Silver Birch Poem

It's Poetry Friday, so that means today is all about poetry.
After your visit here, go check in on more poetry with Katie at The Logonauts.  She is hosting today.

High School graduation photo

Today I want to share my poem that yesterday was published online at Silver Birch Press. On January 30, I was searching around and thought I'd check and see if Silver Birch Press had a new call for submissions.  And - voila! - they did.  The deadline for submitting was January 31 - the next day!  I debated about 30 seconds and decided I was wasting time doing that. Fortunately, I usually see a short deadline as a motivator.

So I plunged on in and wrote a couple of really awful things that day.  Then at the end of the evening this one started to come together.  I had it mostly finished, but needed to get my Bio, writing description and pictures together.  On the deadline day, Jan. 31, I put the final edits and revisions to the poem, and sent it all off.

So it is here, an Etheree, "Rude Awakenings" at Silver Birch Press, a poem about ME, at 17.  I'd love it if you could comment on it here or there or both, if you don't have anything better to do with your time.  How was your "Year 17"?

Teen years were not always easy ones back in the 1960's, but we survived - and I'm kind of happy I didn't have to do them in the 2010's.

And now a happy haiku in the midst of our snowstorm.  I'm watching the slowly settling flakes mount up on pine and spruce branches, and then the wild wind comes along and swirls them off in, I would say small tornadoes, but they are pretty big ones today!
And suddenly there's a foot of fresh snow...time to shovel off the car.

Snow Squall

Serenely drifting

Nestling in spruce boughs, still till

Whistling whiteout whoosh!

by Donna JT Smith

Poetry Friday with Poetry Postcards

What a great shower of postcards this month!
Here's my stash!

All the cards together

Thanks for organizing this exchange extravaganza, Jone! 
We are definitely a devoted and reliable bunch...or even over reliable because I sent out 10 and got 11 in return!  10% return on my expenditure.  I'd say that was pretty good!
Here they are with the exception of Sylvia Vardell's, as it is a copyrighted one, and I wasn't sure if I should do a close up of the poem.

Joyce Ray

Peggy Parker Klostermann

Linda Mitchell

Tabatha Yeatts

Jone Rush MacCulloch

Ramona Behnke

Robyn Hood Black

Diane Mayr

Joy Acey

Kim Urband

What an awesome collection!  I am going to have to start a postcard scrapbook I guess, so I can keep them all safe and viewable.  My 10 postcards went out on the 23rd to my recipients, so they should be there now at last.  I wrote a different Haiku for each card, so that should count for a few poems a day in January!
I have been writing every day, whether or not it shows up on my blog.  Sometimes my poems are in comments on a blog, sometimes they just get filed for my collection.  I'm finally making a collection of poems that are not yet published.  My One Little Word this year is REACH, and I am trying to reach my goal of at least 365 new and unpublished poems for the year.  So far so good.

Here's a Haiku from a postcard I sent this month...let's count it as my poem for today!

Happy Poetry Friday!  Time to go read more poetry by clicking on links at Penny Parker Klosterman's place, A Penny and Her Jots.

Reach out to someone today - make it a nice day!

Rise and Shine

This first Thursday in February is centered on the word RISE, offered by Leigh Anne, who is hosting today's Spiritual Journey First Thursday.  Go to her blog His Turn to read more posts on RISE.

My thoughts:

I kept bringing the word Rise up in my thoughts this week.  It would literally - though really figuratively, I guess - rise up and take over my thinking.
It didn't rise well, though.  So many thoughts went through my head.

• Bread rises
• Sunrise
• Rise and shine
• All rise
• Rise to the occasion
• The rise and fall of the Roman Empire
• Rise and go - found so many times in the Bible
• Oh, and so many more....

Then I saw this video.  I was looking for a song I'd heard with Rise in it.  This wasn't it.  It was so inspirational though. I'd never heard it before.  The video is especially moving, and makes me want to be a better person - to rise above what tries to hold me down - to rise and shine.




Proverbs 31
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

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

My poem today, as I am writing at least a poem a day for this year:

RISE

Rise in winds on wings
Curved ever slightly cupping
Currents of freedom
*******************
RISE and SHINE for someone today!

Poetpourrie Friday

*It's Poetry Friday early!*

I was going to wait until noon to post this, but I'm just so excited I can't wait.  I have to do it NOW!

Spoiler Alert:

My poem is at the end, in case you want to wait to read it until after you are finished your own poem.

So any time now you may reveal your poems all based on that line I stole from Buffy Silverman a month back! 
The Poetpourri Challenge is condensed below and there are links to the "history" for review in case you missed what this was all about. .
Remember, we are revealing for Poetry Friday, but I'm posting this early for those who need an earlier than USA time or just anyone who is ready.
Don't forget to do your Poetry Friday link up to Carol at Beyond Literacy Link, too.
And here's Mister Linky, for another way for others to find our ferocious poems easily.  Hope to read your poem soon!

*********A review of the challenge**********

*********and how it started is here *********

******and Buffy Silverman's original post that started me thinking is here******

If you wrote a poem from these lines, please copy and paste this into your post TODAY:

Lines used in poems were found by the following writers, with credits to origins and original authors of direct literary quotes.

