PAD 28 Poetic Bloomings shower

When it rains in Southwest Colorado,

more thanksgiving rises to God

than it does on Thanksgiving Day.

PAD 27 Poetic Bloomings Beach words

Laugh

L otion  slathered on pale skin. Pail

A nd shovel tucked under the beach

U mbrella. Flippers, snorkel

G oggles, underwater camera.

H orizon only filled with clouds and sea

PAD 26 Poetic Bloomings cook out

Cookout Back Then

I’d love to have an old time wiener roast

like we had when I was a kid.

We started early hunting green sticks in the woods.

Building a place for the fire with stones all around.

Inviting the whole neighborhood.

Hotdogs, hamburgers, buns, condiments

Potato salad, macaroni salad, pickled eggs

Cookies, chips, maybe a pie or cake or two

Marshmallows which we’d burn black.

We’d play badminton and soft ball

Hide and seek and sardines.

Later, we’d bring out the guitar

and we’d sing all those old camp songs

until the fire smoldered and went out.

PAD 25 Poetic Bloomings actor

Mel Gibson

His lethal weapon

was his alluring blue eyes,

slaying hearts worldwide.

PAD 24 Poetic Bloomings Food Court

Chicken Curry and Rice

Who ever thought of curry and rice?

Could they imagine it would be my vice,

at a food court in a shopping mall,

surrounded by people ignoring all

to savor the chicken and flavorful curry,

as they’d saunter by in no hurry?

Would they every think it would be such a hit?

That I would devour it to the last bitty bit?

PAD 23 Poetic Blooming birthday tribute

Happy Birthday, Vanessa!

It’s your sixtieth. We’ll gather around with cake and ice cream,

but you won’t be here. We’ll describe how you started

celebrating your birthday in June when it was in August.

How you started celebrating Christmas in September.

Your excitement about those holidays and life itself.

How you were ecstatic when greeting someone as if

each person you met was the most important in the world.

We’ll remember your belly laugh and how it delighted us.

And that wide contagious smile that lit up the room.

We’ll remember how you liked to tease and playfully punch

and after you watched Rocky movies we’d have to look out.

We can imagine you leaping about with no wheel chair

and spilling out sixty years-worth of words you couldn’t verbalize.

We miss you, Vanessa, till we meet again.

PAD 22 Poetic Bloomings song line

“Down came the rain and washed the spider out.”

                                                --from Eensy Weensy Spider

The storms come

We dry in the sun

Then back up the spout we go

Morning Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

T hanking You, Father, Son and

H oly Spirit. Thank You for Your love

A nd care. Thank You for Your holiness.

N ow and always, Thank You for Your forgiveness.

K ing of kings and Lord of Lords

S inging Your praises

G lorious One

I thank You for meeting all my needs

V ictory over evil, eternal life

I thank You for hope.

N ew ideas and new life

G od, I thank You for being good.

Morning Wonder

I AM Amazed

I look to Your, glorious One

A mazed by your great love

M y King and my God

A nd my Heavenly Father

M y Lord and Savior

A and lover of my soul

Z ealous, Holy, Pure and Good

E each and every day, I worship You.

D ear God, I am amazed.

Morning confession

Self Hate

S avior rescue me from self-abasement

E ven know I am your child

L ord I feel so defiled

F ear stalks me like a lion

H ave Your way in me

A  ll I need to do is see myself with Your eyes

T each me to look to You and not to my failures.

E ach and every day, open my eyes to who I am in You.

Morning Worship

Rock

R adiant One, You are my light and life.

O ne and only God, worthy of my complete devotion.

C ome fill me now, that I may worship You with a pure heart.

K eep me on the narrow way, headed straight into Your arms.

