The Journey Ends, The Journey Begins

The veils are thin
The gates are open
The invitations sent
No locks on the door this night
All are welcome here.

The feast is cooked,
The table set,
one more place than there
are people in the room,
for none shall be turned away this night.

The candles are lit.
One for each person who departed this year
One for each who arrived.
And more candles for those whose passing
we mark every year.

And tomorrow we begin again.
Moving further round the wheel.
Taking this year's gains and losses
and starting down the road again.







OctPoWriMo ends today. (Not counting all the prompts I will be trying to catch up on in the next week.) This week we celebrate  Halloween, Samhain, Día de los Muertos, All Saints Day and All Souls Day. For many Wiccans it is also New Year's Day. In many cultures it was forbidden  to harvest past this date, anything still in the fields did not belong to mortal man.  It is a time of endings and beginnings.

And that's what today's  poetry writing challenge asks us to look at as well: the  ending of one quest and the beginning of another.
To see what other poets created for this prompt click here. And to see what lies ahead go to Poets on the Page.

OctPoWriMo Day 30--The Hard Stuff

A tragedy waiting to happen;
that's what had been said for years:
Witnessing the horrid sight
of a loved one plunging downhill
without brakes or a steering wheel.

Somehow you never found the armor
That would shield you from
the ups and downs of the world.
You never found the will
to keep the demons at bay.

(There is not enough love in the world
to rescue someone who will not be saved)

Tonight I'll light a candle for you
And hope you find your way at last.


This post is part of OctPoWriMo day 30, the challenge being write about the hard stuff. Click on the link to see what other poets created.

Twisted Mix Tapes--Haunting Music

Halloween is coming, and time for a few ghost stories. I have a few favorite songs that are, at least in part ghost stories. It also lets me talk about a few songs I may no get to otherwise.


Joe Hill--Joan Baez
This is one of the great protest songs of all time, with applications to this day. How often have you been let down by an cause or a hero and thought "Man if only (fill in the blank) could come back from the dead and give these so and sos a talking to,"   That's what happens in this song.
There was a time back in the great folk era when everyone covered Joe Hill so it was hard choosing a version. I wanted to use Pete Seeger's because I always want Pete Seeger's version, but couldn't find a good recording on YouTube, so here is Joan Baez:

The Ghost of Tom Joad  by Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen invokes the fictional hero of the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" as well as the film version starring Henry Fonda, and an earlier song by Woody Guthrie.   Tom's ghost is restless is because he still sees people in want in present day America, just as they were in the 30's Dust Bowl of Steinbeck's novel.

Ghost Riders in the Sky-Johnny Cash

One night a cowboy meets a group of damned souls chasing the Devil's cattle, and gets a warning of his own fate.  This is another song that a lot of people recorded, but you can't top Johnny Cash.

Corey's Coming- Harry Chapin
And now the song that prompted me to this whole mix tape. I have been personally haunted by "Corey's Coming" since I was a college student and heard Harry Chapin's "Road to Kingdom Come" album.  Just who Corey is the listener has to decide for themselves:

And now that I've haunted you, I can't let Halloween go by without the most pure fun of all Halloween Songs:

Monster Mash--Bobby (Boris) Pickett  Here he is performing it on a Halloween episode of American Bandstand.

Wishing everyone a happy Halloween and now head on over to Twisted Mix Tape and see what songs other folks are haunted by.

Class Reunion (OctPoWriMo day 24)

I sit outside the restaurant for a moment,
Of course I am early
And don't wish to be the first.
For a moment I am fourteen, fifteen, sixteen again
Not quite sure of who I am
Let alone who I am going to be.
Then I straighten up
And remind myself
That it has been thirty five years
And whomever we are now
Its not what we were then.

I go in
There are hugs all around.
We have a great time.

Later, looking at the pictures
My mother says to me
"Do you know what I
Always liked about reunions?
No matter who you were back then
Geniuses, sports stars, prom queens,
You have seen real life
And you're all just people now."

This post is part of OctPoWriMo, my twist on a prompt to go back and remember a younger self. To see what other writers created, click here.

OctPoWriMo Day 23: 9 Reasons

Nine Reasons Why Nothing Gets Written

2  hours drinking coffee in the morning  trying to get up the nerve to go out

1 hour travel time to and from work.

