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.

The Silence of the Iambs

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The Silence of the Iambs

Anapests sing lullabies while dactyls gallop on.
Trochees beat a drum beat that’s heard hither and yon,
but raindrops speak in iambs, dripping from the eaves
as the torrent lessens and cups itself in leaves.
All the small feet hushed now, we can fall asleep.
We can find our dreams inside a silence that’s so deep.

 

The title, by the way, is talking about iambs, not lambs.  Hard to tell when it is capitalized.

The loud rhythms of the unseasonal rain that awakened me so early this morning have ceased, leaving only the faint drip of water off the eaves. This poem may be one that only another poet could appreciate, but for those of you who aren’t poets and who didn’t pay attention in your lit class, it is about metrical feet—the syllable rhythms within a poem and even within our everyday speech and nature itself.  A trochee (the rhythm of a native American drumbeat replicated in the poem “Hiawatha”) is an accented or long syllable followed by a short one. An iamb is the rhythm in the English we speak every day––a short syllable followed by a long one. An anapest is the rhythm of a lullaby. (short short long) whereas a dactyl (the rhythm of a horse’s gallop) is its opposite (long short short).

 

The prompt today is silent.

Copa de Oro: Flower of the Day, Dec 16, 2017

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Looks like this copa de oro (cup of gold) couple has abundant progeny to come.

For Cee’s flower prompt.

Looking Through Doors and Windows, Puerto Vallarta: Thursday Doors, Dec. 14, 2017

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Looking through square and arched windows and mainly arched doors, spying on Puerto Vallarta.  ( If you are viewing from Facebook, click on the URL to see all photos.)

(Click on first photo to enlarge photos and see captions.)

So many doors in a city.
Peeking into bars
Looking into hotel lobbies
and restaurants
Doors to new adventures
Doors into stores. Reeboks the international language.
Gallery doors reveal unique windows
Peeking out from gallery windows onto the street.
Windows into bars
Doors behind windows.
Passing through doors into working streets
Hotel arches
Blocked doors
Elevator doors
Walking through doors into hotel corridors
Worlds outside windows
Out balcony doors to look upon rooftops
and lower story floors.

 

For Norm’s Thursday Doors prompt.

Feeding Love: Haute Cuisine

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Haute Cuisine

It seemed a meager portion for such a pricey place––
three peas, a single escargot. Potatoes? not a trace.
They’d spilled some brown stuff on the plate and dabbed a bit of green.
No wonder other diners all looked so very lean.

Two bites and the first course was gone, the plates all whisked away,
replaced by a sparse salad little more than mounds of hay.
A tiny slivered mass of yellow with seeds sprinkled over,
a spray of oil, some flower petals and a sprig of clover.

I looked my first date in the eye to see what he might think.
As he lifted a forkful, he gave a little wink.
We consumed their tiny lamb chops, complete with ruffled cuff
and scarfed the spoonful of dessert that wasn’t near enough.

He paid the bill, retrieved our coats and walked me to his car.
“I have another treat for you,” he said. “It isn’t far.”
He pulled up to McDonalds and ordered two big macs,
large French fries and two sodas and handed me the sacks.

Afterwards, at Dairy Queen, we sealed this new romance
with Butterfinger Blizzards and then a smoldering glance.
I accepted the next course with lips and arms most eager.
And what he served me next, my dear, was anything but meager.

I do not like posh restaurants with their nouvelle cuisine.
I find their foam and slivers and seeds and piles obscene.
Their single little vegetables hung on tiny racks?
I prefer larger portions and calories served in sacks!

And that is how we bonded, your Uncle Joe and I,
over Colonel Sanders, Taco Bell and carryout Thai.
Others may impress their dates with pricey gourmet suppers,
but my true love seduced with feasts of fast food filler-uppers!

The prompt today was meager.

Camellia

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For Cee’s daily flower prompt.

Mixed Bouquet: Flower of the Day, Dec. 14, 2017

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See Cee’s gorgeous orange roses and berries HERE

The Legend

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Maiden’s Dilemma

Each myth, legend or fairytale
from “once upon” to “fare thee well”
shares some elements of story
be they sad, uplifting, gory.

Always a damsel in distress—
Rumplestiltskin’s name to guess,
for straw once spun out into gold,
or another story to be told.

Too much sleep may be her curse,
ugly stepsisters, or worse.
Murder, treason, sloth and pox
were emptied from Pandora’s box.

These troubles spread from near to far,
(although, in fact, it was a jar.)
Zeus forgave Pandora’s shame.
The imp revealed his own strange name.

But the other women described above
were saved by cleverness or love.
Scheherazade escaped the hearse
with stories, legends, tales and verse.

Cinderella rose from hearth and ashes
and Sleeping Beauty opened lashes­­––
both maids saved by daring-do:
one by a kiss, one by a shoe.

So whatever might have been their fate:
loss of child or murderous mate,
wipe tears and fears away with laughter.
They all lived happily ever after.

 

Another rewrite from four years ago. The prompt today was legend.

Shoe Tree: (Lady Slipper Orchids) Flower of the Day, Dec. 13, 2017

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This lady has a plethora of slippers and one resident spider.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

The Windfall

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The Windfall

My auntie was a millionaire and left it all to me.
For sure it was a windfall, but windfalls don’t come free.
With money money everywhere, I’ve not a drop to spend.
The tax men took so much of it, I thought they’d never end.
Then friends all asked me for a loan and how could I say no?
My brother’s operation increased the money flow.
My doggies needed flea baths. My kitty needed spaying.
My neighbor asked me for a loan. His fruit trees needed spraying.
My friendly local banker called me on the phone.
Not to ask for a deposit, but to ask me for a loan!
The plastic surgeon of my wife just put me on his dockets
which meant a lift  for me, of course, but simply of the pockets.
Now my kids all want new cars. My aunties prefer rings.
All of those that I hold dear now simply want new things.
When I try to talk to them, my words escape their ears.
They only want to talk about their loans now in arrears.
So when you ask me what I spend my million bucks on, friend,
my answer only takes one word, repeated end-to-end.
I lend and lend and lend and lend and lend and lend and lend.

This is a rewrite of a poem written three years ago.The prompt today was inheritance.

Squirreled Away: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, the Letter Q

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I’ve been saving these photos taken in Sheridan, Wyoming in October for the correct occasion.  Looks like this is it.  The challenge is photos of anything containing the letter “Q.”  Soooooo. (Click on first photo to enlarge all. If you are viewing on Facebook, click on URL first or you won’t see all the photos.)

 

 For Cee’s Fun Foto, Letter Q Challenge.