D is for DA BLUES #AtoZ Challenge

Welcome!  If you are here for Spiritual First Thursday, it is HERE!  This is the AtoZ Challenge for letter D.  You are welcome here, also!

It is my 8th year in participating in the AtoZ Challenge, and it is also National Poetry Month, so I am writing poems from A to Z based on Maine vanity plates I've spied this past year. 

Since it's the 4th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter D.

D is for...

Da Blues

Ain't got no coffee;

Can't have me caffeine.

Ain't got no muffin;

Wheat spoils my routine.

Doughnuts is right out;

Can't do da sweet!

Can't go for a walk;

Bunions killing my feet!

Things are too high up,

Can't open da jar,

Neck won't turn 'round

To help back up da car.

Can't read da fine print;

Eyes won't refocus.

Da way life is going -

I expect to see locusts!

Can't heft much more
Than da fork and da spoon;

At least I have that,

But I might not real soon!

What else can malfunction?

There's not much more left.

If I were a singer

I'd croon, "I'm bereft!"

So all da world hears

of my bodily woes -

da numerous aches from

my head to my toes.

I could tell of da things

 that have lately befallen -

Misadventures and more

so sadly appallin',

But I needn't fret,

Though all of it's true.

Ain't got no reason

for singing da blues.

No woebegone tale

of life's falling apart;

For I still have a lap

And there's beats in my heart.

My dog's still beside me,
She loves me a lot.
I still have a bed,
da roof and a pot.

Da sun ups and downs
Tide leaves and comes back,
And I'm still a'breathin' -
Ain't nothing I lack.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

PS: I don't have bunions...this is a poem not a biography...though I do have trouble turning my head to see out the back window of the car...that's what mirrors and cameras are for...and I really can't have gluten and I DO have a dog who seems to really like me.

An extra "D" plate

Click the image to visit other participants this year.

Have a DDD-lightful day (that's triple delightful)!

First Spiritual Thursday - Renewal

If you are here looking for my AtoZ Challenge...go HERE for the letter D post.  This is not the post you are looking for...but you can read it anyway!

Today is Spiritual First Thursday for April, and the topic is Renewal.
My first thought for renewal was the book I just renewed at the library this week.  A book renewal.  I hadn't had time to read, but wanted to.   It was new to me when I first checked it out, and I made it new to me again.  Hmmm.  Is that what this means?  There may be an analogy there, but I can't do it.  Lol!  I'll think some more!

And the obvious "renewal" is Spring!  All the green and growing, coming back to life, Easter...

However, searching through some of my favorite verses, this one came to mind:

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

I like this verse.  It is a wonderful reminder to me at this point in our lives.  I feel like I am in gentle hands.  I feel as if my steps as being guided.  Each step in our new adventure seems easier now than it seems that it should be.  Somehow when a way or a problem seem impossible, the waves part, the brambles melt...the path we've taken becomes clearer in its purpose and we receive assurance that God has put us where we need to be.  And we are renewed in our spirits.  When you can't see the end of a journey, it is easy to wonder if you are on the right track.  But when the jungle leaves part and you see the clearing...and there's a Starbucks there...you are renewed!  It's kind of like that more than a library book renewal!

Seriously, the longer we travel this current path, the clearer it is that it was a plan all along.  Every so often we are treated with a "renewal" of spirit as we receive an unexpected blessing...on our way through the wilderness we are shown a sure way, when we are parched in a desert we are given a refreshing river to renew with fresh water to drink, bathe in, maybe even take a canoe for a bit to speed up the course.  Since our move, it has happened over and over again.
"Behold." - Watch this!
 "I will do a NEW thing"  This will be different from anything else
"now it shall spring forth"...Surprise!
"Shall ye not know it?"  Don't you see what I have done here?
"I will even make a way in the wilderness" - I am going to make it so that you can get through all the tough stuff
"and rivers in the desert" - and you will be refreshed and renewed.

Watch this!  I'm going to do something entirely different than what it will appear.  Surprise! See what I did? I made the rough traveling smooth, cleared boulders, melted brambles so you can get through, and just as you were getting hot and thirsty, I will provide refreshing water with which to renew yourself - drink, bathe, drink, use the river as a path even.  Renew yourself!

I'm sure there will be some more brambled paths and we will get tired of coming to the edge of them and beginning to whack away at them.  But when they start to melt away and the refreshing waters are exposed, we will be renewed and reassured that we are still on the right path.

May everyone have a renewal this spring.  May the sun shine on you, may you find yourself smiling at the green and growing and may even the rain be seen not as discouragement but an encouragement to feel the renewal and cleansing in the downpours.

Got to have a poem, of course.

Renewal

Renew my spirit
Lift my soul
Wash me cleaner
Make me whole
Give me water
From the well
Sit with me
and rest a spell
Make my brambled
ways be sure.
All my footsteps
reassure.
Let every day
give a new start.
Renew, restore
a joyful heart.

by Donna JT Smith, 2019

More renewal posts may be found at Dani's place Doing the Work that Matters. 

C is for CDB IC #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 3 of the AtoZ Challenge!

