PAD paper PB 1-10

Night

Paper

Bright markers

Doodle, squiggle

Orange, turquoise, purple

Listen to TV show

Marker dances to and fro

Blue, fuchsia, lavender, lime green

Hearts, flowers, checks, stripes, rainbows, ovals

I know why they call them magic markers. 

PAD 17 paper

Write Dear Mom

Fill paper front and back

I miss those days

PAD 17 paper

Cut newspaper into bits

Toss it at football games

Custodian’s nightmare

PAD 17 paper

Paper Mache

I remember

sopping strips of newspaper

n a sticky glue mixture.

Wrapping it around balloons
Allowing it to dry.

Painting a happy elf.

I wonder whatever happened to it..

PAD 16 Play

Play Like You Mean It

After you say I do,

till death do us apart

and all of that.

No matter how you feel

through the years.

Play like you mean it.

PAD 16 Play blank

Play House

I remember playing house.

The oldest two of the bunch

got to be the parents.

After many years of being a parent

and a caregiver sometimes

I’d just like to play the kid.

PAD 16 Play blank

Don’t Play God

Don’t play God.

You’d be bad at it.

There’s only room for one God

in this entire universe

and that is the One who created it.

Don’t play God.

Instead, receive His gifts in Jesus

and allow His Spirit to fill you,

move through you

and bring new life and healing

into this hurting broken world. 

PAD 15 Natural/Unnatural

Supernatural

Sometimes moms

are painted as wonder women.

Wondering women more like it.

PAD 15 Unnatural/Natural

Unnatural

U nusual to say the least

N otably as strange as any beast

N aturally odd in every way

A bnormal from day to day

T wisted in our thinking

U ncommon. See us winking.

R adically surprising

A typically surmising

L earning from revising. Poets.

PAD 15 unnatural/natural

Naturally Not a Natural

She’s a natural, they say.

She can do all things well

without education, practice or training.

I don’t know what that’s like.

But I know it feels good to succeed

after a long struggle
and great effort.

PAD 14 dedicated

Worthy

People

devote themselves

to many things.

You alone are worthy

of my time, attention

and resources.

Everything I am

and everything I’m not

I dedicate myself to You.

PAD 14 Dedicated

Dedication

D evoted to knowing You and making You known

E nthusiastically worshipping You

D etermined to follow You

I embrace You with my whole being

C omitted to serving You

A ttentively waiting on You

T rusting You and resting in Your grace

I give You spiritual hugs and kisses

O ffering myself up to You for Your purpose

N ow, I ask, seek and knock 

PAD 14 Dedicated

Dedicated to the God Who Sees

You may wonder why

I’m crazy over a God I can’t see.

It’s because we have a lot in common.

Most of my life I have felt invisible.

Kermit the Frog sings “It’s not easy being green.”

It’s not easy being invisible either.

Somehow I knew God could see me

and love me just as I am.

And I fell head over heels in love with Him. 

Poetic Bloomings Something's missing

Something’s Missing

Something’s missing.

Energy’s spent.

My get up and go

got up and went.

PAD 13 something that happens regularly

PAD

Yes, I write a poem a day.

I’d have it no other way.

You’d think I should be a master,

but many are a disaster.

No musician that I know

would at practice throw

a fit because of a sour note.

So neither I at poems I wrote.

PAD 13 something that happens regularly

Sunday Routine

Each Sunday, our morning

runs about the same as any other morning

except two of us go to church

leaving the other two go to the grocery store.

Since the man we care for wanders

and weeps at church music, he and

my husband see that our bellies are fed

while our lady and I nourish our souls.

PAD 13 Something that Happens Regularly

Decorating

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we decorate for Christmas.

We could have a tornado, an earthquake, an alien invasion

and we’d still put up the Christmas tree,

because someone with a smile as bright as sunshine

is counting on it. 

PAD 12 month

July

Hurrah for the red white and blue.

Colors bursting in the sky

Remembering happy childhood days

When cousins would get together

Play badminton, eat watermelon,

Twirl sparklers around and pop fire crackers.

August

Birthdays galore.

Birthday celebration.

More birthdays.

September

Colors all around

Up in the mountains

Reflecting on beauty.

October

Orange pumpkins

Red oaks and golden aspens

Crunching and swishing leaves

November

Black gnarly branches

Up against silver blue sky

Leaves race in the wind

PAD 12 month

March

Snow

Go away

I’m ready for spring

April

Really now snow go away

What happened to April showers

bring May flowers?

I’d like to see the ground please.

May

Really now snow again?

I’m in no mood to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Where’d spring go?

June

Snow’s gone.

Sun’s blazing.

Too hot to go out.

PAD 12 month

December

Busyness in full force.

With great effort

Celebrate!

January

Ice crunching underfoot

Frozen breath

Frozen toes

Red cheeks

Runny nose

Blazing blue sky

Glittering snow

February

Pink Valentine hearts

Chocolates and red roses

Love and sweet kisses

PAD 11 description

Photo of My Hubby

His beard is thick-

white, gray, black, brown red.

His almost bald head tilts.