10 hours at work.

1 hour to eat dinner and decompress from the day

1 hour checking emails, reading blogs and liking on Facebook,

1 hour (or more) helping daughter with homework,

1 hour arguing with son over the phone about the world series.

6 hours sleep

3  hours on the phone and off dealing with Internet issues.

Total 26 hours out of a 24 hour day.

This is why nothing gets written.

This blog post is in response to the OctPoWriMo Day 23 prompt, which asked to write something involving numbers.  It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I wrote it while waiting on hold with our Cable/Internet provider.  It was the only "free" time I had.

To see what other writers created click here.

Also I am linking up with the I Dont LIke Mondays Blog Hop at Elleroy Was Here. It's the Monday thing to do.

Twisted Mix Tapes--Spiritually Singing

This weeks Twisted Mix Tapes asks us to write about songs that have spiritual meaning for us. There are a lot of pop songs that resonate for me in this way, so I had to cut the list to manageable proportions. For me spiritual songs are those that help me to be at peace with the world and to make sense of what goes on. I have a "calm down" play list on my I Pod and all of these songs are featured there.

Let It Be--The Beatles

Back when I was growing up in the 70's, this was supposed to be a "hidden" drug song, because "Mother Mary" was allegedly code for marijuana.  This theory was evolved by people who never bothered to learn that Paul McCartney's mother's name actually was Mary.  Call her mom, call her the Goddess, call her the Virgin Mary, but this song gives me a feeling of peace and wisdom every time I listen to it. Because sometimes the answer is just to let things be.

Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon and Garfunkel

This was another one of the alleged "drug songs" of my youth, perhaps the most ridiculous misidentification of all. In fact Paul Simon has stated in interviews that he regarded the song as a hymn. Ironically, considering Art Garfunkel's exquisite singing, he thought his partner should sing the song.  This is one of the first songs I remember liking as a kid, and it always gave me deep peace to hear it.  The older I get the more I feel that way.

Celtic Sonant--The Moody Blues

I first heard this song not long after the death of a close friend, and it comforted me a great deal. Some of its imagery is reminiscent of another favorite Moody Blues song, For My Lady, I need to be reminded once in awhile that everything is part of a greater whole, myself included.

Into the West--Annie Lennox and Howard Shore

I know this song came up a couple of weeks ago when we talked about great soundtrack songs, but I had to revisit it.  One of the hardest things any of us have to deal with is being separated from those we love, especially when that parting is unexpected and untimely.  This song captures both the heartache of separation, and the promise of reunion.
 "Don't say, we have come now to the end.
White shores are calling, You and I will meet again."


Cup of Wonder--Jethro Tull

Songs from the Wood is one of my favorite albums ever, and I had a hard time deciding between this, Ring Out Solstice Bells, and the title song.
This song is joyous and full of the promise of  life.

There are a lot of others that I could have picked, both by the artists here, and by others.  But these are some of my most reliable choices when I need some peace of mind.  If you want to hear what others chose for their Mix Tape click here.

Day 20--Inantimate object love

"Poetry Prompt: Take a look around your house and find two unlikely objects that you can play around with on the page and create a love letter from one to the other. I hope you find much amusement playing with your words." Morgan Dragonwillow OctPoWriMo Day 20


The Pen and The Paper

The pen has no purpose
 Without the paper.

The paper is more fortunate.
It can pack a crate
Fly through the air
Line a birdcage
Or wrap a present.

But the pen has no purpose
except to sit in the writer's hand
and glide across the paper
leaving thought, wishes, dreams.

The two bonded together
By what they have produced
For Eternity.

This post is part of the October Poetry Writing challenge. To see what other writers created click here.

OctPoWriMo Day 21--Short And Sweet

Today's challenge was to write a poem of 17 syllables, that was only one sentence. This is not my sort of challenge, as I tend to be rather long winded, but I decided to use that:

Short and Sweet
Is just not me.
But could be true
For a poet like you.

This post is part of OctPoWriMo, the October Poetry Writing challenge. To read more about the challenge or to see what other poets wrote click here.

