Monthly Archives: July 2026

“Whirlwind” For The Sunday Whirl Wordle, 765

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Whirlwind

The voicemails that the wind exhales could terrify a ghost.
Wailed as stories in the storm, they are the Devil’s post.
Scared mortals wander unaware, their journeys to begin,
Caught in the glow of lightning, they struggle and they spin.
Tossed helpless in the tempest, they must wonder why,
like the fragile lotus, flung high  up in the sky,
the breath of air that gave them life is now how they will die.

been din grin kin men pin sin tin then vin win

For The Sunday Whirl Wordle 765, the prompt words are: voicemails high exhale wind begin unaware scared glows ghost storm story lotus

‘Insomnia” for RDP

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Insomnia

I’m lying awake when I should be snoring,
but falling asleep is simply too boring.
Lying here quiet with nothing to do
with nothing to listen to, nothing to view
just makes me restless, unable to snooze.
I need some amusement, a snifter of booze—
something to make me forget to recall
that falling asleep’s not the end of it all.
I cannot help but resent this time wasted
when things could be written or looked at or tasted
instead of just lying inert in my bed
with my eyes shut but images filling my head
that tend to confuse and to fill and encumber
this time that good sense says should be spent in slumber.

The prompt for RDP is “Insomnia.”

Thumb Screws for For “Cracking Open the Time Capsule”

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Thumbscrews

At what point might your courage fall
and might you deign to tell it all?
What waterboard or thumbscrew might
cause you to give up the fight
to tell the secrets of friend and kin
just to stop the pain you’re in?
Please friend, before revealing facts
involving secrecy or pacts,
consider what I tell you here
before you choose to grace my ear.
Never would I tell your pain—
repeat your secrets e’er again—
under normal circumstance,
nor betray by eye or glance
anything once told to me
with a vow of privacy.
Until, that is, the knives come out
or waterboards?  Without a doubt
gross cowardice would be revealed.
To torture I would surely yield.
In short, in matters of gross pain––
I would repeat your words again.
So if you have a secret dark
that you have a need to park
inside the conscience of another,
please tell your sister or your brother,
for a wise decision it would be
to choose a braver soul than me!

For “Cracking Open the Tirackingme Capsule” Frst posted on July 11 2016

A Jellybelly Insight for SOCS

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For The Friday Reminder, the prompt is “Jelly.” This should be fun…

 

A Jellybelly Insight

What feels special in my belly?
Ice cream, peanut butter, jelly,
Scotchbread cookies, pecan pie
and all the chocolate I can buy.
Thus said, I bet that you can tell
my tummy’s padded pretty well.
And since my jeans I can’t fit into,
it’s salad I should have bit into.

“Desert” for Blast from the Blog

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Desert

Year by year, my heart grows sparser––
a lone cactus lifting arms heavenward in supplication.

My heart grows succulent,
hoarding moisture
to grow sparse blooms.

Roots go deeper, looking for that connection
that flows lower every year––
a shrinking lake leaving ringed memories on its edge
like a scrapbook of old loves.

Like that past we all shrink away from,
in living, I desert old loves.
In dying, they desert me.

Is their leaving named for the arid lands that I now ponder,
or is this desert a monument for those who have left first?

This poem was first published ten years ago today, July 10, 2016. I have reformatted the poem.
Photo by Judy Dykstra-Brown

Letters from Mexico–and a request.

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Hi friends! You might have noticed I’ve been sort of remiss in posting to my blog lately and in reading yours.  I’ve had family visiting, am getting ready to go to the states for a hurried visit and I’ve also been preparing a manuscript to send to my formatter. Problem is, I’m not so sure that it is a book anyone will be interested in . With this in mind, if anyone is willing to have a look at it and give their opinions, I would much appreciate it.  It is a bit under 75,000 words, 232 pages long. If you are someone I know in the blogging world and interested in having a look…no obligation to finish it…I’ll send you a document file of it to read on your computer.  I have an oral PEECH copy, but don’t know how to save and send it.  If you do, you could just listen to it.

