Poetry Friday – Be Like A Daisy

Hi, everyone! A warm welcome to my blog.

Here we are for another weekly poetry challenge! We have a theme prompt for Colleen Chesebro Poetry Prompt Challenge. Sarah selected this month’s theme:

Lessons From Nature

I’ve chosen to write a two stanza Shadorma.

The Shadorma is a Spanish poetic form made up of one or more stanzas of six lines each. It’s a syllabic poem with a meter of 3|5|3|3|7|5

I love daisies. They are the cheeriest, sweetest flowers I know. They’re dainty flowers yet resilient and mighty enough to break through concrete. I was emotional when I wrote this poem, don’t ask me why. I couldn’t help laughing at myself through the tears. Luckily, I was alone in my house. Otherwise, someone might have thought I was crazy.

DAISY

A daisy 
lifts its golden eye
powers through 
the asphalt 
truly believes in itself 
Be like a daisy 

Don’t give up 
because things are hard
Try again 
Persistence 
Grow through your cracks like daisies 
blooming through cement 

“The splendor of the rose and the purity of the lily do not rob the little daisy of its simple charm.”

I hope you enjoyed today’s poem! Thank you for your visit.

Poetry Friday – Be Like A Butterfly

Welcome, everyone!

Colleen Chesebro Poetry Challenge explores Ekphrastic poetry, inspired by visual art or photographs. Reena Saxena provided a piece of her artwork for this month’s challenge. There’s plenty of imagery in her art, and it’s a great inspiration to write your poem. Remember what you’ve learned about the psychology of color in your poetry.

So this week our syllabic poem should be inspired by Reena’s lovely artwork. I decided to write a Reverse Etheree.

I didn’t want to do the obvious by writing a poem about the butterfly, but since I saw Reena’s illustration I couldn’t get the image of butterflies out of my mind, and they’ve been coming at me from all sides. I was in my backyard and a butterfly flew up to me, on TV there was a commercial with butterflies, and then I got online and the first thing I saw was an image of a butterfly. So I gave in. It was meant to be.

Butterflies are proofthatyoucan go through 
a great amount of darkness and still  
turn into something beautiful  
Put on your brightest colors  
Savor all the flowers  
Let go of the past 
Ride the breezes  
Embrace change  
learn to 
fly
🦋

Thanks for the visit! I hope you enjoyed the post!🦋

Poetry Friday ~ Mermaid

Hello, my friends! Welcome.

Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Poetry Challenge

Colleen says: This challenge explores Ekphrastic writing inspired by visual art (photographs). Annette Rochelle Aben from last month’s challenge has provided the photo for this month’s challenge. Remember, it’s not so much about describing what’s in the photo. Look beyond the obvious to find new meaning.

Photo by Annette Rochelle Aben

MERMAID

Don’t mistake songs in the wind for wind songs

Don’t confuse figures out at sea, that

sit on distant rocks for sea lions

She dwells where worlds hide in the

deep, and emerges to

the wild call of the

running tide to

warn us, “let

the seas

be”

photo by Sandra Bittmann

If it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
Unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.

Have a great weekend and never give up on shooting for the stars!

Poetry Friday ~ Poet’s Choice

Hello, everyone! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful start to your day!

Poet’s Choice! It’s the first of the month and that means we choose our own syllabic poetry form, theme, words, images, etc. It’s up to us!

If you’d like to participate check out Colleen Chesebro’s Poetry Challenge here.

Even the lone writer who has wandered this far into summer with her books, notepads, laptop case knocking her knees—even she wishes to enjoy the warmth of the sun caress her skin, feel the fresh seasonal showers wash away concerns, hear the songs in the breeze on sultry summer evenings.

“Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.”
—Sylvia Plath

Thank you for stopping by!

Poetry Friday ~ Poet’s Choice

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog!

Happy JUNE! It’s the first of the month and you know what that means! Word Crafters can choose their own syllabic poetry form, theme, words, images, etc. It’s up to us! Colleen Chesebro’s Poetry Challenge!