His blueish gray eyes shine,

His lips, straight and firm,

Threatening, in a teasing way.

PAD 11 Description

My Street

The black bare-branched tree

stretched and curved its twigs

up into a gray billowy sky.

At the end of the street,

white, boxy bluffs glowed.

PAD 11 description

A New Day

The autumn morning’s cold and still

The sun is peeking over hill

Life-giving light about to spill

Beginning this new day

And I arise with little will

In bed I’d like to stay

PAD 10 tragedy

Catastrophe

We decorated the Christmas tree

We hung each bauble carefully

We shared the project joyfully

Kitty approached excitedly

Resulting in a cat-astrophe 

PAD 10 tragedy

Rejection

Her shoulders slumped.

Her lip nearly dragged on the ground.

All because of one phone call.

Rejected again.

If she only knew how lovely she is,

how people smile when they speak of her.

Rejection has as much to do with the “rejecter”

as it has to do with the “rejectee.”

PAD 10 tragedy

Gossip

Lies, fears, miscommunication

surrounded them like a thick jungle.

The only ones who saw them clearly

were those with pure, brave hearts

to make their way through the tangle.

PAD 9 Call Me blank

Call Me Crazy but My Stove is Barking

My stove vent

winds up in our yard

just cross the fence

from where my neighbor

leaves her dogs out.                              

I know when her dogs

are excited about something,

see another dog,

or want back in,

because my stove starts barking.

PAD 9 Call Me blank

Call Me Because I Probably Won’t Call You

When you call,

I’ll drop everything.

I’ll be so happy to hear your voice.

I procrastinate on making phone calls.

Always have

Always will

So call me when you get the chance.

PAD 9 Call Me blank

Call Me, We Say

I often see her in the store

We two were once close friends before

It really wouldn’t be a chore

Call me, we say

We’d sing together in the choir

Of time with her I wouldn’t tire

To keep in touch is our desire

Call me, we say

But we are both such busy bees

The days fly by with greatest ease

One day, a moment we will seize

Call me, we say

PAD 8 always changing or always the same

What a Difference a Day Makes

Move, death, loss

A new enemy

A new friend

Birth, a win

A disastrous decision

A terrific choice

PAD 8 always changing or always the same

Routines

R outines fool you into thinking

O ne day is the same as the next, blurring

U nderstanding that everything changes.

T oday, watch for variants in your routine.

I magine a life where days are truly identical.

N ow, is not the same as back then or tomorrow.

E very day is different whether it seems so or not.

S o delight in variety, the dance steps of life.

PAD 8 always changes or always the same

Everything changes

except the One

who is the same

yesterday, today, and forever.

Good.

Holy.

Loving.

Forgiving.

Eternal. 

Lori's gift

L et love, laughter and

O pen and warm conversation

R efresh your spirit

I n this place

PAD 7 activity

Leaving

Geese flying

Wind whipping branches

Leaves falling

Leaves crunching

Parents raking up leaf piles

Kids leaping with glee

PAD 7 activity

Nightly Activity

After everyone goes to bed,

I get out my markers and tablet

and doodle while watching shows

on my computer till

all begins to fades away.

PAD 7 activity PB celebration

The Saturday after Thanksgiving

I love celebrating Thanksgiving,

Remembering all the good things

God has given me.

But the Saturday after

bursts forth in long-

awaited activity.

Starting early September

our host-home client

is ready for Christmas.

Christmas shirts and Christmas movies

and often pushes the Christmas button

on her communication device.

But the Saturday after Thanksgiving

We decorate the tree and the house.

The whole town decorates.

The Christmas music plays.

Putting up the Christmas tree

signals to her that everyone else

is finally getting with the program.

PAD 6 phobia

Claustrophobia

Crowded plane

In economy

We’re smushed in

Coffin-like

I wish I could fly first class

Someday-sigh-someday

PAD 6 phobia

Glossophobia

The fear’s a false presumption so

I wish I’d conquer it for good.

When time to speak, I’m full of fright.

It’s how the story always goes.

A boulder nestles in my gut.

And with a glance, I’m set to go.

My gaze rests there upon my notes.

I try risk looking past my nose.

And with a punch, I start the show.

I claw my way through nervousness.   

And press on through with what I know.           

At last, path’s end is there in sight.

Then with deep breath, I let it flow.

Applause is sweet, when it’s done right.

PAD 6 phobia

Agoraphobia

He’s holed up at home

Not far does he roam

The computer his dearest friend

Explores Google Maps

Avoiding mishaps

He’s up with the latest trend

He thinks of those times

With reason and rhymes

When he dared to venture out

But it’s safer here

To live without fear

Sheltered from judgment and doubt

PAD 5 wire

Wired up

Ready to go

Two thousand miles later

Ready to go

to bed

PAD 5 wire

The Bomb

The hero has to clip a wire

Just when he was about to retire.

His cutter wavers over the blue.

Will he be able to follow it through?

Next he contemplates the yellow.

We hold our breath for the fellow.

As the clock ticks, he turns to the red.

Will this one leave everyone dead?

With seconds left, he clips the right one.

 He’s got the bad guy on the run.