Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Z is for Zoetic

Good Words Alphabetically: Z is for Zoetic

Ah, z end of z month...

I'm going to miss writing a poem and drawing every day.  Perhaps I will continue.  It was a fun re-entry into regular writing for me. Even though AtoZ is concluded, I will have one more poem tomorrow.  Dauntless was my original D word, but I wrote a second D poem, and decided to save Dauntless for last. 

I hope you enjoyed this poetic journey through the alphabet.  I've enjoyed myself, so at least there's that! Maybe I'll see you tomorrow with Dauntless.


 Zoetically Speaking

When I think of words in life,
some that lift and those of strife,
we've little need of high and noetic,
but simpler words, kind and zoetic;
vital to a wholesome soul,
filling hearts with worthy goals,
words of comfort, whimsy, zeal,
joyous words that help to heal,
We should hold words in our hand
for doling out at life's command -
words that keep you breathing, living,
growing you so you keep giving
more of self, decreasing need,
by spreading more zoetic seed.
 
By Donna JT Smith ©2024

 


Monday, April 29, 2024

Y is for Yesterday

 A to Z Challenge and National Poetry Month combined in my

Good Words Alphabetically: Y is for Yesterday.  


 

Yesterdays' Lessons


Yesterday may have been sweet

adventuresome, delightful

Or it might have been disastrous

sadly dark and frightful


But that was simply yesterday

Today’s a day that’s new;

A day to start all fresh again

Because you’re a new you, too. 


Every yesterday you’ve had

Various circumstances

Either good or not so good

Each rhythm changed the dances


One yesterday you learned something

That molded you in ways 

A stronger you with wisdom

That sustained you to this day


skinned knees, sun and friendships 

Arguments and rain

Compounded your resiliency,

And trained your yester-brain. 


A wiser one you’ve grown to be

Fortified from bump and bruise 

Today is tomorrow’s yesterday

Look for wins when you lose. 


By Donna JT Smith ©️2024





 

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Dauntless at Last

 

 


Dauntless

 

Dauntless and daring,

valiant and brave,

she stepped to the plate

and unsheathed her stave.

She took a strong swing

and penned some good words,

then ran all the bases 

and hoped she'd been heard.

It wasn't applause

from the throngs that she sought,

just the feeling of knowing

her thoughts had been caught

not snatched by wind

nor nabbed with a mitt

but caught and reread

by you where you sit.

Valiant and dauntless,

brave and daring,

she signed her name

to her soul she was baring.


by Donna JT Smith ©2024

Saturday, April 27, 2024

The Progressive Poem 2024 and AtoZ Challenge

If you are here for the 2024 Progressive Poem, you made the trip safely! I will post the AtoZ Challenge poem for today below this....so scroll down if you are here for my Good Words from AtoZ: A Villanelle for Xenial.

Progressive Poem 2024

I was going to try to rewrite this explanation in my own words but,no. This is good. Thank you, Karin Fisher-Golton!

“Poet and author Irene Latham began a progressive poem tradition in 2012 “as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month (April) as a community of writers” in the Kidlitsophere (world of children’s literature blogs). A different blogger poet hosts the progressive poem each day in April and adds to a group poem. Irene headed up the project from 2012 to 2019 (archive here). And Margaret Simon took over the organizer role in 2020 (see that poem and links to later ones here). Most years each poet writes a line, but this year Patricia Franz began with a couplet (a pair of lines) and a call for a real-life world theme. Soon a narrative poem was developing on the serious topic of children with, as Carol Varsalona describes in her April 14 couplet, a “no-choice need to escape.” Most (maybe all) of us are writing outside our lived experience, but as people who write for children, the multitude of children who are impacted by and have been impacted by such dire situations weigh heavily on our hearts. Wishes for catalysts of hope and moments of respite come through.

On April 6, organizer Margaret Simon grouped the couplets into quatrains (four-line stanzas), which gave the poem structure and helped bring focus to the narrative.”


Below is this year’s poem, so far. My couplet is italicized at the end. Next up tomorrow, April 28: Dave at  Leap of Dave.


cradled in stars, our planet sleeps,
clinging to tender dreams of peace
sister moon watches from afar,
singing lunar lullabies of hope.


almost dawn, I walk with others,
keeping close, my little brother.
hand in hand, we carry courage
escaping closer to the border


My feet are lightning;
My heart is thunder.
Our pace draws us closer
to a new land of wonder.


