Author Archives: lifelessons

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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.

Unfairly Defined

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Image downloaded from Amazon

Unfairly Defined

Not really cold and not too hot—
“lukewarm” describes what it is not.
It isn’t fair it’s named for Luke.
In fact, it’s really just a fluke.
It’s really not Luke’s fault at all.
I’ll give the facts. You make the call.

Though he tried to love that girl right well,
 the truth is, that he never fell
as hard as she did. She was nice,
and yet they only dated twice.
She was in love, but he was not.
It wasn’t that they fussed or fought.

It’s just that he preferred another,
not this girl liked by his mother.
So, though the match had been decided
by their folks, it was one-sided.
He, alas, just could not fashion
anything approaching passion.

She pined as he moved on to marry
a girl who came from Tucumcari
while she remained a single maid,
much-admired, but never laid.
And Luke, who did not choose to tarry,
wound up in the dictionary.

He still defines that boring norm
not cold, not hot, but only warm.
The bit of bad luck that he had?
Though he was neither rogue nor cad,
he chose a woman who was “not” her,
and she was Noah Webster’s daughter!

The prompt was lukewarm. 

Analogies rule

Can’t keep a good girl down. Even when ill, Carol (of the Relax blog) can’t resist a challenge. Here is her excellent poem on the subject of the butterfly kiss! Mine was published on my blog yesterday.

Shadow Play

You’ll get a much better view of the photos if you click on one and view them as a gallery.

 

The photo prompt this week was shadow.

Canna Lily: Flower of the Day, Feb 11, 2017

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Interloper

https://ceenphotography.com/2017/02/10/flower-of-the-day-february-11-2017-lupines/

 

 

Mirrored Reality: fpj photo challenge

Click and photo to enlarge images and view gallery.

https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/02/07/tuesday-photo-challenge-mirror/

Read the Signs

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Read the Signs

Are you possibly aware
from your vantage over there,
so well-shod and so well-clad,
that you are overdressed a tad?
In fact, it would be hard for you
no matter what garment or shoe
you might have chosen to wear instead.
I fear that you have been misled.
You’d still be overdressed, you see—
you’re in a nudist colony!

The prompt today was “aware.”

Veils, Halos and Shackles : International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women

veils halos shackles cover

It has been pointed out to me that although I mentioned this anthology when I had work accepted by the editors, Charles Fishman and Smita Sahay, that I haven’t posted anything about it since it has been published.

Below is a link to an article about it from “The Hindu,” an English-language Indian daily newspaper. Headquartered at Chennai,  It is the second most circulated English-language newspaper in India, with average qualifying sales of 1.45 million copies as of Jan−Jun 2016. A friend sent me a link to a review in a Hindu newspaper which, unfortunately, is no longer available, pointing out that the review mentions my poem, “Zauditu,” which appears in the anthology. You can, however, see the Goodreads page about it HERE, which contains some reader reviews and links to online booksellers.

First Steps

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First Steps

Blushing cheeks and fluttered lashes,
cotton frocks with satin sashes.
That first dance, paired with a boy,
equal parts of fear and joy.
Sweaty palms and faltering feet.
A different style, each boy you meet.
Shyness, then—a major dose.
Terror he’ll hold you too close,
then, affronted when he doesn’t.
Wrong when he was and when he wasn’t
romantic in that pre-teen way,
as forward as that time of day
permitted, with your parents there.
Beaded foreheads, scraggly hair.
School dances never missed.
Holding hands, but never kissed.
Except one time, when cheek-to-cheek,
that butterfly kiss, furtive and meek.
Eyes met for just a moment, then,
to celebrate your mutual sin.
Oh the terrors and the joys
Of school dances and touching boys!

This is the second poetry challenge that resulted when Carol from the Relax blog posted a poem about her kittens that had an opening two lines I loved. Her poem veered off completely from those two lines, so I challenged her to write a new poem that centered around the opening lines. I did the same, but one of her images prompted a new prompt. This time I “dared” her to write a poem about butterfly kisses. She accepted the dare but said me first, so here it is. Carol, your turn. Post a link, please, after you’ve written your poem. When will this end?  If anyone else cares to join in, you are most welcome. The prompt is “butterfly kiss.” 

Gazania: Flower of the Day: Feb 10, 2017

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I think these are the early stages of gazania blooms.  If I am wrong, please let me know.  They are from my friend Patty’s wonderful garden.

See Cee’s camellia HERE.

Sunset at Cambry Woods

 

Version 2

Sunset at Cambry Woods

In the forest, wild and lush,
hear the music of the thrush
break the stillness of the brush.
If else disturbs it, make it hush,
for we have fled the world’s mad crush
with all its craziness and rush
that grinds sensation into mush,
distilling it as mindless slush.
The world flares up, the clouds are plush
as we see all its bloodshed flush
into the sunset’s subtle blush.

The prompt today was lush.