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Ten Things of Thankful – April 12

baby children cute dress
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s time to reflect on the TTOT gratitudes of the week. I have several gratitudes and will do my best to share.

1. April 15 is 2 days away!!

2. It’s raining. I live in North Carolina, which seems to be the pollen capital of the world. I am grateful for the rain to wash the pollen off the car and clean up the area. Realistically, it’s just going to be more to come, but allow me this bit of joy.

3. Trying new things. I was invited to a virtual art workshop this week and was able to get in three days of the five. In those days I created some artsy pieces. We just took 30 minutes, starting with breath work and then focusing on our individual intentions for the day. It was in the morning, so I was able to start off my day on the right foot. Here’s the link to the website of the leader. I find her emails to be very nice. My intention is to make this a daily practice.

4. National Poetry Month. I have been successful with getting my one poem per day accomplished. Here’s my most recent one: Views of Nature

5. Six Sentence Story has been a fun trial and I am grateful that I am able to keep up with this one on a weekly basis. Here’s the last one I posted. No Contest
6. I lost 2# this week. This is really working!

7. Yesterday, I interviewed a fellow poet. It has been years since I have done anything like that. It went very well as we had a relaxed, conversational tone. Once the video is ready, I will share.

8. Friendships. I have many people I call my friends. Many are nowhere near my location, but I have kept up with them, sometimes for as long as Junior High. How I wish that I could reach out more than I do when I know a friend is in need. There’s something about presence that helps. It’s not always possible, so I reach out as I can and sometimes send a card or gift to let them know they are cared about. I’m often left with feeling like I don’t do enough. This didn’t mean to come across as sad. I am mainly stating that I am grateful for friendships and friends who become family.

9. Birthdays. One of my brothers turned 71 this past week. How is that for one big happy?!!

10. Writing community. It seems that my writing community is growing. I am most grateful as I find that having others sharing in this makes my days much nicer.

What’s happening with your week? Please come share on TTOT!

 

 

poetry

Thoughts About Aloneness

alone autumn beautiful bloom
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Thoughts About Aloneness

We are all alone
with our
thoughts
dreams
desires

When we
find others
and share these
thoughts
dreams
desires
we may still feel alone

Not everybody views life
exactly the same way
and sometimes it can feel lonely
but it is just a part of life
it is a part of what makes us
soulful

To feel alone
is not a bad thing

To feel alone
when we need to connect
doesn’t feel so great

It’s lonely

—–
Today’s National Poetry Day Prompt comes from Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides Blog: “For today’s prompt, write a lone poem. Perhaps the poem is about a solitary wanderer or person who just prefers to go it alone. Or a lone winner, lone wolf, or some other solo individual. Or alternatively, I’ll accept poems that are about loans or that are about being alone.”

poetry

Treasures of Life

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Art Work by Kayla

Treasures of Life

Folklore and such regard the number 13 as cursed but I say it’s not.
Have you ever found anything justify this to be true?
We had to write an essay about Friday the 13th and this was a mystery.
My baby brother was born five years after me; Mom bought him a t-shirt with the number 13, so there you go.
He was never less than anybody.
He was my heartbeat and each day with him was a treasure.

May I tell you about this boy I treasure?
When he was born, they gave me a choice to go to kindergarten or not.
I made the best choice of anybody.
The thought of having my little baby brother all to myself brought me such joy.
Nowhere was where I wanted to go.
Why anybody would not want such pleasure would be a mystery.

Something happened after my baby brother was born and it is a mystery.
While it was one of those unknowns of nature, it only made us realize that life is a treasure.
He had to have an operation to survive and give life a go.
There never was a negative, doubt or belief in the word of: not.
We all celebrated this precious boy, brought to this world to bring us such joy.
We would have loved if he didn’t have challenges, not to be wished on anybody.

All I knew is that I was as fortunate as anybody.
Although it would remain for us to solve the mystery.
It was important to celebrate each joy.
You learn just how much to treasure.
And deny those things which mean not.
For all the things that give you the go, go, go.

Mother had limits on how she could go.
She did not want to trouble anybody.
Complain, never one time did she, not.
Somehow it all worked like a mystery.
She taught us to care for children was a treasure.
She sang when she cleaned house, keeping time with her flip flops, such joy.

They taught us that life and children brought joy.
We learned that if we wanted to be somewhere, we had to find a way to go.
To have a soul in our hands was a treasure.
We were role modeled not to complain or brag about our lives to anybody.
To live is to accept that life has many a mystery.
And to give up on life is a great big not.

To treasure your life is to know perfect joy.
To never hear not is to know it’s all a great go.
If you ask me now if I could ever love anybody I can tell you that love is a mystery.

—–

Today’s National Poetry Month prompt is from Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides: for today’s prompt, write a lucky number poem. Some people have lucky numbers, some don’t. Wherever you fall on the lucky number spectrum, you can still write a poem about the phenomenon of lucky numbers and/or luck in general.

Inspired by Aruna Murumurthy and her lovely book of Sestina Poetry: Puppet Dolls, having participated in her Sestina workshop, I am trying to pen my first Sestina. To learn about Sestina you can go to Poetry Foundation or to Poetic Asides Each site has a slightly different point of view about the Sestina.