It's Poetry Friday time and since this is my first Friday since school ended, I thought I might celebrate the start of my ntwith sharing a poem here.
I wrote this poem 32 years ago when I was in my late 20's. I came across it today when going through boxes stored in our Garage Attic or the Grattic as we like to call it.
I recited this poem publicly some 30 years ago. It went over like a lead balloon like all the poems I recited that night. I tool one of them out of mothballs and posted it here on Poetry Friday 3 years back. It was well received so I thought I'd share this one as well.
Life In A Hall of Mirrors
Distant music of the Ice Cream Truck
Wafts sweetly through the streets
Children Stop Their Playing
Pavlovian dogs pull allowance out of pockets
Catching A glimpse of the truck
They pursue their pied piper
The Truck stops; The smiling driver is cheered by the crows
The children happily exchange their money
For sticks wrapped in paper
An old man watches them pretend to eat ice cream
And tells of the old days
When The Ice Cream Man sold Ice Cream
(And it cost less too!)
The children say they like pretending better
The Ice Cream Man drives off
Wondering what to leave off next
The stick or the wrapper
Karen Edmisten is hosting Poetry Friday this week. Click here to get there.
My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me. Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.
It's time for some A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 2 posts behind. The next letter is P so let's get right to it shall we?
They say beggars can't be choosers. I think the same logic applies to people who are behind on their assignments. Instead of not being choosers, we can't be perfectionists.
So I'm just making a pastiche of some examples of my poetry for today's post. If it's been on my blog or appeared somewhere else before I am also providing a link.
In 2023 and 2024 I participated in the Kid Lit Progressive Poems as part of the celebration of April as National Poetry Month. A progressive poem is ehre several poets take turns writing a line for that day's part of the poem. I have included the 2023 poem in it's entirety with mycontributions are in bold/
Raindrops, Moonseeds, and Dreams
Suddenly everything fell into place
like raindrops hitting soil and sinking in.
When morning first poked me, I’d wished it away
my mind in the mist, muddled, confused. \
Was this a dream or reality, rousing my response?
The sun surged, urging me to join in its rising,
Rising like a crystal ball reflecting on morning dew.
I jumped out of bed, ready to explore the day.
My feet pulled me outside and into the garden
Where lilies and bees weave…but wait! What’s that?
A bevy of bunnies jarted and darted and played in the clover.
A dog barked and flash, the bunderstorm is over.
I breathed-brave, quiet. Like a seed,
as the day, foretold in my dream, ventured upon me.
Sunbeams guided me to the gate overgrown with wisteria
where I spotted the note tied to the gate.
As I reached the gnarled gate, pollen floated like fairy dust into my face. Aaah Choo!
Enter, if you must. We’ve been waiting for you.
Not giving the curious note a thought, I pushed the gate open and ran through.
Stopped in my tracks, eyes wide in awe—can this really be true?
Huge mushrooms for tables, vines twined into chairs,
A flutter of fairies filled flowery teawares
With glazed nut cakes and apple blossom tea,
I heard soft whispers from behind a tree. Oh my! They had been “waiting for me!”
Still brave, but cautious, I waited for them.
Forested friends filled the glade. “You’ve arrived! Let the reverie begin!”
I laughed as my bare feet danced across the dew-soaked grass,
matching the beat of paws, claws, and wings—around me, above me.
Tea cakes and hugs, twice all around, then silly games and races ’til the sun slid down,
Moon shared a warm wink, and showered moon-seeds over earth’s precious ground.
Last Year for the Q day if the challenge, I wrote a poem: \
According to Merriam Webster, A quatrain is a unit or group of four lines of verse. I have decided to write the heart of my A to Z post in quatrains today. I am following an ABCB rhyme scheme
My A to Z Q Post
The A to Z Challenge
Is a big to do
Each year I struggle
As I get to Q
My theme this year
Has been Holidays
I've tried to approach it
In some different ways
Each Day, save Sunday
Calendars I consult
And search for Holidays
That I can exult
When I find the occasion
That I like better
I match the event
With that day's letter
For example April 2nd
Was Children's Book Day
B is for Book
I put on display
On the days of the alphabet
That start with A, E, I, O or U
I created my own holiday
Don't ask Y, but it's true
Today's Holiday
Wasn't hard to find
It was Poetry
And the creative mind
But how would that match
With the letter Q?
I just scribbled out some
Quatrains for you
This has been Poetry Friday
And Also A to Z
Thanks ever so much
for joining me.
I am not entirely a rhyming poet. I think all of my poems referenced here do rhyme. I did do an Acrostic poem for O in this years challenge and while that did not rhyme it did follow a pattern.
SO to end this post I'll just jot some unrhymed lines and see if later I can make something more of it.
Twisting and turning
The parade passed through
An optical illusion or a deliberate lie
A furtive glance of desperation
Ignorance of the truth
disdain for the needy
The I doesn't see
That the me is beside myself
in myopic misery
A buffet of brutality
with extra helpings of apathy
washed down with righteous indignation
X marks the spot
where twitter once retweetd
link on the various words to get to the various places.
My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me. Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.
It's time for some A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 1 post behind. The next letter is O so let's get right to it shall we?
Today is also Poetry Friday and since there is only a few minutes left in Friday, I will share a poem about Optimism and be back tomorrow to write about how I'm a poet. The slacker in me wants juts to combine both but I think I can prevail.