I bristle against rough brush—
poppies ahead brighten the browns.
Morning light won’t stay away—
hearts jump at every sound.


I hum my own little song
like ripples in a stream
Humming Mami’s lullaby
reminds me I have her letter


My fingers linger on well-worn creases,
shielding an address, a name, a promise–
Sister Moon will find always us
surrounding us with beams of kindness


But last night as we rested in the dusty field,
worries crept in about matters back home.
I huddled close to my brother. Tears revealed
the no-choice need to escape. I feel grown.


Leaving all I’ve ever known
the tender, heavy, harsh of home.
On to maybes, on to dreams,
on to whispers we hope could be.


But I don’t want to whisper! I squeeze Manu’s hand.
“¡Más cerca ahora!” Our feet pound the sand.
We race, we pant, we lean on each other
I open my canteen and drink gratefully


Thirst is slaked, but I know we’ll need
more than water to achieve our dreams.
Nights pass slowly, but days call for speed
through the highs and the lows, we live with extremes


We enter a village the one from Mami’s letter,
We find the steeple; food, kindly people, and shelter.
“We made it, Manu! Mami would be so proud!”
I choke back a sob, then stand tall for the crowd.


A slapping of sandals… I wake to the sound
of 
¡GOL! Manu’s playing! The fútbol rebounds.
I pinch myself. Can this be true?
Are we safe at last? Is our journey through?


I savor this safety, we’re enveloped with care,
but Tío across the border, still seems far as stars.

He could not yet come to this new place

But Hermana moon, kiss his tear-stained face

 

Take it away, Dave!  I fixed his link in my list...it's missing the .blogspot.com, if you are going through another way.

This is the list of participants and links to their blogs:

April 1 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 2 Jone MacCulloch
April 3 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 4 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
April 5 Irene at Live Your Poem
April 6 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 7 Marcie Atkins
April 8 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God Forsaken Town
April 9 Karen Eastlund
April 10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 11 Buffy Silverman
April 12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
April 13 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 14 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 15 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 16 Sarah Grace Tuttle
April 17 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 18 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
April 19 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
April 20 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 21 Janet, hosted here at Reflections on the Teche
April 22 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 23 Tanita Davis at (fiction, instead of lies)
April 24 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
April 25 (missed day)
April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
April 27 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 28 Dave at Leap of Dave   THIS WAS CORRECTED HERE.
April 29 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 30 Michelle Kogan at More Art for All

***************************************************************

Good Words Alphabetically: X is for Xenial!

The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem’s two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2. From Poets.org
https://poets.org/glossary/villanelle



X is for Xenial

Ah, the Ocean

Ah, the ocean!
A most xenial spot
Like a potion.

Curb all motion
And dwell in thought,
Ah, the ocean!

Is it just a notion,
Or is it not
Like a potion?

A relaxed devotion
Where dreams are sought
Ah, the ocean!

Salt seasoned emotion
With stress unfraught  
Like a potion

Dispelling commotion
Though gray gulls plot.
Ah, the ocean!
Like a potion!

Donna JT Smith ©2024



Friday, April 26, 2024

W is for Whimsy

Good Words Alphabetically: W is for Whimsy

Whimsy

Often we must have a plan to get a good job done
Practical and to the point and mostly not much fun
But sometimes on our straight-laced path we need a bit of whimsy
A bit of “who knows what’s in store”, a touch of something flimsy
Nothing crudely horrible to give us pause to cringe
Just a bit of who knows what, a little bit unhinged
When there’s nothing pressing that needs doing on the dot
that’s the time to take a break and do the stuff that’s not
Responsible and grown up, dependable and sure
To try something that’s more whimsical, silly, fun and pure
Have a wiggly, jiggly giggle, add a whirly twirly spin
Sweep the cobwebs from your brain, let pink cotton candy in.
Get a chocolate ice cream cone. How high you can swing?
Blow some bubbles, pop them too. How loudly can you sing?
Fly a kite, and dig in sand, try standing on your head.
I wouldn't recommend though, to be jumping on the bed...
But do some things just on a whim, a path not trod in years
and see if maybe for a while you'll turn some fears to cheers.
Tomorrow you'll be practical and all grown up again
But today for just a little while get a crayon, toss the pen!

