The Robins are getting ready

They are flocking in my yard
getting ready to leave
scarfing up every berry they can find
and I touch the window glass
lean close till my words
form steam
God speed my dear friends
I will miss your songs

magpie tale #38

Willow at http://magpietales.blogspot.com/
hosts a weekly writing meme
using the below photo
write a poem or vignette

cracked fallen headstone

pine needles and fallen leaves

impermanence told

***

Jingle's Potluck Poetry

Theme this week over at
http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/

is
LOVE AND ROMANCE




Quietly

In the dim light of the restaurant
I look at you looking at our
last child,our daughter,
whose 28th birthday we are celebrating
and I remember it was you who wanted
one more,
and my love for you deepens
as quietly as my love began
on that bus on the way to class
when you asked,
Is this seat taken?

Microfiction #54

Susan at,http://www.stonyriver.ie/
hosts a weekly meme
write something using only 140 characters or less
using the below photo as your prompt

This is my genetic pool,like it or not.

In my youth I was embarrased by them

often whining about reunions.

Older now,I understand it all. 

-140-characters of fiction

Friday in the city

The day was a bit chilly,but sunny.

Finn was a bit crabby,coming down with a cold.

But we decided that some fresh air would do us all some good,

so we headed to Lincoln Square for a bit of shopping and eating

and antique shopping. We stopped along the way to take in some

local color....

Oh........that last photo...hmmm....well.......greatgrandma stumbled on a broken sidewalk and went down
before we ever got to Lincoln square......instead we headed to the hospital for x-rays....yep..broken
Three generation of women in an examination room...and the fourth generation looked on..
his mother frantic that he not touch anything
life.....it's what happens

A Finny Day

Ah...a day with the Finn
almost 11months now....where did the time go?
I look forward to my drive down Lake Shore Drive
past the beautiful Lake Michigan....
you know, I could look at it everyday
watch sunrises and sunsets...
hmmm......sounds like a song doesn't it?
Well ,as a matter of fact I'm bringing my mom along for some fun ,too
walking the wondrous streets of Chicago
My daughter loves living near coffeehouses and little bistros
and quaint shops
I think we will enjoy all of these today
City sidewalks.....another song!
...Step on a line break your mother's spine
step on a crack break your mother's back..
.hmmm...no wonder the women's movement caught on so rapidly in the late 60's
What about dad's back?
Any who.....a day of family, love, and laughter
But you can be sure the writer's mind will be listening for
found conversation and my writer's eye will
be taking in the atmosphere.....

Three generations of women together with the fourth
generation of Finn riding in the stroller

Magpie Tale #37

Willow, at http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

write a poem or vignette using the below photo as a prompt

Really

He threw the worn dusty mirror on the bed.
"Here."
"Here, what?" I asked.
"Here's that old mirror you always loved at Riley's Tap."
"That was twenty years ago, I can't believe you remembered that.What am I supposed to do with it?"
"Find what you saw in it twenty years ago, I guess."
"Oh, that's funny," I said, hearing myself. "I liked it because I thought that mirror made me look beautiful in the dim bar light, that's all."
"Really?" he asked picking it up and dusting it off.
"REALLY. I can't believe you bought that old thing."
"Well, I'm sorry I bought it. The place was auctioning everything off- foreclosure- I saw it and thought of you... way back then."
"Yeah... when I was... young and gorgeous."
"Mary, you're still gorgeous," he said placing his warm hand around my waist.
"Really?"
"REALLY."
"Okay," I said, "then hang it over the bed....bad silver and all...What the heck... might still make me look gorgeous. You can't see anything in in anyhow and we don't wear our glasses to bed. Maybe we can turn the lights down low and fall asleep under it... remembering Riley's Tap."