It is my 8th year in participating in the AtoZ Challenge, and it is also National Poetry Month, so I am writing poems from A to Z based on Maine vanity plates I've spied this past year.  The AtoZ does not have a letter for Sundays, but I will probably post a non-vanity plate poem on that day.
3rd day of the Challenge, we are on the letter C.
C is for...
I could not find a C plate in my shortened time in Maine.  Typically in early spring I pick up any letters I've missed.  But we moved in October-ish...through December-ish...
But I found this great website that will show you how a plate from any state would look with the selected letters or numerals on it.  I've included the link under the image in case you'd like to give it a try!

I remember long ago when I first started teaching there was a book called ICDB in our school's library...so I kind of went with that concept.

License Plate Maker

CDB? IC!

It's spring, so look around and see
Flowers and the bumble bee
See the blossoms, smell the breeze
Allerest will help that sneeze!

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

Visit more AtoZ contributors by heading to AtoZ Challenge List
 

B is for BOOHOO #AtoZChallenge

It is the second day of the AtoZ Challenge!  Welcome.  This year I am continuing to write a poem a day (except for Sundays - but I may have one non-A to Z poem) using the vanity plates I spied since last year.

B is for...

These were all pretty compelling, but I selected BOOHOO.

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Boo.
Boo who?
What are you crying about?

Okay, that isn't the poem.  Been hanging around my grandchildren too much.

Boohoo

The tears of a child, the moan of a ghost

The cry as milk spills 

when you needed it most.

The eerie of owl, the chortle of loon,

the bay of a wolf 

as he howls at the moon.

The drama clad drear wronged six year olds make

The whoop after diving 

into a cold lake

Boo-hoo or whoo-hoo, or hoooty-hooot-hoo

It's hard to discern if one's singing
the blues
or which hoo we choose
Or what it construes
But no matter the who or the why of the call
A boohoo belongs to whomever and all.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

Visit more AtoZ contributors by heading to AtoZ Challenge List
C U tomorrow!

A is for AM I L8T

It is the first day of the AtoZ Challenge!  Welcome.  This year I am continuing to write a poem a day (except for Sundays - but I may have one non-A to Z poem) using the vanity plates I spied since last year.

Today is the letter A, and here are the plates I found:

AUTMJOY

I chose AM I L8T...

AM I L8T?

How can it be?

Really, AGAIN?

I set my clock

For half past ten.

So much time before

my date

But suddenly

I'm running late.

The cat needs food,

the dog does, too.

Now where'd it go?

I need my shoe

Oh, real cute dog,

thanks a bunch!

You had to eat my

shoe for lunch?

Different shoes,

Pick a dress.

Comb my hair -

I look a mess!

Now I'm really

in a rush

Where's my toothpaste?

Where's my brush?

Coat and purse.

Find the door.

Pick my keys up

Off the floor!

Wait... I think there's

one more thing -

The alarm was set -

it didn't ring!

The sky is dark?

Well this is great -

I have 12 hours

before I'm late.

by Donna JT Smith

Have a calm, running on-time day!  See you B-for you know it!

Visit more AtoZ contributors by heading to AtoZ Challenge List

Poetry Friday and #AtoZChallenge

I am gearing up for April's AtoZ challenge (my 8th year participating), attempting vanity license plates in Maine again.  We haven't been there for a few months, and everything has been up in the air, so I don't have every letter I need.  Vanity plates are rare in PA, so there will be no filling in with those!  I did however find a great site to generate a plate...Acme License Plate Maker.  It's fun; you should try it!
Here's the link to the AtoZ Challenge if you think you might want to try or at least read some alphabetical posts!

I am filling in with the 7 I am missing this year, with generated plates or plates from a previous year for which I didn't write a poem previously.  I'm all set to write.  Wrote my first - A is for... - and set it to automatic, so I don't have to worry about starting!  Usually by now I have most all of them done and set to publish without me giving it another thought.  Too many thoughts lately, to get to autopilot yet.

I am doing Laura Shovan's birthday month challenge each day, so that has taken me in directions away from license plates and alphabets... but lots of fun!

For today, here is a poem I wrote this week.  It's one of the rare ones I haven't done for a challenge lately...just for me.

I am late, of course, for Poetry Friday over at Sloth Reads.  Meant to post this yesterday, but I'll link anyway.

Remembering Blue

The sky was always blue, it seemed to draw deep from a well;

then, too, the ocean gleamed cobalt as far as I could tell.

Blue willow plates, blue checkered drapes, and even music's swell

was Blue on Blue and Blue Danube; and where the lupine dwelled

she tapped the stone and called for me to listen for a spell

to Bluejays and the Indigo; she knew their calls so well.

Her eyes of Celadon were fierce, but the dreams she had came true,

for she could sit mid sapphire patch, and eat the sweetest blue.

How can it be that artist's hue is cold or shedded tear?

Every clear sky day I spent was watercolored cheer.

Cerulean waves of memories wash over where I played.

from Haint blue skies above the fields to muted Glaucous shade.