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024


 

Thursday, April 25, 2024

V is for Vibrant

Good Words Alphabetically: V is for Vibrant
 


I wasn't as taken with the picture.  Wanted an instrument in it, too.  But I liked his eyes and smile, so just went with it.  If it's a different picture in the morning, that means I tried something else, but I'm too tired to fuss with another right now.  Time for bed.  See it in the morning!
Okay - made my new image!  I'm good.
 
Music Man

Bright notes played
he plucked
the strings
with vigor and with vim
And all the while
drank in the notes
sustaining,
feeding him.
Sparkling eyes
broadest smile
In touch with
rhythmic needs
He plays for all
his vibrant sound,
sows earth with
music seeds.
Bring your hunger,
bring your heart,
bring your children too.
Drink it in
these nourishing notes
They help a body
glow.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 


Wednesday, April 24, 2024

U is for Undaunted

Good Words Alphabetically: U is for Undaunted

This poem is something that happened to us traveling with a toddler.  Traveling home from Minnesota to Maine for Christmas.  We spent Christmas eve in the train station in Chicago.  And although we weren't in the best situation, neither were the hundreds of other folks waiting there with us for trains that were stopped because of the snow.  We ended up getting to Maine the day AFTER Christmas.  It was a long trip with a 2 year old.  But a wonderful angel shared her homemade Christmas cookies with our son, and suddenly out of the blue, a gentleman pulled out his French horn and began playing Christmas carols.  It was magical as it echoed through the high-ceilinged station.  It was my most memorable Christmas ever, and I bet everyone in there remembers it, just as I do.


Christmas Eve in Union Station Chicago

The snow was snowing
From dark clouds
The wind was roaring in
The moon was hidden
overhead
Bad weather for the win

The train was cancelled
There were no rooms
To rest a weary head
You’ll have to wait
For hours and hours
Is what was grimly said.

But waiting in the station
undaunted
Came a song
Lone French horn notes
Announced a king and
right had conquered wrong

And all the world was hushed
that night when thousands
Paused their plans
A silent, holy night
Was filled with hopes
And dreams of man.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024


Tuesday, April 23, 2024

T is for Table

Good Words Alphabetically: T is for Table

A part of the A to Z Challenge

I don't know why I couldn't get started with "tender" or "tapestry" or "thoughtful" last night.  And nothing was coming this morning...then "table" arrived.  And table it is. I love my table.

Table

Tables are great places to meet
Places we can tuck our feet
Where lovingly the food is served
Where all that’s given is well-deserved

Tables give a spot for tea
A place to whisper - two or three,
A site to sit and read a book
A cozy quiet between-meal nook

They’re a haven for a long lost friend,
A place to patch things up and mend,
A slate, a surface to begin again,
A place to smile and remember when.

Card games, puzzles, crafts and soup,
Medicines for kid’s with croup,
Bags of groceries, stacks of mail
Something heavy, something frail

Pie crust rolling, bread dough rising
Computers, papers, enterprising,
All supported by this able,
Talented, tasteful kitchen table.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024


Click to see other participants of the April 2024 AtoZ Challenge.


Monday, April 22, 2024

S is for Salubrious

Good Words Alphabetically: S is for Salubrious

I KNOW you didn’t see this one coming, did you?

My husband used to say “And how are you this lugubrious day?” Now that sounds like it must mean “this FINE day”, but it seemed wrong to me, so I double checked one day. Perhaps he’d started saying it as his mind was beginning to go, because he didn’t often use words incorrectly. At any rate, when faced with the reality of its meaning, he never said it again.
When I saw salubrious today, I wish I’d given him this option. I think this is what he was going for and why what he said seemed vaguely correct.
 

Salubrious means favorable to or promoting good health, healthful.
Lagubrious has a much different meaning: melancholy, sad, mournful.