Today, I will be sharing my review of Colleen Chesebro’s book, ‘Fairies, Myths, & Magic: A Summer Celebration,’ and I will also be sharing a couple of her poems from the book.

The Magical Tree by Colleen Chesebro

In Spring—
the Lady wears a crown of
yellow blossoms
whose sweet scents tease and tantalize
on warmer days soon to be.

By Summer—
her Majesty dons her most
beautiful apparel
with leaves a bright verdant green
shiny with midsummer dreams.

In Autumn—
the Lady shows us her splendor
whose bright orange leaves herald
the darkness of another winter slumber.

In Winter—
her Majesty lays naked
barren leaves shed like tears
awaiting the hope of a new year.

Blooms heavy with dew—
stretch toward the rosy dawn,
spiritual bliss.
Fairy nymphs hover and flit,
spreading their magic for you.

My Review:

This book is a collection of entertaining poems and short stories along with interesting facts about fairies and magic. The author also shares her own beliefs and experiences, which makes this book delightfully unique.

Author and poet Colleen Chesebro includes a varied selection of poetry styles inspired by magic, fays, and the summer solstice. Some of the stories and poems will make you laugh while others will inspire you, enchant, and even haunt you.

Although I enjoyed all the stories and poems in this book, “The Leaving” and “Halloween Havoc” were two of my favorite stories, and “The Magical Tree,” was one of my much-loved poems.

I recommend this book to lovers of fairies, magic, nature, poetry, and engaging stories.

***

Colleen Chesebro has a new book out called Word Craft: Prose & Poetry: The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry Check it out! Colleen is an expert when it comes to writing syllabic poetry, so if you’d like to learn more click on the link and get your copy. I got mine!

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a fabulous day!

Poetry Friday ~ #Etheree #Poetry

Hi, everyone! A warm welcome to my blog.

It’s the first of the month and that means we choose our own syllabic poetry form, theme, words, images, etc. for Colleen Chesebro Poetry Prompt Challenge!

This video brought tears to my eyes. What a brilliant collaboration! I loved the poem these children created together. It’s filled with so much hope and love. They inspired my Etheree this week.

A virtual hug can’t replace your warmth

And “i-contact” is not eye contact

We’re forced to live differently

Animals venture further

while the streets are empty

We stay in our homes

And the skies clear

Birds sing songs

Nature

speaks

Photo by Karina Vorozheeva (@_k_arin Unsplash)

I hope you enjoyed today’s video and poem. Have a happy day!

Poetry Friday ~ Image Prompt

Hi, everyone! I hope you’re all safe and healthy.

It’s the third week of the month! Time for an Ekphrastic #PhotoPrompt. Colleen Chesebro from Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Prompt Challenge chose the beautiful watercolor art piece below.

Artwork by Barbara A. Lane (Pixabay)

When I saw this watercolor I immediately thought about dreams. You know, I thought by now someone would have invented a device that could record our dreams. Many of my short stories were inspired by my many bizarre dreams, so it would be a handy tool for me. I hope you enjoy my Etheree.

What are dreams if not our wishes and fears
sheer colors slowly spreading on the
canvas of our dormant minds
forming watercolor shapes
delightful and fearsome
sometimes inspiring
us to jump out
of   bed  and
write, write
write  

Thank you for stopping by. I always appreciate your visits and comments. Also, remember you can pre-order The Rise of Gadreel for only 0.99¢!

I wish everyone a merry Christmas Eve and Christmas! Don’t forget to look to the sky on 12/21/20 to see the Christmas Star! The best time to see it is about an hour after your local sunset time. I hope it’s a clear night for all of us.

Poetry Friday ~ Christmas in Florida

Photo by Lynda Hinton (@lyndaann1975 – Unsplash)

Hello, everyone! Happy Holidays and a warm welcome to my blog!