PAD 21 Poetic Bloomings Compete

Compete

C hallenge each other

O ne on one  

M ake your best effort

P lay fairly and with joy

E ncourage each other

T ake It a moment at a time

E nd in victory—whether you win or lose

PAD 20 Poetic Bloomings A Walk Blank

A Walk A Day

A walk a day or maybe two

I may encounter something new

May chance to meet potential friends

Or dream a while it all depends

As I walk down a road of dust

Off on the shoulder, car of rust

And all is quiet so I try

To whistle a tune ‘neath gray sky

Out peeks a cat with silky fur

He rubs my leg, begins to purr

Go away kitty you’re not mine

But I might change my tune in time

PAD 19 Poetic Bloomings from lifeguard's chair

From the Lifeguard Chair

The ocean breathes in and out.

Hear the voices, children shout.

Smell the salt spray and the lotion.

I taste the sweat of my devotion

as I watch from lifeguard chair.

The ocean scares children back to sand.

Lovers walk by hand in hand.

Sandpipers speed past on spindly legs.

An excited dogs sniffs and begs.

Teens venture out as they dare.

The ocean breathes out and in

while the sun warms up my skin.

Up and down the people scuttle

like hermit crabs all a-muddle.

Sea gulls scout for their fair share.

The ocean sounds like cars rushing by.

The sea gulls laugh with their harsh cry.

Under umbrellas, people look at phones.

Why didn’t they leave them at their homes?

There are other things at which to stare.

PAD 18 Poetic Bloomings item in restaurant

Paper Feet

Paper feet on wall

Names upon them all

Juvenile diabetes

Dollars to the cause

Pay my bill and pause

Yes, we should fight this disease.

PAD 17 Poetic Bloomings Movie Titles

Rear Window

For the last twenty years,

my house had no back windows.

I rarely saw that part of our property.

It was as if we didn’t have it.  

And it was never landscaped.

But now we did some remodeling.

Put a patio door in the back bedroom

and made a small sunroom.

Added a large beautiful porch.

Placed some cute outdoor furniture.

Now we can see what’s back there,

which my friend described as a parking lot.

The fence was torn down to put in the addition.

The neighbors shed is covered with graffiti

from local gang wannabes.

We need to put in some grass, trees and a fence,

so I can look through my rear window

and see what I want to see.

PAD 16 Poetic Blooming shopping mall

Fashion Princess

There she goes.

Strutting her stuff.

Three shopping bags in each hand.

Red curly hair.

Pink wide brimmed hat.

Pink jacket, pink skirt, white top.

Sunglasses. Sandals.

She’s about eight.

Her mom’s got her started early.

PAD 15 Poetic Blooming graduation

Out in the World

You graduated from that warm cozy place

into heat, cold, light, thumps, thuds and voices

and you’re probably wondering

who all those giants are staring at you

and making a big fuss. Sorry I missed

your graduation, but I’m enjoying

the pictures from your mama, my niece.

PAD 14 Poetic Bloomings music

Ukulele

I picture an evening campfire

on a beach in Maui, Hawaii

and me strumming my ukulele

with my friends singing with me,

songs from silly to sacred, as I

plunk, plunk along in my lessons

with the cute smiling online guy.

PAD 13 Poetic Bloomings sports

Broncos

Vanessa, a collector

of Bronco paraphernalia,

sat in her wheel chair

with a Bronco blue and orange blanket

across her lap.

Bronco fans would give her high fives

and she’d squeal in delight.

But I don’t think she knew

she was supporting a football team.

She just liked their stuff.

PAD 12 Poetic Blooming wait

Waiting on God

Sometimes it’s difficult to wait on God

when he views a day as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as a day.

He makes promises and surely keeps them,

but that may not be till we’re dead.

Abraham had to wait till he was one hundred

to see his promised offspring.

God promised Simeon that he’d see the Messiah

before he died, and he did, but he was very old.

God doesn’t view things the way we do.

He’s like Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia

saying, “He has died. Most people have, you know.

Even I have. There are very few who haven’t.”

I know He loves me and answers my prayers,

but here’s to trusting His timing.