1. Buffy Silverman: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna Smith: "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda Baie: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy Silverman: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay McGriff: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda Mitchell: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret Simon: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol Varsalona: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Yeatts: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy Acey: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan Godown Annino:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee Hahn: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda Harsham: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri Lewis: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha Shepard: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
16. Diane Mayr: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

These are/were the guidelines for writing the poem:

1. You may break the given lines up into phrases, esp. if the line is broken into prepositional phrases.  
2. A word used in a line may be repeated elsewhere as needed.
3. You may add or change articles (a, an, the...).
4. You may change tenses, as necessary for meaning.  
5. If you haven't added a line to the poem, you may not add one now. Others won't have it in their pile of phrases to use - so it won't really be as intriguing.
6. However, if you can create a brand new line using individual words from the given lines, feel free! Do not do that for the whole poem though - that may be another challenge on another day! 
7. Phrases should still be identifiable even though the whole line may not be in one unit still. (for example: "ignore the awful times" may be used in one place and "concentrate on the good ones" may be in another place).  
8. Remember, these are only guidelines, as it IS poetry and we ARE poets...
9. Rules are meant to be broken.
10. You may make your own rules if you don't like these - and that way you aren't breaking a rule.
11. You need to use ALL the submitted lines in some way.
12. Please copy and paste the list of participants and their lines in your blog so that each is credited, along with some of their sources for the lines!
13. Link up here on that day also for potential extra traffic to your poem!
14. There is no 14.  I just didn't want to stop on 13.

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

I chose to work with the lines on the computer first.  Then I decided that was good but not fun.  So I printed up two copies of the lines and cut them apart.  One sheet was cut into whole lines and/or then phrases to keep the intent and recognition, and the other sheet was cut up into all the individual words for inserting extra words and composing as needed.   Surprisingly, the cat didn't want to help right then, so I had a blast scooting words and phrases around all by myself.

The work of words begins...

and continues...

And NOW, my contribution, using all the phrases above in part or whole, in pieces or intact, some words more than once, a few changes in singular and plural usage of verbs; otherwise, there are no new words in this poem - though a few words were omitted to keep the poem flowing.  I think every line of the 16 donated lines is identifiable!  I am SO psyched!  Such fun, I had!  I hope you did, too!  I'm anxious to visit all the ferocious poetic renditions! 

I Try to Tell Them of Alive from Donna Smith on Vimeo.

(oh, dear...play this video so I don't just sit there with my mouth open...)

I Try to Tell Them of Alive

I try to tell the world of
Ferocious women who never bring you coffee,
radical at their core,
who, in life’s intertwined moments,
ignore the awful times
and find the good ones
in Alive.

I should tell the stories of
Fearless women who wear loose clothing,
who save softness for dessert,
reach out, connect,
do not exaggerate,
and drip truth and joy
from Alive.

I would tell of
Dreaming women who do art in poetry
that climbs like smoke from a fire
in a blur of green and gold and gray
where wizards and wolves rush by,
who wake the world to a new day
of Alive.

I tell them
I feel like there should be a little chest
to put the Alive in -
there for girls and women
of endurance;

I tell them
Concentrate on
the Ferocious, Fearless
and Dreaming
who never bring you coffee,
would rather drink the wind
and always leave a song,
a wild song of exaltation,
and a smile
for Alive.

Donna JT Smith, January 24, 2017

Looking forward to next January's 

2018 Poetpourri Challenge!  There has to be another!

We're on our way to February...enjoy the Alive!

NEXT week I will share the postcards I received from the exchange.

Waking to Cello-pained

Such ice this morning!  So loud it woke the dog and then me...
She (the dog) was barking fiercely, so probably the plow came in and sanded our hill early.  I just checked, and schools are closed today.  It is quite an unpleasant weather day.  It is still dark, so I don't really know what has transpired out there, but it is SO noisy!  We don't have outside lights in our neck of the woods, so I can't see what it is doing out there.  I know that is foreign to some people, but we like living out where there are no street lights.  The stars are much nicer that way!

Manic Morning

Such knocking
I'm rocking
Waking to cello-pained
Cellophaned
Window panes
Rhythmic glass
Ice enmasse
Window's tattling
Sleet is battling
Weather's shattering
Sky-flaking
Early-waking
Making me
Insane -
With noisy,
iced-up rain!

We may lose power at some point due to heavy branches on power lines, or someone hitting a pole sliding on the icy roads (heaven forbid!).  With that thought in mind, I have been up since 5:21, turned up the heat so the house won't cool down as much, and brewed coffee!  Okay!  I'm all fine for whatever it is rattling my house!  Turn up the lights out there and let me see!

For more of what's happening today in other people's slices of life...
Check here at Two Writing Teachers!

For those doing the Poetpourri Challenge, I will be posting a day early and making available the Linky that day, too!  So look for it on Thursday, and linked to Poetry Friday also at Carol's blog Beyond Literacy Link -
... check here for guidelines and lines to copy for use!

What Can We Do?

For this past Poetry Friday, I was visiting Greg Pincus' blog and read his poem.  I just had to replicate its format.  So here's my poem for today.

What Can We Do?

