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.

Idara

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Idara

Her very name meant organization. She exceeded all the rules
for unity and order. She didn’t allow curls
to pop up on her hair ends. Her locks hung lank and straight .
It was with trepidation that she allowed a date
to disturb their perfect order when venturing a kiss.
She could not help but worry something would go amiss.

Daily she checked her batteries, fearing one would fail.
She doubled her insurance for avalanche and hail
and taking due precautions, she exceeded sound and reason,
preparing many months ahead for every change of season.

She flinched at lights and shadows, expecting the worst—
some tragedy or danger for which she’d not rehearsed.
Her parents thought it their fault for giving her the name,
wondering if they’d named her Hope if she’d turn out the same.

 

Prompts today are lights and shadows, trepidation, battery, exceed, organization and name. The name “Idara” really does mean organized. Stock Photo.

For FOTD Oct 22, 2022

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For Cee’s FOTD

The plaque was carved from Walnut by my husband Bob. It says “And Owl Moved to Some Other Tree.” It is a quote from Winnie the Pooh, I believe. It sorta looks like this brand new hibiscus is photo bombing the shot. Note buds above. This bush has dozens of buds on it and usually a minimum of 5 blooms. I can see it both from the hammock in the lower garden and from my desk in the sala up above.

Buddha Cat

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When my friends John and Cleo and their housemate  Jay all passed away within a year of each other, John’s son asked me to choose something from their house to remember them by. This little Egyptian blue Buddhacat was what I chose. He sits guarding my catfood in my kitty bodega.

For City Sonnet: Egyptian Blue

25th Anniversary

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Silver Anniversary

Cut glass, silver and fine linen stowed away unseen
in my mother’s attic, remnant of the queen
she knew as a mother. From it I extract
a latent innuendo that I construe as fact
that my mother finds within her something of the same—
some hidden possibility she, too is a grand dame

who might one day need niceties like crystal goblets and
napkins hand-embroidered by a genteel hand.
I hear the screen door closing in the kitchen down below,
close the trunk lid. Swiftly down the attic stairs I go.
But when I greet my mother, though I’m sure my manner’s normal,
I start to plan an anniversary dinner that’s more formal

than their usual getaway for movie and a meal
at a local diner that is hardly a big deal.
I’ll have dad distract mom with some ordinary chore,
then cook a special dinner, buy flowers and what’s more,
resurrect my grandma’s china, silver, linens and her glass
and show my mom that I for one recognize her class!

Prompt words today are stow, extract, screen, latent,glass linen, attic. Image. by Jamie Coupaud on Unsplash.

Autumn Garden, FOTD Oce 21, 2022

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For Cee’s FOTD

Fishermen

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(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Fishermen

On platforms built over the bay,
the fishermen begin their day.
In spite of last-night’s sordid fun,
they’re up before the day’s begun,
ready to join their fishing fleet
so later we can leave replete
with fish from platters piled high
with clams and shrimp and codfish pie.

Wild fishermen of bar or tavern,
in days of old in inn or cavern
drank their wine and emerged bleary
to their boats, hungover, weary.
Simon and Andrew were the first
to leave their fishing nets and thirst
for cups of wine filled to the brim
to change their lives and follow him.

Joined after by the other ten,
they all became fishers of men.
And even though eons ago
they, too, had their wild oats to sow,
these fishermen would be surprised
that since then they’ve been canonized,
thus feeding souls with other than
can be dished out in dish or pan.

 Prompt words are platform, sordid, bash, canonize, fleet and platter.

Pink Hibiscus for Cee’s FOTD and Bren’s In the Garden, Oct 20, 2022

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For Bren’s In the Garden and Cee’s FOTD for Oct 20, 2022.

First Caress

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First Caress

Like that exquisite tension between first caress
and the dropping of shoe and removal of dress.

Like that mellow first stirring of love and desire
that creates a friction that flares into fire.

Appetites that merit no dish or no spoon
enjoyed under covers and the light of the moon.

Each generation discovers anew
That first caress and the drop of a shoe.

 

Prompt words today are exquisite, tension, merit, desire, generation, mellow.

Lucid Moon

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Lucid Moon

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jdbphoto

Is there any more unifying element in nature than the moon? Who on this Earth has not looked up at it and dreamed their dreams? Suns bake, winds blow devastation, rain washes homes away, but the moon is simply there, pulling our tides and our hearts in different directions.

Lucid Moon

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 nightly lucid 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.

for d’Verse Poets moon prompt.

Snail’s Pace

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I have been saving this image, unsure of how to use it. It seems to me that even though this little creature causes me so many problems in my garden, that in itself, it is a lovely thing.

That rounded shell upon his back
is house and clothing in a pack.

 

For the Whatsoever is Lovely prompt