Day 15--The News Muse

CNN Breaking News ‏@cnnbrk 15h

Violin played as Titanic sank sells for $1.7 million. http://on.cnn.com/1bJbsEQ 

                  
      Wallace Hartley's Violin

He was a musician
So of course it was
his most prized possession.
If he was going down the ship,
It was going with him,
So they went into the cold water together,
And that's how they were found.

They had stood steadfastly on the deck.
Playing until the waters were too high
The slope of the deck too great.
Not one of the band survived.

When it was over
The White Star Line claimed
They were passengers not crew.
And their management company said,
"Not our problem"
And billed their families
For their uniforms.

Salt water corroded the metal
So it could not be played.
(And who would have the nerve try?).

It sold for as much as a Strad.

The challenge for day 15 was to draw a poem from the news, like John Lennon did in "A Day in the Life". All week I read through the paper and the Internet seeking inspiration, till I found this. To see what inspired other poets, click here.

Twisted Mix Tape--Just not a Country Girl

Horribly late to the party, but I couldn't pass this topic up.

This week's mix tape is about creating a playlist of songs in a genre we don't usually listen to.  I considered a list of disco songs, but decided to save that for my "Songs playing In the Lowest Rung of Hell" list instead, and moved on to country music.

It's not that I have country music, just that I like it in very small doses. Naturally I wound up with 2 children who listen to it all the time.  It fills their I-pods and it's what the leave their radios on at night.   In particular, thanks to my daughter, I suffer from a severe overdose of Taylor Swift.
She won't be appearing on this list.

But there really aren't any genres of music that I totally hate, and this is no exception.  Here are some of my favorite country songs:

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" John Denver

Figuring out where to put John Denver is complicated because he was all over the pop and country charts when I was a teenager, but this song is clearly on the country side.  Since my parents weren't into country music either, "Country Roads" was the first song of this sort I ever liked.  I got John Denver's Greatest Hits for my 13h birthday, and I played this a lot.

"Man in Black" Johnny Cash

If there is one country performer I really like almost everything by it's Johnny Cash. But this song is my particular favorite. You didn't often hear what we used to call social conscience songs on the country charts.  But this song sets the table for everything else he ever did.


"Coat of Many Colors" Dolly Parton

Our kids much loved sitter used to sing this song for them all the time.
With all the glitz and hairdo and other assets, people forget what a great songwriter she is.  I love how she intertwines her family story and the story of Joseph in the song.

"A Boy Named Sue" Johnny Cash

I know, its a silly song, but just like Chuck Berry's My Ding a Ling, it makes me laugh. Johnny seems to be having so much fun when he does this song. A headliner on my "Cheer Up" playlist.


Finally

Shhhh...can I tell you a little secret? When I was a little girl I had a huge crush on Jimmy Dean.  I used plant myself in front of the TV set whenever he was on.  The show was also the beginning of my life long love affair with the Muppets, since Rowlf the Dog was a featured performer on the show.  I even had a toy puppy dog I called Rowlf.  So here's a cute little video I found of Jimmy and Rowlf.

This post is part of Twisted Mix Tape hosted by Jen Kehl at My Skewed View.  Check out all the far more punctually posted mix tapes.

OctPoWriMo Day 17--Scrabble

Day 17's challenge is to look at games we play and write about them. Scrabble is a long time favorite.  When I was a child we played Scrabble all the time, and I still do to this day. The game board changes, but the game really doesn't.

 

 

Scrabble

 

When I was young

Our family played Scrabble .

The tiles felt cool and smooth

When you drew them from the bag.

We squabbled over points scored

and which words were legal.

My dad's favorite word to play was "FEZ"
On a triple word score.

 

Now we play on cell phones

Passing the device back and forth

Or online with friends in other states

Or even other countries.

We drag the tiles with a mouse

Or beneath our finger on the touch pad.

And the computer will not let us cheat

or slide by on the iffy words,

But I still try to play "FEZ"

On the triple word score,

 

I'm still playing Scrabble.

To see what games other poets are playing, click here.

OctPoWriMo day 14 Moment of Silence

On these phones
its constant noise
Alarms sounding
People shouting.

Once in a while
everyone finishes their calls,
and silence descends for a time.

Usually we fill the void with conversation-
But once in a while
we will each choose
(Separately and yet in unison)
To embrace the silence,
the moment of peace.