Plant a tree,
Build a boat,
Give someone a nice, warm coat;
Make a pie,
Bake some bread,
Knit a hat for some cold head.
There is much
That we can do
Under
   the stars
   in sky of blue.

by Donna JT Smith, Jan. 2017

And here's another "What Can We Do?"  We can write ferocious poems!

Hope you are writing something ferocious for the Poetpourri Challenge!  (Here's where it started.)
Below are the guidelines again.
Below that are the contributors to credit.
Below those are the lines to copy and paste to work with if you need them.
Posting on your site is this Friday!  Link here on Thursday/Friday's post and link at Carol at Beyond Literacy Link where Poetry Friday is being hosted, for double coverage!

The guidelines:

1. You may break the given lines up into phrases, esp. if the line is broken into prepositional phrases.  
2. A word used in a line may be repeated elsewhere as needed.
3. You may add or change articles (a, an, the...).
4. You may change tenses, as necessary for meaning.  
5. If you haven't added a line to the poem, you may not add one now. Others won't have it in their pile of phrases to use - so it won't really be as intriguing.
6. However, if you can create a brand new line using individual words from the given lines, feel free! Do not do that for the whole poem though - that may be another challenge on another day! 
7. Phrases should still be identifiable even though the whole line may not be in one unit still. (for example: "ignore the awful times" may be used in one place and "concentrate on the good ones" may be in another place).  
8. Remember, these are only guidelines, as it IS poetry and we ARE poets...
9. Rules are meant to be broken.
10. You may make your own rules if you don't like these - and that way you aren't breaking a rule.
11. You need to use ALL the submitted lines in some way.
12. Please copy and paste the list of participants and their lines in your blog so that each is credited, along with some of their sources for the lines!
13. Link up here on that day also for potential extra traffic to your poem!
14. There is no 14.  I just didn't want to stop on 13.

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

This is the part to copy and paste into your post next Friday:

1. Buffy Silverman: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna Smith: "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda Baie: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy Silverman: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay McGriff: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda Mitchell: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret Simon: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol Varsalona: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Yeatts: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy Acey: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan Godown Annino:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee Hahn: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda Harsham: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri Lewis: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha Shepard: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
16. Diane Mayr: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

Here are just the lines - to save you time when you want to copy them and paste them into a document to either manipulate on the computer or to print out and cut up:

1. ferocious women who never bring you coffee
2. always leave a wild song
3. dreaming women do art in poetry
4. where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray
5. ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones
6. waking the world to a new day
7. steam that climbs like smoke from a fire
8. fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments 
9. little chest to put the Alive in
10. wear loose clothing and a smile
11. I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them
12. ferocious women do not exaggerate
13. make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert
14. radical at their core
15. ferocious women would rather drink the wind
16. out of endurance, exaltation

I will post on Thursday, Jan. 26 with the link for those wanting to post early!
I am so looking forward to reading what you've come up with!  I know it will be awesome and ferocious, with a bit of softness, too!

A Poem and a Recap

Good Monday morning... or afternoon... or evening... or some other day if you are not here Monday morning...

My poem for today?  Let's see.

Dog's ear splitting quake
Wakes me, shakes me; mistaken -
Lots of nothing there.

Donna JT Smith, Jan 23, 2017

It was probably a squirrel I couldn't see.  She sure has an amazingly loud, sharp and sudden bark, and a quick but heavy trot across the house to a window.  How could she have seen anything?  Squirrel must have been doing a low growl out there that only dogs can hear.  I have put a barricade of chairs in front of the sliding glass doors now, so she can't get as good a view and a running start to a barking frenzy.

Here is the Poetpourri Challenge condensed below.  Remember, we are revealing on Friday, January 27, 2017, for Poetry Friday!  Link up to Carol at Beyond Literacy Link that day, and on my link list here that day, too, for more visibility!

If you choose to accept this assignment/challenge, here are the guidelines:

1. You may break the given lines up into phrases, esp. if the line is broken into prepositional phrases.  
2. A word used in a line may be repeated elsewhere as needed.
3. You may add or change articles (a, an, the...).
4. You may change tenses, as necessary for meaning.  
5. If you haven't added a line to the poem, you may not add one now. Others won't have it in their pile of phrases to use - so it won't really be as intriguing.
6. However, if you can create a brand new line using individual words from the given lines, feel free! Do not do that for the whole poem though - that may be another challenge on another day! 
7. Phrases should still be identifiable even though the whole line may not be in one unit still. (for example: "ignore the awful times" may be used in one place and "concentrate on the good ones" may be in another place).  
8. Remember, these are only guidelines, as it IS poetry and we ARE poets...
9. Rules are meant to be broken.
10. You may make your own rules if you don't like these - and that way you aren't breaking a rule.
11. You need to use ALL the submitted lines in some way.
12. Please copy and paste the list of participants and their lines in your blog so that each is credited, along with some of their sources for the lines!
13. Link up here on that day also for potential extra traffic to your poem!
14. There is no 14.  I just didn't want to stop on 13.

