Balance Poetic Asides

 

Cousins

 

Cousins can be the best of friends.

We did crazy things together.

 

One time, the one closest to me

in age and location, for some reason,

 took baths in our grandpa’s house.

I slipped and left a handprint on the wall.

We scrubbed all the tile around the tub

to get rid of the tattletale handprint.

 

One time, we found a large cardboard box

took it out to the hill in our yard

and tumbled for hours

feeling like clothes in a dryer.

 

One time, we spent the day

balancing on a log until we learned how to

to actually cross each other and make

it to the opposite ends.

 

Cousins can be the best of friends.

Burning Poetic Bloomings

 Give Me Oil in My Lamp

 

There was a song we sang as kids

that was a lot of fun.

Somehow we knew deep inside

we were singing of the One

to Whom we’d keep turning

“Give me oil in my lamp,

keep me burning.”

 

We’d sing it with enthusiasm

and it was no surprise

that we learned it was God

who provides and supplies.

“Give me gas in my Ford,

keep me trucking for the Lord.”

 

We learned as we sang

by giving Him our heart,

when things got tough

we wouldn’t fall apart.

“Give me umption in my gumption,

help me function, function, function.”

 

And to this day

I know he’s my oil, gas and umption

so I can function, function, function.

rules Poetic Asides

 

Testifying
 
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:24
 
Lord, what is my task?
Is it the same thing as the Apostle Paul’s?
Testifying to the good news of God’s grace?
 
I know it will look different than that of Paul.
I’m not sure I’m up for
the prisons, hardships, and severe testings.
 
May I testify of Your grace
in my writing, painting, singing, dancing,
my relationships and daily living.
 
Especially in my attitude, character, and prayer life.
It’s not about the dos and don’ts.
It’s about my relationship with You.

"ment" Poetic Bloomings

 

No Comment or Encouragement

 

I like the “likes” on all my posts,

Especially from our dear hosts.

We learned before we went to school,

It’s best to do the golden rule.

 

Some reason, though, that part I skip.

Though poems are great, I let it slip.

Return the favor would be cool

To always do the golden rule.

 

I read the poems with affection,

Some written to great perfection.

I know that I am such a fool

When I neglect the golden rule.

 

The comments, I appreciate,

And they will often make my day.

Encouragement is a good tool.

I’ll aim to do the golden rule.

Picture 3 Poetic Asides

 

Intensity

 

He’s kneeling in the dirt.

His white hair showing from his cap.

I know he’s in pain,

but there are children around him, watching.

He’s showing them how to play marbles,

like he did when he was a boy.

Picture 2 Poetic Asides

 

Daring

 

I remember in Montreal,

turning a corner,

my breath catching.

A building stood before me.

Yellowed walls

Nine stories

Forty-nine windows

Daring the modern buildings around it

to look as bold and wise and grand

as it did.

Picture Poetic Asides

 Picture Perfect

 

“A picture’s worth a thousand words”

Maybe that’s how it used to be,

but now with AI,

they lie so convincingly.

How much is that worth?

Maybe a thousand questions.

3 poems, 1 topic, Poetic Bloomings

 

Relationship with God

 

Glad to never be alone

She checks in with Him often

When violent storms rock her boat

Like Jesus, she rests

 

Character

 

Fun

Playful

Creative

Adventurous

Odd sense of humor

Kind of dumb, kind of smart

Falls down eight times, gets up nine

 

Activities

 

Writes, travels, keeps house

Prays, worships

Aims to love others

flower, Poetic Asides

 

Gorse

 

The prickly, flowering evergreen shrub, also known as

furze, whin, prickly broom, honey-bottle or French-fuzz.

When roaming through Scotland and Ireland,

seeing the bright yellow gorse in spring time,

reminds me of golden autumn leaves back home.

I’m looking forward to seeing gorse again.

I think I’d prefer to call it “whin”

 a prettier name for such a beautiful bush.

Mothers

 

Mothers

 

Mothers are like soft comfortable quilts

With different, textures, colors, stories.

Like the bright sun shining as the earth tilts.

Like sponges, mothers absorb our worries.

Each child represents a mother’s glories.

Mothers are like refreshing water springs,

Giving joy and life like nothing else brings.

Mothers seem to be from another place.

They are guardian angels without wings.

Mothers persevere by God’s love and grace.

Year Poetic Asides

 

The Year of Breakthrough

 

Is this the year

I do what I’ve been putting off

for decades

and break through this blockade

and actually get my work published?

