Showing posts with label communicating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communicating. Show all posts

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Cadence of Conversation...


A young man who started attending our church recently 
was killed suddenly yesterday afternoon! 
Oh, how our hearts ache for his sorrowing loved ones.
What were the last words they exchanged, I wonder
as I try to remember mine to my loved ones 
should we not meet again this side of heaven?!
...and oh, how precious the memories that ring with the cadence of conversation and laughter!
a birthday tea with friends...

hubby and brother-in-law solving the world's problems;-)

supper ...

sisters...

Cadence of conversation mingles with the noise of life
It draws us into mutual worlds of kindred joys and strife
Filling the gap between us with chatter’s sweet melody
Like little brooks that sparkle from the meadow to the sea

In coffee-shops, on sidewalks or along a crowded beach
Around the supper table flows the fellowship of speech
And oft we never give its interchange much thought at all
Tossing words back and forth like a weightless, colorful ball

Cadence of conversation, how its common beauty cheers
We share our weight of creature cares, our hopes and dreams and fears
And little do we think about the possibility
That what we say might be the final words from you or me

How precious is the sound that creates common ground and such
Where we meet in the middle as talking and list’ning touch
Then, as we think about it we should always keep in mind
That what we say will someday spill in echoes left behind

…and not, until the voice is gone from us forevermore
Do we so dearly crave what we took for granted before
When we, without much thought at all would share our griefs and joys
…cadence of conversation mingled with life’s background noise

© Janet Martin



Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
 but only what is helpful for building up the one in need
and bringing grace to those who listen.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

...Case You're Wondering If I Wish You Wouldn't Talk So Much

PAD Challenge day 4: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Case (blank);” replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new phrase the title of your poem; and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “Case of Water,” “Case in Point,” “Case Study,” and “Case of the Missing Person.”
I hope everyone has a case of easy poeming today!

In this age of texting and all other phone-fixations,
Chatter has become cherished artwork 
even if most of it fades with the hour!
somehow when her kitchen is filled with chatter,
mother doesn't worry so much
if something's the matter
There is nothing quite like children to revive in us the art of 'chattering':)
They love to be talked to and listened to...
...a chat for their ears only on a fine afternoon
 (I wonder if they remember what they were discussing;-)


The ways of words
Ah, who can count
What most will amount to?
The poetry
Of you and me
A blip upon the blue

Our chatter
Yester-afternoon
Has scattered like its hours
The bloom of speech
Forgotten soon
Save a few chosen flow’rs

But I would rather
Hear the chatter
That soon fades away
Than listen to you
Looking at me (or your phone)
With nothing to say

© Janet Martin

Top photo cropped from this performance where at 14 mos. old clatter is as exciting as chatter!


Friday, November 9, 2012

When He is Gone... #2





We cannot tell him then
Those words we ought to speak
Nor shake his hand or hug him
Or kiss his love-lined cheek

The ‘would-have-should-have’ ache
Of thoughts he did not know
Will not be there, if now we take
The time to tell him so

What good are accolades?
Or words, loving and dear
If we wait to express them
When he can no longer hear

Oh, tell him that you love him
Not upon a cold gravestone
But now; for all the words you speak
He cannot hear when he is gone

© Janet Martin

Poetics Aside Prompt: use the words 'When he is gone' somewhere in a poem .

Friday, December 2, 2011

Torturous Tango



You don’t tell me what you’re thinking
And well, I guess I do the same
And I’m beginning to wonder
If this has turned into a game
You ask me how I am doing
I smile and say I’m just fine
I ask you what’s new in your world
And you hand me that worn-out line
“Oh, nothin’”
It’s a sad and a strange kind of two-step
A dull choreography
As words cover up the silence
Expanding between you and me
It’s a painful slow-motion tango
This dance that somehow we’ve begun
As you ask me what I am thinking
And I reply in monotone
“Oh, nothin’”
Empty words are like wall-paper
They simply cover up the truth
As we sit apart together
And speak of the weather, and food
Our eyes plead for a brave, new language
But somehow no one makes the first move
So we dance in the safety of habit
And ask each other what we want to do…
“Oh, nothin’”

Janet

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Communication's Frustrations


Why is it that the things I need most to tell you
And the things I really want you to know
I cannot find the proper words for
Or have to ability to show?

Why is it that when you are miles and hours from me
Suddenly the perfect words evolve
In striking, startling clarity
As our divergences dissolve?

Why is it that when we stand face to face
My mind draws a gaping void
As all the perfect words erase
And good intentions are destroyed?

Why is it so easy to do the right thing
When you are too far away
But when you’re standing next to me
I don’t know what to say?

Janet~

Do you ever feel like this?

Thursday, July 29, 2010

What We Really Mean....


We talk about your work and how it’s going
We talk about the kids and what they need
We even talk about the weather
We talk about the cold, the rain, the heat
We talk about your favorite sport in season
About the little troubles of the day
But darling is there really any reason
We don’t say the things we need to say

I love you, I’m sorry
Forgive me for the thoughtless words I say
I need you, don’t worry
I will love you till my dying day

You tell me that your mothers feeling poorly
We should go and visit her real soon
I tell you that my garden tillers broken
If I could I’d hurl it at the moon
The window in the basement will need changing
Before another winter closes in
I think the furniture needs re-arranging……
Why don’t we utter what we really mean?

I love you, yes it’s true
I was wrong to say the words I said
I’m sorry, yes, me too
Why don’t we take a moon-light walk instead?

I’m lonely…yes, me too
Do you love me like you used to do?

.....I think we need a new table-cloth
Do you prefer the color green or blue?

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

....for three days we talked
about everything except
what we really wanted to say.....

(Anna Karenina)...paraphrased