Tag: Gratitude

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Day 22 of #VerseLove with Donnetta Norris: Earth Day Poems

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Donnetta Norris of Texas is our host today for the 22nd day of #VerseLove. She inspires us to write Mother Earth poems. You can read her full prompt here. She encourages us to make a list of all the gifts we have received from Mother Earth and to write a poem in the form of our choice to say thank you. She also provides these links for inspiration:

Earth Day by Jane Yolk

Earth Day Poems

Ode to Earth Poems

Thank You Poems

Today, I chose a pantoum and rooted it in Ecclesiastes 1:9

Nothing New Pantoum

there is nothing new under the sun

mind-blowing truth of Ecclesiastes

since the dawn of time, nothing new

everything we see was here all along

mind-blowing truth of Ecclesiastes

God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly

everything we see was here all along

discovered, spun, re-mixed anew

God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly

riches to bestow, wonders to behold

discovered, spun, re-mixed anew

sacred scriptures ~ this is true

riches to bestow, wonders to behold

since the dawn of time, nothing new

sacred scripture ~ this is true

there is nothing new under the sun

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Day 21 of #VerseLove with Stacey Joy: Mama’s Kitchen Poems

Stacey Joy is our host today for the 21st day of #VerseLove. You can read her full prompt here. She inspires us to write Mama’s Kitchen Poems.

Kitchens are oftentimes the heartbeat of a home. They are gathering places and hold memories like no other room in a house. Stacey mentions a recent podcast episode featuring legendary author Judy Blume, finding herself mesmerized by Blume’s memories and stories of her mother’s kitchen. If you are interested in listening to that episode, here is the link. 

Next, Stacey shares the process: Let’s share our memories from our mothers’ kitchens, our own kitchens, or any kitchen that holds memories for you. 

Photo by Klaus Nielsen on Pexels.com

A Lock of Hair

there, hidden in the cakes and pies section

of Mom’s Gold Medal recipe box

with all the family secrets

an unsealed blue envelope

holds tender gold tendrils

~ cherished childhood hair ~

ethereal

long blond strands

of me

steeped

in

love, one

remaining

wisp of a child

blended, kneaded, shaped,

her own recipe for

disaster ~ aproned kitchen

ancestors gather still to check

on this bun baked through all their ovens:

did she fall? did she rise? did she turn out?

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Day 20 of #VerseLove with Susan Ahlbrand

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Susan Ahlbrand of Indiana is our host today for the 20th day of #VerseLove. She inspires us to write Noteworthy poems. You can read her full prompt here.

She shares the process for writing these poems: reflect on communications you’ve had in the past . . . notes like mine, phone calls, letters, texts, Facetimes, and then work them into a poem. Feel free to tinker with an inventive form.

Getting the Picture

there was this picture

this picture of a watermelon

A WATERMELON!

a watermelon sliced

sliced like cries

cries of a mother

a mother with cancer

cancer that consumed

consumed her, piece by piece

piece by piece, like a watermelon

like a watermelon, there was

there was this picture

picture a mother

a mother crying for mercy

for mercy denied

denied until the end

the end, after the pain

the pain of loss

loss of a body, loss of a family

a family broken, a shattered picture

picture a mother

a mother who mattered

mattered to her sons

her sons who loved her

loved her and listened

listened and heard

heard her pleas

her pleas for mercy

for mercy denied

denied by others

others who refused

refused to believe

believe she felt pain

pain that consumed, piece by piece

piece by piece consumed their mother

a mother who mattered

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Day 19 of #VerseLove with Dr. Stefani Boutelier of Michigan

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Stefani Boutelier leads us in Irish poetry today. You can read her full prompt, along with the poems and comments of others, here. She writes,”Today I will introduce the Deibide Baise Fri Toin form. It was difficult to find the full history of this form and more impossible to get a clear translation, but I like how it ends with one word to represent the power of single words and syllables. The quatrain form (3/7/7/1) is explained here:

Line 1: 3 syllables, rhyme A with two syllables

Line 2: 7 syllables, rhyme A with two syllables

Line 3: 7 syllables, rhyme B with one syllable

Line 4: 1 syllable, rhyme B

A published example of a Deibide Baise Fri Toin

This link provides a nice templated example at the bottom 

Praise!

shake and sing
gospel choir awakening 
hallelujah voices raise ~
praise!
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Day 18 of #VerseLove with Shaun: Motivational Speech

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Shaun of Las Vegas, Nevada is our host today for the 18th day of #VerseLove2024. He inspires us to read this poem by Charles Bukowski that you can find here, along with the full prompt. [Bukowski, Charles. Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way. New York: Ecco (An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2003.]

Then, he urges, Think about your life. Do you feel like there is something holding you back? Do you feel stuck or helpless in your circumstances? Do you remember a time when you persevered and overcame the challenges thrown at you? Perhaps you can tap into your inner-coach and deliver that life-changing halftime motivational speech!

I found inspiration in these lines of Bukowski’s

just watch them.
Listen to them.

I also added ending lines from Old Woman of the Roads by Padraic Colum

out of the wind’s and the rain’s way

The Neighborhood

there they are
building nexts 
in the garage
again
three already

we can’t even
put the door 
down because
there’s one on top
and on the toolbox
and in the corner 
in a box

three wrens

friends?

just watch them.
Listen to them.

building houses
chirping dreams

in this
regular
bird-friendly
neighborhood

out of the wind’s
and the rain’s way

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Day 16 of #VerseLove with Dave Wooley: Sevens Up

Dave Wooley is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 16th day of #VerseLove, inspiring us to write seven- line poems called Kwansabas. You can read his full prompt here, along with the poems and comments of others.

