Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Handful of Seeds?

 



For today's prompt (the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month),
write a make sense poem and/or don't make sense poem.


It doesn’t make sense that something so little and brittle should kindle such joy
The rush of elation roused by contemplation of what waits within its employ
Of places to wander and graces to ponder as wonder its plunder beholds
Completely breath taken by what will awaken, that raindrop and sun-kiss unfolds

Each April as surely and sweetly and purely as winter’s traces disappear
A feeling comes stealing, nay, reeling and pealing like bells tolling in the new year
As seeds for the garden (so seemingly common) then, utterly awe and amaze
And fill heart-recesses with thrilled happiness-es that spill into anthems of praise

Because we remember stunning petal splendor, the fruit of our labour’s reward
The way that a kernel begets virgin, vernal abundance of goodness outpoured
Instilled with cool bowers, bright rainbows of flowers, provision for needs great and small
So little and brittle, ah, handful of miracles; Perhaps it makes sense after all

© Janet Martin

Because we remember stunning petal splendor, the fruit of our labour’s reward...





the fruit of our labour's reward...










Defying Common Sense of Sequence


For today's prompt (the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month),
write a make sense poem and/or don't make sense poem.


Why is it in the night
sweet slumber 
will not shut my eyes
but oh, sleep shuts them tight
around the 
hour of sunrise

Janet~





Beyond Comprehension (John 3:16)


For today's prompt (the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month),
write a make sense poem and/or don't make sense poem.




You loved the world so much You gave your Son; for none could earn
Enough to pay sin's ransom; what can I give in return?
For whatever I think of in the name of love seems small
Compared to what You gave; sinless, You came and gave Your all

No matter how I ponder it I cannot comprehend
Such height and depth and breadth of love all sinners to defend
The cross you bore, the bloody gore to redeem human race
Defies all explanation except one; amazing grace
 
...and all that You ask in return, redemption to receive
Is faith to take what none can earn; to repent and believe
Thus, surely it makes sense, in the light of eternity
That I should trust love so immense, that You would die for me

© Janet Martin

John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
 but that the world through him might be saved.


Monday, April 4, 2022

Can You Smell It?



For today's prompt, write a smell poem.

It fills picnic baskets with quilt-and-book dreams...


It flutters and twitters in finch-frilled treetops...


It gleams in each sunbeam...


It gleams in each sunbeam, streams where brook-song brims
It sparkles in jewels that gild barren limbs
It quivers and gushes from heaven to earth
A river that rushes death’s graveyards with birth

It lilts in the lyric that landscapes compose
Hint of minty tincture and pink wink of rose
It wafts in the softness of purple mist-crowns
Hiding yonder hill, still steeped in grays and browns

It billows in breezes that test laundry lines
It melts in mosaics of last summer’s vines
It purrs in the fur of pussy willow trees
And laughs in the garden that wakes from its z-z-z-z’s

It spills like a love-song we had long forgot
A duet of bluebell and forget-me-not
It fills picnic baskets with quilt-and-book dreams
The shrieking of children knee-deep in cold streams

It makes happiness feel so jolly and fat
In spite of mud-messes and shivery show’rs
Washing dowdy tresses and waking the flow'rs

It takes winter-weary woodlands in its arms
In renewals wrought only by nature's charms
It reinstates pulpits and preachers named Jack
And carpets its chapels with violet bric-a-brac 

It flutters and twitters in finch-frilled treetops
It shimmers in puddles, glimmers in raindrops  
It runs in the sap boiled to maple-sweet yum
First harvest's gold gathered in drum after drum

It flings wide the sense of a rust-jaded gate
Where havens of trillium and daffodils wait
Where choruses warble in numberless laud 
It rouses from slumber the gardens of God

It bobs in the step of farmer’s pep restored
It steams up from cups where outdoor tea is poured
It makes home-sweet-homers feel like queen and king
The pure, pungent, heady aroma of Spring

© Janet Martin

* click on link for a pure-happiness treat

Catch Me If You Can

For today's prompt, write a catch up poem.

I'm playing poem-challenge catch up today after a busy weekend!💖
Always so much to do/love/write...

This morning was no exception...
Beauty dangled its poetic lure for all the world to see!
Morning to morning, night's mantle is rent
With the renewal of love's covenant 



So between Beauty and Duty...




Poetry

So much to cherish in so little Time
Moment-mementos to capture in rhyme
Duty's staid summons to tend and disperse 
Beauty (never common) to secure in verse
Love-lassoed lyrics so when day is done
Though the dust settles the music plays on

So much to whisper to He who resides
Over the glister of dawn-to-dusk-tides
Morning to morning, night's mantle is rent
With the renewal of love's covenant 
So many sins to repent of, oh my
 Praise God, redemption's fount never runs dry

I know, no poet can ever deplete
Ink-wells refurbished with bitter and sweet
Still, the bard blissfully pledges to try/dare
Desire dredges its deeps with a sigh/prayer 
So many syllables to twist and tease
Into haiku, ballads, odes, elegies

Darling, I do believe poets are kissed
With the loveliest unmet to-do-list 
Forbid that ever I should live to see
The consummation of all poetry
For the fulfillment of poet's delight
Is the instilled bent to write and to write