Then the phones ring again
As crises descend
And shatter the silence.

This post is part of OctPoWriMo. Today's prompt was "silence" To see what other poets created, click here.

OctPoWriMo day 13--playing with words

Today's challenge was to choose a letter of the alphabet, pick words at random starting with that letter, and create a poem with those words. To increase the randomness, I asked my daughter to pick a letter and she, ironically enough, chose R.

I enjoyed this challenge.
Way out of my comfort zone.

Rrrrandom

Risky Ruffians
Ruthlessly running.

Rainproofed Rhinos
Rashly regressing.

Research requiring
Rollerskating rabbits.

Rapturous raccoons
Rooting rurally.

Rebellious reindeer
Retroactively roaming.

Repetitive rhymes
Ringing Rhythmically.

To see what letters and words other writers chose, and how they were inspired, click on the link. 

OctPoWiMo--day 11: Movie Popcorn

"Hobbit's on in 20 minutes"
My kids announce in unison,
"We need popcorn."

For the next few minutes
Comes the clattering of pots and pans.
(There is only one pan
That is right for popcorn).

Then from the living room I hear
the sweet staccato sounds--
And the beeping of the microwave
Announcing melted butter.

In 15 minutes time
Heaping bowls of popcorn
Arrive in the living room
Just as the opening credits roll.

"Its heavy on the butter and the salt"
Says the Boy, apologetically.
"That's OK" I answer,
"It's movie popcorn."

This post is part of the October Poetry writing challenge. To see what other writers wrote for this date click on the link.

Express yourself--Great Opening Lines

Some books hook you from the very first lines: "Scarlett O'Hara wasn't beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charms as the Tarleton twins were." Don't you want to keep reading?

This week's Express Yourself Meme asks us to list some of our favorite opening passages from books.



“You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by a Mr Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.”
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.
Ludwig Bemelmans
Madeline

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
J.R.R. Tolkien,
The Hobbit

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the riverbank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book’, thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversation?’
Lewis Carroll
 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus This-that-and-the-other (for I shall not trouble you yet with all my titles) who was once, and not so long ago either, known to my friends and relatives and associates as “Claudius the Idiot,” or “That Claudius,” or “Claudius the Stammerer,” or “Clau-Clau-Claudius” or at best as “Poor Uncle Claudius,” am now about to write this strange history of my life; starting from my earliest childhood and continuing year by year until I reach the fateful point of change where, some eight years ago, at the age of fifty-one, I suddenly found myself caught in what I may call the “golden predicament” from which I have never since become disentangled.
Robert Graves
 I, Claudius

To finish up with, here is my favorite. No one could start a book better than Charles Dickens:

  Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.
   Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
   Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.




This post is part of Express Yourself Weekly Meme, a group of bloggers writing on the same topic each week. Click here to see other bloggers' picked for their favorite first lines.

"Be Gentle With Yourself" OctProWriMo Day 4

"Beyond a whole discipline

Be gentle with yourself."

Max Ehrmann

Desiderata

 

 

Be gentle with yourself 

says the poet.

Gentleness with self

Is one of the things to be desired.

 

 

All in all, his was the best advice I ever got

But I kind of slid past the part

Recommending gentleness.

Fierce determination and resistance

Seems more productive in this world.

 

 

But today I sat and thought

About gentleness.

About how it can be a shield

against chaos and cruelty.

 

 

And I decided that gentleness
Surely does have its place.

If you aren't gentle with yourself

Who will be?

 

 

 

The prompt for Day 4 on OctPoWriMo  is "Be Gentle with Yourself"

To see how other writers were inspired by this subject, click here.



Twisted Mix Tape--As Heard on the Soundtrack

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This week's Twisted Mix Tape is on a great topic, music from movie soundtracks.  Since I love movies and movie soundtracks this was a natural. I concentrated on  songs from non musical movies (otherwise this list would be miles long),but with the exception of the last song, they are all ones I heard first at the movies in question. Not surprisingly, my biggest problem was paring down the list. Here were the ones I couldn't live without:


"Bright Eyes" sung by Art Garfunkel for Watership Down.
Watership Down is one of my favorite books and the film adaptation done in the late 70's is one of my all time favorite animated movies.  The song is done in a crucial scene where the head rabbit is missing and another rabbit goes on a vision quest to find him.  The song is true to both what is going on in the movie, and the narration of the incident in the book. I also associate the song with a very special friend, who loves the song. And Art Garfunkel's vocals are superb, my favorite of his post Paul Simon work.

