K is for KRILLER #AtoZ Challenge

It is day 12 of National Poetry Month. I am writing poems every day in April.
It is also the month of the AtoZ Challenge, and my 8th year in participating.
Combining the two, I am writing poems based on Maine vanity plates I've spied this past year.
The AtoZ does not have a letter for Sundays, but I will post a non-vanity plate or extra vanity plate poem on that day.

Today is also Poetry Friday, so there are poems gathering - lots and lots of links to follow to great poetry at Irene Latham's place today.  Check out the links at Live Your Poem, today.

Irene is also hosting the Progressive Poem for April.  If you go to Reflections on the Teche later today, you will see Margaret Simon's line she's added.  Today is the 12th so we are on line 12...follow along with us!  I'll be adding the 30th line on the last day.

On this 11th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter K.  I couldn't find a K plate before we moved, so I made this one up on the licensemaker site.  Sorry!!! But this seemed like a plate you might find in Maine!


K is for...

License Plate Generator

Krill Killer

I'm a Right Whale

Big, not bad;

No sharp teeth,

But I'm not sad.

Baleen strains

my food just right

My prey is small

and out of sight!

Sucking down mini

Crustacean dudes,

Those bigger prey

are not my foods.

Can't sip a seal

or slurp a shark

down in the deep,

down in the dark.

The ocean's tiny

glittery fish

Are what my lips

sip, slurp and swish!


by Donna JT Smith ©2019

Right whales got their name because whalers thought they were the "right" ones to hunt, as they float when dead and often swim within sight of the shore.
Their habitat is off the coast of New England. 

 Find more AtoZ Challenge participants here.

J is for JEEPAHZ #AtoZ Challenge

It is day 11 of National Poetry Month. Thus, I am writing poems every day in April.
It is also the month of the AtoZ Challenge, and my 8th year in participating.
Combining the two, I am writing poems based on Maine vanity plates I've spied this past year.
The AtoZ does not have a letter for Sundays, but I will post a non-vanity plate or extra vanity plate poem on that day.

On this 10th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter J.

J is for...

Jeep Love

Oh, there's nothing quite like

a ride in a Jeep

Where nothing's too wet

and nothing's too deep,

At least that's what hubby would say...

But give me some shine

and I will be fine

with hills that don't climb 

very steep.

I like me some plush,

Not mountainous glush,

I want AC and heating

and frills;

No slack canvas top

No potholes to hop

a ride that will comfort

not kill.

Cars stay on the road

or so I was told

But hubby says try it

You'll see

That the off-roading life

is exciting and rife

with dangers and mud

to your knee.

"No, thanks", says my back.

"I'll pass", say my teeth.

I think I'll wait here on my own

And when you've returned

I hope you'll have learned

That a Jeep can be fun 

all alone.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

Find more AtoZ Challenge participants here.

I is for INSECTS #AtoZ Challenge

It is day 10 of National Poetry Month. Thus, I am writing poems every day in April.
It is also the month of the AtoZ Challenge, and my 8th year in participating.
Combining the two, I am writing poems based on Maine vanity plates I've spied this past year.
The AtoZ does not have a letter for Sundays, but I will post a non-vanity plate or extra vanity plate poem on that day.

On this 9th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter I.

I is for...

Into Insects

When I was but a little girl,

and even when I grew some,

butterflies and grasshoppers

would sit upon my small thumb.

As I grew tall and older, too,

bugs weren't so much a friend;

I kind of had an inkling that

our friendship soon would end.

No longer did I capture bugs

to study, pet and feed;

I only liked them for the way

they filled a robin's need.

For baby birds and snakes and frogs

eat hundreds in the spring -

But I can't think of a worse treat

Than a squirmy, leggy thing -

I will not help the birds catch bugs

They'll have to hunt alone

And snakes and frogs will have to find

sweet insects on their own.
But as I sit and watch my kids
enthralled with little creatures

I've come to rediscover awe

of creepy-crawly features.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

Here are more AtoZ participants to visit if you've a mind to!

H is for H2OCULR #AtoZ Challenge

It is my 8th year in participating in the AtoZ Challenge, and it is day 9 of National Poetry Month. Thus, 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 post a non-vanity plate or extra vanity plate poem on that day.
On this 8th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter H.

H is for...

 H2OCULR

Watercolor

Purple Lake,
Rose Madder Hue,
Emerald, Mauve,
Cerulean Blue,
Viridain, Sap,
Ultra Marine
Sienna, Turquoise,
Hooker’s Green,
Cadmium Red,
Lemon Yellow
Gamboge Hue,
Crimson, Phthalo;
No colors on
my brush
imbrue
this paper such
as is
my view.