PAD 11 Poetic Bloomings Lake

Hope Lake

I was never so glad to see a lake

after 2.5 miles through the forest

and up the mountainside

on a trail full of switchbacks.

The mountains all around seemed to laugh

at us thinking we were so high.

Falls ran down the sides like silver snakes.

We jumped over bubbling creeks.

The lake lay like a giant blue puddle.

Too high for trees around,

but loaded with wild flowers,

white, yellow, red, pink, purple.

We rested, ate, enjoyed the view.

My back and legs cried in protest.

My hope at Hope Lake

was that I’d make it back down.

PAD 10 Poetic Bloomings favorite food

Salmon

(Epulaeryu)

Salmon is the greatest fish

With no fishy taste

Soft orange color, rich flavor

With a bit of fat

Tender and tasty

I’d like some

Now!

PAD 9 Poetic Bloomings Pick a line

Kindness Thrives

“I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers.” ~A Streetcar Named Desire

I’ve traveled into every state

And met all kinds, I’m sure.

And though bad apples do exist

Great kindness does endure.

In Delaware the locals came

And had a barbecue,

Went swimming and played hide and seek.

We had a lot to do.

On choir tour, we went down south.

The church folks welcomed us

With yummy food and nice clean beds

Till we got on our bus.

One summer in Wyoming state

I soon felt right at home.

I met a man and married him

Together we did roam.

We honeymooned for thirty days

And met a lot of friends

And relatives who took us in.

Made memories with no end.

Alaska, Hawaii and Maine

And Arizona too.

Met kindness everywhere we went

From our friends, old and new.

From east to west, and north to south

 In mountains, deserts, plains,

We know that hate tucks tail and runs

When loving kindness reigns.

PAD 8 Poetic Bloomings Shopping Mall

The Richland Mall Pook

My cousin had a crush

on the neighbor guy for a long time.

I dated a guy for years, but we broke up.

He asked out my cousin. The crush asked me out.

We happened to go out on the same night.

Afterwards when my cousin and I compared notes,

she and my ex went to the mall looking for Richie the Pook,

the big costumed mascot creature for Richland Mall,

but they couldn’t find him.

The Pook was at the hockey game where my date and I were.

Later, I got back with my ex for a couple more years.

My cousin never did get with her crush.

That night was such an oddity in my life,

I would be tempted to think I had dreamed it,

if it wasn’t for the Pook. I remember that well.

PAD7 Poetic Bloomings poetry

A Matter of Time

Novels take forever.

Will I finish? Never!

Poeming’s fun

when on the run.

Won’t take long

till poem is done.

PAD 6 Poetic Bloomings music

Truth

I didn’t know it then, back in the seventies,

but Truth stood for Trust, Receive,

Unchangeable, True Happiness (in Jesus)."

I just knew as a young Christian

the contemporary sound was refreshing.

The only Christian music I heard on the radio

sounded like old men in pain. In Truth,

the only rock star was Jesus Himself.

Between their upbeat harmonies, they shared  

scriptures, insights and testimonies.

And I thirsted for it all.

PAD 5 Poetic Bloomings Sports

Baseball

On summer nights

Bob Prince’s voice boomed out

play by play of the Pirates

while Dad leaned back

in his lawnchair or recliner

and I wished I could listen

to something else.

PAD 4 Poetic Bloomings exercise

Stalled Out

I used to walk an hour a day

But then I got busy

And then hot weather came my way

The heat made me dizzy

So I decided to walk late

But then I got lazy

Then early morning, not to wait

But then I felt hazy

So now, at most, I touch my toes

Between writing sessions

Get back to walks before girth grows?

Yes, that is the question

PB PAD 3 sounds at the lake

Kayaking

My kayak paddles dip and splash

I shift with a scrunch in my seat

Dragonflies zing by in a flash

I paddle to a rhythmic beat

Ducks quacking by so near my feet

Deep fishermen voices on shore

Fish plop in a hasty retreat

There’s nothing that I enjoy more