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

This is the part to copy and paste into your post next Friday:

1. Buffy Silverman: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna Smith: "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda Baie: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy Silverman: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay McGriff: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda Mitchell: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret Simon: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol Varsalona: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Yeatts: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy Acey: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan Godown Annino:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee Hahn: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda Harsham: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri Lewis: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha Shepard: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
16. Diane Mayr: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

Here are just the lines - to save you time when you want to copy them and paste them into a document to either manipulate on the computer or to print out and cut up:

1. ferocious women who never bring you coffee
2. always leave a wild song
3. dreaming women do art in poetry
4. where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray
5. ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones
6. waking the world to a new day
7. steam that climbs like smoke from a fire
8. fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments 
9. little chest to put the Alive in
10. wear loose clothing and a smile
11. I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them
12. ferocious women do not exaggerate
13. make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert
14. radical at their core
15. ferocious women would rather drink the wind
16. out of endurance, exaltation

Shadow

There is nothing remarkable about this image, except that there are no shadows.  Shadows make all the difference in how we see things.

Using ColorSnap, I see this morning's winter palette...

Sun filtered morning

Rays grayed out, shadows dispersed

No highlights, no depth

Looking out my window as I write, I realize that the long shadows of trees are not stretching out before me.  They are still in bed, I guess, waiting for the sun to wake them.
I have just talked my way into my second haiku for my file... ding.  So far, I'm on track for an unpublished poem a day.  They are mostly haiku, and I try to make them somehow about the day or what I've noticed that day.  I'm also trying to remember to write a quick note with it as to my inspiration for it and taking a picture if that works, but doesn't always lend itself to doing this.

Hope you are thinking about joining in this ferocious challenge. There are some pretty fierce lines that have been submitted to manipulate into a poem.  I was going to do one poem, but suddenly had the thought "Why not anyone and everyone?"  So it is open and I am excited to see what others come up with.  I have a couple of tweaks to my poem, and I think I'm done.  I tried doing it as lines came in, but that isn't the best way!

The easiest way is to copy and paste the lines into a document... then manipulate away!
Have a blast!
Save your poem.  Post the poem and the credit lines (just as seen below) on your site on Friday.  Please don't forget to post the credits, as some lines are directly from other authors, AND people will want to see if they can find the references to lines in your poem, I'm sure!

If you choose to accept this assignment/challenge, here are the guidelines:

1. You may break the given lines up into phrases, esp. if the line is broken into prepositional phrases.  
2. A word used in a line may be repeated elsewhere as needed.
3. You may add or change articles (a, an, the...).
4. You may change tenses, as necessary for meaning.  
5. If you haven't added a line to the poem, you may not add one now. Others won't have it in their pile of phrases to use - so it won't really be as intriguing.
6. However, if you can create a brand new line using individual words from the given lines, feel free! Do not do that for the whole poem though - that may be another challenge on another day! 
7. Phrases should still be identifiable even though the whole line may not be in one unit still. (for example: "ignore the awful times" may be used in one place and "concentrate on the good ones" may be in another place).  
8. Remember, these are only guidelines, as it IS poetry and we ARE poets...
9. Rules are meant to be broken.
10. You may make your own rules if you don't like these - and that way you aren't breaking a rule.
11. You need to use ALL the submitted lines in some way.
12. Please copy and paste the list of participants and their lines in your blog so that each is credited, along with some of their sources for the lines!
13. Link up here on that day also for potential extra traffic to your poem!
14. There is no 14.  I just didn't want to stop on 13.

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

This is the part to copy and paste into your post next Friday:

Here are the Poem Potpourri lines for use in a each of our grand ferocious poems:

1. Buffy S: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna S (me): "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda B: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy S: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda M: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret S: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol V: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Y: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan GA:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee H: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda H: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri L: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha S: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
16. Diane M:"Out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis. 

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

Poetpourri

 If you got to here on January 27th, this is an old post.  Sorry for the confusion, I linked wrong on Carol's site today!  Please redirect your comments and reading to today's post and poem at https://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2017/01/poetpourrie-friday.html


Happy Poetry Friday!  As you finish here, visit sweet Violet who is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today!

News regarding the Poetpourri:

I am having SO much fun with this Potpourri of Poetic lines that I am going to open it up to one and all!  Here is what I wrote last Saturday about it:

New thought.  NEW THOUGHT! (Yes, I'm yelling.)

What if anyone who had a mind to, composed a poem at the same time I am?  Same lines used, same reveal day?

Raise your hand if you think that would be fun!  You know it would!

I am closing the submission of lines now, so everyone will see them today and start asap if they are interested.

I will post the lines, and rules at the end of each blog post this week for anyone who wants to take a poetic shot at tweaking and assembling them to create a ferocious poem.

The finished poem should be posted on each Poem Potpourri Poet's site on January 27, 2017, and linked to Poetry Friday Roundup to get lots of visibility.  I will also have a link up on Friday, for double visibility.

So, I am officially opening this up.  

I think it would be fun to see what comes of these lines in all our different brains!

Looking forward to reading all the poems! Pass it on!

Here are the Poem Potpourri lines for use in a each of our grand ferocious poems:

1. Buffy S: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna S (me): "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda B: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy S: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda M: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret S: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol V: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Y: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan GA:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee H: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda H: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri L: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha S: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
16. Diane M: "Out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.
     

