Showing posts with label heroes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heroes. Show all posts

Saturday, July 4, 2020

The Great Orchestra of Livelihood


 If COVID-19 has shown us anything it's that we all have a vital part 
to 'play' in the Great Orchestra of Livelihood!
We all need a bit o' bread to eat and a little nest to sleep in!
It struck me as the farmer waved as he rolled by on his tractor,
as the 'mess' behind the house gaped at me as I hung out laundry...

...waiting for the plumber to get the proper permits to proceed
as campers roll by on the first July weekend
as campgrounds depend on patrons
as does every other business,
that we all need each other!
 Surely we are all essential to someone!


Some of my instruments come from the garden today!
Oh, what sweet music medley (aka salads) waits to be made!


Thank-you God (and very hard-working truck-driving husband)
Always like to go to some extra pains pleasure, for Saturday night supper
for Jim after mostly lunch-box menus all week.



Through a mist-kissed colour-flue
Orange-emerald-purple-blue
Pink, magenta, yellow, red
Tolls the quest for daily bread
Rolls the wheels of cars and trucks
All to earn a couple bucks
To address the need, the like
Susie’s braces, Tommy’s trike
Dreams to fill and bills to pay
Banker versus holiday
Some days bad and others good
In the quest of livelihood

Don the duds to fight the fight
All heroes in our own right
Banker, trucker, farmer, nurse
Reap the fruit of Adam’s curse
Picker, painter, poet, ah
All part of its purposed law
Wielder of hammer or trowel
Spatula, shovel, tea-towel
Florist, dentist,baker, cook
Author of best-seller book
Bard and bloke part of the brood
Yoked with quest for livelihood

Seller, buyer, shy or bold
Doctor, lawyer, young or old
Astronaut or engineer
Pilot, pastor, puppeteer
All share in a common quest
Bread to eat and little nest
Garbage collectors and those
Who cut our hair and groom our toes
Who sweep the streets, who drives the cab
Who polices those who would nab
That earned by other’s sweat and blood
All in the quest for livelihood

Meat-packers, mechanics too
All with vital work to do
Caregivers, delivery boys
For our tradesmen, make some noise
Librarians, grocers, oh
By the grace of God we go
Big or small, all a part of
Living’s leap of eat-sleep-love
Then, if you have a bit of bread
Remember to bow your head
And thank God, from man's curse He wooed
The Orchestra of livelihood

© Janet Martin



Wednesday, November 21, 2018

For Every Day Heroes...

Her 'heroism' details are not mine to tell but this poem inspired by a chat with her, 
is for my friend Sasha and all you other every day heroes!

 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers...Phil.1:4




This prayer is for you; shouldering hidden hard knocks
And hope’s invisible hills
This prayer is for the warrior
Who battles life’s volley of bills…and more bills

This prayer is for the worker
Torn between home and Must
Of leaving loved ones too long
Because of living’s high cost

This prayer is for the woman
Who gave up her dreams because
Someone needed her more right now
And She was all there was

This prayer is for the man
Who is ‘living the dream’ its price
...sweat, mud, blood, fears, prayers and tears
…love’s sacrifice

This prayer is for you
Everyday heroes unsung
That God would guide and bless and keep
Our spirits forever kind and young

© Janet Martin

Friday, February 9, 2018

Blue-collar Heroes (an oldie re-vamped)

Last night around supper-hour behind the snowplow
came a lineup of homeward bound work-trucks, vans and cars
like pieces of a puzzle in the framework of a country.
Thank-you to all the working-class heroes, whoever, wherever you are!

Blue-collar brave-hearts
They've got no medals
No badges on their
Coat-sleeves or lapels
Working class warriors
Seeking no glory
Fighting life’s battles
And doing it well

Obscure battalion
Work-force deployment
Picks up the armor
Of shovel and cart
Grease-monkey heroes
Some push brooms, wheelbarrows
Keeping the country
From falling apart

Courageous convoy
Gallant and glorious
Punching the clock
While nobody applauds
Nobody mentions
Their names at a gala
For squaring their shoulders
Against all the odds

Blue-collar champions
Humble, hard workers 
 Diligent soldiers
Of toil's honest worth
Working class hero
How the world needs you
Tip 'o the hat
To the salt of the earth


© Janet Martin


Thank-you for coming home tired and still playing with your kids.
Thank-you for not telling them how to live, but showing them.

Thank-you for giving even when life takes more than it seems you have.
Thank-you for being brave without medals,
honest without awards,
and diligent without applause.
Thank-you!
...and don't give up.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Super-heroes... Two-for-two Tuesday

This song we sisters would sing while doing dishes:) Our parents were/are heroes to us, teaching us that no matter who or where we are we are called to do our best not merely for man, but God.