Royal blue my bicycle, Navy ribbons tied my hair,

Alice Blue Gown was her song;

still her blue is

everywhere.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

Poetry Friday on Saturday

So busy yesterday.  Wishing I had my motorcycle here!  It was SO warm the past two days.  The torrential thunderstorm last night erased all traces of icy snow that was remaining in tucked away spaces.  The snow doesn't get as dirty here as in Maine.   And by dirty, I mean "dirt".  Because of plowing much dirt is taken up in the snow and as the piles melt, the dirt begins to be exposed until the former snowbanks become dirt banks.  Here no one really plows or shovels anything.  They leave it because it isn't that deep, but it really is enough to make driving hazardous.  Hence the snow days for kids when we would have gone easily.  Maine owns snowplows and front end loaders.  Pennsylvania does not, or at least where we are doesn't.

Here's a picture I took yesterday.  It is springing here. Snowdrops in my garden...

Snowdrops

We came this way

the first of fall

survived here 

through the snow

We had not glimpsed

a spring as yet

nor still the summer's glow.  

But now the silent gardens wake

and prophesy a blessing

relax renew refresh yourself

cast off your cold distressing

and wrap yourself in warming sun

in comfort as revealed

in snowdrops as reminders

of the future
snow concealed.

by Donna JT Smith, ©3/16/2019

Poetry Friday - Maine Grandma

It's Friday.  Poetry Friday.  A day of poem fun.
Join the fun at Reading to the Core
where Catherine Flynn hosts with links galore!
It's International Women's Day, so expect some poems to highlight women and their achievements today.

I didn't win my Madness! Poetry 2019 bout with Anna Best, so I guess you could say I've been Bested!  Congratulations, Anna!  Oh, well, I'll apply again next year.  I like getting a word to work with, and like the fun of writing on a deadline.

I wrote two poems for this prompt.  Our word was "lax".  The first poem is the one I submitted for the competition.  The second one I set aside - seemed too "safe", and went with the first, which was a faster pace (though it had some words that I tried to explain in the comments in case people weren't familiar with them).

"Maine Grandma" is my tribute to some strong women out there!

Here I have been made a queen, by a small strong woman aged 4.

Maine Grandma

Wha’choo sayin’
grandma’s lackin’?
Careful ‘bout
unjust attackin’!
She’s some strong,
been livin’ long.
Don’t go sayin’
nothin’ wrong,
Or ev’n just
a dight unmindful!
She’s of a mind
to be remindful!
Wallop you
for all that sass!
What you sayin’?
I’M slapdash?
You say it’s me
who needs the fix?
My grammar’s all
a gaumy mix?
GRAMMAR’s LAX?
Lacks syntax?
I may be slipshod
in my speech
But not
in grandma’s
honkin’ reach!

By Donna JT Smith©2019

(Maine dictionary:

Gaumy (also gawmy) = awkward, untidy, slovenly

Honkin' = wicked big

Wicked = very )

2.
Sea Cell

The inattentive way she walked
worsened as she texted-talked.
Spellbound, unaware she strode,
both feet set on auto mode
taking her along the shore,
minding not the ocean's roar!
Waded in up to her shin;
charging waves tugged body in.
She floated lax (but up-stretched hand)
till tide returned her to the strand,
heedless that her utter lack
of effort swept her out and back.
No sand or water in her phone;
her texts and selfies dry as bone!
Alive to chat another day -
a lion’s lair the next foray?

By Donna JT Smith©2019

Which did you prefer?  Which would YOU have submitted?
My son and daughter were split on this.  No help there!

Spiritual Thursday - Balance

Balance

I don’t know why this is a hard one for me to write about.  But just as soon as that sentence hit the page, I realized why - because in so many ways my life feels like it is no longer in balance, or feels like it is struggling to warp or trying to wrangle a rein out of my hand. I have been struck with a dizziness one might have walking on a tightrope, or standing on a ledge.  It's a new feeling because I have felt quite "balanced" for most of my life.

Aside from all the greater issues threatening to upset the balance, the smaller decisions even seem looming - things like having to weigh the necessity of each item in our lives (and then try to remember what our decision was!): move it to PA, pack it for the someday of “back to Maine” (and where to put it since the house isn't finished), sell it, toss it, or give it away?  Rent Georgetown home/sell it?

Balance has been an issue in our church life.  Recently we became members and started attending our new church in Maine which is closer to the home we had INTENDED to be in by now - but the house is still unfinished.  There have been some health issues with the pastor’s sweet wife that have put them off balance.  I try to balance with them, but it is hard from this distance now.  I pray balance.

Then, since we have relocated for a while, we had to find another church in PA for our time here.  The members at this church are searching for a new pastor after the death of their pastor.  They also have been thrown off balance for a time.  I pray balance.

Balance.  There is almost nothing or no one in our lives right now that has not been upset, toppled, or unsteady.  When others in your life are at that "unbalanced" state, you also lose a bit of your balance.  Everyone affects everyone else.  Everyone needs to stay strong for everyone else.  We need each other to hold onto and steady ourselves and steady others in doing that.  Otherwise it becomes a domino game.

Not that some of it isn’t good still.  There’s just nothing that is still as it was only a year ago, and some situations are hard to understand or accept.  Things have hopped on or jumped off our seesaw.  But there is still a fulcrum in our lives and the seesaw has not fallen off its center. We have just gone up and down, changing our perspective on things as our views change, even if we haven't moved much horizontally.