I live in south Florida and Christmas traditions are a little different down here. We don’t have snow, so we can’t build a snowman, but we can build one made of sand. There’s no sledding or skiing, but we do have surfing Santas and boats decked out in Christmas lights and decorations. We also have Winterfest, a town named Christmas, Disney World and much more. I found this poem about Christmas in Florida and thought I should share it. I hope you enjoy it.

T’was the night before Christmas, and all through the town,
No noses were frozen, nor snow on the ground.

No children in flannels were tucked into bed,
They all wore their shorty pajamas instead.

To find wreaths of holly was not very hard,
For holly trees sprouted in every backyard.

In front of the houses were daddies and moms,
Decorating hibiscus and coconut palms.

The slumbering kiddies were dreaming with glee,
Hoping to find surf boards under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was well on his way,
In a fiberglass boat instead of a sleigh.

He whizzed up the rivers, zoomed up the canals,
Delivering toys to good boys and gals.

The tropical moon gave the cities a glow,
And lit the way for Santa below.

Quite soon he arrived and started to work,
He hadn’t a second to linger or shirk.

He jumped from his boat and gave a wee chuckle,
He was dressed in deck pants, with an ivy league buckle.

There weren’t any chimneys, but that caused no gloom,
For Santa came in through the Florida room.

He stopped at each house but stayed only a minute,
As he emptied his sack of the toys that were in it.

Before he departed he had a long drink,
From the glass of fresh orange juice left by the sink.

He turned with a jerk and jumped into his boat,
Knowing that he still had more toys to tote.

He put it in gear and he opened the gas,
Then up the Peace River he went like a flash!

And I heard him exclaim as he went on his way:
“Merry Christmas, Punta Gorda, I wish I could stay ….

Photo by Lynda Hinton

Take care and stay safe and healthy!

Poetry Friday ~ Photo Prompt

It’s the third week of the month! Time for Colleen’s Poetry Challenge‘s Ekphrastic Photo Prompt!

This challenge explores Ekphrastic writing inspired by visual art (photographs). Diana Peach from last month’s challenge has provided the photo for this month’s challenge.

The Saddest Leave The Least Of Clues

Depression sneaks up when least expected

What you once had seems far above you

as you spiral into darkness

sapping your life of meaning

but you smile all the time

though you’re rarely fine

You leave no clues

Depression

is like

cancer

“Real depression is when you stop loving the things you love.”

Atticus

When I saw the image chosen by Author, D. Wallace Peach it reminded me of a beautiful soul who couldn’t see her ethereal beauty in the water because she was shrouded by the darkness of depression. I have several loved ones who suffer from depression. This poem is dedicated to them and to anyone else who is struggling with this disease. What a lot of people don’t understand is that there are two types of depression. Feeling extremely sad when you lose a loved one, a pet, or when you lose your job or go through a divorce is perfectly normal. People expect you to suffer some level of depression when you experience something terrible. Being diagnosed with clinical depression is an entirely different thing. This is an illness that stems from there being a chemical imbalance in your brain. When depression hits it does so without warning, and it comes with muscle aches, loss of focus and concentration, insomnia, overeating or loss of appetite, headaches, digestive problems, anxiety . . . . It is a disease like diabetes, lupus, COPD, Alzheimer’s or cancer. Whenever I get a chance, I try to create awareness because there’s a stigma attached to this disease and there shouldn’t be.

Click on image to read an excerpt from my upcoming book, The Rise of Gadreel.

Poetry Friday ~ Photo Prompt

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Hello, everyone! A warm welcome to my blog.

I’m participating in Colleen’s 2020 Weekly Poetry Prompt Challenge. Today’s photo prompt was provided by Trent McDonald. I’m sharing a Haiku and Tanka.

Swans glide together

as lake mirrors the trees

a serene portrait

Photo by Belinda Fewings (@bel2000a)

Mysterious swans

enduring all the seasons

dressed in white feathers

Together for a lifetime

A beautiful, loving pair

I hope you enjoyed the poems. Thanks for stopping by!