Day 103, Tuesday

Tuesday
Your a rebound romance
A welcome embrace from an
Abusive predecessor
But it always ends the same
I've got straying eyes
Friday is such a hunk after all
It's not you
It's me, Tuesday.
Your too good for me.
It was good while it lasted.
I'll remember you fondly
But I have to move on.
I really did love you, you know.

Day 102, Monday deserves a poem too!

FYI, there is no proper way to explain how appropriate this poem is for this Monday...

Monday

Must you Monday?
You are not a people pleaser
You do not seem concerned
That your reputation is sullied
With whiny children and no possible way
To accomplish, nay, conquer you.
You are a sleepy barbArian
Poised for attack even in your slumber
Merciless Monday, must you war with me?
My white flag is hoisted!
And I simply want a nap.

Day 101, day of the week poetry

I needed a theme. I figure why not give each day it's own poem? So what's your favorite day of the week and why?

Sunday

The heathens brunch and sip mimosa
It's their enticing way
But I prefer the hustle
of the sanctuary
The smiles of friendly faces
And the tears of children new, unsure
Their first smiles an afternoon buzz all my own.
And then there is a too long lunch
Followed by a too short nap
Football echoes in the background
The to do list tries to crawl
Into the foreground but I willfully
Reject it for an easy brunch of forgotten ease.

Day 100, so 100 is the theme of my poem!

I can't believe I've been doing this for 100 days! Only 265 more to go and that doesn't intimidate me at all... [eyes dart side to side] I'm learning that it is okay to cry and maybe that I have been avoiding it. 

A Hundred Ways to Cry

When someone dies

when someone cries

when you hurt yourself

and no one tries to help you

newborn eyes

sleepy sighs

fear of someone leaving

frustration when they don't

a mean thing said

a hard thing heard

a sleazy line

a dirty word

a golden band

secured on hands

paper thin with age

laughter unobscured

hallmark

hormones

testosterone

ego

letting go

victory

defeat

unable to eat

unable to sleep

your child's first day of school

your child's last day of school

the glow of a Christmas tree

a timely compliment

tears brimming up and spilling over

red rimmed eyes fatigued

or gently falling from the crinkles of a smile

there's a hundred ways to cry

and I haven't lived till I've cried them all.

Day 99, what was the best part of your Thanksgiving?

Mine was the way it was so different from every other. We dressed up as pilgrims and indians, we ate a little less than most but still plenty and then when we came home we sat down and started a Christmas puzzle with Jack and that was just special. right now I am wondering and wandering through life because I am in a unique position to see things from slightly different angles. When you take art classes that is one of the first things you learn is to step back from the piece and look at it from a new angle, even turn it upside down. That would be the positive way to spin our circumstances right now, a new angle, a chance to see what we like and don't...

Ornamental Reasoning

The years hand me trinkets, 

small baubles of wisdom
to twirl up towards the sun.
Glimmers of light and warmth
crystal rainbows
burnt umber shadows
floating on the ground,
ornaments dangling from
thin velvet ribbons.

We decorate our thinking
with these ideas until one day one tumbles
from its branch, shattering fragile little
pieces of our understanding
underfoot, invisibly slicing through
the flesh of our reasoning

And this is when our truth is most
apparent. For the bauble that falls,
that cuts the skin either disappears
or sinks so far in that we've no
way to deny the verity of its mark.
A little piece of absolute
that glitters in the dark.

Day 98, On a quest for... ala Jan Ericson

Okay, Jan is my best friend's mom which makes her a special lady for raising such a special girl :) Thanks Mrs. Ericson! My quest this Thanksgiving is finding extra and different things to be thankful for, maybe even being thankful for the stuff that hurts the worst, and that's a hard thing to do...
On a Quest
On a quest for thankfullness
I've lost so many dreams
living inside of days that
march ahead of me
always chasing, clinging
savoring.

It's a tornadic bliss
that leaves me swirling
inside a vortex of love
and that means being
slung from place to place
the blunt force of broken heartedness
my steady guide
on a quest for thankfulness.

Day 97, But does mom know...

This is Shirley's line that she sent and my current lack of kitchen and home to do the Holidays in had me really realizing what a blessing even the stress of the holiday season is. And I cheated as it is not my first line in the poem...

But Does Mom?