We still seek to maintain our balance.  But whether our toes touch the ground, or are dangling in midair, we are trying to remember to enjoy the ride.  The views have just changed, and we will look back someday (or someone will!) and smile at the work that was being done while we were distracted with making sure we were landing on our feet.

It's kinda like lifting your feet, so someone can sweep under them.  Something is being tidied, each time I'm tossed...and someday, when I land I'm going to find out what it was... I'm sure.


BALANCE

Between the mire and glassy blue
Aiming for the perfect pitch
Lisping, listing, existing to
Attain a yet unweathered niche, a
Nest for a sweet rest, a
Comfort in uncertainty
Equilibrium's serenity.

By Donna JT Smith, 3/3/2019


I don't think this is very cohesive today.  But that's what happens when your balance is precarious, LOL!  Thanks, Doraine for hosting today!

Maine Peach Trees

Laura Shovan has the 2019 February Challenge this year in March...
All group members are contributing food topics and then writing to them each day this month.  Here's today's image supplied by Ruth Lehrer, a bowl of fresh peaches; and my poem:

Maine Peach Trees

We had a peach
Tree we could reach
The branches easily.
The peaches never ripened
Though they fell repeatedly
Upon the ground
Where rabbits found
They tasted like tart rocks
They were not much to look at 

But they left nice rounded pocks.

Donna JT Smith, ©3/3/2019

Have a peachy-keen day!

I get my Madness! Poetry 2019 challenge word at 5 pm.  Hope it's not as hard as a Maine Peach.

Poetry Friday

Someday a kitchen...

Life has been hectic.  I have just deleted a bunch of "hectic" and "weights"... they are unimportant in the grand scheme.  It was just venting, but could feel the waves overtaking, so, no.  Sometimes you don't need a public "venting"!!  It was good to write it down and then delete it.  Have you ever done that?  It is good to do, I think.  Just to say it aloud to yourself and then move on (or write it down and erase it).

I have not written terribly much.  But the times I have, it has been weighing on me to write, so much so that I find myself scrambling suddenly for paper and pen or computer so that the words can tumble out of the confines of my brain and into freedom on the page.

Today I am in the back and forth of life, packing up more things to take to Pennsylvania tomorrow, while also packing up stuff to take to our someday home in Friendship, Maine - perhaps.  Every item I pick up or see has a question/poem attached.  "Will you go here, or there, or find a new home somewhere?"  I never dare to use the word "plan" anymore.  Plans have only gone awry lately.  The interesting thing to me is that "awry" in my eyes, is not always that.  Sometimes it is "set aright".  I just have to look for the rightness.

So here's my poem this morning.  I got up extra early to write for Poetry Friday!  My friend, Linda Baie, is our gracious hostess!  Go to her blog, Teacherdance, to read her amazing welcome to spring anagram poem today, and for more links to good stuff - way good stuff!
        
             Say Thank You

           The business of life
         Has me trapped and worn,
       But all must go on
    Without the forlorn
      Attitude and the frown -
        That's my smile upside-down.
           So I'll stand on my head
         Till my toes touch the sky
       And giggle at how
     The birds in it fly,
       Below heels and soles
         Where sleeping ground moles
            Would normally go
          But then I get thinking
        I'm standing up-down
     And my cold head is sinking
       Where it doesn't go...
         Into cold snow.
           So I must stand up
        Get back in the fight
      This business of life
    Needs more of the light
      To turn it around
        Upright on the ground.
           And not only that,
         I must hold my head high,
      Hum with the birds,
    Stifle my cry,
      Sing to the trees,
        Always ask "please"

          And always say thank you.

by Donna JT Smith, 3/1/2019

On Sunday, Madness! Poetry begins - at least for all the authletes of which I am one (insert excited face here)!  I get my challenge word and 36 hours to write a poem using that word.  Then the poems go up for a vote on Tuesday-Thursday, March 5-7, for the first round.  You are invited to sign up to vote on all of the poems.  Classrooms are especially needed to vote.  What a great way to get a start on April's Poetry Month with a class.  Here's a link to the calendar for your voting convenience.  You do need to sign up in order to vote...go to the corner link to "Get Started"!

Okay, Linda B.  I've left off packing for a few minutes to write to your anagram challenge:


When wolf moon over river’s flow
Stops in spots
Then owl’s slow
And steady wings swing
Overhead and vole, head-over heels,
Is owl flown low o’er river bed
Tasty meal is sent to nest
Where lowest form becomes owlets’ best,
For owlets love the crunch of vole,
But how mom loves to eat voles whole!

by Donna JT Smith, 3/1/2019

Poetry Friday

Simply in a hurry.  Very busy yesterday.  Want to see Ginger today...
But a poem for her.

Ginger

A simply silly Labrador
With eyes all sparklehappy
Retrieves without a second thought
And plops upon my lap she
Isn't small enough for that
But how can I deny her
She loves without a second thought
I wish her nose were drier.

by Donna JT Smith, Feb 8, 2019

Ha!  There you go - a poem out of it at last. Gotta run.  I'll let you know what "treat" she found to almost kill herself on.

Well, it was a small pop gun ball.  She evidently ate TWO of them.  One she threw up along with a cotton rope knot and bread tie... then they found the other during surgery yesterday.  She is healing, along with our bank account.

