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.

Stubborn as a . . . .

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Stubborn as a . . . .

I must admit I’m stubborn, argumentative and such.
All these adverse qualities have me in their clutch.
But my mother’s from Missouri and my dad’s family is Dutch,
so they’re  the ones to blame for it, thank you very much!

If you call it tenacity it ends up sounding better.
I go from being mulish to being a go-getter,
and my stubborn tendencies cease to be a fetter.
They serve me as an asset instead of as a debtor.

As dogged as a pit bull,  determined as a cat.
A bull can be most bullish, you can’t argue much with that.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,
and nothing’s stubborn as a pig, no matter what you think.

So if you say I’m mulish, it’s neither here nor there.
Stubborn is one quality that’s not so very rare.
And when you point a finger and say I’m being rancorous,
the animal you’re channeling might be just as cantankerous!

I’ve been at a writer’s conference for past two days–today from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. so no new poems.. Here’s a rerun that meets the prompt..

The prompt is uncompromising.

Heliconia: Flower of the day, Mar 7, 2018

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Donald’s World (POTUS-Speak)

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Donald’s World

It seems reality’s been hacked.
The dice are loaded. Cards are stacked.
Truth is no longer so exact.
Actuality’s been cracked
and reason pilloried and racked.

Verisimilitude is yacked
and common sense has long been sacked,
along with logic, reason, tact.
So what’s been rumored, gossiped, quacked
is now more true than proven fact!

 

The prompt word today is fact.

Desert Rose or Adenium Obesum, Mar 6, 2018

 

Snapped in La Manzanilla. Now back home. Ahhhhh. Thanks for identifying this flower, LWBUT!

 

For Cee’s Daily Flower Prompt.  See her bright cactus blooms here.

Fruitless

 

 

Fruitless

I’m a branch of the family wild and free.
My branches are wide but there’s no fruit on me.
My roots go down deeply. They’re seeking a place
to spread underground while leaving a trace
of what is below by what’s stretched to the skies.
Each leaf is a word that lives and then dries,
pressed onto paper, preserved and collected—
read if I’m lucky, pondered and dissected.

I’ve spawned no additions to the family tree.
Only my words will live after me.

The prompt today is branch.

Unopened: Haibun for dVerse Poets

 

Unopened

Every situation, every human relationship contains a number of possibilities. No person could guess them all. When we are too hasty in our judgements and our reactions, we cut ourselves off from all of those potential realities.

Your face a closed bud
hiding what might have flowered
had I been your sun.

 

For dVerse Poets haibun challenge.

Acceptable Ways to Leave This Life

IMG_7316Linda in a moment of reflection  jdb photo 2018

A few weeks ago, I published a link to Linda Crosfield’s poem about ten ways she would prefer NOT to die.  I requested that she write one about ten ways she would prefer to die.  Here is her answer to that challenge, along with some photos and ruminations about this year in La Manzanilla:
 http://purplemountainpoems.blogspot.mx/2018/03/ruminations-about-my-winter-in-mexico.html

A Stubborn Blooming: Flower of the Day, Mar 5, 2018

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For Cee’s Flower Prompt.

Typical

Typical Day

Bark of dog,
Meow of cat.
Mama-san
takes care of that
with pop of can
and clink of dishes.
After solving
all these wishes,
back to bed.
Write my blogs.
Out of bed.
Put on togs.
Make a smoothie.
Read E-mail.
Into town
for writers’ meetings.
Lots of words
and lots of greetings.
Home again
to write some more.
Pepe’s ringing
at my door.
Once a week
a heavenly rub.
Body restored,
soak in the tub.
Pat the cats,
throw balls for Morrie.
Write some more,
the same old story.
Talk to Dux
many a time
throughout the day.
Sometimes  with rhyme.
Midnight finds me
in the pool
under stars
and Morrie’s rule.
Throw the ball
for him to fetch.
Exercise, then
reach and stretch
to retrieve the ball
he throws at me.
Then loft it over
bush and tree
to lower garden
for him to find.
This is our nightly
pool grind.
Go in to bed
to write some more.
Get up to check
I’ve locked the door.
Other events
often occur.
Trips to the vet
to trim or cure.
Coffee with friends,
or dinner out.
trips to the shore,
without a doubt.
Lives grow and change
often with time.
So this is just
the paradigm.

The prompt word today is typical.

Squares with Squares and Circles in Squares

Click on any photo to enlarge all.

 

For Becky’s Squares Challenge.