 
Little Changes

Even on sad, dreary days
weighty and lugubrious
I want to find the shimmery
glowing bits salubrious.
When things are not the happiest
And nimbus heavy looms
There’s either still or soon to be
Some shaft that blinds the gloom.
Bits of stars between the clouds
Geese nesting murmuring low
Raindrops glistening on a bud
Or tree leaves’ whispery show.
Look beyond lugubrious
And hum a song or two
Salubrious days will find their way
To join in tunes with you.
Every day and all the ways
Breathe deeply, look for sweet
It matters not the harshest path
Nor weather that you meet.
It’s what you make of circumstance
Of heavy fog you see
Is its intent to cloud the mind
Or is it brewing tea?


By Donna JT Smith ©️2024
 

 

 

Saturday, April 20, 2024

R is for Rocking

Good Words Alphabetically: R is for Rocking


 

Words from a Rocking Chair

I rock in chair on days of sun
And rock until the day is done
I rock in peace as evening calls
And rock with thoughts through salty squalls
I pick up pen and pen complies
I write in truth forbidding lies
I do not know why thoughts are spilled
some may be loved, some reek unskilled
But either way they lie on page
Fulfilling peace, instilling rage
I have to write, I write to speak
My rocking chair and I must squeak

By Donna JT Smith ©2024


 

 

 

Friday, April 19, 2024

Q is for Quiet

Good Words Alphabetically: Q is for Quiet

 

Quiet

Quiet now the day is closing

Quieter the chipmunks’ mirth

Quieted the fox is denning

Quietness descends to earth


Quietest of all the moon

Shines quietly goodnight

It will stay on guard awake 

A quieting nightlight. 


By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 


It is also Poetry Friday.  Visit My Juicy Little Universe, hosted this week by Heidi Mordhorst, to read more poetry today!

Thursday, April 18, 2024

P is for Peace

 Good Words Alphabetically: P is for Peace

 This WAS "oasis" and then changed my mind.  I wasn't going to post it at all.  But I did.


Peaceful Oasis

Peacefully I sit by the sea
Peacefully you sit next to me
Peaceful these oasis years
Peacefully dispelling fears
Together we oft walk as bound
Where is one the other’s found
Our refuge comes with the belief
There will come a sweet relief
A new oasis awaits in arms
Where there’s shelter from all harm.
Peacefully we persevere
for greater peace is very near.

By Donna JT Smith

 


 

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

O is for Optimistic

Good Words Alphabetically: O is for Optimistic

I wrote this in 20 min last night after writing to the word “oasis” and being all set to publish to blogger and FB in the morning. I realized my oasis poem worked better for a different letter coming up. Soooo…it was bedtime but being optimistic, I forged ahead and wrote a new poem for a different “o” word:a word that has been a lifelong theme.  For me it’s the two kids in the barn shoveling stalls - one looks at the pile of manure and is overwhelmed. The second starts shoveling thinking “if there’s this much manure there has to be a pony in here somewhere!”
I like to think there’s a pony in every life problem.


Optimistic

When you are optimistic, you are not prone to moan.

You live your life in sunny light, not dwelling in dull tone.

You think of what might be instead, if given one more try;

and all the while you're pretty sure you have hidden wings to fly!

And even though things don't turn out the way you think they should

you're optimistic attitude says you it can make it good.

With a little bit of "head held high", with just a hint of smile,

with paint and glue you make it new, it's changed in just a while

It's not the end of good to have a time that's badly tangled,

just look past beyond the mass and know it can be wrangled.

Tomorrow is another day, you can smile and just look back,

help someone else conquer their day with an optimistic attack.


By Donna JT Smith ©2022


 





 

 

 

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

N is for Nestle

Good Words Alphabetically: N is for Nestle

I cannot spend lots of time on these. So some are as good as they get in 30 min and under.
BTW, the word is “nestle”, not the candy company name.  This is more of a children's poem than some.



Safe and Sound

A puppy snuggles in your lap.
A kitten in your arms.
A horse will nuzzle to show love
and say it’s safe from harm.

Like baby robins nestle in
their warm and feathered nest,
we cuddle as we read a book
before it’s time for rest.

Snuggle, nuzzle, nestle —
it’s time to go to sleep.
Close your eyes and say a prayer,
then count the cuddly sheep.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

A part of the AtoZ Challenge for April. Click the logo to visit other bloggers doing the AtoZ.