PAD challenge two-for-two Tuesday; day 4
  1. Write a super hero poem.
  2. Write a super heroine poem.
To he who goes to work; his goal,
to do the best he can
and not life's menial duty shirk, oh
He is super-man

To she who does not seek applause
but gives, in every chore
her utter-best simply because
of what she's thankful for

To everyday women and men
Super-heroes by far
because they give the best they can
exactly where they are

Janet Martin~



Monday, June 17, 2013

Blue-collar Heroes (a re-post)



Blue-collar brave-heart
He’s got no medals
No badges on his
Coat-sleeve or lapel
Working class warrior
Seeking no glory
Fighting life’s battle
And doing it well

Obscure battalion
Work-force deployment
Picks up the armor
Of shovel or cart
Low-dollar hero
Invisible valor
Witnessed by He
Who sees into the heart

Courageous convoy
Gallant and glorious
Punching the clock
While nobody applauds
Silently sacrificing
Over and over
And over again because
This is love

Blue-collar brave-heart
He’s got no medals
No badges on his
Shirt-sleeve or lapel
Working class warrior
Seeking no glory
Fighting life’s battle
And doing it well

© Janet Martin

Thank-you to all you blue-collar heroes, wherever in the world you are
Thank-you for coming home tired and still playing with your kids.
Thank-you for not telling them how to live, but showing them.
Thank-you for remembering that what is spoken is soon forgotten but what is done is long-remembered.
Thank-you for giving even when life takes more than it seems you have...
Thank-you for being brave without medals, honest without awards, and diligent without applause.
Thank-you Daddies!
...and don't give up.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Where Heroes are Born...



 

 Image source and stories

It is not on a sweet,
Still,
Soft and
Peaceful
Coral morn
That this world’s heroes
Are born…

No, it is
In the hard-core
Life-and-death decisions
Of putting others before
Self
Where flesh is sacrificed, scarred
And torn
Here; this is where
Heroes are born

© Janet Martin

The pictures out of Oklahoma in the past few days are heart-wrenching!



Our prayers continue.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Villain and the Hero...Two-for-two Tusdays





Poetics Aside prompt; Here are Paula’s prompts: Write a hero poem. Write a villain poem. 

 Vexing Villain

Some poems need no syllables
To distract or beguile
Darling, I shape you against me
In a faint, tender half-smile…

The poet dreams in perfect want
For that elusive word
Darling, I’ve borne the perfect taunt
In sudden passion stirred

As the air, obscure around us
Seethes with possibility
Darling, is it not ironic
That love’s perfect poetry…

…is not mouthed in verbal creations
Of bland inequity?
For Muse is a vexing villain
Of hope and insanity

But now we have trumped her ineptness
Though the silence may drive us wild
Love’s perfect poem, oh darling
Exists in a faint, half-smile

The Hero...

You do not come crashing in
on a black stead or verbose and vile
But darling, you persuade me
with nothing, but a faint half-smile

...across the room I see you
My hero; come, let's go home
Our eyes meet; the air is full
Of love's most perfect poem


© Janet Martin

Friday, November 2, 2012

Blue-collar Braveheart





Blue-collar brave-heart
He’s got no medals
No badges on his
Coat-sleeve or lapel
Working class warrior
Seeking no glory
Fighting life’s battle
And doing it well

Obscure battalion
Work-force deployment
Picks up the armor
Of shovel or cart
Low-dollar hero
Invisible valor
Witnessed by He
Who sees into the heart

Courageous convoy
Gallant and glorious
Punching the clock
While nobody applauds
Silently sacrificing
Over and over
And over again because
This is love


Blue-collar brave-heart
He’s got no medals
No badges on his
Shirt-sleeve or lapel
Working class warrior
Seeking no glory
Fighting life’s battle
And doing it well


© Janet Martin

Thank-you to all you blue-collar brave-hearts, wherever in the world you are. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Love Times Two...dedicated to would-be Housewives


Here’s to those who would love to be
Stay-at-home housewives
But the sting of debt’s eternity
Alters their envisioned lives
Where drawers of monthly bills reside
Ignorant of hope’s backward slide
After multiple addition and subtraction
Leaving but one inevitable option
She must go to work another year
And spurn the wish of staying here
With her children and her house
With balls and books and Mickey Mouse
Privately, her teardrops fall
She does her best and that is all
That anyone can hope to do
The rind and grind of love times two
They push beyond their weary grief
To give the best that they can give

© Janet Martin


Someone left a comment today on my  Allotment of Bliss poem that I simply cannot forget . This poem is to the brave, unsung heroes of those 'would-be housewives'. God Bless~