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Tea Latte Sonnet, dedicated to Denise Krebs – The Stafford Challenge Day 53, Slice of Life Challenge Day 9

Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers for inspiring writers.

Earlier this week, I was drawn to a post by Denise Krebs, who shared her tea latte as a jumpstart to her hiking day. She inspired me to visit my local coffee shop, where they made me an oat milk tea latte. It was divine! Thank you, Denise, for introducing me to this new favorite!

dairy-free tea latte (not beer)

Tea Latte Sonnet

I heard it from a friend so dear

perfect jumpstart: tea latte

(it looks a lot like heady beer)

what a way to start the day!

stopped by the local coffee shop

ordered a lavender, dairy-free

beamed as the oat milk bubbled atop

eagerly sipped my first taste of tea

I’m sending Denise a cross-country high-five

certain I’ve found a new favorite drink

to help me hike mountains awake and alive

I’m raising a toast with cheers ~ and a wink

at first glance, it looks like this drink is naugh-tay

……..

Wait….could I get fired drinking frothy tea latte?!

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Stargazer Paint Chip Elfchen Poem – Stafford Challenge Day 52, SOLC Day 8

Many thanks to Two Writing Teachers for giving writers space and inspiration to reach for the stars.

I love to go wandering through the paint sample section of a store. I sometimes bring a fabric swatch with me to look legit, like a real painter who knows exactly what she’s doing.

Truth is, I’m a paint chip thief, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I have no remorse over any of it.

I look for the best-named paints and pocket the chips. They’re free, but this isn’t why they are the best deal in the entire store.

The names of the colors are pure gold. Even though I bought a set of Paint Chip Poetry words a few years ago with enough chips to last me a lifetime, I can’t just saunter past the paint aisle without challenging myself to a short poem using a named color when it’s there for the choosing and word-amusing.

I chip-lifted Stargazer on a recent trip to WalMart, and I went a wee bit alliterative with a paint chip elfchen poem.

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Awakenings Elfchen – The Stafford Challenge Day 46, Slice of Life Challenge Day 2

February Poetry Night at the Coffee Shop

We had a local poet come to our town square coffee shop to talk about his collection of poetry in his book Dust. Ethan Jacobs, a graduate of our high schools and Auburn University, shared his inspirations and writing processes, and he held an audience spellbound for a half hour with his poetry. What a gift! Ethan majored in Education but chose to follow his passion of woodworking as his career path. We are so proud of Ethan.

I’m especially proud of him because one year prior to his reading, I sat in this very room with him to record several YouTube shorts of him reading his poems when his book was still a dream coming together. It was a glorious moment to see him holding his published book in his hands as he shared with his audience of 16 people ranging in age from teenagers to attendees in their 80s. I’m sharing a couple of those clips at the end of today’s post (we made QR codes of the videos and placed them in small frames around our county so that people in restaurants or places of business could scan them and discover a poem; and a few were even hidden in plastic Easter eggs!).

We’ve decided on our town theme for National Poetry Month this year.

Awakenings.

It goes with our coffee shop, the hub of our sharing, and the rural spring buds and blooms and greening of the world waking from winter.

And, perhaps, it calls to the inner poet.

Ethan reads from his book Dust

We gave attendees a time to write at the end of the evening. Here is my elfchen:

Awakening

awakening
sunshine streams
coffee brews ~ I
leap into life......caffeinated,
ready
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For What it’s Worth – The Stafford Challenge Day 43

Forget finery.

Could we value family?

Prioritize worth.

Because in the end

~when life’s regrets take firm hold~

possessions don’t care.

OLW = Pray. Diopter Word = Release. Today I’m praying for things to always take a back seat to the people in my life. The worth or value of possessions can demand more of our investment of time and energy, and I’m praying that this never takes root in my own life. The stories many of my friends share in their challenges with their aging parents who struggle to let go of the past and move forward shines an unwelcome spotlight on priorities – and the degree to which they are a priority. Enough is plenty and preferable, as Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass explains, and I pray I never amass an anchor of belongings that gets in the way of what is most important.

Today, I begin a season of release and pre-spring cleaning. Starting in my own attic. 

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Redbird Greeting Haiku – Stafford Challenge Day 39

As our birds return in greater abundance making their way back from their winter in the south, I again find the deep peace of birdwatching on my front porch in the early hours of the day. It really should be called birdlistening, I’m convinced, as the sound leads the way to the sights. The breaking sunrise that shows up for work each day, combined with the gratefulness of birds singing praises, brings joy! 

Redbird Song

redbird song greeting

farm morning praise at sunrise

my mother is near

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Sweet Potato Kitty Cat – Stafford Challenge Day 37

I went to lunch with some colleagues last week, and we ordered our food in the produce section of a local farm to table restaurant. Imagine our sheer delight when we encountered this cat napping in the sweet potato bin. This is no red potato, friends. Here is the couch potato of cats, right here in rural Georgia.

Actual sweet potato kitty napping in the produce bin

I Yam What I Yam

I yam what I yam

cat at the farmer’s market

napping in the yams

I’m a lazy and fat

sweet potato kitty cat

….and me?aw, I’m good with that.

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Slice of Life, Day 4 of The February Open Write, and Day 35 of The Stafford Challenge – Epistolary Poem/Letter to My Younger Self

Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers

Today at http://www.ethicalela.com, Britt Decker of Houston, Texas is our host for this fourth day of the February Open Write. You can read her full prompt and the poems of others here as she challenges us to write letters (epistolary poems) to our younger selves.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When anyone with human flesh

gives you advice

look them straight in the eyes

and say ~firmly~

I’ll take it into consideration.

Do not take it as gospel.

Guard yourself.

Do your own research.

They aren’t experts.

Live your own life

not the one they choose for you.

Notice more,

especially the

hands

in photos (it’s the unseen key

that will slap you

~hard in the face~

like a wet whaletail

when you finally see).

Don’t believe a single promise.

Above all,

practice your mother’s discernment.

She knew.

She knew.

Photo by Andre Estevez on Pexels.com

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Remembering Miriam on Her Heavenly Birthday – Stafford Challenge Day 34

Today’s host at http://www.ethicalela.com for the third day of February’s Open Write is Dr. Sarah Donovan, who inspires us to write poems that experiment with broken lines. You can read her prompt here, along with the poems of others.

I took the ghazal form today of 5 couplets with AA BA CA DA EA rhyme scheme and measured meter, reframed the whole form, relaxed the rules and broke the lines as I thought of my mother’s 81st birthday and the moments I’m so glad my camera captured before she left us in December 2015 with Parkinson’s disease. Above, she reads to her great grandson from The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss. 

Shaping Future Tense

when nothing else
made any sense

when family strangers
made you tense

your lap unfolded
picture books

that tore down 
every guarded fence

great grandson's 
heart and mind you shaped
each page
a moment so immense

your fingers curled
his eyes unfurled
his focus on you
so intense

when nothing else
made any sense
picture books
wrote future tense