Mainely Write

I woke up at 2:00 AM and it is now 4:23 AM.  These are not hours one should be aware of.  Or - These are not hours of which one should be aware.  Oh, dear.  I'm getting tired when a preposition at the end of a sentence bothers me. I'm sneezing and coughing and stuffy.  I haven't been sick since a lot of time ago.  I don't think I'm going anywhere tomorrow/today.  Mucinex DM, please kick in.  I want to go to sleep.
While sleepless, I did manage to be somewhat fruitful, crawling out to the computer and writing these for Poetry Friday hosted by Betsy at Teaching Young Writers.  I don't know why, but poetry and poet tree and po-or tree kept floating through my mind.  I stopped them for a bit to mull them over and try them out.  So this is very early morning poetry...and there is no poet tree in sight.  I am not sitting under it.  I'm in the kitchen 'neath a bright o'erhead light.  Oh, I'm tired.  I need to breathe.
I'm posting this and then mayb…

In 15 Words or Less - my response to Laura Salas' challenge for Thursdays....Go there to see the photo prompt and read other responses to it.

Currents of thoughts,
like water through
a trap,
with turning tides,
return
yet untapped.

We have been doing a special Sunday School program for 6 weeks now, and will in two weeks be at our final day of the program.  I won't go into detail here, but suffice it to say it involves decorations, incentives (food and prizes), weekly letters home, puppets, scripts, activities and songs.  I have been writing and arranging all these for each week and have enjoyed every minute of it.  It is time intensive, though.  It means writing letters on Mondays; printing and snail mailing on Tuesdays; researching for and starting the script on Tuesdays; writing and emailing scripts on Wednesdays; making sure everything is in place for Sunday on Thursdays and Fridays; and getting extra letters for new people on the bus route for Saturdays.  This has left very little time for SOL on Tuesdays, Poetry Fridays, 15 Words or Less on Thursdays, and writing my own project manuscript.

But now, there's one more thing.

When a group of singers came to sing this Sunday at church, the lady that tra…

Today is Poetry Friday, hosted by Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup.


Snow finally erased from memory I do a Double take as Bluettes skim The new spring grass.

Laura Perdie Salas does a "15 Words or Less" writing challenge on Thursdays, which I used to do pretty regularly.  I need to get back to that, because I really like it.  So today I went there and found, as a writing prompt, this gorgeous theater picture all golden and tall.  And so I wrote what it made me think of in 15 words exactly.  It came to me pretty quickly.  About 4 renditions before I could say it in only 15 words.
I love being in old, elaborate, ornate theaters.  I wish we still made them that way. The acoustics are phenomenal, and there's so much to look at during intermissions!

I drew this awesome picture in Canvastic....so I wouldn't have to use any one else's photo to illustrate it...I think it sets a classic tone for whole blog today.   I think you should look at Laura's picture though, too, as you may find that hers is a bit more to your liking!

songs and
declarations rise
leaving golden
voiceprints
where they rest
evidence
that they
were here

…

I've taken most of our Slice of Life post titles and written a found poem...It's a triple part slice of life poem of appreciation...a gift of acknowledgement to slicers out there.  I apologize if I could not fit yours in this poem.  Some titles were just not fitting in the three categories to my liking, so I had to leave them out. I have read almost all the posts today and found so many good ones.  Lots about connectedness and connections in life, lots of reflective pieces on the past school year and Oklahoma.  Now I'm going back for commenting.  Wow.  What a group.  What wonderful slices.  Just thought you should know.  I appreciate you.
See what I'm talking about.  Visit the "rest of the stories" here at Two Writing Teachers.


A Triple Slice of Life - Appreciation Feedback: A Gift of Acknowledgement


Oklahoma strong
Storms
Swarm
This close;
All gone,
New game.
Material Girl through a new lens

Praying for Oklahoma,
The bitter with the sweet

Connectedness
…

I came across a link yesterday purely by accident and just in time.  I could have dismissed it.  But I didn't.  I pursued it.  And in one day I got an answer.  One day.  Actually in less than 24 hours I got a yes.  It's not a huge deal but it is.
Anyway, when you are done here, hop on over to the next Poetry Friday host's site to catch some more poetic blogging entries.  They're at Ed DeCaria's Think, Kid, Think!

My husband had a birthday
On the 15th day in May
And I wished for him a good one
I sang his praise that day

As I poked around my blogroom
I noted one old link
I'd followed for a while
But they'd drifted off, I think

They hadn't posted in a while
Since April's end last year
So I went off to take a peak
Don't know what drove me there

This poster only wrote for May
Then came to a dead stop
They only wrote for A to Z
Existing for one hop.

I don't know why I did it
But I clicked the site a bit
And found a little book link
That said to …

My birthday card to my husband today:

Happy birthday to the one I love the most in all the world! I'm so happy that you were born; I would not be the me I am today If not for that wonderful day! Your day is worth celebrating To me and to all who know you. Even if you don't want to acknowledge The passing of years, I still need to celebrate the fact That you came into this world  On this day in May And that meant  You would come into  My world someday, And we would make  Our world Together.

I know he always reads my blog.  He's one of my secret readers who never comments!  We have no cake today.  I gave him his present yesterday.  The only thing left is this page and my e-card.  Those e-cards take him days to open for some reason.  He just sees that they are there and then leaves them unread until I bug him about it.  Here's my official bugging him about it #1.  It's a pretty day for a birthday.