Monday, April 15, 2024

M is for Meditate

 Good Words Alphabetically: M is for Meditate

This post is a part of the AtoZ Challenge. The link to posts from this challenge is below.  Click on that image.

I know I did at least three poems for this word.  I am posting the first one I came up with.  I don't know why it took so much thought...maybe the word "meditate" started me overthinking!

Meditate

You have a thought you think is good
you wonder if you really should
give it just a bit of time
marinate it in a rhyme
let it mellow
let it merge
check it
is it on the verge
of being right
and not gone wrong
don’t meditate on it too long
before you think another thought;
gazillions more are still uncaught.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024




Saturday, April 13, 2024

L is for Lithe

 Good Words Alphabetically: L is for Lithe

We are on our way through the alphabet with some nice words.


Lithe


Limber, lithe,

slim and supple,

agile, sleek,

not prone to stumble

is a deer 

though shy and meek

they run through brambles 

like a streak

a silky ribbon 

silently

over stumps 

‘round bush and tree

leaping, dodging

sharp zigzagging 

white tail up

warning, flagging

letting other 

artful deer

know that danger 

could be near 

then pausing in 

another glen

quick to stop

and browse again. 


By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 

Click here to go to a list of bloggers participating.

 

Friday, April 12, 2024

K is for Kind

Good Words Alphabetically: K is for Kind


Okay, let's double up on K today, the 11th letter of the alphabet. Today's poem type begins with K.
A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the number of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the minimum.

Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB, dbdB. This one is aabB, ccbB, ddbB, eebB.


Lavishly Kind

If everyone had empathy
and lived lives with some sympathy,
there would be fewer we would find
who fall short of lavishly kind.
you do not have to love all jokes,
nor like all manner of rude folks;
but with this power of the mind
attempt to be lavishly kind.
For every being started living
with baby's smile and laughter giving,
and then their journey came to wind
on rough roads not lavishly kind.
It's your commission to attend
to beings lost and needing friend;
no matter if you're not inclined,
be the one who's lavishly kind.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

I really wanted the word "bounteously" in there, but it just was overloaded with syllables. You have half a line's worth in that one word!

 

 

Thursday, April 11, 2024

J is for Jaunt

A Good Word Alphabetically: J is for Jaunt

An AtoZ Challenge Post

Jaunt just sounds good to say, too...

 

Dauntless Jaunt


It is seems a fine and lovely day

to praise God's goodness on display!

I'll take a jaunt and find my way

on unknown path, a new foray.

Don't have to go too far away

to praise God's goodness on display!


By Donna JT Smith ©2024



Wednesday, April 10, 2024

I is for Imagine


 

Good Words Alphabetically: I is for Imagine

I looked long and hard, tirelessly...I was indefatigable in my quest for a decent i word.  If you look at a list, you will see many of them can be taken in negative ways.  I almost picked interesting or innocent, but they weren't interesting enough, and often innocent is used in ways that give the feeling of helplessness or being a victim.  So "move on" I said.  And I did.  At this point I have not written a poem or done a picture.  Picture should be interesting...Let's see how it goes later today after I finish a few important chores I have to accomplish.  Hmm, important is a good word. Nope.  Not that either.  It ended up being:

Imagine

I would like
to imagine more
just like the days
gone on before
when I was young
and knew
no bounds
imagining that
I had found
artifacts and
ancient tools
dinosaur bones,
real gold, not fools,
I was a cowboy
and bike my horse
and lights in sky
were a spaceship force
about to land
and in my mind I
sought to see
just what the future
held for me
I never ever
imagined my lot
would be a mother
with a tot
who would imagine
greater things than I
    “imagine that!”
     I hear me sigh.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

H is for Harmony

 


Good Words Alphabetically: H is for Harmony

Oh, I love to listen to good harmony.  And I love harmonizing when it happens, or I'm brave enough to do it!

It's a wonderful thing when harmony of spirit and song are entwined.  Love a good a cappella group!

Now this is going to look inharmonious to you when you read the description, but it's still a fun poetic form to try.  Here it is, a Triolet:

A Triolet has 8 lines.
Lines are 1, 4 and 7 repeat. Then lines 3 and 6 rhyme with the 1,4,7 lines.
Lines 2 and 8 also repeat.
The rhyme scheme:  ABaAabAB  Capital letters in this case represent the repeated lines. And the lowercase the rhyming word.

