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An acrostic poem written for my daughter on the day of her graduation from The Bethany House, May 18, 2019, eleven months sober and every new day a victorious gift!

 

Mallory Michelle Meyer

Miracle
Artistic
Loved
Loving
Optimistic
Redeemed
Yielding

Merciful
Inspiring
Child of God
Holy Spirit-filled
Enthusiastic
Learned
Lionhearted
Extraordinary

Meditative
Empowered
Youthful
Endearing
Restored

-Kim Johnson

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Travel Mashup Poetry using borrowed lines from Elizabeth Coatsworth

Daydreaming Fuels

The mind, stiffened with routine, stretches, floats (“From Cadillac Mountain”)
Castles surrounded by turrets and moats

Vineyards resplendently writing each line
Praise Dionysus, Greek God of Wine!

Eiffel Tower welcoming World’s Fair fans
Gustave’s lattice monument proudly stands

Colosseum commemorating gladiators fought
Titus’s wild animals and humans slaught

Beefeaters guarding the queen’s royal jewels
Anticipant travelers’ daydreaming fuels

-Kim Johnson, using borrowed line from Elizabeth Coatsworth, as noted

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Travel Mashup Poetry using lines from Robert Louis Stevenson

Counting Down

I should like to rise and go (“Travel”)
Planning started long ago
Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea (“The Sun Travels”)
Awaiting my tour group and me

Till at last the day begins (“Night and Day”)
And I’m at work – not with my friends
I have just to shut my eyes (“The Little Land”)
Three more weeks to Paradise!

-Kim Johnson, using borrowed lines from Robert Louis Stevenson, as noted

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Borrowed Lines Travel Poems

Globetrotting Advice 

Take it easy, take it slow (“If You Get There Before I Do”)
Globetrotting advice.
Cameras, journals, scrapbook swag
Fun memories entice.

Blaze new trails – write about them!
Explore new realms – #Instagramthem
Taste new foods – dissuade all doubt
Sorry, no Chinese take-out. (variation of line from “If You Get There Before I Do”)

-Kim Johnson, using borrowed lines from Dick Allen, as noted. 

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Mary Oliver Mash-up Travel Poems

Packed?

I packed sandals, shorts, and t-shirts,
      then temperatures there started sinking.
I’m wondering if I should re-pack.

I didn’t intend to start thinking. (“Drifting”)

   – Kim Johnson, using borrowed lines from the poetry of Mary Oliver, as noted.

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Mary Oliver Travel Mash-up Poems

Lord of Melons

Outside the summer clouds are drifting by (“I Own a House”)
Lightly, on their journey through the sky
Wispy vapors trailing aimlessly like
Tourists taking in all they can see.

O Lord of melons (“On Thy Wondrous Works I Will Meditate”)
And all other plants needing rain
Quench their thirst, Father,
Before I traverse new terrain.

   -Kim Johnson, with borrowed lines from the poetry of Mary Oliver, as noted

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Mary Oliver Mash-Up Travel Poems

Traveling Lightly

Searching for a suitcase –
And here you may find me (“Tides”)
Checking the baggage specs
In the luggage section.

One or two things are all you need. (“One or Two Things”)
Good thing – twenty-inch carry-on
and a backpack will have to do.
I’m traveling lightly this trip!
 -Kim Johnson, using borrowed lines from the poetry of Mary Oliver, as noted

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Mary Oliver Mashup Journey Poetry

                          

Traversing

It isn’t very far as highways lie (“Going to Walden”)
Traversing over land or sea or sky
The journey isn’t measured by the miles
But by the wondrous ways that it beguiles

I know I can walk through the world
Along the shore or under the trees (“I Happened to Be Standing”)
As brand new perspectives unfurl
Every moment this sojourn to seize

   -Kim Johnson, using borrowed lines from Mary Oliver’s poetry as noted

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Mary Oliver Journey Verse 1, featuring borrowed lines from the poetry of Mary Oliver

Wanderlust

Now I am here, later I will be there. (“Life Story”)
So much to do and things I must prepare
Passport, suitcase, walking shoes, rain gear
Planning culmination of a full year

Running here, running there, excited (“The Storm”)
Wanderlust, travel dreams ignited
Itinerary, maps in backpack
Travel journal, pens to foster flash back.

-Kim Johnson, with borrowed lines from Mary Oliver’s poetry as noted

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A Mary Oliver Mashup Pantoum Poem

 

I went out of the schoolhouse fast. (“Just As the Calendar Began to Say Summer”)

By fall I had healed somewhat but was summoned back. (“Just as the Calendar Began to Say Summer”)

And now you’ll be telling stories of my coming back. (“The First Time Percy Came Back”)

I wouldn’t persuade you from whatever you believe or whatever you don’t. (“I Happened to be Standing”)

 

By fall I had healed somewhat. (“Just as the Calendar Began to Say Summer”)

Death waits for me, I know it, around one corner or another.  (“Sometimes”)

I wouldn’t persuade you from whatever you believe. (“I Happened to be Standing”)

Is it necessary to say any more? (“Goldfinches”)

 

Death waits for me, I know it. (“Sometimes”)

I would rather eat mud and die. (“The Arrowhead”)

Is it necessary to say any more? (“Goldfinches”)

Isn’t this somewhat overplayed? (“From this River, When I was a Child, I used to Drink”)

 

I would rather eat mud. (“The Arrowhead”)

And now you’ll be telling stories. (“The First Time Percy Came Back”)

Isn’t this somewhat overplayed? (“From this River, when I was a Child, I used to Drink”)

I went out of the schoolhouse. (“Just as the Calendar Began to Say Summer”)

-Kim Johnson, using lines and variations of lines from the poetry of Mary Oliver