Here it is...almost usable still...unlike my credit card.  This is a Hog Wild Popper ball. Great fun, until they aren't!


Find a Poem, read it up, all the day you'll happy up....(wait - that's a double up rhyme)
with Laura today at Writing the World for Kids February 8, 2019!!

Home is Where the Heart Is

I am going to set this page up today, but don't know where it will lead me.  I have been up all night...a few nod-offs watching tv and babysitting Ginger, our yellow lab, who has taken ill.  Lots of vomiting yesterday.  And this morning we had more when she got rid of the water I'd given her.  She is not eating now.  I have made her some rice broth, but she only took about two tablespoons before saying she'd had enough.
So I'm tired and worried and heartsick.  My FB post explains more.  I don't feel like going into it all again.

That said, I'm going to try to pull myself together and get the First Spiritual Journey Thursday link up ready at the very least.  Then I hope to take a nap while my husband figures out if he is heading to the vet with Ginger, or we are riding it out a bit longer.

This was to be a "heartwarming" post today.  And I am going to try to remember what I had in mind and get my focus back there.

Essentially, I was thinking of how no matter where you are, being with family and with those people that you hold dear in your heart constitutes being "home".
I have had many homes in my lifetime, both as a child and when married.  We are yet again embarking on making a new place a home.  We have a good start.  We are with our daughter and two grandchildren.  But then we left our old home where our son lived.  So part of my heart still lies there.  My brothers and sisters are spread out over the United States now, as well as their children.  My heart has had to stretch to encompass lots of places.  I've come to realize that home is not where the heart is in this sense.  It can't be.  I have too many places to call home.  My heart is getting stretched too thin.  I get sad thinking just thinking about it.

I've discovered that it has to mean, and that I have to focus on the "other" meaning of home and heart.

Matthew 6: 20-21
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I am laying up treasures in heaven.  And that is where my home is.  And if that is where my home is...that is also where my heart must be.  It's a home I have not yet moved into perhaps, but it is there and real nonetheless.

For now, my verse that I must keep in mind as I am growing a new, on Earth home and repotting my heart in its new location is:

Philippians 4:11
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

This is just another stepping stone.  And it is ALL good.

Home is Where the Heart Is

Treasures in heaven
Are waiting for me
Treasures in store
That I cannot see
But someday my home
Will be in the clouds
I don't know just how
But I'll join the crowds
Of family and friends
Who've gone on before
And that is the home
That my heart will adore.
Until then I'll wait
With feet firmly set
For it isn't my time
To be with them yet.

by Donna JT Smith, Feb. 6, 2019 (I had a bit of a poem in my after all.)

*************************
Been up well over 24 hours now.  I have to go check on Ginger, and see if she will take a bit more rice broth.  And I should probably wake up my husband, who went to bed at 5 am, and take my turn at getting some rest.  I'll post somewhere later to update Ginger's state* **.

* Update - Ginger went to the vet.  Had an ultrasound, and they didn't find any obstructions.  She is home again, with NO surgery - yay!  But she doesn't seem any different.  Won't eat her rice.  Just wants water.  I am only giving her a little at a time.  So far it seems that she just stores it to get rid of in HUGE amounts all at once.  I've been fairly successful at limiting the vomiting to the kitchen vinyl floor, but not always able to keep it from going under the refrigerator...  We will cook her some chicken tonight and see what she does with that.  Good news is ultrasound was $300.  Surgery would have been $3000+.  We could still end up there, but I don't think so.

** Second Update - Ginger went to the vet again this morning (Thurs.) as she was still doing very poorly, and got a free second ultrasound.  It was definitive this time.  There is an obstruction that requires surgery for removal. She is having today.
************************
Sign up here with your link today:

A Slug's Bio

Rebecca Herzog made up this poem game to get the juices flowing, and I always love a challenge... even when I'm cloggy nosed and coughy.  So I tried it again today.  I left one in the comments yesterday from my 5, 2, 1 combo... Dribble, Dying, Botanist....

Here's the game:
Write the numbers 1-6 on strips of paper and draw them out of a bowl or use dice to generate three numbers.  Use the prompts below to compose a poem:

POETRY FORM
1. Cherita
2. Haiku
3. Bio Poem
4. Acrostic
5. Dribble
6. Limerick

TOPIC
1. Winning
2. Dying
3. Travel
4. Season
5. Alone
6. Haunted

CHARACTER
1. A botanist
2. A door
3. A cafeteria
4. a toy
5. A slug
6. A geologist

I picked three numbers.  I got a 3, 2, 5 combination (there are three of each number so you could get a 1, 1, 1).   The result was I had to write a "Bio Poem",  with the topic of "Dying" and the Character being "a slug".  Here's a Bio Poem format, in case you are unfamiliar with it:

  1. Your first name only
  2. Four traits that describe you
  3. Sibling/son/daughter of
  4. Lover of ... (list three people, ideas, events)
  5. Who feels ... (list three items)
  6. Who needs ... (list three items)
  7. Who gives ... (list three items)
  8. Who fears ... (list three items)
  9. Who would like to see ... (list three items)
10. Resident of ... (City, street or physical location)
11. Your last name only

The Bio Poem about a slug and dying, too.....

