In Praise of the Flowers

I had fun with the quatern for DVerse yesterday so write another one tonight. The picture of the sunflowers was taken yesterday, in my backyard garden.

Remembering the sunflowers
Turning their heads to source of light,
Making the most of cloudy days,
Even in absence of sun's rays.

When dull becomes my inner gaze,
Remembering the sunflowers
I think that there is present joy
Somewhere, inside this life of mine.

Remembering all small delights:
Coffee and food, music and books,
Remembering the sunflowers 
Themselves, with yellow-petalled looks.

Inspiration blooms well today
Inside this heart, the soil is rich
And certain light will always shine, 
Remembering the sunflowers.
Photo taken by me in my yard

Shapes and Colors

It’s time for my usual Tuesday night sijo for Ronovan Writes’s current prompt: this week, it is please. Also for NaPoWriMo day 25.


The shape or color of the flower’s petals does not matter,
It is not a competition between the plants in the garden,
For each variety is pleasing to the One who made it.

Ronovan Writes Sijo Challenge Image

Daisy

For DVerse’s Quadrille Monday, we are to write a poem of 44 words containing the word “ice.” I couldn’t help dipping my poetic pen-paintbrush into some dark paints. Not sure if it’s good, but it’s the best thing I’ve written all week. 


 

She tries to ward off his advances,
Feeling helpless as a daisy in a snowstorm
As his icy fingers chillingly caress
Her hair as if it were pure-white petals,
Before he rips them, callously as if limb-from-limb.
Her tears are the dewdrops of mo(u)ring. 
photo of white daisy
Photo by Alan Cabello on Pexels.com

MVB Prompt: Advance.  

Found Poem from 2022

The prompt from DVerse MTB is to use the first lines from the first poem of each month of 2022 to create a found poem. Yesterday I gathered all of those poems, 12 in all, so here I am trying to create a new piece from all of these, with no additions “other than tense, preposition or conjunction.” It’s going to be….interesting. 🙂 Linked with JusJoJan: Reversal because time is going backwards today.


 



Around
Six years ago,
The devil absconded 
With my ability to hope
For good —
She
Hemorrhaged
Blood, very life, for
12 years — 

May the scent of roses guide
Through these darkened paths,
Resolve to try hard every day,
And ask for help when I cannot,
Resolve with peace of soul to pray
As a child has rest
Trusting in its parents' love
And in provision --
As little children cannot wait, 
For their sweet and icy treat,
So God does not despise
A humble and contrite heart.

Therefore
I will sing
Even dirges
With a certain
Happiness — 

Big pebbles, tall plants
Flowers a long way away,
Viewed from the hard earth,
A vase of red tulips
Left on steps

For so many honors, accolades, and wealth people strive on Earth:
Holding your hand —
I miss how strong it felt.

Links:
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/01/01/resolve/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/02/01/when-faith-doesnt-make-you-feel-good/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/03/01/i-will-sing/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/04/01/a-vase-with-a-different-meaning/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/05/01/a-bugs-eye-view/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/06/01/its-june-and-heres-some-joy/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/07/03/a-sunday-poem/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/memories-of-july-and-years-ago/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/09/03/the-devil/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/10/01/a-special-memorial/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/11/02/winning-at-life/
https://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2022/12/01/a-place-to-live/

A Promise

As I often do, I have a sijo to share on this lovely Tuesday evening. Our theme this week was “Promise.”


I will spend every day, of the rest of my life with you,
I will treat you with kindness, love as befits this sacred union
Of body-soul composite: This promise I make to myself.

Ronovan Writes Sijo Challenge Image

The word for JusJoJan was “periwinkle.” I know that’s a flower, as well as a color, but I always think about the color, particularly the Crayola crayon and how every kid in elementary school wanted that cool crayon box with 64 colors.

I’m also fascinated by the symbolic meaning of flowers, and according to this site, periwinkles have been a symbol of hope and “have a long history of representing love, protection, and loyalty.” For that reason I think they fit well with my sijo above.

spilled milk decorated with flowers with leaves on table
Photo by Jill Burrow on Pexels.com

Colorful in Its Time

I’m working on a coloring page that is quite detailed, more so than I generally like, but I love the Bible verse so much that I have been working on it. 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. ” — Ecclesiastes 3:11, picture taken before I started this morning’s coloring session

I am not a very patient person when it comes to finishing projects like this, but it’s a consolation to paraphrase that Bible verse. I think, “He has made everything colorful in its time.” Furthermore, the “time” may not be too far away. 

Picture of the coloring page after working on it this morning — it almost looks almost done!

Partway through the coloring this morning, I noticed that I was telling a story through the colors. I’m an INFJ, so I see meaning in everything, but nevertheless I think this is cool: The greens represent (A LOT of) growth. The browns represent soil, and I also colored small portion in the lower left corner to look like stacked bowls. The red-and-orange portion represents fire (destruction?), and the gray in the upper right is stones (obstacles?). However, among those there is a lotus flower, which is a symbol of new life and resurrection, along with plenty more green and a light blue “sky” surrounding the lotus. 

I see a lot of my own life reflected in the way that I colored and interpreted this, as well as hope for the future (!!!). No wonder they had us do so much coloring in “art therapy,” haha. 🙂

A sijo inspired by the picture:

Out of the flames of adversity, from rocks of difficulties,
After eternities of growth, without even seeing seedlings,
Rise pink petals of the lotus, under peaceful heavens

What do you see in the picture?

From the End of September

The last photo from September is this orchid flower. My brother, who works at a gardening shop, must have done some sort of Orchid Rescue Mission, as we have about 8 orchid plants throughout our house all of a sudden. 

P.S. I am having a bit of an existential crisis because it is October. The passage of time has haunted me since I was a little girl. I had some pretty heavy journal entries for a 9-year-old! Monthly challenges such as this are a bright spot. 🙂