Sacred circle of path

My journey started here at Kangaroo Lake's labyrinth in Bailey's Harbor, Wisconsin.
It was here in the early morning hours in the center of this sacred circle of path that I wanted to change
and I went home and did
But changing requires tremendous focused energy...I discovered that one must JUMP to change
I am writing a book about this journey.
But it has slowed down because change doesn't happen and you arrive somewhere magical
it is like the beloved labyrinth....many bends and changes of direction and forced pauses ....and you're drawn to enter again and again
What I am having trouble with lately is focus and energy
I know that to complete my newest journey I must concentrate my energy or I will fail
baby steps don't hack it
But the desire is burning inside of me fiercely
and I must face that I feel as though I am serving too many masters
Same journey revisited....but different I suspect...more to learn...maybe learn the deeper message
within my heart...yes, for sure
But this means I will have to cut things off in my life
put things aside
risk hurting those who don't understand my necessary deliberate focus
Risk....tough thing
but without risk...same life within
I haven't been able to write anymore with my book because I feel I have failed with my own message and story
but then I realized... journey is not over..may become even more powerful than I ever envisioned
I thank all my dear blogger friends,Bug,Marilyn,John,Red,Blue,Rick and Nana
your words encouraged me
Last night a few things happened...synchronicity...a wonderful thing
I was never called on to read
We listened to the most wonderful short story called THE ADDRESS
that was exquisite in its telling...so much packed into a little piece
every word loaded....it was about a young woman who returns to her home in Holland
after her liberation from a camp...to go and find her mother's things that she remembers a neighbor having taken from her mother for "safe keeping" ..The woman denies knowing her or her mother
But she sees the woman is wearing her mother's green hand knit sweater with the worn wooden buttons
and she knows she is at the right address........
We discussed this story and its many layers for over an hour and I tasted and remembered what good writing can do
But the thing that sent a shock wave of the universe speaking to me was our leader's announcement
that we will be focusing on memoir and memoir as ficiton in our next session
HELLO......do I need a house to fall on me.....
They ..no one actually ..except for you now, knows that I have been working on this project
It is so personal..but I think I have something to share
I have been avoiding....pushing down...putting down..my efforts
and now I have been outed by the universe
I need to walk the labyrinth again
I need to acknowledge
to let go
to lift up my arms
let Spirit enter me and guide me
I need to make no more regrets

My lamp needs lighting,please

I am but a shadow of myself
lost on main street
an unlit lamp
useless in the dark

I have writing group tonight and I have nothing to bring
and worse yet, I don't care
I am empty
tired
sad
bored
and that's the good part
I am adrift with thoughts
of what I want to be when I grow up
knowing it has already come and I missed most of it
This happens to writers I think
despair over writing and its worth
Most times I am happy to make someone
smile
or laugh
or think
or feel something
But today everything I look at
that I've written doesn't even do it to me
sad state of affairs
I'll go tonight, do some prompt writing
listen to some wonderful writing of my friends
have a pity party with myself when I get home
and tomorrow
I'll begin again..
WHAT
yes begin again
My writing is stuck
stuck because I'm stuck
revealing yourself is frightening
but writers must write to the edge
I believe that
so think of me tonight suffering
with nothing to share and feeling shame about it
Truth.....I have something
but I don't want to share it
not yet
not 'till it's finished
Maybe when I grow up..maybe

writer's island #25

Lost Boat by Spainish artist,Silvia

was the inspiration for this writing prompt

at Writer's Island  http://writersisland.wordpress.com/

whose theme was Unleash

 She was the captain of her paper boat

She was the painter of the sea

She was the gull who unlatched the hook

She was the one who set herself free

Jingle's Potluck poetry

Jingle, at http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com has invited me to share in potluck poetry
The theme this week is 7 Deadly Sins

Ten on a tablet wasn't enough,
they lusted after power,envious of greedy God
setting all the rules, so in their gluttony for control
of the commerce of forgiveness, their pridefulness
separated many from repentance...
instead, left them leaving full of wrath

Thank you Jingle for the challenge

microfiction #53

Susan at http://www.stonyriver.ie/

hosts a weekly meme

using the below illustration

write using only 140 characters or less

 Her treachery shown more than her beauty

So he walled her into a room

to die in darkness as he would

knowing her love was a lie

-139-characters

microfiction #52

Susan at http://www.stonyriver.ie/
host a weekly writing meme
 write using only 140 characters
and using the below photo as your prompt..I am very late in posting, forgive me

Hope was a train she waited for

Forty eight years now

He wasn't coming back

from the war

but she waited out of love

for her son,MIA

-137 characters-

Boo aka Mr. Darcy and me

Sometimes the day starts out right
with a laugh. Who knew that when this little creature,who is often so naughty, would be the joy that saved me from much sorrow over the losing of my beloved cat, Webster. One does not replace another, but you who have pets know what I mean.

He's full of zest and adventure, everything a must to be touched or tasted,or smelled or eaten. And he is as friendly as a kitty can be toward a human....even delivery men like him..a charmer. At the end of the day....he cuddles near our feet and if you reach down to touch his ears or back...he purrs in gratitude. This cat has life figured out..doesn't he?