Gastopoda
I’m slow, slimy, shell free, and slippery
I am a son-daughter born of my mother-fathers and have snails in my tree
Moisture, the dark, fungi and plants please my tentacles and fringed foot
If I thought about it much I might feel preyed upon, vulnerable - yet I'm slick
My needs are simple and common: water, food and a quiet hiding place
I provide a cleaner Earth, a path of mucus for others to follow, and sustenance for hungry creatures
Perhaps I should fear everything, but really I fear nothing but dryness
I’ve heard of inhospitable places, but someday I'd like to see them: the desert, the ocean and stars
I live in a close up world of lichen, strawberries and daisy petals, and will die for want of a drop of water
Snail

by Donna JT Smith, Feb. 3, 2019

I'm still sneezing... lack of mucus doesn't seem to be my problem anyway...

Better Late Than Never

* Oh, dear.  I apologize in advance.  This post is too long.  Pick ONE part of it.  Don't let it overwhelm you, as overwhelms me now looking at it....for someone who has nothing to write, it is certainly full of words!  I am sick today, but am slowly making my way through all the poem offerings.  I'm hoping doses of poetry will get me feeling better! *

Life has just been taking priority over writing...and when the writing DOES occur, Facebook posting has taken precedence over blog posting.  So here's a recap and I apologize to those who have already read these on Facebook. 
I am sharing my two poems that I sent to Erin Mauger for Tabatha Yeatts' Winter Exchange.
I am posting the poem I wrote for Jone Rush MacCulloch's New Year Postcard Exchange (see FB for why you didn't get a postcard from me...but might someday. Surprise!).
And this first poem is one written in response to a painting I found recently at a thrift store.  I reminds me of "home" in winter.

Oil painting I purchased at a thrift store last week

Winter Harbor

Blotchy the clouds
Frozen the sky
Ice bedecked traps
Yet gulls still fly
No thought for winter
All wind's the same
It's only the snow
That changes the game
Where beaches are empty
No harboring seal
But look to the ocean
Where lobster boats reel
Slicing through waves
Reflecting the gale
Riding out winter
The breaker of frail.

by Donna JT Smith, Jan. 26, 2019
*****************

Postcard Exchange Bookmark for Erin Mauger

 Journal

If ever you
  wander,
  wander dreamily;
If ever you
  wonder,
  wonder mightily;
If ever you
  dream,
  dream fantastically;
If ever you
  wish,
  wish majestically;
If ever you
  wander,
  wonder,
  dream or wish
     take me,
Together you
   and I
   will write
   what we
      can see.

by Donna JT Smith

 *****************

New Year Postcard Exchange poem - not sent

Moonlight

dappled
dimpled
light of night
shine on us
in purest white
light the dark
in shades of gray
till the glow
of dawning day
stippled
rippled
seemly bright
carry me
above my plight
reflective of
the light above
gliding wings
of Noah's dove
simple wimple
of a cloud
wrapping you
in whitish shroud
from behind you
shyly peer
foreshadowing
of morning clear

by Donna JT Smith, Jan. 2019
 ****************

Winter Exchange Poem for Erin Mauger

Journeys

Travel far and travel wide,

Journey to a place inside.

Pull the door and settle in,

Write a tale of ocean's spin.

Feel the waters sharp and cold

Turn into wide fields of gold,

Where the seaweed covered ledges

Dissipate and morph to hedges.

Starfish undulate their feet,

Float to heaven's stars to meet

Moon snails dancing on Bear's turf,

As snowy drifts engulf the surf.

You're unconfined in worlds sublime

And hold the key to transcend time;

Just write it all with open mind;

Naught restricts the paths you'll find.

Write it all with open heart;

Begin the end and start the start.

Instead of rocks and sand and snail,

Your story's grown another tale.

by Donna JT Smith, 12/1/2018

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

Happy Groundhog Day on Saturday.  Have a beautiful Sunday, too.

Looking forward to feeling much better by the time you read this!

For more poetry, please check out the links at The Opposite of Indifferece where Tabatha is hosting Poetry Friday today.

*This was not "publishing" so I had to close Blogger and reopen.  Of course upon reopening, there was nothing here. Good thing I had done a "select" and "copy"  beforehand, just in case, and that "paste" worked or there would be no post, because I'm worn out.

The End or the Beginning?

Hope your week has been special!  Ours has been.  And Happy New Year!
Welcome to Poetry Friday!
I am hosting today's lineup of poets and poetry lovers.  Please, if you have some poetry to share, leave your link on Mister Linky below.  Please, if you just love poetry and don't have a poem to share, but just want to read poems, poems and more poems, click on a link and go to there... and hopefully leave a nice comment for someone to savor.

Well, the end of the year is here, an we are at a new beginning, in a new home, in a state in which we've never lived before.  I am totally turned around when I go out and about.  How long will it take to know where I am???

I'd always said that it was easy to know where you were in Maine.  Go east - you are in the ocean.  Head north and northeast and you are in Canada.  Head west or south and you are in New Hampshire.  There aren't a lot of roads, so if you are on one, just stay on it and you will get somewhere.  Get off the road and you will be lost.  Stay calm and on the road, and you will get where you are going.  No one cares how long it takes to get there - it is going to take a while to get there no matter what you do.