She's all sage and pumpkin spice
"Honey can you?"
and "Kids, be nice!"
Cleaning this and wiping that
buying one turkey, big and fat.

But does mom see?
The blessing in this madness
the really best thing in this spree
is the having and the giving
and the thankful way she's living.

Day 95, josh's turn!

In honor of Josh on his birthday, as always thanks for the welcome sarcasm :)

I AM NOT CRANKY! and I do not need a nap.

I am not cranky!
And I do not want a nap!
I simply want the gravity
Of my being to change
Your orbit. Yes,
I would like you
And everyone else
To revolve around me.
ME! But I am not cranky...
And I do not need a nap!
Are we clear?

Day 95, Silence is NOT golden

Erika, Thanks for the lovely opener! I was driving by the full moon on the lake last night and was inspired to write it this way. I am learning right now to be more quiet but not the daylight quiet that requires motion but the silver quiet that requires stopping to rest.

Silence is Not Golden.

Silence is not golden
it is silver moonbeams
on midnight waters.
the gentlest light a sheath
for the hidden things underneath.

Day 94, The Hubs is the poet today.

I'll start with my opening lines on Monday. For today I am going to give Sean the stage. He wrote me a poem for our anniversary that is today. He stepped outside of his comfort zone to do so, very, very sweet. (Like don't tell anybody but I teared up kind of sweet) I love you Sean! 

Anniversary

Twelve twelves

Six hundred and twenty four sevens

Long Saturdays embraces loosing ourselves in the other

The bright lights and rolling expressways far away

a sonogram a son into the world 

joy kindness cowboy boots baseball diamonds

armed with a glimmer in his eyes dark as coal 

wit and charm holding our hearts

a home 

moving home family 

our God

a cat

a fish a fish a fish 

a dog

joy joy joy joy

our hearts

birthday cakes Christmas trees and cookies

camping fishing catch the ball

friends friends friends friends 

kitchens caseroles pies

smiles laughs hugs tables

friends

leaving going moving byes

hugs

our hearts

tears let go 

death

letting go

life death 

our hearts

three now four

a son to our world 

laughter cunning laughter lungs bo laughter ("bo" is not a typo it is what Charlie says all of the time!)

balls bats throw catch hit

laughter

hide hide hide hide

Anniversary

love love love love

Day 93, I don't wanna!

Here is your poem Eileen. Thanks for the opener :) When I read your line I instantly thought of all the stuff I don't want to do but then that made me think about how childish I get and how eager we all are to go without, disobey, just to have our freedom, just to do what we "want" for a minute. That led me to think about who is taking care of me and who I give a hard time to and why they don't give up on me.

I Don't Wanna

Finish your food

I don't wanna!

Clean your room

I don't wanna!

Go do your homework.

I don't wanna!

We sigh collectively,

perturbed at the resistance

of a little soul so ready

to be independent, so ready to 

make their own mistakes. 

They want us to let them go, but

We. Do. Not. Want. To.

We don't wanna!

Day 92, I need a volunteer!

Send me an opening line for tomorrow's poem! 3-7 words that you come up with or that you found in a FB post you liked...

As for today... let's rock the limerick. It's contrary to the tone of my day but that's the whole point!

The Tantrum

A screaming boy will wear you out.

He'll make you cry, he'll make you pout

his tears will drive you mad

when his little heart is sad

strong willed little boy, your spirit is too stout!

the ABC's of this day

Today was just one of those not so stellar days that ends up better than it begins thanks to really, really good people in my life :) I love my friends and family. I don't think there is a way to let any of you know how much I mean that! Let me see you describe your day in ABC form, come on, please!

Affixing my desires to a purpose
Bringing praise to the mundane
Cleaning my thoughts of cobwebs
Drowning in the most fabulous words
Effortlessly hoping
For more, for
Goodness to overflow
Heeding warnings
Instituting change
Joyful in my affliction

Day 90!!! and a quick challenge for you!

SO in 1-3 sentences describe your day. Write it out and then take all of the prepositions and such out only leaving noun, verb and adjective. You have a poem! It goes like this.

My day has been slightly trying and slighty pleasant. I went to Jack's school and we hung out at the library, pleasant then I went to my house, met with folks, unpleasant! I am melancholy.
.
Day pleasant, trying.
School, library,
pleasant.
House, people,
unpleasant.
Melancholy.