 

   "(I've Had) the Time of My Life"sung by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warne in Dirty Dancing.
 Confession: I just adore Patrick Swayze. When I watch him dance in this movie I feel like I am having the time of my life, and have felt so ever since the first time I saw Dirty Dancing. This song is a perfect finale, and featuring great vocals by Jennifer Warne and Mr Blue Eye Soul himself, Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. And did I mention the awesome dancing?  (And while we are talking about Patrick Swayze and the Righteous Brothers, a big shout out for the great use of "Unchained Melody" in Ghost. )

 

 

 

 

"Somewhere Out There" sung by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram in An American Tail.
Here is where you see what a totally hopeless sentimentalist I truly am, but I have loved this little song ever since I first saw the movie.  If you've ever been separated from someone you love, bring a hankie.

  "The Show" sung by Kerris Dorsey in Moneyball. This one is for my kids. Moneyball is a movie we have enjoyed together a number of times, and the song is nice. Its actually heard twice in the movie, this scene is the second time. As Brad Pitt contemplates a career change, he listens to the recording of the song his daughter sent him, reminding him, and us, that some times it's best to sit back and enjoy the moment.

 

"Into the West" sung by Annie Lennox in
 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.    
There is no movie that get watched around this house more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, probably the best adaptation of a classic novel ever made. Howard Shore's superb score is just one of the things that is so perfect about the films, and this song which plays under the closing credits is just beautiful.  The song perfectly captures a main character's state of mind at the end of the film, and the some of the lyrics are directly from the book. And what can I say about Annie Lennox? I get chills when I hear this song.

 

 

I can hear you all now: Wow Meg, you listen to anything but depressing ballads? So I want to end this list with some pure fun. Although it wasn't actually written for a movie, the song became a hit when it was featured in a movie. And after all those ballads up there, this is about as Roots of Rock and Roll as you can get:

 

"Rock Around the Clock" sung by Bill Haley and the Comets

in The Blackboard Jungle.

 

So that's my list.  There were a lot more I could have gone to, so I hope we do have this topic again sometime.  Now click here to see what everyone else picked....

Butterflies?

It's been a long time
Since I felt the butterflies.
Since I took a Fool's leap of faith
And counted on finding a
Firm footing beneath.

Am I playing it too safe?
Am I too comfortable?
Can I lose my edge
Staying off the ledge?

Perhaps some day the chance will come
To throw caution to the wind again.
Take up my pack and set forth like a Fool
And feel butterflies again.


This poem is part of October Poetry Writing Month. The prompt for Day 6 was "Butterflies".  To what gives other poets butterflies, click here.

The Lighthouse--a Poetic Journey

The Day 7 prompt for OctPoWriMo is about narrative poetry.  This time last year I wrote a story poem for the challenge that subsequently took on a completely different life. I would like to share the story,  Moreover this week is also the birthday of the friend who inspired it all, and this is as close as I will get to wishing him a happy birtjday.

It was Day 12 of last years' OctPoWriMo when the poem found me.  The prompt was "Hearts and Hands open". This prompt lead me to remembrance of a friend that we had lost contact with. It was one of my 2 or 3 favorites from the entire challenge. The original poem went like this:

Lifeline from a Lighthouse

You washed up on the shore
        Of our hearth and hearts.
        We threw you a lifeline and took you in.

It was neither your fault nor ours
           That the tsunami engulfed you again
            And at least for now
            Pulled you beyond our reach.

But should the tide reverse for you
             We are still here, the safe port. 
             We keep the signal light burning in the lighthouse
              Never knowing when you might struggle to our shore again.

After I posted the poem, my husband, the musician observed "That would make a great song.  Can you rewrite it as a lyric?"

You might think this was easy. After all, I was writing song lyrics long before I started playing with free varse. But I found tgat once I conceived a verse in a certain format it was to refit itbto another format. It took awhile to find satisfactory lyrics.