If you choose to accept this assignment/challenge, here are the guidelines:

1. You may break the given lines up into phrases, esp. if the line is broken into prepositional phrases.  
2. A word used in a line may be repeated elsewhere as needed.
3. You may add or change articles (a, an, the...).
4. You may change tenses, as necessary for meaning.  
5. If you haven't added a line to the poem, you may not add one now. Others won't have it in their pile of phrases to use - so it won't really be as intriguing.
6. However, if you can create a brand new line using individual words from the given lines, feel free! Do not do that for the whole poem though - that may be another challenge on another day! 
7. Phrases should still be identifiable even though the whole line may not be in one unit still. (for example: "ignore the awful times" may be used in one place and "concentrate on the good ones" may be in another place).  
8. Remember, these are only guidelines, as it IS poetry and we ARE poets...
9. Rules are meant to be broken.
10. You may make your own rules if you don't like these - and that way you aren't breaking a rule.
11. You need to use ALL the submitted lines in some way.
12. Please copy and paste the list of participants and their lines in your blog so that each is credited, along with some of their sources for the lines!
13. Link up here on that day also for potential extra traffic to your poem!
14. There is no 14.  I just didn't want to stop on 13.

And now my own double haiku for today:

Poem 20

Sky sputters today

Angry fists and frosty fits

Icy drips of spit

Sky will sing again
Happy hums, laughter, bright eyes
Heartwarming suntouch

Donna JT Smith

So Far So Pretty Good

i have at least one poem a day so far this year. On the days I don't have one posted here, I have my "keeper".  I have also been working on postcard poetry and the Poetpourri Poem.
The days have been full of writing in one way or another.
Please check Saturday's post ((which I'll link when I get home and am not posting from my phone!) and I didn't because I got home too late...)
It's an idea for you!

Poem Potpourri Poets

Regarding the Poem Potpourri:
I couldn't wait.  I had to try it out.
I have a very rough draft now...and I am goosity-bumply!  I can barely wait to share it on Friday, the 27th!  I'll wait, of course, to see if there are any more lines to come - but right now... oh...my...word!  I'm loving this process!

Please feel free to add your line in the comments below or on some other day this week if you haven't yet.  There's still a week to go.  I'll happily harvest more lines if they sprout!
At this point I've kind of determined that I am going to make this a New Yearly thing - cause it's so much fun!

New thought.  NEW THOUGHT! (Yes, I'm yelling.)
What if anyone who had a mind to, composed a poem at the same time I am?  Same lines used, same reveal day?
Raise your hand if you think that would be fun!  You know it would!
Line submissions deadline would be by midnight, next Friday (21).  I would make sure all the lines were posted on my blog every day that week listed for anyone who wanted to take a poetic shot at unscrambling them and creating a ferocious poem.
The created poem would be posted on each Poem Potpourri Poet's site on January 27, 2017, and linked to Poetry Friday Roundup to get lots of visibility.
I am officially opening this up.  I think it would be fun to see what comes of these lines in all these different brains!

I'll post again on Friday, so more will know about it.  Pass it on!

Poem Potpourri thus far:

1. Buffy S: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna S (me): "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda B: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy S: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda M: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret S: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol V: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Y: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan GA:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee H: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda H: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri L: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha S: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"

If you choose to accept this assignment/challenge, here are the guidelines:

1. You may break the given lines up into phrases, esp. if the line is broken into prepositional phrases.  
2. A word used in a line may be repeated elsewhere as needed.
3. You may add or change articles (a, an, the...).
4. You may change tenses, as necessary for meaning.  
5. If you haven't added a line to the poem, you may not add one now. Others won't have it to use.  
6. However, if you can create a brand new line using individual words from the given lines, feel free! Do not do that for the whole poem though - that may be another challenge on another day! 
7. Phrases should still be identifiable even though the whole line may not be in one unit still. (for example: "ignore the awful times" may be used in one place and "concentrate on the good ones" may be in another place).  
8. Remember, these are only guidelines, as it IS poetry and we ARE poets...
9. Rules are meant to be broken.
10. You may make your own rules if you don't like these - and that way you aren't breaking a rule.
11. You need to use ALL the submitted lines in some way.
12. Please copy and paste the list of participants and their lines in your blog so that each is credited, along with some of their sources for the lines!
13. Link up here on that day also for potential extra traffic to your poem!
14. There is no 14.  I just didn't want to stop on 13.

Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Friday's Ferocious

I have a few lines for this.  I'm asking for more today, and next Friday I'll assemble/compose!

So far, and in no particular order (especially not in poetic order yet!):
Buffy S: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" created from refrigerator magnet poetry

Donna S: "always leave a wild song" - created from refrigerator magnet poetry

Linda B: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
Buffy S: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
Kay: "Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones." from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
Linda M: "waking the world to a new day"
Margaret S: "Steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
Carol V: "Fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments."
Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
Tabatha Y: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
Joy: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
Jan GA:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them." - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
Mary Lee H: "Ferocious women do not exaggerate." - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
Brenda H: "Make a ferocious dinner than eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert."
Keri L: "radical at their core" from an excerpt in an ad in Guns & Ammo"!
Kiesha S: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
Diane M: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

As a refresher, here are excerpts from the background post:

Buffy Silverman posted some refrigerator poetry she and her daughter did, and one line caught her attention as she was editing her composition.