By Donna JT Smith ©2019

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

And here are the extra vanity plates:

Water-dog

Click here to visit more AtoZ Challenge participants.

G is for GMEABRK #AtoZChallenge

Day 7 is G. Welcome to Day 7 of the AtoZ Challenge!

It is my 8th year in participating in the AtoZ Challenge, and it is also day 8 of 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.
7th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter G.
G is for...

GMEABRK

Give me a break;

I have nothing to write -

Nothing to rhyme!

Nothing in sight!

I think I used all

that I had yesterday,

and now I have nothing,

nope, no more to say!

Give me a break

On to the next letter -

Maybe tomorrow

I can do better.

by Donna JT Smith ©2019 

I used this vanity plate "GOFISH" yesterday for Sunday of National Poetry Month. Click here if you want to go there!  AtoZ Challenge doesn't post on Sundays.

Go here for more links to other AtoZ Challenge 2019 posts:

Sunday: Go Fish

There is no AtoZ Challenge letter for Sundays, but I still need to post a poem for National Poetry month.  So here it is - a spare G Vanity License plate from Maine for a Sunday:

Go Fish

"Go fish," said the Man

who stood on the shore.

Be fishermen,

take to the sea;

and while you are there

seek out the men,

the men who are

looking for me.

Tell them the way

to follow me home.

Tell them their feet

needn't roam,

for I am right here -

if they listen it's clear

the straight path 

they're seeking is shown.

What's narrow right now

in time becomes wide,

unfettered,

a glorious ride;

no burdens to bear,

but you'll need to take care

of the Spirit you

harbor inside

feeding it well,

as the good news you tell

Is food for the fisher

as well. 

by Donna JT Smith ©2019

F is for FEMALE #AtoZ Challenge

Welcome! Today is day 6 of the AtoZ Challenge, and we are on the letter F.

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 still post poem on that day because it is National Poetry Month -  every day needs a poem!

F is for...

Here's my poem for today - a limerick/acrostic for FEMALE:

Feisty, fabulous and fascinating;
Exuberance elegantly emanating;
Mild mannered or mischievous,
Alluring, adventurous, she
Lives her life large and
Exhilarating.

by Donna JT Smith  ©2019

For a bit of extra fun, here are the runner-ups for F:

Come back tomorrow, for a special Sunday G poem, and then the AtoZ G poem on Monday!
And click here to go to the link up list of other AtoZ Participants. 

E is for EAGULL #AtoZ Challenge

Welcome to Day 5 of the AtoZ Challenge AND it is Poetry Friday, so you can also go to visit some other poets today by heading over to Karen Edmisten*

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.

Since it's the 5th day of the Challenge, we are on the letter E. E was one of the plates I could not find before we moved.  But I did find a great website that allowed me to make a plate.  I put the link in under the plate in case you wanted to try one.


E is for...

License Plate Maker

A Tanka for this plate today:

sea eagle's outpost
intricately primitive
nest of tangled limbs

pines tenaciously grasping
granite ledges they call home

by Donna JT Smith ©4/1/2019

The osprey should be back now, or in a few days in Maine.  Love to see them returning one at a time, waiting for their life partner to return. Then they picked up where they left off in fall...back in the old nest, "sprucing" it up (so to speak), adding height to it in preparation for their new offspring.
Click here and you can watch an oprey nest in Maine live.

*Just added this reply to a comment here to the post:  Osprey fly south for the winter months. Females usually go fairly far, like Florida, and males further south. The are partners for life and they meet up again at their nest up north usually within a day or two of each other. One of the mysteries of this world! You are not to touch or disturb an osprey's nest, and there are even high poles with platforms at the top put up near water so that osprey will have more nesting spots. The nests are huge piles of sticks that they add to every year. One year our bridge needed repainting but there was a nest at the top. The state had to get special permissions to paint it. They carefully removed the nest, setting it up on a platformed pole close by over the winter months while they were south. When the osprey returned they shunned the repositioned nest and began another on the bridge in the same spot.

*Update:  Yesterday, the first osprey was spotted in Damariscotta, not far away from Hog Island! They are getting closer. 

Still shot of the osprey nest on Hog Island.

Meet Rachel and Steve (if they've returned - as of Wednesday there was snow in their nest and they hadn't returned yet) the osprey couple that have built their nest on Hog Island, Maine.

Click here to visit the links to other participants this year.

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