On the shore of our hearth
And hearts you washed up.
And our home became your home
And kept you safe for awhile.

Chorus:
When you're lost out in the storm
The light will still be on
Through high winds and tide and foam
Till you are safe again.
When you're lost out in the storm
The light will still be on
Through high winds and tide and foam
Till you are home again.

It was nothing that you did
Storms crashed around you,
Washed you away from us
Nothing we could do.

I turned this over to my husband who succeeded with a little tugging in fitting it to music. Meanwhile our daughter's choir teacher had asked for an original piece for the choir. He liked the Lighthouse and in their last concert before leaving middle school, the song was performed

"The Lighthouse" by Chuck and Meg Hammil

This post is part of the October Poetry Writing Challenge. To read more great poems click here.

Firsts and Lasts

First college visit.
First applications.
First rejection.
First letter of acceptance.
First Scholarship.
First ID card.
First draft card sign up.
First textbook orders.
First roommate.
First Day of College.
First glimpses of adulthood.

Last baseball game.
Last homework.
Last Exam.
Last report card.
Last days of this summer.
Last night he's 17.
Last packing of the bags.
Last home cooked meal.
Last walk to the car.
Last hugs.
No last look back.


This post was written in response to the OctPoWriMo day 5 prompt, Make a List Poem.  Click on the link to see what others created.

OctPoWriMo day 3--Back in the Day

The OctPoWriMo prompt for Day 3 asked us to go back and look at our earliest poems and at the things that prompted us to write. I always loved poetry as a child, and memorized lots of it. ("Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" was the first.) One day I just decided to try it myself.  I still have those earliest poems, in an old ledger book, repeatedly taped together.

The first poem that I ever remember writing was a war protest lyric (what can i say, i was born in the 60's)  I was 12 and no, I wont reprint that or any of the other early efforts. (Not today anyway.) What  bothers me now, looking at most of them,was the lack of personal experience behind them. I was writing protest songs and love songs because that's what was expected
But poetry comes from the heart, and it took me awhile to learn that.

Back In the Day

In the beginning I wrote a protest song
'Cause it was 1971 and wasn't everyone writing protest songs?

I wrote rebellion songs,
though I was too chicken to rebel.

I wrote love songs,
though I hadn't a clue about love.

Somewhere along the way
the words got better.

Then I found love
and life in the real world,
and the Muse took a little holiday
till I was ready again.

Now I want it all.
Love and Poetry.


This post is part of day 3 of  the October Poetry Writing Month Challenge. To see what other poets wrote, click on the link.

OctPoWriMo day 2 Lifetimes and Lifelines

Scrambling a bit to get caught up, and its all of day 4, but I'm on day 2. The prompt for Day 2 asks us to look for poetry in hidden places, and I decided to see if I could create a poem about working in 911. (Poetry is usually one of my escapes from work.)



Lifelines/Lifetimes

So many lives on the line...
I give 2,3,5 minutes of my time
(My lifetime)

I'd like to give them longer,
Listen sympathetically
Offer some advice.
But usually the blinking light
and frantic ring tone
Remind me there are other
Lifetimes on the line.

So I coil my rope
Take a deep breath
And throw another lifeline.

This post is part of the October Poetry Writing Month Challenge, a poem a day all month.  To see what other writers found hidden on day 2 click here.

Express Youself--Happy Birthday

This week marks the first birthday of Express Yourself Weekly Meme, one of my favorite linkups. Each week they propose a provocative topic and ask us to write about it. For the first birthday party they are asking what our favorite questions were this year.


This week I went back through all my Express Your self posts and decided these were the ones that brought out the best in me.

Favorite Book Quotes
I love to collect quotes and had a lot of fun writing this.

Favorite Christmas Carols
The weeks before Christmas last year were darkened by the events at Sandy Hook, but this post allowed me to write about other carols born of dark times.

Comfort Books and Movies
What to curl up with when you had a bad day...

Me and My Quirks
They make us who we are....

Favorite Gifts
  Some favorites among the gifts I've given.

Good Turn Coins and Lucky Pens
This gave me a chance to tell a couple stories I never thought I'd work into a blog.


So Happy Birthday Express Yourself, I can't wait to see what you have for us next year.


