Day 6

NaPowriMo 2021, day 6. I’m not particularly happy with anything I wrote today. I had a difficult day, so most of the poems reflect that. I try to keep things positive or at least have them end on a hopeful note. So I guess I can thank my friends for helping get me out of the pit  (or, I can thank my “crew” so that I can link to FOWC 🙂 ). I am going to cheat a little bit and post this thing I wrote 5 days ago about the sunset:

Vespertine sunset colors
Sky into a celebration:
A last hurrah,
A gorgeous evening gown,
So costly and only
Worn once

Sustaining the Weary

For FOWC: Note. The first line was inspired by the beginning of a reading from Mass today. Isaiah 50:4

---

Sustain the weary with a word:
Allow their pain to now be heard,
To usher in a note of peace,
Like the song of a little bird.

Sustain the sad with present care:
Fear not a silent space to share.
For in the quiet, hearts can fill
With depth of friendship that is rare.

Photo Challenge 353

The image for MLMM’s photo challenge #353 is below, and it reminded me of a similar photo that I had taken almost a year ago while visiting an arboretum close to where I live.

---

photo by Ellie Burgin on Pexels.com

What We Are Made For

Today’s SoCS / JusJoJan prompt (this is the second-to-last day of JusJoJan, so I am a bit sad) is “the beginning, the end.”

Yes to Love

This is for JusJoJan day 26. The word is “shutter,” and the poem’s catalyst was my women’s group this morning. As much as I miss meeting in person, I’m grateful for Zoom because we can still meet (especially because almost everyone in my women’s group is grandmother-age). Anyway, today we had a storyteller come to speak with us. She has “attended” our group several times now, and her stories are unique and often like fairy-tales, but their themes connect with the spiritual life. This is the poem that I wrote.

---

And Who Is My Neighbor?

Today’s poem is a cherita, inspired by JusJoJan and FOWC: Instead. In a way, this is also a response to Rumi’s well-known poem “The Guest House.” The poem is a good reminder, even though I don’t always want to hear it. Sometimes I feel like screaming, “But I don’t want any guests!!!” Without any further ado….

Christmas Cards

On day 23 of the Christmas challenge, our prompt is “words.” What this makes me think of, keeping with the theme of Christmas, is Christmas cards. It’s always exciting to receive a card in the mail, although I sometimes get sad shortly after opening the card because it might just make me miss the person even more. 

I’m also grateful for words themselves, as I love playing with them (hence, this blog). I have also been working on getting more honest and expressing myself during the past few years. Poetry and journal-writing are gifts to me! The most common gifts that I receive, by the way, are journals and notebooks.

Sent —
Sending
Glad tidings :
Season’s greetings,
Happy holidays,
Have a merry Christmas!
Handwriting connects,
Magic collects
As does love,
Cards hold
Cheer

Hope Is Connection

This first poem is for Linda Kruschke’s paint-chip poetry week 50(!), as well as for this prompt about connection.

Outside of the Box

This is for FOWC: Discover and day 13 of the Christmas challenge, which is about family. Shared with the Writers’ Pantry. For obvious reasons, my family is reconsidering what to do to celebrate Christmas this year, and though I am hoping we can spend some time together in person, it may be necessary to do some kind of Christmas present unboxing over video-chat. I’m also hoping to get to go to Mass and see my church family. Christmas would be very lonely without them.

From Behind the Trees

I wrote this last night, after Thanksgiving dinner, once my family had gone home, and the rest of us retreated to our own activities. I’m not 100% happy with the ending, but I am sharing it now for FOWC: Fidelity, since the moon has such fidelity as a poetic muse, for me and countless others. I write about the moon so often that there is a category on my blog for “poems about the moon.”

---