Patchwork Prose and Verse
If I were giving
you a gift basket
I’d make it a summertime sensation!
you’d receive
a skin-safe clean sunscreen
to keep you scorch-free and silky
a pair of sunglasses with readers
to soften the sunbeams
and a splishy
lightweight water tumbler
to saturate your senses
a basket sure
to make a splash !
I find inspiration in the lids of the yogurt I eat. I buy this brand not just because it’s delicious, but for the messages and the pure glass containers that will root new plant life for me to share with friends. Here is a poem inspired by Say Oui to Time Off!
Say Yes
we said yes because
what we know about us
is that we like a big window
and gray and white
and newness and matching
towels and linens
not odd assortments
and light,
plenty of light
and good music speakers
front, back, and outside
for good 70s tunes
and fifteen trips to France but
not going there
instead, staying close to home
but still away, oui?
and time off
to enjoy it
One of the things I love to do when I have a little spare time is read the blogs of other writers. I noticed that Donna Smith of Mainely Write was part of the same KidLit Progressive Poem that I was writing for 2025, so I checked out her blog and discovered a new poetry form – – a Rictameter. You can check out Donna’s blog here to read about the structure.
For today, I’m writing a Rictameter to celebrate the beginning of summer.
School’s Out!
school’s out!
what will we do?
camp in state park campgrounds
take family trips to the beach
have watermelon seed-spitting contests
read books in a hammock all day
count stars on a clear night
take a night swim
school’s out!
In the spirit of tiny writing and short forms, today’s poem is a Shadorma (3-5-3-3-7-5) inspired by Georgia Heard’s Tiny Writing prompt calendar: What Your Feet Know.
What Your Feet Know
your feet know
after a long trip
the way home
your feet know
the tight pull of belonging
listen to your feet
My sister in law and I have been making various salves, lotions, balms, and body butters. It all started in April. She found a recipe for Bergamot Body Butter, and it’s been fun ever since. We each ordered some of the ingredients and a slew of containers, fired up the stove, and got to stirring and mixing, making our own magnesium and shea butter foot creams.
Today’s poem is a simple tricube – three stanzas of three lines with three syllables!
Sister Time Tricube
bergamot
shea butter
olive oil
lavender
mixing bowls
minerals
beeswax flakes
kitchen fun
sister time
Jordan, our host for this 19th day of #VerseLove 2025, lives in Suffolk, VA.
She inspires us today to write poems about food.
lots of things I don’t do right in this world
but making a fresh sprout and kale wrap
with beets and a half dollop of
mayonnaise is not one of
them, fortunately ~ and
the difference is
right outside on
the porch where
it grows
fresh
Sprout Smile Nonet
it’s been a long time since I’ve made them
I was a child in the kitchen
making sprouts with my mother
I got a kit today
two drain lids plus seeds
with my own jar
and I felt
my mom
smile
Way back in the 1970s, my mother taught me how to make alfalfa sprouts. It was fun for a kid to do. You get the starter seeds and rinse them, then soak them overnight. Each day for a week, you rinse and drain. After a week, you have enough sprouts to last you a week on sandwiches and salads, and it’s more economical than buying them in the store. Much more fun than when we hung a flat white bean on a wet paper towel in a Ziploc bag on the classroom window and watched it sprout and then took it home and threw it away. These sprouts we actually ate.
In my slice time this evening, after a day of visiting another camper dealership and then stopping for dinner and a shared banana split to celebrate our anniversary on the way home, I opened the sprout kit that I’d ordered and began the process of making the sprouts.
They’ll be amazing on a tomato sandwich with salt, pepper, and mayonnaise – – I’m already eyeing one of my green tomatoes on the back porch, wondering if just perhaps it will be the one to ripen in time to meet the growing sprouts in a springtime taste explosion of a sandwich on sourdough bread.
My mother would be so proud! I can feel her smiling down, knowing I’m thinking of those days in our avocado-colored kitchen of the 1970s at the corner sink, shaking out the sprout seeds together, all amazed and dazzled at their growth.
