poems

a new little poem

I’m at Catholic Lane again this week with a poem about rocking chairs, and little ones in it. And then suddenly, they aren’t anymore. I was thinking about this a little more after seeing pictures of one niece going to her high school homecoming (she’s a beauty) and another niece (she’s a cutie) celebrating a birthday and following in her big cousins’ footsteps. Sigh.

But it’s a sigh in a good way.

Anyway, here’s a little teaser for the poem…you can read it all here:

Quiet Wonder

The rocking chair’s gentle embrace
Held you and me in its slow pace
Suspended, in both time and place.

As I, in quiet wonder, said a prayer.

….

laundry, and a therapeutic poem

I’ve got a new poem up at Catholic Lane. This one is about the laundry. I whine so much about it that I vented about the procedure, especially a little honesty about having to reset the dryer because I forget the clothes. Do you ever do that? I admit I suffer moments of homemaker angst when I acknowledge I’m not Suzy Homemaker. And then I get over it, believe me.

Anyway, there’s ultimately a little joy in the task, even if it does come at the end when I roll around in the freshly laundered towels.

You can read it here.

a little song, a little dance

I’ve got some songs playing

                in the background while I clean

up around the house.

                It’s the usual stuff, loud,

with a thrumming beat

                that keeps me company.

Today I’m not inclined to pick

                a favorite and play it on repeat

until I don’t even hear it anymore.

                Instead, I hit the shuffle button

and trust that what comes up

                will be just the right inspiration.

So I surrender to the music and

                let it take me to places in my heart

that I never even considered.

                There, I found a companion in

the rhythm that matched the beating

                of my own heart.

Or maybe it’s the other way around

                and my heart aligned itself

with the song.

a little late afternoon poetry after some fresh-brewed coffee

The late afternoon sun casts
mottled shadows on the ground
as light filters through the once
lush oak tree, now bare.

The leaves that do remain
hold on in desperation
or maybe resignation,
but I choose to believe
they hold on with hope.

 

it’s national poetry day!

One of my favorite things to do with poetry when I am in a large group (um, like a class) is to create poems from the words around us. It’s called a “found” poem because you can’t change the words or otherwise manipulate them…you get what you find.

This morning on Twitter I discovered a blog from @GuardianBooks that was using book titles as poems, so I went to my own shelf and grabbed a few, stacked them, and took a picture. I’m not sure that I like the order of the words (that you can move around), so maybe I’ll come back later and re-sort them. You can, too, if you want 🙂

Just Read the Titles

Eat, Pray, Love;
Can’t wait to get to heaven.

Choosing beauty for one more day…
a little joy, a little oy.

Great expectations:
Questions and answers.

Patterns for a purpose three minutes a day.

a poem for a quiet day

to spend time in
your calming presence
and feel the abiding love
that wraps around me
and rocks
me to that quiet
place of contentment
where everything is
as it was meant…
is to be
at peace

a rainy day poem

The rain always reminds me of you.

Its soft patter
against the window
leaves a trail down
the glass that stands
in stark relief against
the dust and grime
accumulated over time.

Its path, not quite straight,
meanders steadily on
the course and
arrives gently
on the ledge.