I, too, liked the sound of that line and decided to do something with it - though not sure what.  Then this morning I came up with a think.  She left out "who", but I'm going back to her original line from her poem:

My think was to add to it, like a progressive poem.
Only maybe using pre-packaged words.  Refrigerator magnets, words from a page on a book, words on book titles... whatever.  Just show the source of your words you used.  Found stuff!

Here's mine:

Ferocious women who never bring you coffee

always leave a wild song...

If you have an interest and a bunch of words somewhere... I'll be asking for more lines to add to this. What else do these ferocious women do to sweeten our lives?  It will be a kind of list poem.

Hope you can join in for a bold, hopeful, joyous Poem Potpourri!
Just name your source, and send your line enclosed in quotes in the comments today, and all week.  I will list the lines next Friday.  Then, given those lines, I will "assemble" a poem by Poetry Friday on January 27 - I hope!

What else would these "ferocious women" do, not do, like, say, read, make, create, etc.?

Note: If any lines don't make sense grammatically when I want to assemble the poem I may make slight adjustments for tense or form.

Ferocious women who never bring you coffee

Always leave a wild song;

  Have a Ferocious day! 

Between the ferocious acts

when your ferocity slacks

visit Keri Recommends, 

where rhythm with rhyme blends -

Relax, enjoy the fun

'Cause poetry's number one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aha!  There it is - poem number 13!

Have a sweet day!

Next Friday, I will share the wonderful postcards I've received over the last couple of weeks!

*A poetic note.  I have just had Potpoetic Epiphany (Saturday).
You may read about it here if you are here now. So go there or here rather...so you can read what's there.

Dissident in the Midst

Haiku Number 11 is at the end, if you make it that far.

I love you all, but I just thought you should know; there's a dissident in your midst. I know I am not the only one.  We rarely speak out.

I've listened to, or perhaps rather, read lots of posts and comments lately about politics and related depression, sadness, apprehension, fear, etc.

I need to say something - something that will probably offend, but no more so than I've been offended lately.

I am tired of having people speak as if the world as we know it is coming to an end, and assuming that everyone thinks the way they are thinking.  People who think as I do are not at the ready to fight or put down others with differing opinions, and thus, we are not only not heard, but are invisible to those who are belittling our choices, decisions and intentions.
I am intimidated by the outspokenness and intolerance of many around me, by the very people who would say we all need to embrace diversity, uphold freedom of speech, and drop prejudices.

I don't need one more person to tell me that I am an idiot for voting for my candidate.  There were other quiet, intelligent Americans who voted that way, too. I said nothing 8 years ago when I was more than a tad concerned.

I just want to say, please stop. I thought this was a friendly, thoughtful community of writers and teachers.  I thought it was a safe environment.  I don't feel that way now. I am apprehensive each time I open a new post to read.  I am reticent to write.

Can we not just get together on this and show our students how a democracy works, how voting works, how we put our shoulders square and get back to the job of making our nation work? Do we have to keep undermining? Keep calling names?  What are we teaching our youth about not getting our own way?

Can't we just COEXIST, as I see on so many car bumper stickers - except mine?  I prefer to actually do it than have people read it.

My negative rant is done, I guess. I am just so stinkin' tired of having everyone assume I'm thinking what you're thinking, when I'm not.

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

Haiku 11

A Dissident in the Midst

Making known my choice

With a tremor, a lone voice;

What's to fear or lose?

Donna JT Smith, January 11, 2017
******************************

Again:

I love you all, 

but 

I just thought 

you should know;

there's a dissident 

in your midst. 

I am not the only one.  

We rarely speak out.

The comments on this may explain why.

I hope not.  Please be kind.  

I don't often write defensively,

let alone offensively.

Poem on a Tuesday

It is getting late for posting, but I promised myself I would reach 365 poems this year - maybe not all posted online, but 365 in my files.

Here's number 10 (and I will have 10 more in my files after this one)!
Today it was cold and clear out.  It's supposed to warm up a bit for tomorrow and maybe we'll get some rain.  On the coast we often get rain mixed with snow, which then freezes nice and solid, though chunky.

My sister-in-law just fell on the ice and broke her leg.  Today is pin setting day for her.  Metal is being installed in her leg today to help strengthen her tibia.  I guess back a number of years that kind of a break would make it so someone limped forever after that.  Or I suppose even losing the leg could have been the outcome.  It is so wonderful that now we can have most maladies and injuries remedied fairly well, if not perfectly.

So I guess this should be a winter and ice kind of poem today.  Let's see if it is.

Winter Wilderness

Icy mountaintops

Snow draped vales, frosty valleys

Echo snowflake sighs

Donna JT Smith

Number 10

Yes, it is.

Monday

It is Monday, January 9, 2017.

I am stating the obvious here.  The first sentence is how I would start my Monday morning chart in first grade, and then introduce something we would do or have a note about the weather.  It was a structure that held our days together and grounded us in our steps together that day.

Since I retired, it has become harder to remember what day of the month it is.  Days of the week aren't as obscure, because there are still markers for me, like church on Sunday, breakfast at Blueberries on Saturday, and Poetry Friday on...well, Friday.  The other days may mingle together, but my weekend days are pretty stable and anchor me throughout the rest of the week.