This post is part of Express Yourself Weekly Meme, a group of bloggers writing on the same topic each week. Click here to see other bloggers' ideas for literary lunches.

Music That Made Me Who I Am--Twisted Mix Tape

So for months now I have been lurking over at Twisted Mix Tape and enjoyed reading over the writers' choices of songs inn nummerous, often very creative, categories. I even occasionally wrote up my own lists, though I never got to the point of posting them.  This week's theme however had me from the beginning (literally) list the songs that made you who you are. I couldn't resist.  However procrastination and an overloaded schedule are as much a part of my life as ever, so although the Mix Tape goes live on Tuesdays, here I am finally getting down to business on Thursday.  We'll try to do better next week.

"Imagine"--John Lennon. I was this shy yet idealistic 6th grader, listening to the radio, when I heard "Imagine" for the first time. The song literally changed my life, giving me a frame for the principles I was still struggling to form. In a way the most important part back then was the chorus, with its reminder that no one really dreams a dream alone. For the first time I felt myself part of a greater whole.



"At Seventeen"--Janis Ian.  This was the song that got me through high school.  I was 15 when she released this song, and it just seemed to me she nailed it all, from the inability to play sports to the lack of Valentines.  The fact that she was, at the time, only 23 herself, and thus not that far removed from the high school zoo just gave it all more credibility. She was my first favorite female singer, and I still listen to this song when I need to find myself back in that time and place.

 

"The Rainbow Connection" --Kermit the Frog . I saw the Muppet Movie 4 times in the theater, in spite of the fact I was a freshman in college. I owned the soundtrack too.  I loved the Muppet Show too, and later learned from the mom that as a very little girl I watched Rowlf the Dog when he was on the Jimmy Dean Show and named my stuffed puppy after him. I loved the song's linking of lovers, dreamers and me. We have all been all 3. And there's something about Jim Henson's performances as Kermit that has never been matched, even by much better vocalists.  (It was a close call between this song and "Its not Easy Being Green" but I think this one influenced me more.)

"Its In Every One of Us"    Dennis DeYoung.  This is another song I first encountered through the Muppets, who performed it on their Christmas Show with John Denver, and then later on "The Muppet Family Christmas". The Muppets only performed the chorus though, and I didn't hear the whole song till it was the theme song of my Wood Badge course with the Boy Scouts of America.  I identified fully with message of the song, about participating fully in all life had to offer. "I'm realizing that I bought this ticket, and I'm watching only half the show." Since the Muppets never did the whole song, here's the version they used at our Wood Badge Course:

"Wasted on the Way" Crosby, Stills and Nash. I always liked this song, but late in the last decade, due to a series of events I found myself back in contact for the first time in nearly 20 years with a number of people from my youth whom I truly cherished.  One happy result was the renewal of a precious friendship. Another was a reawakening of the creativity that I, like many parents, had buried in the early child rearing years. This blog is one result of this.  "Wasted on the Way" is all about missed opportunities, and the fact that it's never too late to make up for lost time or lost love.

So this was fun. I will do it again. If you want to check  out more great mixtapes for yourself, click on the link below.

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October Poetry Writing Month Day 1

Its October again, and time for the October Poetry Writing Month Challenge or OctPoWriMo for short. The challenge is to write a poem a day for the month of October.  The fine folks over at OctPoWriMo Poetry Challenge provide daily prompts for those who are stuck for inspiration, but one can always post on whatever topic one wishes. I participated last year (See the poetry tab above for some of the results) and found it a tremendous spur to my creativity. I also enjoyed the daily contact with so many other poets. 

The Day One prompt is Autumn. 

Fall

It always was my favorite time of year.
Back to school
Tricks and treats
Carving pumpkins
piles of leaves.
Thanksgiving feasts.

It is still my favorite time of year,
I love the cooling air and changing leaves.
And still look forward to tthe fun
Even though its mostly for the kids.

And now the beauty of the time
Is tinged with melancholy.
Adulthood brings awareness
Of autumn's Mysteries:
How the world looks so alive
At the moment it is dying.

Harbingers of winter
Reminders that in the midst of plenty
Nature's drawing closer
To the Days of the Dead.


This post is part of  the October Poetry Writing Challenge. To see what other poets have created for Day 1 of the Challenge click here.