 2019 24 Comments
in quadrille, Uncategorized Tags: children, grandma, great aunt, obedience, respect, voice
Grandma, 
who bore seven children,
rambunctious and noisy,
marveled
over my great aunt,
who raised six children,
so well-behaved
that following a meal
she would direct them
once
in a very soft voice…
they would immediately
clear the table
and
wash the dishes.
A quadrille (poem of exactly 44 words) for dVerse Poets Pub with De.
a poem in my pocket 
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