Sunday, November 17, 2013

Life-gift or Hollow Token



 Writer's Digest PAD challenge: Day 17

For today’s prompt, write an element poem. Maybe an element from the periodic table (hydrogen, oxygen, etc.). Maybe an element of surprise?!? Or a missing element, which could refer to a person, tool, or poem. Run wild with it.


...yes, run wild with  it!
Tear the wrapping from this gift
Touch, taste, treasure its fine measure
Let its mercy-morsels sift
Through our bearing, reaching, sharing
Never daring to be slack
For this is a one-time wonder 
We can never have it back
 ...But remember, precious children
Without God we waste this dance
Empty as the hollow token
In a one-night stand romance

Janet~





Saturday, November 16, 2013

How Swift the Sparkling Day...





Wow, this day flew by...I was sure I was going to have some 'spare' time today,to get out and 'play' but the blue dusk fell too quickly.

How swift the day, the sparkling day
Has borne its rife ration away
And now the stars come out to play
In night’s ebony field
How soft the hour, the grappling hour
Returns to earth the dewy flow’r
And man can sense a potent pow’r
Within the clock concealed

The night, the stealthy night descends
And wraps the land in ether blends
Of blue on blue until it ends
In darkness, star-pinned black
A man, a man travels the span
Of dust to dust beneath the fan
Of dark to light to dark again
…there is no turning back

How soon, how soon the vanity
Of have and holding’s venery
Will still, like leaf beneath the tree
Or snowflake’s silent sleep
How swift the day and darkness fade
How quickly Time’s pittance is paid
The measure of its moments weighed
In that supernal deep

© Janet Martin


Of Half-things

'We are over half-way to Christmas!' announces Victoria as she counts down the days with beads...

Writer's Digest PAD Challenge 16

For today’s prompt, write a half-way poem. The poem might deal with a half-way point in time. Or perhaps, a place in the dead center of here and there–in a physical sense. Even a compromise on terms in a negotiation can work.

Who knows the home-stretch or that ether crux where
we can proclaim, we are half-way there?

Who can tell his half-number of days?
Or judge half a man simply by his age...

In half an hour we will be
closer to a finish-line we cannot see

Half-cups of coffee, half-smile, half-kiss
spawns desire to see what the other half is...

A half-poem crumpled on the floor
tells of an author looking for more...

Time is an intangible winnowing of air
Its half-breath whisper silvers the hair...

We must pursue life, not with half a heart
But taste every moment to its fullest part

Joy, sorrow, laughter, pain
The other half of sun is rain

Half-parted waters, half-answered prayer
Sometimes the waiting is a hard half to bear

Life is the door-way to eternity
where there is no 'half-accountability'...

Darling, let's be hungry for each other
like we can never get enough
because who is ever satisfied
with  'half-of-making-love'?

Janet~

an old proverb that I grew up on...

What your hand finds to do
Do with your might
Things done by halves
Are never done right







Friday, November 15, 2013

These are Night-thoughts...

 

Image Source




"These are night-thoughts; the daylight will wash them away".
 ~From Lark-rise to Candleford~

Charmed, I suppose by blue and rose
Of morning, noon and twilight brush
A cage of bone can hold its own
The heart a Brave in living’s rush
But then, oh then the midnight pen
Reveals what daylight washes far
When I am sage with age again
And never wondering where you are…

Spoiled, I guess, by love’s caress
I could ask for nothing more
The heart can hold both gray and gold
As daylight seals that private door
But oh, the night, when all is quiet
Unbars the gate of good intent
Before the day when soft I say
I never wonder where you went…

Yes, yes, I know, the ebb and flow
Of dawn to dusk to dawn must be
The thoughts that ride its moment-tide
Are at the mercy of its sea
And I am just a girl at heart
The night has no respect for years
Thought spills unhindered in the dark
That in the daylight disappears…

Janet~



What of this Vast Unknown?





Writer's Digest PAD Challenge, day 15; For today’s prompt, take the phrase “What (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

We balance on a fulcrum twixt
What is to come and what is past
This paper cup that we lift up
Will snare wee drops of unknown’s cast
And then we drink; Unknown to known
Our footsteps fraught with faith or fear
From mystery to memory
While still the Unknown hovers near

Perception’s possibilities
Inspires us to dream, explore
We paint the passion of our pleas
On castle wall or prison floor
Yet, we are never nearer to
Unknown’s elusive clarity
Confined it seems, to dream our dreams
On what is past and what will be

What of this vexing, vast Unknown?
Its fantasy perplexes thought
Yet, we are ever poised upon
What yet will be and what can not
Fear would persuade my dreams to die
Save for our God upon His throne
Therefore, by His blessed Grace go I
Into the vexing, vast Unknown

© Janet Martin


What is It?



PAD Challenge, day 15

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “What (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 might include: “What Luck,” “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas,” “Whatever You Say,” and so on.



What is this thing that drives us to
The tarmac of another day?
A desperation gentle, true
That drives us to our knees to pray
What is this force that rushes through
Our beings; violent, soft as dove
Compelling us to hold, let go…
Oh, I think it must be love

© Janet Martin


 


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Ink-Allies





We share a bond
You and I
We know what it is
To wander the sky
In search of a perfect word
To jot
The taste, sound, touch
Of a thought

We share a kin-ship
Unlike any other
Knit together
Like sister or brother
Because we suffer
Unlike other men
Beneath the calling
Of the pen

With ink we bleed
While others sleep
We bear the need
To dredge the deep
Not for the loot
The miser hoards
But for the fruit
Of perfect words

© Janet Martin

Exploring...Love




For today’s prompt, write an exploration poem. Maybe you’re exploring a new land, the depths of quarks, outer space, the mind, the soul, etc. Your call. In fact, it could be said that most poems are an exploration of one sort or another. So get at it.


Sometimes it is not enough
To search your eyes behind closed doors
Sometimes I need to touch, taste, feel
The moment- melody that pours
Tossing in disarray the leaf
Or teasing tender grass with frost
And then my little unbelief
Repents; Belief returns full force...

The exploration of Your thought
Has no beginning and no end
Beneath dusk’s painted skies, my God
I know I’ll never comprehend
The fullness of Your wonderment
No one can claim Your highest praise
For who has ever touched the tent
Vaulting above man’s meager days

…and who has placed their wooded jot
Of tree against the evening air
Or spoken to fruition, thought
To explore You, God; who can dare
Then place their trust in lowly dust?
Ah, sometimes it is not enough
To search your eyes behind closed doors
Sometimes I need to touch Your Love…

© Janet Martin

“Look, oh look at the beauty of it” I begged her to take her eyes off of the gadget in her grasp. “Look at the way the light falls, outlining every tree in gold; look at the vivid shades of Creation! Who, on their own could dream such beauty? Oh, what an honor to be called to serve such a God as this.”




 Last night and this morning beneath the big sky the words of David whispered to me, 'when I consider the heavens....what is man that you visit him?