Often a Triolet has 8 syllables in each line/verse, written in iambic tetrameter.  Don't feel overwhelmed by this.  I have to keep my cheat sheet in front of my or make notes beside the lines to keep me on track!

H is for Harmony

The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds
entrapping it each day last week.
The birds all flock in social crowds;
The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds,
and beams all shed their shady shrouds.
In harmony birds sing to speak,
The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds
entrapping it each day last week.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024


Here it is with its line numbers and corresponding letters for a key...just in case you want to try your own!

H is for Harmonize

1 The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds    A
2 entrapping it each day last week.               B
3 The birds all flock in social crowds;            a
4  The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds,  A
5  and beams all shed their shady shrouds.  a
6  In harmony birds sing to speak,                b
7  The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds   A
8  entrapping it each day last week.              B

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

The sun and birds got in this poem as I thought about the eclipse.  We finally had sun here for seeing the eclipse.  It's been stormy and cloudy for many, many days, so the sun coming out was a treat.  And I watched and listened to the gulls as they got more and more agitated as the sky changed.  

I had attempted "hopeful" today.  Actually I did a whole poem.  But it felt too trite or something.  So I set out on a different poetic journey.  It was fun to construct.  So I'm "Happy" and "Hopeful" that you are, too!



Monday, April 8, 2024

G is for Glittery

 


Good Words Alphabetically - G is for Glittery

Did you know those glittery fireflies of our childhood are disappearing?  We can help keep them from dying off with some simple changes to our environment.  Here's a link to some information about our endangered, but not on the list, fireflies:

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/are-fireflies-disappearing

A Haiku for a Firefly

small and glittery

stars gather in the meadow

fireflies sos


by Donna JT Smith ©2024


Some summer evenings I've seen fireflies in the small field across the road.  There are not many lights on outside here.  It's a good place to see stars, too.  This penchant for lighting up the night is hurting us.  Until you get somewhere that has no lights for miles, you don't even know what you are missing in the night sky. 

There are way more stars up there than most of us can see.  

Turn off the lights;

Enjoy the show.  

Turn off the music; 

Enjoy the rhythm.




Saturday, April 6, 2024

F is for Friend

Good Words Alphabetically: F is for Friend


Firry Friend

 

whenever I went out I met

a creature to befriend

a grasshopper, a butterfly

who might not comprehend

my need to talk incessantly

but seemed to listen well

because they never said a word

just sat with me a spell

My gray friend, Ray the Squirrel,

Jackson Rabbit and Jake Snake

would wriggle at my every word

yet not a word they spake

I even loved the marching ants

that carried grains of soil

out the door then back again

in never-ending toil

       (they didn't seem to listen much

         I think that ants are out of touch)

one blue-skied day I spied a tree

a tiny evergreen 

inspecting it, I knew it was

a friend I'd never seen

this new friend sported limbs and crown

and roots that held it fast

it seemed this was a friendship

that could last and last and last

I cleared the brush and branches

made clear a place to think

I thought I saw my little friend

give me a subtle wink

but spruces have no eye to blink

and surely don't have two

but just between that spruce and I

somehow the wink was true

and in due time that tiny tree

grew up, so green and tall

I talked a lot, it listened well

each year, from fall to fall

the stories that the spruce tree heard

were things I could not say

I hope to be like Stalwart Spruce

for someone else someday.

********alternate ending*******

One must remember, to listen well

you quietly should sit; 

there isn't need to always talk,

so put a sock in it.

 

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

Lol!

I just had the last line pop into my brain before I got done writing what was going to be the last line...so I guess I was supposed to tuck it in there at the end.  I don't think about these, I'm just taking dictation.

Friday, April 5, 2024

E is for Emerald

Good Words Alphabetically: E is for Emerald

I don't know how this came about, except I was ready to not rhyme.  And so I decided the easiest way for me to break from it, is an acrostic. Acrostics have lines that start with each letter of the word and have something to do with that word.  I also tried to give it a pleasing shape. 