6:20-6:51 p.m.: My peace rituals are more necessary these days than they’ve ever been before.
Is it because I’m older?
Or because life is busier?
Or because the world feels so different today than it did yesterday?
Some evenings, I take a long walk with the dogs. Other evenings, I light candles. Some nights, I soak in a hot bath. Most every afternoon or evening, I make a pot of hot green tea and my husband and I indulge with local honey and a flavored herb blend. There is nothing that compares to the feeling of togetherness and unwinding over steam rising from a cup. When the world is cold, there is warmth in togetherness.
Steeping Peace
I come home from work
steep a mug of hot green tea
sweetened with honey
grab a tea towel
slip my hand inside the mug
buffered towel warmth
when the world is cold
a handwarmer mug steeps peace
from the inside out
long walk after work
out on the farm with the boys
we love exploring!
I come home tired at the start of the work week, which almost always starts out in high gear. All day, I look forward to returning home with the dogs and being able to put on a pair of sweatpants and go for a walk with them. More and more, my heart stays right here on this farm even though my mind and body go to work.
I gather Fitz’s leash from the basket by the front door – the only one of my trio who will chase a critter into the woods and completely lose his way back. Boo Radley and Ollie only lose their minds with excitement to get out the door as we prepare to take to the trails my husband keeps cut back just for us. It’s my slicing time today, my 31 minutes between 5:48 and 6:19, just before dinner, and the boys and I step out into the still-chilly damp air and hear the birdsong. Except for the occasional airplane, it’s all we hear other than our own footsteps.
It’s peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, that I could take the rest of the school year and just take walks instead of going to work, where the phones forever ring, the meetings never stop, and even the delightful sounds of laughter are still…..well, noise.
I signed my contract for another year, and by December of this year I’ll know whether I will pursue retirement starting 26-27 or hang in there for another year on the heels of the coming one.
So much is changing in the world of education, and at times it seems overwhelming to keep up. It seems there is no “staying ahead of the curve,” as there used to be.
The more I take long walks and feel the inner joy of the peace it brings just being home, the stronger the chances of retiring next year. I want to read more than I have the time to read as it is now. I want to take long walks with the dogs in the late morning. I want to press plants and decoupage them onto candles, to sew soft flannel rag quilts in light pastel patterns, to visit grandchildren and have lunch with retired friends…….to bake, to work the crossword puzzle every afternoon, and to get started on some writing projects that work leaves no time to enjoy. I want to think less each night about what I’ll wear the next day based on which meetings are on the calendar.
How does one know when it’s time to turn in the keys and sign on the dotted retirement line? If you’re retired, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one. On one hand, I feel ready – – even past ready. On the other hand, it all seems so final to walk away from a career in education when that has been my life.
I would love for you to share your perspectives with me. What are your best tips and pointers, and your best advice for someone considering taking the leap?
reorganizing
bringing structure from chaos
now I can find food!
My post today for my designated slicing time this afternoon was inspired by Barb Edler’s mustard poem from Sunday. She was having a hard time finding her yellow mustard for a sandwich, and I was having a hard time finding anything in my under-the-stairs pantry. It’s tucked away and can be a little cramped, but we tend to keep sparse supplies of food here anyway, so it works out.
Until it doesn’t, and that is usually because I let it get out of control.
It was time to reorganize our shelves, and since we sold our camper several weeks ago and I kept all of the clear plastic storage containers from that setup, I shifted the same system into my own kitchen.
I started by pulling everything out. Everything.
I organized it all by type of food on the counter, checking dates and tossing expired items. Breads, cereals, spices and baking foods, canned goods, crackers, coffee and teas, and sauces and snacks.
I knew something around here was going to get a cleaning at some point when I got sick and they put me on a steroid, so it was all a matter of when the burst of energy would come and what was in my path at the time. I’m glad it was the pantry, and I’m glad it was inspired by fellow slicer Barb and her mustard.
It feels great to know what’s here to eat again!
The refrigerator, though…….well, that’ll take another burst of energy and another inspiration.
Common Threads 