Day 89, Sugar Sweet

Watched my two year old meltdown as he was allowed to eat three giant sugar cookies. Sugar does funny things to us, makes people insatiable, it makes people cranky and it makes us fat, yet we worship the stuff! 

Sugar Sweet
It makes everything taste better
a filter for the bitterness
a guise for the unwanted
sugar sweet living

We get high, we get low
we pour it on our day
we go crazy wanting more
never, never satisfied

never, ever satisfied.

While the fruit on the vine rots
within our reach,
while the fruit on the vine rots,
we crave sweet.

Day 88, Potiphar's Chic

So this is Eileen's fault. :) When Potiphar sent Joseph to jail it wasn't to death. Interesting... and what happened to her afterwards? I'm betting she got herself tangled into something but if I'm being optimistic maybe ole' P realized he was taking her for granted. Because one thing my gut tells me is that Mrs. Potiphar was lonely.

Potiphar's Lady

She savored her defeat,
but loneliness grabbed her feet
and drug her to her knees,
Begging once again.
Confusing touch with feeling.
Forsaking her heart's healing.
Potiphar's bride
left kneeling.

Day 87, an ode to estrogen

So I was thinking of my friends today and as we all age, estrogen becomes a very important little friend! And I'm wondering about the connect between Queen Esther and estrogen. Do you think she was low on estrogen when she dealt with Haman? I think it is a strong possibility!

Estrogen
 Estrogen is a mighty Queen,
ruler of her manse, but
Estrogen is a fickle queen
apt to disappear.


Her essence leaves
men begging for more,
leaves men kneeling,
pleading for her presence.

Day 86, randomness

I'm going to link to the first day of the challenge here if you are wondering what all of this is. I also want to clarify to anyone that should be reading. This is not supposed to be award winning poetry. This was a blog in poetic form, a fun way to share my days, express myself and challenge myself. Nothing more. So things have been crazy and good but I am fatigued I think, lacking that time and space to feel creative. Once I get back into my own home I am hoping this will change, that I will get nap time back for some real poetry forms!

When the Pace Picks Up

When the pace picks up
I will run harder
I will compete
but now I want to rest
set my gait to the sluggish
lead my day takes on.
I'm ever aware this is no way
to win a race.
Why can't there be pumpkin spice lattes
waiting at that finish line?
or if there is why can't I see it?

Day 85, Little Orphan Annie I am not.

I first want to thank Deb (yes, this is sarcasm) for giving me such an easy topic :) I find Ridgecrest and the Women's Ministry Conference very hard to write about. Do I write about what I learned, what I saw, the pretty North Carolina hills and mountains... what do you say? I'm going to settle for a little honesty, a little soul searching. Sometimes you go somewhere prepared to encounter God and guess what, if He knows He is having company ahead of time, MAN! He makes His house sparkle, He makes you feel at home, He is an extremely good host. :) 

I'm using an allusion for this one... and well, it may be lame, but I think it gets the point across. Thank you Deb, for being Miss Grace :) and thank you Kasey and Phylis for being some good, Godly and fun company!

Daddy Warbucks

I'm a scruffy little red head
and He's Daddy Warbucks.
While he gives me a mansion
to live in I am most often seen
at the orphanage doing scruffy
little red headed things.

And the problem is rather simple.
I am Annie Warbucks.
He's changed my name.
It takes a tour of the mansion sometimes
to remind me that the only person who still
calls me Orphan Annie, the only person
that wants me back at that orphanage
is Miss Hannigan.

And Miss Hannigan knows
my worth so she cries,
"Orphan Annie, Orphan Annie,
how could He love you? No one
wants you but me."

I wish I could tell you her lies
send me running to the mansion,
make me cry out my new name.
"I am Annie Warbucks!,"
I should scream
but I don't.

So Daddy Warbucks
sent Miss Grace to come
get me and bring me to the mansion
this week, on an airplane,
to the mountains, into His arms.

"It is so good to hold you Annie Warbucks,
my little red headed princess," he whispered tenderly.

And Annie Warbucks I am, indeed.

there is Daddy Warbucks and Miss Grace!

and then miss hannigan, yuck >:(

and the scruffy red head herself!

Day 84, Light is brighter in the dark.

Sometimes it takes the bad stuff to make the good stuff shine.