I've recently thought I might put a "morning message" on my refrigerator to help me set my day's schedule and thoughts.  I think I will go get that little white board I have stashed away and start writing the date, weather and what special thing I have planned for myself for later in the day!  That sounds like fun.

It is Monday, January 9, 2017.

 Days charted, months spent

Wielding words, numbers, skinned knees

Time once taut, relaxes.

Donna JT Smith

Poem 9 for 2017

Last Night's Snow

Night's snow left our world
Lumpy, all color erased
Diamonds evolving.

I've written this first thing this morning while it is still dark.  When the sun comes up it's going to be so pretty and sparkly... just black and white

Sat-today and Thought

What a strange feeling.  My husband has just retired, for real.  Phones and email for business shut down.  No more travel each week to Rhode Island for a couple of days.  That has been going on for years.  I'd accompanied him on a few trips down after my retirement.  This would be the last "company" trip. On Wednesday, I went down for a quiet dinner at the Capitol Grille in Providence with the company's ad agency. 

We said our good-byes to the staff at the hotel where he always stays.  They left a gift in our room while we were out for dinner.  They know us fairly well now, and I think I'll miss having these "strangers" as friends.  Our drive down was leisurely, but the drive back home was even more leisurely.  We had a wonderful time and caught up with our son to have supper at home.

Now we find ourselves deciding what to do.  We have plenty to do.  We need to get the  house we're in ready to sell this spring.  We need to pare down to move into our smaller home, Gull Haven, that we have been having renovated/restored over the past 5 years.  We spied it quite by accident on a coastal trip looking at another house.  It has required a lot of work, as it was standing vacant for many years.  It seems to be a much happier house - soon to be home - now. 

Since the house is in a nice location with quite a nice ocean view, and it actually has a bathroom and heating system; we are hoping that the taxes won't make it impossible for a retired couple to reside there.  If it is too expensive, we will just sell and move on.  But for this summer...we are ON the ocean.  Oh, yeah.

Our little yellow house by the sea.  New roof is going on, kitchen being done, needs a gable end trim and new front steps and mud room in back.  We are getting there.  If the winter stays mild, we will be all set!

Haiku 7

Together

Weathering weathers,

Seasoning seasons with joy
Retiring untired.

Donna JT Smith

OLW - No Really

Ferocious women who never bring you coffee

Always leave a wild song; 

*See below for more info*

 
Haiku 6

REACH

Shifting focal points

Recycle golden moments

One heart at a time

I had announced that my OLW was COMMIT, but I had a sudden change of heart.  Actually, I'd complained aloud to my husband that I wasn't enthralled with it.
Then when writing on Wednesday morning, I suddenly was struck with the word "REACH".  COMMIT wasn't active enough still for me.  REACH gives me so many more possibilities in life.

I had watched a movie this past week, "Savannah Sunrise".  The woman in it was so good at reaching out to people and caring, that it inspired me to try to be more like that. I realized that morning that I had a desire to reach out to others more.

On Wednesday morning during our breakfast in the hotel dining area, I heard a gentleman ask a woman if she would like assistance with her luggage.  She had a number of bags she was dragging through the lobby out to her car - in one trip.  She smiled but declined the help.  I finished my breakfast, and then approached him as he sat drinking his tea.  I thanked him for being such a kind gentleman, and we got into a brief exchange about how many more people are predominantly good and kind than we would be led to believe if we just watched tv all day.

Thursday morning I struck up a conversation with the waitress at our hotel.  Just below her name on her badge it said "Ask me about my puppy."  So I did.  We ended up sharing our pictures of our animals, and having a really nice chat.  I reached out more than I usually do, and met a really nice person, with a tatoo of her recently deceased dog's paw on her arm.

Yesterday I also got a text from my niece who expressed that she missed my mom and sharing all the things her great grandchildren were doing and how they were growing.  She passed before seeing any of them.  I mentioned how I also often thought of her.  I often try to think of what she would have done in a particular situation and lean on my understandings of how she would handle things.  She was a person who easily put herself in other people's shoes, read them and reached out to draw them to a place of comfort.  That said, she also didn't baby anyone....somehow she struck a balance of giving comfort and confidence.   Never an extrovert, she nonetheless often quietly reached out.

I think we could safely say Mom would be happy with Buffy Silverman's line from last Friday: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee".

I added to Buffy Silverman's line from last Friday on my post using my refrigerator magnets:

"always leave a wild song"

And now I am wondering - REACHing out - asking for some more lines made with magnetic poetry kits or other found words - titles, cross out...whatever.
Just name your source, and send your line enclosed in quotes in the comments today, and all week.  I will list the lines next Friday.  Then, given those lines, I will "assemble" a poem by Poetry Friday on January 27 - I hope!
What else would these "ferocious women" do, not do, like, say, read, make, create, etc.?

If you have sent a line already,
please resend it today in quotes so I will know for sure that you are submitting those words.  If any lines don't make sense grammatically when I want to assemble the poem I may make slight adjustments for tense or form.

Ferocious women who never bring you coffee

Always leave a wild song;

Have a deliciously ferocious day!  