Dave describes this process:

The Kwansaba is an African-American poetic form that was created by Eugene Redmond in 1995. It is inspired by the seven days of Kwanzaa and it is a praise poem. 

The rules of the form are:
-it is a seven line poem,
-each line is seven words in length,
-each word is seven letters or less,
-and the poem should be a praise poem

He’s Back

today I praise this dim quiet spot

this sweet spot, still, fan breeze blowing

air on my face: my current view

is the ceiling and flutter eyelid blinks

because Vertigo demands all of my being

ghost thief of time, work, family dinners,

but mark my words: still, I’ll rise

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Day 15 of #VerseLove2024 with Angie Braaten

Angie Braaten is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 15th day of #VerseLove2024. You can read her full prompt, along with the poems and comments of others, here. Today, Angie inspires us to write elegies in the style of Clint Smith. You can read two of Clint Smith’s poems here:

Clint Smith’s “Playground Elegy” and “No More Elegies Today”

Honey Buttered Toast

Today I will

write a poem

about a dog eating honey buttered toast

it will not be a metaphor for a land of milk and honey or savior-style pet rescue

it will not be an allegory for a character named Boo Radley, white as a ghost, who saved people, found standing behind a door

but rather about bottled wildflowers

sweetly spun nectar of honeybees

dancing through the meadow, kissing blossoms

but rather about buttery cream

freshly churned from Guernseys

grazing green grasses of the meadow

but rather about chaffed wheat

grain gleaned from the meadow

ground and baked and sliced and toasted

but rather about the blending of ordinary meadow things

that become the extraordinary

when the world doesn’t want to read another dog poem

Boo Radley and Briar eating honey buttered toast for breakfast

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Day 14 of #VerseLove2024 with Margaret Simon of Louisiana leading us into Spring Days with Borrowed Line Poetry

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Margaret Simon of Louisiana is our host today for Day 14 of #VerseLove, inspiring us to use a borrowed line from a poem to inspire a new one. You can read her full prompt and the poems of others here. For Margaret’s prompt, she chose a favorite Billy Collins poem entitled Today and challenges us to use the line “If ever there were a spring day so perfect….” I’m letting that line be my title today for this borrowed line poem. With a huge thanks and a salute to Margaret Simon ~ and to Billy Collins.

If Ever There Were a Spring Day So Perfect

sun shining brightly would melt winter’s curse
planes would trail banners of poems and verse

flowers would smile pinkly, swaying in dance
groundhogs would high-five their weather-called chance

jasmine would fragrance porch swing breeze
beckoning readers to carpe this diem seize

sun-brewed sweet tea would pour extra-freely
buds would unfurl on branches green-treely

butterflies would turn pages of poetry books
hummingbirds sip nectar with grateful quick looks

napping hammocks would cradle a snooze
on a perfect spring day, we’ve got nothing to lose

wild bunnies would scamper, tumble, cavort
neighborhood club kids would hide in a fort

cows in the meadow would slumber unflied
folks would seek seashells on shores at low tide

woodpecker bellies would hammer with laughter
and the whole springtime world would live happy hereafter
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Day 11 of #VerseLove with Amber Harrison

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Amber Harrison of Oklahoma is our host today for the 11th day of #VerseLove. She inspires us to write Surprising Supplies poems, and explains the process. You can read her full prompt here, along with the poems and comments of others.

I want a meadow ~ I think it could supply all the needs a person ever truly has. 

Heavenly Meadow

a royal fortress 
meadow 

cloaked
in Mother
Earth’s 
embrace

arms 
cradling 
us 
carrying 
us
crossing
us

from
 bosom
to 
 heaven
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Day 9 of #VerseLove2024 with Denise Krebs: List Poems

Denise Krebs of California is our host today for #VerseLove2024. She inspires us to write List Poems. You can read her full prompt here. I’ve added some pictures, just for fun – – a quick glimpse of our wedding weekend on St. Simons Island, Georgia, where my brother Ken and his bride Jennifer were wed on Saturday afternoon. Narrowing it down to the top ten – – that was a tough challenge!

I love a list poem because it doesn’t have to rhyme, it can be random, and it can be completely out of order or it can run in a countdown fashion to the top of the list. Mine is random, and it’s a photographic prose list poem, a blend of all my favorite kinds. I could not pick a single favorite moment.

Top 10 Wedding Weekend Moments

Straight-from-the-soul smiles on my brother and his bride’s faces, so full of happiness and love,

meeting my brother’s new family and feeling both sides merge into one big family,

getting a new sister-in-law,

placing flowers on the altar in memory of our mothers,

seeing the shoes of my son and husband and feeling them lift me up when I fell,

watching the dads dance – one with a cane, one with bionic knees, but believe it: these two can groove,

watching my brother watch the love of his life come down the aisle,

spending time with extended family and close family (5 of our 6 grandchildren),

figuring out how to win the dinner bill argument with my son since I own nearly one million shares of Shiba Inu (only worth about $25.00 total at .00002 a share, but hey – – it worked),

playing and having a picnic in the parks and hearing my 5 year old grandson’s response when I tried to tell him my ice cream was mashed potatoes and he took the folded arm stance and firmly stated, “that’s impossible!” (they all got ice cream).