When we first moved to Minnesota, my husband would drive us most places.  It was before GPS and cellphones.  He loved driving around.  So every night we would go on a drive, and he would bring me home by a different route.  I had no idea where we lived for quite some time. Lol!

I am feeling a bit like that again, though with the mapping on the phone, I at least know how to get there and back!  I still can't do it without the mapping.  If I lose signal, I won't have a clue how to get home and I'm not sure if the "stay on the road and you will get somewhere" will work in Pennsylvania.  I could end up in New York or DC.

But enough.
A new year is just around the corner, and...
I thought I'd share with your a few of the angels outside our new home.

Angel in a tree

Angel flower holder

Sleeping angel

Reading Angel

I think this last one is my favorite of all the angels in and out of the house that I've discovered.  It has been fun to find angels, fairies and little creatures hidden in tucked away places here.

Reading Angel

He sits above the leaves of brown

and reads what's carved in stone.

He savors words and reads to birds

and never feels alone.

His wings have brought him to this place,

this traveler of miles,

And all the passersby can't help

but turn their heads and smile.

The garden angel balances

atop a silver sphere

A book could take him anywhere -

I'm glad that he stopped here.

by Donna JT Smith, 12/27/18

Here's the link up:

Matt's Poem Exchange

It is Poetry Friday.  I missed last week...just totally got by me!  I have been cleaning and shopping, putting up a tree and unpacking, changing addresses and mailing the former owner's unforwarded mail to her.
I finally got my Swap mailed out.  It is going to Australia, to Erin Mauger, so it will be late-late getting to her!  I've had it ready and carried it about with me until I finally had the time to mail it.

I got Matt Esenwine's swap in the mail here!  And I can tell you that Granite State chocolate is amazingly delicious.  I may just have to go looking for some more online!

Matt's poem creation was no easy task... he sent was a found poem gleaned from my Christmas season blog posts.  Thanks for this capture, Matt!  I love it!

"A Better Christmas"

It is snowing. Again.
In no hurry, we can wait
maybe a few days,
           an evening.
We can still celebrate,
inch along,
take delight in the little things
          pause, take notice,
                  appreciate them, remember
every day is cause for celebration,
a time for family, church,
baking,
          cleaning,
                  listening to carols,
beautiful sounds.

Time
a gift to others
I might not have given otherwise
save for one
prayer, one thought, one memory,
          one hope...
                  one regret.
There will be delight in the morning
stockings,
          fruitcakes,
                  lights,
scraps of Christmas
spirit, shimmer and sparkle.

Then it goes away until next year.

© 2018 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

Time to go visit Buffy at Buffy's Blog and see what lovely December offerings have been gathered there.
Poetry will be hosted here next week as we end 2018!

Opening a Door

It's been an incredibly long, and short year.  Doors have been opened, doors have been closed.  But every time a door has been closed, a new door has appeared just down the road apiece.  Sometimes it has been a struggle to reach that door, but we've managed to get there.
We are at a new door today.

New home in Pennsylvania

I am pre-scheduling this post today, as at 2 pm we will be at our closing - or should I say "new door opening"? - for our new home in PA.  For the next few years, we will be living here with our daughter and two grandchildren.  There should be some really fun times ahead.  We are, of course, bringing our motorcycles.  Though the roads in PA are much worse than those in Maine (I promise to be very careful!), the season for riding is much longer!

Georgetown

We still own our 2 homes in Maine, and plan to return in a few years.  It has been a struggle to buy a home, and I don't want to give up any ties to Maine.   Gull Haven, in Friendship, that we have been renovating for many years, will stay as our summer retreat, and our home on Georgetown island (pictured above) will be rented, hopefully, to a family who likes being in the woods with many hiking trails, peace and quiet, deer, turkeys, osprey, seagulls and owls, and being close to the ocean and working fishing docks. If you know anyone like that who wants to move to Maine, our home will be available soon! 

The next door we will go through every day.  Amazing how many doors we go through in our lives!

Opening the Door

Down the narrow hall,

a dark and narrow way,

you walk what seems entirely

a path too far away.

Where's the switch to draw the light?

Perhaps there is just none.

Adjust your eyes and don't look back -

This may not be such fun.

Shuffle on and watch your step,

Mind stumbling blocks that try!

Keep steady footsteps to the door,

No time to moan or cry.

Miles before you stretch each day

Before it comes in view;

behind you one door has been closed -

it's not the door for you.

Step over hurdles, look around,

and keep your focus keen;

for as you near that door you'll know

new treasures yet unseen. 

Look, the door is straight ahead,

and fingertips can reach.

Stop a moment and look back

what lessons did life teach?

Put hand to doorknob, give a twist,

and then a gentle pull;

Ah, my friend, behind that door

The meaning will be full.

Standing there quite breathless

without regret or doubt

Your door has led you to the place

This journey was about.

by Donna JT Smith, 12/5/18

And now...who can resist a picture from a four year old artist?
I'll just tuck one down here for good measure...we're having some great times together!

Karate "ballet-er" listening to music...and singing...and a picture on the wall!