Garden and galley, brook-creased countryside  
Hilltop and valley, fleece-cloud, blushing bride
Babies and butterflies, loved-one-come-home
Forming the font that turns into a poem
Turning what might be a most mundane day
Into a breath-stealing hip-hip-hooray

The alphabet fills an infinite pen
Spilling and thrilling, again and again
Thoughts become children we hold then let go
 Page after page falls like epical snow
Where want and wonder grapple and set free 
Life-sparkles canonized in poetry 

Blue, twilight shadow falls, troubadour's bliss
Snaring a madrigal from farewell's kiss
Only to be wakened by dawn's hellos 
Morn, noon and night; ink-delight ebbs and flows 
Where, no matter how many poems span
One more is calling 'catch me if you can'

© Janet Martin
  


Unbridled Hallelujah

A hymn of praise to our awesome Creator and Saviour!


Isn't being marveled speechless the best?!!
(as I was yesterday at Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto, Ont. Canada)

Gen.1:20
And God said, 
Let the waters bring forth abundantly 
the moving creature that hath life...

Whether we are poring over His Wonder-full Word or
witnessing wonders of His Hand,
whether we are weeping for joy as we behold
in our mind's eye, the cross of Calvary
or whether we are wonder-struck,
 beholding glimpses of God's majesty in creation...

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is [b]unsearchable.
 Ps.145:3








To the God of creation
Oh, may our honor be
More than mouthed adoration
But heart-humility

To the God of salvation
May our lives confess
With faithful exaltation
Redemption’s righteousness

To God, of earth and Heaven
May worship never cease
Through Him we are forgiven
Christ’s death, our death’s release

To God be all the glory
The beauty of His grace
Will reveal faith’s full story
When death unveils His face

For the God everlasting
Who will make all things known
Hears the cares/prayers we are casting
Before His glorious throne

God is hope's restoration
The Savior of the soul
The healer of all nations
The faith that makes us whole

The joy of the believer
Sin's pardon all may claim
The dread of the deceiver
Who trembles at His name 

To Alpha and Omega
The Beginning and End
Universal ecclesia's
Father and faithful Friend

May unbridled devotion
Compose love's fervent lay
Majestic as an ocean
That no shoreline can stay 

His goodness and His mercy
Without reserve, run rife
Absolute Supremacy
The Way, The Truth, The Life

Boundless heights and depths thunder
With evidence of He
Who eclipses awed wonder
Who will bend every knee

To God, love’s divine Author
May our devotion brim
All glory, praise and honour
Belongs only to Him

Mortal boast is folly
All we have, He gives
Through God, just and holy
Redeemed Sinner lives

© Janet Martin

Psalm 145:5
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And [d]on Your wondrous works.







Reminded me of this song video








Saturday, April 2, 2022

Call To Dance




For today's prompt, write a second chance poem.

A ballroom, misty blue and gold dangles from waning moon
A sense of more than 'growing old' unfolds from night's cocoon
 The heavens, like a butterfly, spreads ethereal wings
 Hope's magnum opus fills the sky; creation sings and sings
For, to a track record of stumbles comes a call to dance 
 As from the Hand of mercy tumbles mortal's second chance

Upon its maiden voyage, morning's gleaming barge embarks
Laden with leaps of courage and the heralding of larks
Desire drives the dreamer wild with bud-bejeweled sweeps
Where quiet poet is beguiled to dredge ink-fueled deeps
And never waste the wonder that deserves more than mere glance
As boundless heavens thunder, soundless, with love's second chance

Janet~

Lam.3:22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.



Friday, April 1, 2022

Family...(or Best Gift Ever)

'This is the BEST day ever!"
declared Little Girl through a mouthful of raspberry jello and whipped cream💓😊
(don't we all feel like that when we have our mouths full of our favorite food?! lol)

Here's a fun little take on the poem-prompt below
Favourite Food
It is extremely hard to be rude
When one's mouth is full of one's favorite food!
So maybe the way to treat our fellowman
Is to eat as much favorite food as we can!😅


Happy April!

For today's prompt, pick a word that begins with F, 
make it the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Today, ah, what a gift
Of sacred tears and smiles
As morning sets a barge adrift
That dusk deftly exiles

Today, ah, what a course
Of forceful ups and downs
A gift that God’s mercies endorse
And twilight’s tableau crowns

Today, a tray that tips
And who knows what will spill,
But He who permits and equips
According to His will

Today, ah, what a lease
From God to man is borne
The canvas of love’s masterpiece
-es restored morn to morn

Today, ah, what a call
It bears for you and me
To remember that we are all
A great, big family

Let’s treat each other thus
And treasure each Today
For nobody knows which of us
Will next be called away

Today, always today
The page where ink runs rife
And writes with what we do and say
The story of a life

Today, let’s live and love
As kindly as can be
For you and I are all part of
God’s great, big family

© Janet Martin

Rom.12:9-21

Love in Action
9 Love must be sincere. 
Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 
10 Be devoted to one another in love. 
Honor one another above yourselves. 
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
 12 Be joyful in hope, 
patient in affliction, 
faithful in prayer. 
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. 
Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 
16 Live in harmony with one another.
 Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c
Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. 
Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
 live at peace with everyone.
 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends,
 but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 
“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. 
20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.