Writer's Island # 24

Writer's Island...http://writersisland.wordpress.com/

Prompt # 24...my first

The theme is Envision

...and the below image

Oh, I love a challenge... so here goes

and thank you Writer's Island for

thinking I could

 

If I Had Never Bent

So many days were a heavy
canvas of weary dull clouds
that enclosed me
What laid just outside the big tent
of my life I feared a better dream
than what I had envisioned
But if I had never risked
never lifted that veil that oppressed
I would have never seen the blue silk
skies of freedom that were within my reach

Magpie Tale

Willow hosts a weekly meme

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

Using the below photo

write a poem or vignette

I was surprised to discover that I was only two
when we moved from that house.
I remember a photograph like image
or should I say I remember the door,
remember looking up from darkness into brimming light
knowing that I was alone and mama must be somewhere
over that broken door.
I remember...darkness...light...no mama
I recorded...fear,confusion,and abandonment.
All that power in one door
held within.


Magpie Tale of fiction # 36

wednesday poem

Wednesday poem for
http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/
week 15

                                                           

Leaves drop words on earth

  Bare branches against the sky

 Robins read and leave

Webster

Only in the agony of parting
do we look into the depths of love

...George Eliot

Off to Galena

Galena, truly a get away place
I hope fields will be golden and the sky, heart ache blue
and the baby cows will have not all grown up

That I will be silenced by the beauty of the colorful leaves of my favorite old oaks
and the wild turkeys will be mulling around in the woods out back
where the owl hoots at night and
where the deer and fox live alongside two feral cats that the old Swede feeds
but don't tell
I need the visit to the country to recharge my life battery
that has run down from guarding my heart
But going to the Iowa farm that has the biggest pumpkins and the farmer's wife's
mystery apple bread will just about do it..as will seeing the mighty Mississippi
and the White Water canyon
Okay, I admit... I am ready to fall into Fall
or do you say Autumn?
Shall I bring you back a pumpkin?

may it not rain
and may the road be safe
and may they all have insurance
and a driver's licence
and no warrants for their arrest
and God bless paramedics
and firefighters
and animal lovers
and good nurses
and doctors
bless them all

late afternoon light

There is something about late afternoon light that is comforting
In the fading garden it takes center stage...it is the lead
If you sit and watch it move across the wilting plants
the falling leaves
the gasping flowers
it somehow adds a holiness to it all
as if you are seeing it all for the first time
and you are filled with wonder
and in this scene of quiet dying
you find comfort
knowing that light also brings forth life
in its proper time
again

Magpie tale #35

Willow hosts at weekly meme

at http://magpietales.blogspot.com

You will die this Autumn

while the earth breaks forth

in glorious displays of death

or sleep

And the rain will come

as it always does this time of year

as will my tears

carving ridges into my heartbroken

being

And freezing cold will set in

taking the last remnants of beauty away

I brace myself for the frosty nights ahead

when I will taste the bitter cold of your absence

and my joy will be darkened

like the short days of this season

Let it be a cloudy, windy day

when you return

your breath to the Creator

when you leave me like the robins

whose songs I will long to hear

 For  it will already be desolate

winter

in my heart

cut your losses

Sometimes it takes a long time and many disconnects to finally get through to yourself. ..Like your wires have been cut
and patched again and again
Sometimes you just have to
buy a new phone
or move
or break up
or lose that weight
or say your sorry
or forgive someone
or stop hanging around with poison people
or switch parties
or change jobs or careers
or leave your bad relatives behind
or dump the drugs or cigarettes for good
or stop blaming others
Sometimes it is time to cut your loses and be brave
JUMP
LEAP
RISK
LIVE the kind of life you want to have
been dreaming of
You can do it if you cut your losses now and forgive yourself
all the shortcomings you have
all your fears of what ifs
all the bad choices you've made
all the hurtful behavior you have been wallowing in
while blaming the universe
or your mother
or your partner
or the republicans
or your genetics
JUMP
into your new life
NOW
You are the captain of your own ship
where it goes
the route it takes is all your planning
cut your losses now
and live
Until they throw the dirt over you
it is not too late
to make brave choices in your life

Discover what lies within you
that wants life and breath

forgive yourself your fear and indecision
forgive yourself your caring about what other's think
forgive your self the brooding moods you have
suppressing what you cannot change
was not your fault
was the weaker side of you that ruled your life far too long
forgive and release it all and Jump

Live
really live
the beautiful life you were meant to live
Begin again.
again?
Again. begin again
you'll see
it's easy.