And reach out to someone this week!

But first... Go visit the other offerings for Poetry Friday at friend, Linda Baie's blog, TeacherDance today or any time this week.

PS  For those wondering or keeping tabs on me: I did write a poem for yesterday, but only one, so I did not post Thursday.  So far, so good.  Might just REACH my goal of a daily happy happening poem this year, though it is so early in the game!

Happy Fourth of January

Hello.
It is the fourth day of January.

And it is the fourth poem of the year.  I'm not sure why I'm putting this one up yet.  I haven't written my "save" poem yet.  There's so much more to the day though, so I'm sure I will have time to write again.  We are going out to dinner tonight, so that should be fun and fodder.

Revolting Revolution

Tapping unnoticed 

Revolutionary tech;

Thanks, paper and pen!

Sometimes my fingers seem to be either too cold, too lotiony or too something, or I'm being jostled in the car enough to tap the wrong letter so my iPad or iPhone give me a jumble of letters instead of words.  Those are the times I am grateful that we have not made pens and pencils a thing of the past!
And sometimes it just feels good to be writing with blue ink on a paper napkin at a restaurant.

Have a great Wednesday!  Let's start rolling up our sleeves and working to make this year one of dropping differences, embracing humanity humanly and humanely, and making sure our attitude doesn't affect our attitude!  Smile.  Someone is watching you.  You do make a difference to someone.

Oh, my heavens!  I just got my WORD!!!  MY OLW for 2017!!!
It is REACH!  Yes!  I don't know why or how, but COMMIT has been bugging me.  And I know it will be a subword for the year... BUT, REACH just came out and hit me between the eyes and I am happy and settled on it.  Smiles all around.
I hope this REACHES out to you today.  I am doing a happy dance!

"Reach out and touch, somebody's hand, make this world a better place, if you can....

Tuesday Haiku 3

I'm writing a haiku or poem a day for the year.  That's what I've committed to anyway!

Remember, if you see one here, there is an unpublished one - that is hopefully better than the one you are reading (that's the plan) - in my files, for my "Book". (Yup, there's another one in my files...written on the road today.)

I'm late publishing today, but still - so far, so good!  If I write 2 a day, I will have... um... more than 365 poems in a year...  730?  Whoa!  That's possible??

Time to get on the road today - heading for a small get-together retirement dinner for my husband.

Side mirror in the rain

Haiku #3

A Ride in the Car

Traveling afar

Rainlight glistens on the car

Cruising with my star.

Donna JT Smith, January 3, 2017

See you tomorrow!

OLW 2017

It's my husband's first official day of retirement - really yesterday, but he wouldn't have been working anyway.  Or maybe tomorrow is, because it would have been a day off today, too.
We are not BOTH retired now.  We've never been retired together before.  We've either been in school or at a job FOREVER.  I guess we were retired up to the age of 5 or 6, but not together.  No commitments up until then.  And now no more commitments again some 60 years later.  There's that word again.

I thought more about my OLW on Saturday and Sunday.  The word "commit" came up at church in a reading.  Then it came up in a song.  It was a sudden and unexpected request to sing at morning service when the scheduled person was ill. - "for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed, unto Him against that day"...

So when commit came up AGAIN in a scripture reading.... and I'd written COMMIT as a possibility on Poetry Friday... it seemed that the word had attached itself to me.
so that is the word.

COMMIT: to carry into action deliberately; to obligate or pledge oneself

The one commitment we still have, is to each other.  We still pledge to love, honor and obey.  We are committed to helping each other, to comforting one another, to working together, to laughing together, to holding the other up, to holding hands, to learning new things together, to going new places together, to making these the best years ever no matter what befalls.  

Where else will COMMIT take me, take us?  
Well, let's just boldly move ahead and see.

One commitment I'm going to try to keep for myself, is to write a Haiku or short poem a day, that tells something good that has happened that day.  I thought I might put them up here, but I may just make a notebook of them instead.  At the end of the year, I will have a year of Happy Poetry.

Here we go - beginning of my commitment:

Haiku 1 for yesterday (I have another one slated for "The Book"): 

Happy New Year!

Resolutions named

Ways mended, courses altered:
Earnest commitments

Donna JT Smith, Jan. 1, 2017

Haiku 2 for today (again, there is another one in my files for my commitment of compiling a book of 365 poems in a year):

Winter Day

Sun white glistening

Shadows ripple through the woods

To grandmother's house

 Donna JT Smith, Jan. 2, 2017

The first two (four) haiku of the year.  The first two for my book are saved in my files.  I am committing to writing one or two haiku or other form of poem a day this year.  One will be for online and the other will be in a file for a book.  That's one of my commitments for this year.

A book of poems - 365 poems in 2017.

You have my permission to ask how I'm doing at any time this year.  I will try to keep you posted.  If you don't see a poem on any particular day, then it is a day when I have only written one, and I won't "publish" it on my site, just in case I end up with a publishable book at the end of the year.  I am giving myself permission though, to play catch-up if I run behind for any reason.  But I really want the poems to in some way be a reflection of each day, so that shouldn't happen too often!

It's Monday.

What a great start to the new year and the new chapter!

On Poetry Friday, I'm going to have a line challenge... see you then.