This Girl Does It All

Sometimes ya just gotta dance,

Sometimes ya gotta sing,

Sometimes ya gotta karate party

   - and draw - 

They're ALL your thing! 

by Donna JT Smith, 12/5/18

Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass is hosting Poetry Friday today. Go check out what else is in store!

Thursday with a Flourish

This is the last Spiritual First Thursday of 2018.  Please check out more of our One Little Word posts at Irene Latham's blog, Live Your Poem, www.irenelatham.blogspot.com.
This year's OLW for me is "Flourish".  I'd found it on a Starbuck's ornament and bought it to remind myself to go through the year and each day adding a bit of a flourish to it...or perhaps just to flourish in the new year.

Well, it seemed to be a good word.  But then the year began to have some major upheavals.  Family started to fall apart.  One at a time.  Then the times overlapped.  On-going events just continued to build and piggy-back one upon the other - events life-threatening, near death, unsettling, unnerving, disappointing, ulcer-inducing, nervous breakdown fodder...
One in a year would have been enough to be wrenching.  Two in a year really wretched...5 or so (only because I'm counting fast and might be actually - yay!- forgetting one or two) just unacceptable for a human being to be coping with.

In spite of the turmoil, I've tried to add a touch of "flourish" to my days - to show that I'm still okay, and to show that I am trying despite all, to "flourish" in the muck and mire.  I've tried to think "Let's change that mire to manure and see what grows"... like that...
Let's shovel some muck and find that pony!

My husband would tell you that there honestly were days when I grumbled and crumbled, and I wasn't holding up my end of my faith bargain.  I was trying to hand my worries off to God, but then taking them back again in the middle of the night, like that was helpful...
I was weak from crying out.  I was tired from lack of sleep.  I was sick from lack of peace.

But regardless of my constant falling and failing at faith, I kept grabbing at it again, and asking for forgiveness for my lack of faith.  And I asked for more faith.

Yipes!  That's like asking for patience.  In order to build patience, you are going to have to have something to be patient about!  I just realized that I was asking God to give me trials, so I could build my faith.  Oh, He did that.  And with a Flourish!  When I started counting blessings and giving thanks and doing for others, my faith was so much easier to come by.  I still faltered.  I still had some meltdowns.  But they seemed shorter, and easier to come out of.

I am looking for a less stressful word for this coming year.
It is the end of the year.  We will be in a new house (to be told tomorrow) - finally.  And I think I am going to be looking for new opportunities to be the best person I can be.  I want to reach out and be kinder, be more aware, more loving, more...
Oh, shoot...yeah, it IS at least 5 events...I'm forgetting the cabinet maker for the house in Friendship...he owes us over 10K in cabinets he didn't produce and money he didn't return... yeah, it's more like 10 events that were over-stressing...Don't worry, I found some cabinets someone was getting rid of, so we will have a kitchen despite the theft.
Okay, where was I?
..more loving, more forgiving, less of a flourish necessary, no worries necessary... more thankful, and better at remembering to express it.

One more thought.  I've never counted my miseries before.  I've always counted my blessings.  But I guess it's like swimming in the ocean.  Most of the time one wave hits and dissipates before the next.  So I have time to regroup and take a breath, look at the good around me and then proceed with the next overpowering wave.  This year they just kept coming before my head could get above water.  I began to drown and could not see the life preservers I was probably always being thrown.  In retrospect, I can see the good in many of the events.  Some I'm still working at the details to figure the good part out... but I'm sure it's there.
I'm on it.  Can I do a poem?

Faith

God,
you gave me more than I could chew
and waited - would I look at you?
   Nope, not yet!
   You served me more.
   No "Uncle" yet?
   There's more in store!

Ok, ok!  I know you're there!
I'll trust you now with every hair,
   and every breath
   I take today,
   that you will guide
   me in your way.

I will not in proud vanity
decide to do what's right for me;
   I'll give you all
   my guilty weight
   to be the Master
   of my fate.

I'll trust the strength of sheltering wings
to keep me safe from harmful things.
   You give me more
   than I can chew
   but now I know -
   "Lord, help me through."
Amen

by Donna JT Smith, 12/5/2018


Yes.  I guess I had one.  It wasn't Flourish though, but maybe we can consider it a "flourish" to the post, and a description of "how to flourish" with faith.   I think it works okay.

Just as a note, I felt compelled to write this today, but I want you to know I am not comfortable writing it.  I don't usually list the bad stuff that happens.  It seems so trivial and whiny to do that.  I much prefer to focus on what has gone on right.  And it works better for me.

I'm afraid that the string of "unfortunate events" overtook me after a while, and for a while.  Fester seemed to be the OLW instead of flourish!  And you can really get bogged down in a hurry when you live in the negative.  I tried not to let that happen, but sometimes it means internalizing everything and letting it build up.  Not a good plan.  I had to remind myself daily to take my worries to God...and then scream at myself NOT TO TAKE THEM BACK AGAIN!!

There are still a few things left on my plate.  But I have been successful in using my trust and faith again and getting back on an even keel, despite the lingering issues.  God's got them.

Prov 3:5-6
⁵ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

You know, a good Bible verse or two can really help you flourish...
and when one sticks with you, as you are reading, it is like glorious flourish sent straight from God to give you peace.