Thanks, Judy

“Glass Enmass” for Today’s Throwback

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Glass En Masse

It’s sometimes seen as goblets stored upon a shelf
where you can either look right through or stare back at yourself.
In a glass of tea leaves, your future may be spoken,
but its message like its holder may slash us when it’s broken.
It is a perfect metaphor of all that we may be––
on one hand pure distraction, on the other help us see.
Whether it’s a looking glass or one you see right through,
The glass you stand in front of mostly tells us about you.

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Reblog from Juoy 9, 2016.

Night of the Dragon for “Let’s Hit Rewind”

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Dragon

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photo with permission from Lachlan Gowen on Unsplash

Night of the Dragon

Behold the dragon, how it flows
from its tail up to its nose.
Thirty feet and thirty arms
move the dragon’s sinuous charms—
its razor teeth, its threatening frown—
through the streets of Chinatown.
On its head, a golden crown.
Its many humps move up and down,
forming valleys, growing hills
while moving over rocks and rills.
Straightening out to cross the bridges
spanning between neighboring ridges.
Never flying through the air,
rising only up the stair.
So many mortals make one beast,
one night a year to roil and feast
on errant spirits wandering out
their vile sentiments to flout,
chancing their ends once more to free
those rotten souls they used to be.
One night of all we form the back
that otherwise the dragons lack.
We form their arms and form their feet,
arousing awe in all we meet.
And thus it happens, once a year,
we become that which most we fear.

Reblog from 2019

“Nocturn” for Rewind

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Nocturn

With half a life lived in the dark,
an owl’s hoot, an answering bark,
the moon across the water scattered,
ragged clouds, wispy and battered––

I float in night and solitude,
the night determining my mood.
I lie in darkness and I brood,
a momentary interlude.

When sunlight comes in fits and starts,
The day brings out my other parts.
They rise in me from dawn to noon,
dispelling powers of the moon.

Thus balanced between dark and light,
each half consumes its daily bite.
I welcome each within its time
Life varied, balanced and sublime.

This is a “Rewind” Blog from July 7 ten years ago.

This is what I was up to 10 years ago today!

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Early Morning Profundity

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At 4 a.m. this morning, my niece was calling out in her sleep again for almost an hour, so I grabbed my laptop from the floor beside the bed to record her comments. Then as I was about to fall asleep with my computer on my lap, I had an idea for a poem.  Without opening my eyes, I wrote it down before going back to sleep. Here it is, as I discovered it when I woke up this morning:

I’ve been axeoa rhw oxwN.

I’CW Ailws xeoaa rhw aw

ONLY RO SIAXOCWE

RHWEW IA NO PLxw doe mw

aILIF ON RHW VEINWY,

Ailinf on rhw qrwe.

InarwS I’M ARyinf ahoewaisw

wzXRLY QHWEW I OUFHR RWE.
My advice? Never write a poem in the middle of the night with your eyes closed.

I finally figured this out by putting my fingers on the correct keys and typing the gobbledygook, which came out close enough to the intended meaning for me to figure out the words. Here is what I meant to write:

I’ve been across the ocean,
sailed across the sea,
only to discover
there is no place for me
floating on the briny,
traversing the sea.
Instead I’m staying shoreside––
where I ought to be.

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/forbidden/

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I’ve lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I’ve lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

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14 thoughts on “Early Morning Profundity”

    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessonsPost author
      Ha.. Perhaps the garbled version is more interesting than the actual one printed above in comments.. or below. Unsure if these comments are posted chronologically or newest first.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessonsPost author
      I’ve been across the ocean,
      sailed across the sea,
      only to discover
      there is no place for me
      floating on the briny,
      traversing the sea.
      Instead I’m staying shoreside––
      where I ought to be.I finally figured this out by putting my fingers on the correct keys and typing the gobbledygook, which came out close enough to the intended meaning for me to figure out the words.

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      1. Christine Goodnough's avatarChristine Goodnough
        It’s bad for the first several days. Little warning and poor control — I have to be close by and move FAST. Which makes for special problems at night. Thankfully by the weekend control will be much better.

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