I was going to do this for G is for Green, but then something happened and it became Emerald.  I truly don't remember how it morphed.  I do know I'd started the acrostic for green and then I had emerald going down the page under it and before I knew it i had stopped green and began this new poem using the en of green and the rest of emerald.  Boy, was I ticked off at myself when I came to and saw it.  I had to rearrange lines and delete.  But it came out fine.  

However it was still prepped to be published on my G day!  So I cut and pasted it here for E.  Now to go back and get rid of G is for Green, because it won't be.  

Was that interesting?  You don't have to read it.  You can skip to the poem and disregard my process...unless you have already read this.  Sorry. Lol! Too late.



Emerald Childhood

Eating wild strawberries and blueberries tangled in edens of green

Munching on chokecherries and sorrel (we called sourgrass)

Edibles both so tart they turned your mouth inside out

Ruminating on raspberries, thorns picking your skin

Apples sour, hard, and wormy noshed or thrown,

Lilac and clover nectar sipped at leisure

Days of emerald green knees.

by Donna JT Smith ©2024


Thursday, April 4, 2024

D is for Delicious

  Good Words Alphabetically: D is for Delicious

 


 


 

Delicious 


The morning glowed deliciously with golden rising sun
and in the slow enlightenment
Day’s low hum had begun.

The sun bounced higher, warmer,
rejecting clouds and rain
and gave the birds sweet songs to sing
so no one could complain.

Buttercups and daffodils
invited bees to tea,
and all the while I thought they looked
delicious just for me.

The gulls, pink roses, lilies,
grand osprey and pine tree,
wave crests, the clouds and buoys
made delicious sights indeed.

When pink and purple filled the sky
declaring day was done,
the evening just as scrumptiously said Night’s feast had begun.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

I wrote a different D one first, but have decided to save it for another day, maybe a Sunday, and for at the end of "the book" if I compile these.  So there were two D's for today.  Two poems for today and two "fingerprints" (fingerprints being images drawn with my finger in notes on my phone...not an easy task, but I like messing with it! They are freeing for me because you can't control the result very well.).

E tomorrow!  Edgy, Electric, Elephant... wait.  That sounds like a poem beginning already.
 

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

C is for Curious

 Good Words Alphabetically: C is for Curious

Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge. 

C is for Curious

Although curious can lead you into trouble sometimes - just ask my brothers - it's still a good quality to have or pursue.  It wakes up your brain, and you can experience things you never even know existed.  But be safe out there! Lol!

Curious
 
Curiouser and curiouser
we heard Alice say.
That meant there were strange things
all coming her way.
Curiouser and curiouser
I feel as I look
beyond all the bustle
and peer in a brook,
the babble, the burble,
the splash over logs,
the peering at me
lrom a lumpy-eyed frog
who’s curious, too
how I sit high and dry
and enjoy watching gulls
watching me as they fly.
They’re curious too
why I don’t flap those things
that look odd but vaguely
like unfeathered wings.
And what of the fish
who see only water
until they are caught
by a hook or an otter
or other such thing
that thinks they are lunch?
Other than that
do they have a hunch
there’s a curious world
just past the tide line?
There’s so much to inspect,
understand and divine.
In this curious world
full of curious things
should we sit here and wait
or grow fins and wings?
 
By Donna JT Smith ©️4/3/2024

See you tomorrow for D...hmmm.  Wish I'd thought to poemize some of these earlier...or at least come up with a word!  I'm sure it will arrive in my brain shortly.




Tuesday, April 2, 2024

B - Bold

                                  Watercolor rugosa rose by me

Good Words Alphabetically:
B is for Bold

Here's B for the AtoZ Challenge of writing every day (except Sunday) in April.


Bold Is

Bold is a passion for unquiet things
Bold can be flair for bright colored bling
Bold can be echoes as choirs lift a song
Bold can be strength in trials too long
Bold can be scared, bold can be hidden
Bold is just doing the things we’ve been bidden
Bold can be blessed and disguised in weak
Bold’s voice can quiver when trying to speak
Bold may have fear, and faith as a seed
But even if small it’s all that you need
You’ve boldness enough, set shoulders square;
It’s time to move forward, so get yourself there.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

I'm excited that I actually did day 2!  How Bold!

Z is for Zoetic

Good Words Alphabetically: Z is for Zoetic Ah, z end of z month... I'm going to miss writing a poem and drawing every day.  Perhaps I wi...