Starlight

It's the deepest night that
Frames the smallest light
Shining, beaming bright
A gift from the sunless sky.
A sacrificed jewel
Framed for the eye.

Day 83, It Ain't Gonna Happen

What is the "it" in your life?

IT

It's never enough.
It's a counterfeit
Bliss, and a shield
From your own lies.
It will destroy you
If it can control you.
It will never go away
On its own.

Day 82, vacay day!

The anti- poem

I feel no inspiration
Detect no magic spell
Today I rest and realize
There is no poem to tell.

Day 81, tuckered out...

So I'm cheating because I am not sure I have ever been this tired! Too little sleep and too much activity make for a very sleepy Jen. I'm reading through Hosea and this little poem was just a meditation on chapter 6.
Doubting the Dawn

You are as certain as the dawn

and my double minded soul

takes comfort in the phrase

while still doubting the sun's

ability to rise.

Day 80, A poem of my own invention...

Yep, I'm inventing my own poem called a "Confuscious Poem". Take a random thought, belief or irritation and give it a wise flare in two lines or less. Sort of like a proverb or a fortune cookie. We are not being high minded here. I'm putting mine down and I want you to add yours to the list, come on, do it :)

-- Forgetting is often a symptom of rememembering too many of the things you should have forgotten.

Day 79,The Watcher's Joy

Had a fun day watching kids play at the Corn Maze and now in the den at my in-laws. I love their laughter!
The Watcher's Joy
Watching laughter
spin it's wheels
the flowing liquid
of joy's good will
spreading, flooding
all who see
a children's play
turn to children's glee,
the watcher's joy
enlarged
immeasurably.

Day 78, a purple cozy bed

ala Jamie Phipps. For the record purple is my favorite color, so this was not too hard to sort of imagine I wanted to be in one. In my imagination my purple bed has 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets in a deep plum :)

Imperial Dreams

It does not matter
that I have no crown
I may never be world renowned
but in my violet slumber
I am Queen of
softly billowed sheets of plum,
of a purple downy warmth
of a majestic resting place.

it should look this fluffy

but be these colors, this is my heaven! Think Sean would mind?

Day 77, an honest poem about forgetting

Okay Eileen, your turn on forgetful and please know this is not directed at you but rather myself. I had a conversation with a friend who wasn't afraid to be honest with me and she helped me see there is more I need to be doing, accepting. She helped me see that although I can tell you, "Yes, that is true, God says that." that I have also made the bad habit of disagreeing with his opinion... can I get any one to agree that they do this too? So here goes...

Remind Me to Forget

My addled head has many things
it would like to store
but one look inside, one glance through the door
and there is no room.

I have kept and held and coddled
the hurt, the worst of everything
and there is no space, no room to bring
inside the very things I need.

It takes a friend to remind me
that the reason I forget so much
is all of the remembering that I should give up.
The best way to remember is to have someone
remind you to forget.

Day 76, I hope I don't get in trouble for this...

Day 75, So challenge me

I'm pretty worn out right now and I am still enjoying the writing but not so fresh on ideas... SO... give me your idea, give me some perimeters to work with. A style of poem, the thought on your mind or your favorite TV show, Bible verse, I dunno but challenge me and I will tackle it! Right now I'm going to write about my lunch.

Lunchtime in the South

Southern cooking simmers
as the diners chatter on
smokey rings beneath their chins
on a grey day. Deep south
chuckles from a smokers lungs,
wooden walls too old and fish too hot.
The lull of friends and food marinate
my patience, lulling me into gratitude.

Day 74, Time has never been on my side...

Watching the World Series (I say this with the loudest possible virtual sigh) I got to thinking... I am older than almost all of those baseball players, I am retirement age for a baseball player. It goes by fast. It seems like yesterday I was living in an apartment complex surrounded by college ball players. We were all young and now, well, we are not as young. Those players are hitting the end of their careers!

Waterfall

The waterfall of time

surges past me

forcing me to swim inside it's current

or watch it all pass by

and today I am all

out of breath

trying to stay afloat

because I hear the roar

of it, that ceaseless

current of day after day

and I don't want to miss it all.

The tug of fear that drags

me nearest to the fall is

my most precious enemy.

Psalm 42:7

Deep calls to deep
   in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
   have swept over me.