Little Penguin

I just remembered the Saturday Mix: Lucky Dip prompt on MLMM from last Saturday! I actually wrote 3 (now 4) responses to the prompt but didn’t like them enough to post. So now, I have intentionally written a stupid poem, just have something to post, as the prompt expires in an hour or so. It was inspired by the front of my current poetry notebook. 😆 Also linked with FOWC: Scene.

Behold, the little penguin 🐧

Little Penguin guards my book,
Looking very cute --
What if there's a snowy scene, 
And it played a lute?

Penguins colored black and white, 
Like a music staff -- 
I hope that this silly poem
At least made you laugh! 

Quirky Man

It’s Flashback Friday! It also happens to be the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Catholic Church. 🙂 Usually this date, June 24th, celebrates the birth of St. John the Baptist, so that’s what this poem, written exactly 3 years ago, is about. It’s in a form called a Rhyming Wave and is kind of funny. 🙂

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Saint John the Baptist was a quirky man,
A quirky, quirky, quirky man,
He acted strongly in God’s plan,
He acted zealously.

He said, “Greater comes after me,
Comes after, after, after me,”
He dined on locusts with honey,
He dined in wilderness.

John the Baptist was a quirky man,
He dined in wilderness.

This Summer Solstice

For DVerse’s Haibun Monday, for which the theme is the summer or winter (depending on which side of the equator you live on) solstice. I’m happy to write for this. 🙂

Will the sun stand still? I'm not ready for the days to start shortening, gradual as is may be. It's scary because I want to stay happy. This past week has been a medical miracle, a blessing, and/or a stroke of luck; but like the solstice it may only be brief. Mood, like time, moves like the waves at the beaches -- which I might like to visit soon.

scorching heat
walking -- grains of sand
salt water

Photo I took while driving (I was a passenger) in Hawaii, 8/2019

A Real Relief

I am so happy, to be feeling happy,
It is a real relief, to feel relief:
This is a gift, and if it stays steady, 
It's sure to save everyone a ton of grief. 

The quatrain above was written right after Mass 6 days ago. Overall, my mood has stayed steady and positive (THANK YOU, JESUS!). Even some things that have worried me haven’t had too much of an impact on my overall mood.

I’d been distraught over my birthday, but it’s actually been a great one (it’s today 😊🥳). Here’s a silly little poem I wrote this morning:

Soon after Strawberry Moon,
A new year's begun:
I've gone around the sun!

😀

Fun fact: I also have a twin brother. I call him my “Wombmate.”

My Two Cents

A stream-of-consciousness which I found fun and … interesting.

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For this prompt I could add in my two cents,
To use those homophones to form a poem
Off the top of my head, a task immense.
Wait! Nevermind, ideas now are sent
From that nebulous space where they are born,
Yet now for these next lines I’m slightly torn:
For how to usher in a use for “scent?”

…

I’ll leave this meta-verse now and go home.

😀

Night and Day

For Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge, “Night and Day,” here is my response. I am only one day late! 🙂

I looked through my photos from my first year of college, when I lived on campus and when I used to take photos of the flowers all the time, any time of the day. Looking back, I see that I had a lot of fun giving them creative titles, and also probably never deleted a single one!

I took this one around sunset.

I had titled this one, “Beauty in the Night.”

Unfortunately, I’m having trouble uploading any more photos. There were 2 more that I wanted to share. Here is a little poem I just wrote:

Keep?
Vanish
The petals,
The day and night,
Memory is left —
Looking at these,
We can be
Happy
Still.

Lux in Tenebris

It’s a day late for Fandango’s Flashback Friday, so here I am with “See-it-again Saturday.”  🙂 This time I skimmed through my archives for past Junes, especially for poems written around this same date (June 10th or 11th). I found several good ones, if I can say so myself. This chance to go back and read poems that I’ve forgotten about is quite welcome!I hope you enjoy reading. 😀

First, a tetractys, originally published here:

Have
The key
To my heart:
It wants to be
Loved deeply, for itself, like anyone.

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I was encouraged by Jenna-from-5-years-ago with this one:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
— John 1:5

Words might be hurtful,
And rejection, might be mine,
But my God redeems it,
Et lux in tenebris lucet.

Will my friends abandon me,
In this Gethsemane?
But God gets me through it,
Et lux in tenebris lucet.

Amidst mean words,
I seek my Shepherd:
My lamp is lit,
Et lux in tenebris lucet.

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Lastly, I wanted to link to this poem here, titled  “Water Is Dry,” which I found intriguing.

A Rainbow in Grayscale

This photo by Charley at Life in Portofino inspired me to write a poem. I was on the fence about posting it, but Charley was interested in reading it, so voilà.

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Look at that magnificent sky,
Almost entirely clear of clouds,
With that expansive arc across it —

And where there are clouds,
They are at the top of the tree line,
Like foaming crests of ocean waves —

And take in the kaleidoscope
Of all those different colors
Inherent in the rainbow!

Photo by Charley, not me!

This photo struck me because it, to me, is almost a symbol of what it’s like to live with depression. People who have no idea what they’re talking about will say to “think positive” or “make a gratitude list” (as if the problem is that I’m ungrateful). However, it is true that finding little things that make me happy, little moments of beauty or cuteness (like the ducks) does help. I can recognize the sky, the nice clouds, the awesome rainbow — but often it’s like the most important part — the COLOR, the purpose almost, as well as hope — is missing. Tell me if you understand what I am trying to say, please. 🙂

Sometimes

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to color.“

I want to be reading a book. Instead, I am more often coloring or sleeping lately! 😅

I wrote a tanka after beginning to color the above picture. 

Pusheen coloring
Filled with magical creatures,
Mermaids, centaurs, more

Imagination is freed
Despite the brain and body

There’s a whole list of things I could share with you for One-Liner Wednesday, but this is today’s. 🙂 After not coloring anything for at least 2 months, I’m on a roll! A sushi roll, it seems.

June Birthdays

For DVerse Poetics’s ekphrastic poetry prompt, inspired by the picture below, I’ve written a haibun:

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Yesterday, my grandma called my mom that the doe in her backyard, which she could see from her window, had just given birth. The doe was still licking the fawn, which was trying to stand up on its gangly, spindly legs. What a privilege to witness this beautiful, newborn life!

A short time later, Grandma called my mom back and said, “You’re not the only one who can have twins.”

life comes surprising,
an adorable duo
two fawns on the lawn

Carl Zimmermann, Deer in a Summer Meadow