Tag: poetry

WIND

WIND

Sighing
Soughing
Shrieking
Crying
Gusting
Ripping
Tearing
Bending
Buffeting
Pummeling
Ruining
Flattening

Cooling
Caressing
Stroking
Soothing
Embracing
Lifting
Soaring
Bearing
Clearing
Cleansing
Calming
Power.

February 2020

Image by Lynette Stebner, Poem (written on the painting) by A.M.Offenwanger

Acrylic, Canvas and Ink on Deep Exhibition Cradle Board | 18 x 24″ 

Available for sale by contacting Lynette @ https://lynettestebner.com/

Forgotten Gratefulness

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FORGOTTEN GRATEFULNESS

Gratefulness.
I’ve forgotten about gratefulness.
I’ve been standing in front of a full cupboard, starving.
Starving for joy,
My heart drying up into a hard, shrivelled knob,
Weakening to a limp, wilting shoot.
Gratefulness.
I’ve forgotten that joy
Is there for the taking,
That it is around me
All the time.
Gratefulness.

What shall today’s litany be?

I am grateful for, today:
I am grateful for today.
My celadon green mug.
Soft thick yarn.
The blanket.
The view (always the view).
The colour and pattern and texture of my kaftan.
A day without obligations, so I can finish my mugs.
My computer.
Books.
Movies to watch on my computer.
Good food – eggs and toast and butter and jam – to eat for breakfast.
A lovely kitchen to cook it in.
Air to draw into my lungs,
Lungs to draw air into.

And I feel my heart expand
And my head lift up,
Joy flowing back into my veins.

24.07.2020

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PS: Gratefulness.org: “A Heart with Wings”

Ode to Stuff, or: You Have to Unstick Your Life

“You have to unstick your life before you can write.”

This piece of wisdom was passed on to me by one of my writer friends early in November, when I was whining about how I had a hard time diving into NaNoWriMo because there was so much other things I needed to do first. “Unstick your life” – that phrase has, ahem, stuck with me ever since.

And I realised that one of the major sticking points in my life is the stuff. You know, the stuff all over my house, in cupboards and drawers and closets, on coat hooks and shelves, piled in corners and in the garage. The stuff that I was going to deal with right after I finished grad school. Yeah. Haha, never happened.

But I recently turned 50, and one day it dawned on me that that milestone was a really good time to unstick my life – in other words, to tackle the stuff. So far, I’ve progressed as far as the second bathroom, and as per usual, it’s all taking a lot longer than I figured. But it’s moving along, so that’s all good.

So here, for your delectation, is a brief and concise Ode to Stuff. In haiku, no less.

Ode to Stuff

Magazines, hairbrush.

Choices that have to be made.

Do you stay or go?

Life, the Universe, and an Unsticking Endeavour. We’ll see where it goes.

Old Year’s Evening

OLD YEAR’S EVENING

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The old year’s evening falls
With streaks of copper light
On frozen hills.

Plump little bird
Pecks one last nighttime seed,
Lamp after lamp
lights up in neighbour’s house.

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Now Luna’s shining orb
Peeks past the ridge,
Rising on high
It lays a streak
Of silver on the lake

As one more year
Draws to its close.

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Happy Old Year’s Evening, and all the best for 2018!

 

Marbleous Monday: Source of Greatness

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THE SOURCE OF GREATNESS

For one fleeting moment
This icy cold morning
The marble casts a shadow
Much longer than itself

Blue fire sparks in its depths
A comet
Blazing a trail
Across the orange peel of kitchen counter

Then the winter sunrise
Is swallowed up by clouds

And once again
There is but
A small ball of glass.

5.12.2016