Of Hunger and Hauntings

(I first saw this picture last winter and it has haunted me...)

Lord, give us a heart for the hungry...

A vulture watches a starving child [1993]

“The prize-winning image: A vulture watches a starving child in southern Sudan, March 1, 1993.
Carter’s winning photo shows a heart-breaking scene of a starving child collapsed on the ground, struggling to get to a food center during a famine in the Sudan in 1993. In the background, a vulture stalks the emaciated child.

Carter was part of a group of four fearless photojournalists known as the “Bang Bang Club” who traveled throughout South Africa capturing the atrocities committed during apartheid.
Haunted by the horrific images from Sudan, Carter committed suicide in 1994 soon after receiving the award.”

'Don’t slink away now

With your head slightly bowed

While the taste of my blood

Smears your indulgent lips

Don’t splatter vain words

With your greed-polished swords

And cry ‘Lord, have mercy’

As my suffering drips

To your gaze in red pools

While a circus of fools

Sadly wags their heads

In feigned piety

As hunger and hurt

Lie with me in the dirt

Pitiful comrades

To my misery'

© Janet Martin

Of Glimpses...

 

Upon earth’s four-season duress

We can do but one small thing

One foot and then the other, love

And what these gathered steps will bring

In sundry shapes of joy and strife

Will be a little thing called life

This little thing that we call life

Spills moment-petals on a stage

Where eventide and dawn are rife

With mortal grievance of the age

And yet, against your shoulder, love

I sense a heaven up above

They say that heaven’s gate is sealed

Until we cross that dreaded tide

And only then will be revealed

The glories of ‘the other side’

But oh my love, between us two

I’ve glimpsed its bliss when I’m with you

© Janet Martin

Painting Daylight

The sun came up, dazzled the earth for approx. 15 minutes, then slipped behind a bank of clouds...

Ruby whisper fans the air

Darkness melts beneath a sigh

Ravishing the eastern sky

Morning trembles like a prayer

Night recedes; its sable span

Brims with kind proof of heaven’s grace

As nameless pigments interlace

And we cry out, ‘oh, what is man?’

Oh, what is man that He should please

Our gaze with wonders such as this?

Filling night’s void with mercy’s kiss

On grand, unfathomed galaxies

Where ruby whispers swell, expand

As we behold with awestruck heart

The Master of celestial art

Painting daylight across the land

© Janet Martin

Heart-treasure

Don’t cover me with sympathetic eyes

‘Poor housewife bound to kitchen sink and broom’

These are but mechanics of a room

They do not speak of home’s sweet paradise

The housewife, though her coffers boast no gold

Does not despise her role of unsung bliss

For she is paid in sticky toast-crumb kiss

And treasures that only a heart can hold

No PhD or credits deck the walls

But joy and happiness are not of these

Pink mitten waves and mother-memories

Echo within love’s fingerprinted halls

Oh humble haven, sweet and simply spun

She counts her blessings, not of worldly worth

Yet her wealth is the fairest of the earth

As from her door her happy children run

© Janet Martin

My hubby chuckled as he watched my eyes well with tears (tears of simple contentment) as Victoria waved vigorously from the bus window; a tradition since my oldest kids left on the school bus-there was always someone to take up the wave…and I said thank-you to him for allowing me to be at home. These are treasure I wouldn’t trade for the world. I told him that I really don’t care if there are no tropical vacations, (because a single income is strained to the max every month, and he apologizes sometimes for all we cannot do). I don’t care if we lack in ‘stuff’. By the grace of God we have enough.

Poetic Bloomings 2013 Kick-off

Kicking off the first Sunday prompt in 2013, we're(Poetic Bloomings) setting you up for some word play.

Here is a list of words:

challenge, common, mask, skill, origin,

love, night, drink, beauty, death

 

Now, here's the twist:

Write your poems using these words. BUT, none of these words can appear in your poem. Get reacquainted with your old friend Roget and use your thesaurus to find an alternate word for each, and then use THOSE words to write your poem. You choose the right word for what it is you want to say.

Man is master of disguise

Though clever he may be

Two mutual traits he cannot hide

Pride and humility

The beginning of a man

Is not by height or stature

This test of merit will begin

With our human nature

Man’s devotion is not shown

By well-shaped words he voices

Darkness and light each are made known

As action proves our choices

He who seeks wisdom from the Vine

Will be filled with good measure

While he who consumes lust’s cheap wine

Will never find its treasure

We tread toward mortal demise

And brothers all are we

For there are none who can disguise

Pride or humility

© Janet Martin

Challenge= test

Common=mutual

Mask=disguise

Skill=master

Origin=beginning

Love=devotion and lust

Night=darkness

Drink=consumes

Beauty=merit

Death=demise

Beautiful Comfort

 

 Matthew 6:9-13

For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory

Though ages, eons and eternities roll

Nothing and no one can succeed the power

Of He whose shed blood redeems man’s wretched soul

Compassion and mercy and grace fill his right Hand

Holiness, judgment and wrath fills His left

Love, perfect love without end or beginning

IS ever IS in the Rock that was cleft

He who created this transient existence

Will never fail; He is eternal God

He who beholds our stubborn resistance

Brushes with miracles earth’s sin-cursed sod

Into the sky He flings His awesome grandeur

Dawning and dusk flame with His holy power

Into our hearts He spills heavenly wonder

Saving us from Death’s shuttering hour

‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory

Forever and ever and ever, Amen’

Beautiful comfort amidst this world’s boasting

Jesus IS Lord, Savior, King of kings

© Janet Martin

Sometimes, as I pray the Lord’s Prayer these familiar words stun me with fresh wonder.

May you all have a blessed and holy Sunday.

Of Friends

After all is said and done

And this small life draws to an end

Our dearest worth upon this earth

Must surely be that of a friend

Life’s road yawns into the unknown

With many a trying twist and bend

Yet darkest miles are warm with smiles

If we can share them with a friend

‘To have a friend we must be one’

This truth is surely ages-old

And oh, the measure of its treasure

Cannot in humble words be told

For friends, in spite of us, are true

Seeing beyond the veil of skin

They weep and laugh and pray with you

To fill the empty cup within

…so, after all is said and done

Regardless of what life may send

The dearest, rarest, purest wealth

Is ever found within a friend

© Janet Martin

Dedicated to my dear friends.
The wonderful time at our writer's group last night
reminded me how truly wonderful and priceless good friends are...

You enrich my life more than mere word can tell.

Thank-you.

Double-edged Touch

 

One some days love is a rose

A mantle of joy

And breath-stealing tenderness

Melodies spill effortlessly

Beneath its

Caress

On some days I cannot write

About love

Because it hurts too much

As I tremble beneath

Its bittersweet

Double-edged touch

J~