It's Slice of Life Tuesday, so head on over to Two Writing Teachers, Stacey and Ruth's for some great blog reading.

I have not blogged every day in May, but I think I'm going to take some prompts from Jenni at Story of My Life, where she has a challenge to Blog Every Day in May.  I'm not going to actually DO the challenge, as May is just too busy AND I've missed almost half of May now anyway.  I got the idea of just hopping in in the middle from Mary at Mary-andering Creatively, since she just started it yesterday.  I'm just adding my own twist now in addition to coming in late...

The Challenge today is to write 10 things that make you really happy.  I'm going to start listing, but I'm afraid there may be 100 things that make me really happy.  I don't know if since I'm not really doing the challenge, that I will stick with 10 things, or not.  I might be finished writing now.  Maybe I'll just be a channel for others to go to her site.

But he…

In a somewhat cheating fashion, I wrote part of this yesterday and posted it.  Then this morning, I fully intended to just use Thursday's post as my Poetry Friday offering.
But the poem had other ideas.  Instead, I cut and pasted just the poem into a new post.  Then, like I said, the poem had still other ideas because just after I did that, it decided to grow new limbs.  So I've put additional lines to the poem, per its request.  Thank you so much poem for making me late for both posting AND my shower.

Harbor Spring

It’s time...
One by one they slip back
Into the waters again
happy greetings abound
around the harbors
and coves
the docks awaken
to the sound of boots
to the curl of ropes
to the scuff of traps
to the rumble
of men and boats
activity not
seen or felt
for the long, deep
cold days
on shores
...it’s time!
The smells
of bait
of salty air
of fuel
and musty
foul weather gear
all mingle
together
to make
the sights and
sounds fully
real
...it's time!
Hands grip
fa…

I am trying to stay on track with a project I'm doing...
So first I had to get this little boat to keep by my computer as a reminder to stay focused.  It's on my keyboard even as I type.  As long as I don't need the numerals two, three and four, I'm all set.  I guess I should move it a little to the side or middle.

And then I made this cute Tagxedo, to remind me of what it is I'm supposed to be focusing my attention on...

I had to draw the boat shape first.  Then I listed the names, decided on a font, etc., etc., and so forth.
Not sure, but I might be distracting myself from the important task.  I'm going to get right back to it now.
Just have to start the wash.  Oh, right, the paper shredder area needs vacuuming, too.  It was too full when I tried to empty it after shredding paper this morning.  I'll just quickly pop in the den and finish that job.
And then - then you will see work on my project like I have never done - yet.
Is there anyone else in this bo…

May is just tooling along, just like March and April did.  What is with these spring months?  They just keep moving along like we are in a hurry.  Today is another beautiful day, and it is going to be tomorrow if I blink.  I would so like the days to slow down so I can enjoy them a bit more.

These are the days I was looking forward to savoring as a retired teacher.  I no longer have to keep tabs on where each student is, what assessment I still have to give someone, do I have a good piece of writing from each person, and have I written all scores in the 20 places they need to be recorded (even though they told us having the "system" would make it easier - somehow it just added places to put information without cutting any of the others out).

I want to bask in the sunshine of these days of not having to sort and pack up a thousand books to store over the summer - along with every other little scridge of paper, every block, every pencil, crayon, calendar piece, and oh, so man…

My niece just had her first child last night, missing the opportunity to share my daughter's birth date of May 4th.

Though technology can sometimes separate us as we hover over our devices and ignore social contacts sitting right beside us, technology is also marvelous in its ability to bring us together.

And that is what happened tonight.

My daughter lives 8 hours away, so being there wasn't going to happen for us.  But the computer brought us together today.
First, the e-card through Hallmark, was scheduled to be sent months in advance.
Second, the present shopping and ordering was online through Amazon.  Shipped directly to her, I never even saw it in person.
And then thirdly, when it came time for cake and presents, we were there through FaceTime for the whole thing!  We sang "Happy Birthday" with her husband and in-laws.  We watched her blow out her candles.  She offered us some cake.  I got to see her open our gift, and took a couple of pictures of the celebra…

Is there anything more cheerful and commanding than a robin's warble on a spring morning?  I wrote, rewrote, re-rewrote, and finally wrote.

Spring robin proclaims
This joyful day to be his
Please share it with me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heard a robin,
unstoppable
in his cheery
morning greeting
telling the world
of this glorious day 
that was his
and
in that chirping
message
I also heard
he would share it
with me
if I'd like.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin and I do
Hereby joyfully proclaim
This day glorious!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a robin
unstoppable
in his cheery
morning greeting
proclaims to the world
that the day before him
will be glorious
and it is his
but
he invites all
to share with him
the enjoyment of
this
perfect
day

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, there are four ways I wrote this.  I'm going to stop now! I think I like the last one best. Any thoughts?

Welcome to May!  May there be many glorious everyday moments for you this month!



May Day the sun rising copper clouds stretching rays
forsythias pop yellow waving flags
noon day sunlight enfolding
wrapping
warmth
jackets dropping like fall leaves springtime litter
greening, budding new shadows changing views
night time noises spring peepers happy songs

© Donna JT Smith, 2013