Taking aim.

Yesterday Poetic Bloomings

Hebrews 13:8

 

Jesus Christ, always the same,

Yesterday, today and forever.

Salvation is in no other name.

Jesus Christ, always the same,

Sets us free from sin and shame.

Our bond, He will not sever.

Jesus Christ, always the same,

Yesterday, today and forever.

Prayer for Writing

 Resumption

 

So, I’m ready to restart my writing journey.

Oh, I have been writing forty-some years,

a poem a day for over twenty,

journaling every day.

 

But there are about twenty novels,

a plethora of picture books,

dozens of devotions

languishing on my computer.

 

Market books on my Kindle are waiting.

Self-publishers such as Amazon

have made publishing convenient.

There are oodles of options for websites.

 

I’ve been relearning how to think

by putting together 2000-piece jigsaw puzzles.

Set the framework, put in the easy pieces,

work consistently one piece at a time.

 

I’ve been reading devotions I have written

for a national online ministry twelve years

and I surprise myself.

I can see that the Lord helps me.

 

So help me Lord,

one piece at a time,

to finish my works, publish them,

and get them into the hands of readers.

 

May my forty-plus years of writing

not go to waste, but be used for Your glory,

for the encouragement of others,

and for lighting paths for wanderers.

Harvest, PAD 30

 

Weed Harvest

 

Well, I harvested the tall weeds

that have been growing in my front yard,

like Baah Baah Black Sheep three bags full,

three big, black, garbage bags full.

Now the city will see my weedless yard

and not fine me, and they might see

me hobbling around with sore muscles.

Pocket PAD 29

 

Poems For Your Pocket

 

Some poems are for your pocket.

They may be a plane or rocket,

Taking you to wondrous places

And fine unfamiliar faces.

 

Some poems are for your pocket.

Electrical like a socket.

Plug them in for some energy,

Charges with creativity.

 

Some poems are for your pocket,

Too big to wear in a locket.

They may bring back some memories

Of your loved ones with grace and ease.

 

Some poems are for your pocket

To take to wherever you go.

And they are lots of fun to share

With the people you meet and know.

love/antilove PAD 28

 Love’s Kaleidoscope

 

I loved you when I first saw you,

clapping and swaying in church,

when no one else was.

 

I loved you long distance,

letters and phone calls

over two years.

 

I loved you when I said I do,

one fine October day,

when I felt truly blessed.

 

I loved you for the next year,

as mutual twitterpation

carried us through.

 

I loved you through ups and downs,

and all the times

you didn’t love me back.

 

I loved you through your illnesses

when most women

would have been long gone.

 

Now, we’re “going for the gold”

and I love you now more than ever,

and even twitterpation is returning.

Fan PAD 27

 

Tajikistan

 

I’d like to go to Tajikistan.

And hike the mountains there called Fann.

The landscape looks like another planet,

with varied geology, mostly granite.

I wonder if, someday, I can

take a trek in Tajikistan.

Last Blank PAD 26, Window PB

 Last Time I Netflix Binge on Saturday Night

 

In Troas (Turkey)

the apostle Paul

preached after midnight

and a boy Eutychus

fell asleep and tumbled

out of the window

and died. But Paul,

raised him

from the dead.

 

This morning, I feel

like Eutychus

and I may not fall

out of a window,

but off my pew.

I may just die

of embarrassment.

How do you rise

from that?

Remix PAD 25

 

The Forest

 

Never underestimate the power

Walking in the woods on a sunny day

Communing hand in hand by the hour

Never underestimate the power

As wind bears fragrance of pine and flower

And birds chatter and tall pines sing and sway

Never underestimate the power

Walking in the woods on a sunny day

 

unidentified PAD 24

 

Guessing Game

 

My friend and I

used to laugh

about the time

she and her family moved

and her husband labeled

 a large group of boxes

miscellaneous 1,

miscellaneous 2,

miscellaneous 3…

leaving all the contents

virtually unidentified.

Labels,

when not well-defined,

tell you nothing,

individually speaking.

Juxtaposition PAD 23

 

Juxtaposition of Grace

 

The glory of God, the weakness of man

God’s weighty, radiant, holy glory

Try to imagine the two if you can.

The glory of God, the weakness of man  

Finite, simple, sinful, but for the plan

The two united in Redemption’s Story

The glory of God, the weakness of man

God’s weighty, radiant, holy glory