Experiments in Pensieve form

Stranded

I squint through driving snow

Stale engine air provides welcome heat

While we listen to the updated road report.

Cold wind cuts through my thick parka as we take shelter

A styrofoam cup of hot decaf provides welcome relief.

Bells

Silver, gold, or red and green

Bring joy to the voices raised in song

On the smooth leather harnesses or long, rough belfry ropes

Jingling and clanging and ringing out the good news

For unto us a child is born!

Nightfall

At once
With little warning
The sun leaves us, taking with her the light.
Without stopping at Navy blue,
The moon pulls the lavender blanket from the sky,
Cloaking the Earth in black.

school days blues

Got a sniffle, a trickle down the back of my throat
Got a little sniffle, a dry itch in the back of my throat
It's just school starting, on a tired and run-down note.

Pushing all day, feeling like I'm all worn out
Moving and shaking all day, all my energy's drained out.
It's the start of school, and my getupandgo's got up and got out.

I've got the blues
(insert guitar lick here, if I played guitar)
The reach for a vitamin C and a cup of Airborne blues.
I've got the blues (more guitar, maybe a little piano bass)
The rundown immune system blues
I've got lesson plans to write and papers to grade --
And I've got the run-down school starting immune system blues.

The Ensemble

Click- click- click- click- click
Heels.
Shuffle, shuffle, slip, pad, pad,
Tiptoe, tiptoe, bounce and flounce
Ballet flats. Mary Janes.
Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip
Flip flops.
Woooooooosh!
Cross trainers!

Pumps, slingbacks, high heels and low.
Walkers unused to the elevation wobble and lean,
Give in and walk through halls in their stockings or bare feet,
Donning the dressy shoes for the actual moments of their performances.
Ballet flats in more than black
Keep time with updated Mary Janes in shiny patent leather
Or plain but perfect matte finish.
Dresses, skirts, and at times casual but pretty capris
Accompanied by their footwear
as their wearers are accompanied by the piano
Create an ensemble of like -- or unlike -- fashion.


This post was created and inspired by Scribbit's Write Away Contest for May on the topic of (you guessed it) Shoes. It is cross-posted at Compost Happens.

Dreams of a Mother

I dream that differences will be valued, not disdained.
Eye color, hair color, body shapes, and skin shades will be appreciated for their beauty and variety.
Cultural traditions will not disappear, but will thrive and grow together into a rich and fascinating sharing of knowledge and beliefs.
I dream that blindness will be merely a different way of seeing, and deafness impair only the quantity, not the quality of the language 'heard'.
Children will matter because they own the future. Their education, academic and social, will become and remain of utmost importance.
Mediators and the peacemakers will be recognized as the strongest leaders.
Questions will come from curiosity, not ignorance, and the answers will breed respect.
Knowing each other, knowing ourselves, will lead to knowing that fights and conflicts, wars of all kinds, will cease to be of value.

April flowers bring...Wait. Strike that, reverse it.

Spring has sprung

The grass has riz

I wonder where

The flowers is?

But if I know

Just where to seek

A little greeny

Might just peek

'Cause spring has sprung

Despite deep snow

And hardy crocus

Still will grow!!

Heck, we can't all be Naomi Nye or Billy Collins. :)

Haiku with apologies to Weird Al

I slaved by the stove
Creating a balanced meal
Eat it, just eat it.

Lean meat and veggies
Put a salad on the side
Don't want Leftovers.

New recipes stink.
If you don't like it today
Eat it tomorrow.

Amazing what happens when I demo for the class

These are partial ABC poems. Choose a letter from the alphabet and the four letters that follow. Write an acrostic using those letters. Here are a couple of examples.

Winter in Wisconsin
Extreme weather
Frost
Great sledding
Hills of snow
Icicles

Recess
Leaping
Making
Noise
Outside
Playing

Teachers can do and teach, too.

I wrote this to demonstrate/model the Acrostic Poem form for my class. They had brainstormed words pertaining to the citizenship theme of "compassion" and were preparing to write acrostic poems on the theme.
For a piece created spontaneously in front of an audience, it's not bad.

Across each line
Contains words or phrases
Rarely (really, almost never) rhymes
Only use words that make
Sense.
To write an acrostic,
It helps to think about
Compassion.
Poetry has many forms.
Others are Haiku, verse, and Cinquain.
Enjoy these examples.
Maybe you'll like this one!

Music soothes

Music soothes.
Breathing slows.
Shoulders relax.
Mind is open, yet restful.
The rise and fall of a phrase shapes a melody and a memory.

Music calms.
Blood pressure settles.
Pulse steadies.
Listening continues.
Listeners smile, relax.
Rhythm draws in the body.
Lyrics reach the soul in symphony and sympathy.

Music inspires.
A voice becomes an instrument
Produces more than sound
Reaches
Touches
Connects.

And finds
Peace.

Things to neglect while ill

Cleaning house -- as long as no one visits.
Laundry -- at least until someone runs out of underwear.
Redoing the fireplace mantle. It's not green and gold any more, it's hard to care.
Schedules -- it's 3:00, I suppose I'd better eat lunch before I think about supper, eh?
Cooking. That's what Lean Cuisine is for, isn't it?
Changing litter in bunny cage -- until I can't stand it any more
Opening mail -- if the pile isn't so high it falls over.
Socializing -- I don't feel social, no one wants my germs, we're even.
Quality time with teenager -- he'd rather surf YouTube anyway.
Discuss politics -- thought takes energy, one thing that really lacking in me right now.
Whining -- who wants to hear this anyway?

Chill. Just drink water, take a nap, and all will be well with the world. Eventually.

No more, please. No more.

One by one
Or five by five, they fall.
Another shooting.
Real people. Real people dying, real people killing.
It's not pretend.
It's not a video game.
It's not a reality show.
It's real. They are real.
Real people with real problems
Who chose an unreal way of dealing with them.
Solve? Not.
Writers didn't create these characters.
Society did.
And society can stop them.

But how? And when?
Until then, we mourn.
Weston, Wisconsin.
Virginia Tech.
Crandon, Wisconsin.
Omaha, Nebraska.
Kirkwood, Missouri.
And more.
Until the madness stops.

Six Word Stories

Six words. I found the idea through a link at Autismvox. Kristina shared the Smith site with its Six Word Stories and created one of her own. These Six Word Stories remind me of Haiku or Lune poems in their clarity and directness, although they're even shorter. Sometimes, a picture is worth exactly six words.

Small bunny, big love, our Peanut.

Shy bunny, but sweet, our Sadie.

Big bunny, spotted cowlike, that's Buttercup!