OPTIMISM
Opportunities Present Themselves In Many Initially Simple Matters
Pessimists Turn Inner Memories Into Seeing Mirages
They Ignore Messages Indicating Successful Management
I Might Instead Secure Motivation
Motivation In Seeing Myself
Instinctively Moving Swiftly
Striding, Marching
Masterfully
Poetry Friday is being hosted this week by Jone Rush MacCulloch. Check it out!
Click on the various words to get to the various places.
Today was the last day of school and the only thing sadder than saying goodbye to my students for the Summer is saying the same thing to my computer. Substitute teachers in my district need to borrow a computer each time they teach and return it at the end of the day, Classroom teachers are able to keep their computers year round as long as they are employed by the district. As a building sub, I am able to borrow a computer at the beginning of the year and not return it until the last day of the year. So today I had to say goodbye to my dear friend and I am back to borrowing computers from friends and libraries until the 24/25 school year gets under way.
Before I returned the computer to the media center, I cleaned out any files I may have had put on there during the course of the year. I came across a poem, I had written but forgotten all about. I don't remember what my inspiration was. I think it may have stemmed (no pun intended) from one of the science classes I was subbing in. Or it may have been am ELA assignment or maybe just a prompt form my poetry group. In any case it was in a Microsoft document in a borrowed computer and is now a submission to Poetry Friday which is being hosted this week by Michelle Kogan.
Growth Mindset
or
Standing on Our Failures
In cartoons, when an unsolvable problem is about to need a new adjective, a light bulb goes on over the thinker’s head.
Okay, before I go one step farther, I need to get two things off my chest...
1) Who ever decided to put National Poetry Month on the same month as the A to Z challenge
should have their poetic license revoked.
2) Who ever decided to put the A to Z challenge the same month as National Poetry Month needs to get more than just their alphabet in order.
I feel a little better.
Speaking of both challenges, yesterday Donna Smith of Mainely Write did a great job of bringing us closer to the end of this excellent epic of emigration. Her theme in the A to Z challenge is good words and I am going to start my intro with a doozy of a good word.
Today is the antepenultimate day of the progressive poem. I learned antepenultimate 2 Summers ago when I was reading Benjamin Dreyer's amazing book, Dreyer's English. Antepenultimate means third from last.
Before I continue I want to advise that I made 2 changes to today's post. The first is that I started all lines with a Capital letter. Whoever comes behind me can certainly copy and paste from yesterdays post rather than mine. The second is that I have changed the links, so now when you click on the previous poets pages you go directly to their original post.
Cradled in stars, our planet sleeps,
Clinging to tender dreams of peace
Sister moon watches from afar,
Singing lunar lullabies of hope.
Almost dawn, I walk with others,
Keeping close, my little brother.
Hand in hand, we carry courage
escaping closer to the border
My feet are lightning;
My heart is thunder.
Our pace draws us closer
To a new land of wonder.
I bristle against rough brush—
Poppies ahead brighten the browns.
Morning light won’t stay away—
Hearts jump at every sound.
I hum my own little song
Like ripples in a stream
Humming Mami’s lullaby
Reminds me I have her letter
My fingers linger on well-worn creases,
Shielding an address, a name, a promise–
Sister Moon will find always us
Surrounding us with beams of kindness
But last night as we rested in the dusty field,
Worries crept in about matters back home.
I huddled close to my brother. Tears revealed
The no-choice need to escape. I feel grown.
Leaving all I’ve ever known
The tender, heavy, harsh of home.
On to maybes, on to dreams,
On to whispers we hope could be.
But I don’t want to whisper! I squeeze Manu’s hand.
“¡Más cerca ahora!” Our feet pound the sand.
We race, we pant, we lean on each other
I open my canteen and drink gratefully
Thirst is slaked, but I know we’ll need
More than water to achieve our dreams.
Nights pass slowly, but days call for speed
Through the highs and the lows, we live with extremes
We enter a village the one from Mami’s letter,
We find the steeple; food, kindly people, and shelter.
“We made it, Manu! Mami would be so proud!”
I choke back a sob, then stand tall for the crowd.
A slapping of sandals… I wake to the sound
Of ¡GOL! Manu’s playing! The fútbol rebounds.
I pinch myself. Can this be true?
Are we safe at last? Is our journey through?
I savor this safety, we’re enveloped with care,
but TÃo across the border, still seems far as stars.
He could not yet come to this new place
But Hermana moon, kiss his tear-stained face
¿Dónde está mi querido TÃo? (Where is my Dear Uncle?)
¡Mi corazón está muy frÃo! (My heart is very cold)
I originally wrote this in Spanish. I then translated it into English by myself and used an online translator back to Spanish to correct any grammatical errors I may have made. I have the translation in parentheses but I did not intend that to be part of the poem. Perhaps an * can be used if we feel the young readers might not know what was said.
This was a lot of fun. It's my 2nd time around in the progressive poem and again I am having a blast. Looking forward to seeing how Robyn and Michelle bring the journey to an end
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
The last time I posted at Poetry Friday I did an introduction to the A to Z challenge and an invitation to participate there-in. Today, I will give those visiting from the round-up a glimpse of what a regular a to z post looks like and at the same time show the A to Z folks what A Poetry Friday submission is all about.
Today Q is for Quatrains and other poetry related stuff as the holiday du jour is Poetry & The Creative Mind day. I'm not sure why it's on the 19th or how it originated, But right near the middle of poetry month here is a nifty little holiday to celebrate poetry. So let's celebrate it, but first a dumb joke:
Q: What's a quatrain?
A: Not much. what's a quatrain with you?
According to Merriam Webster, A quatrain is a unit or group of four lines of verse. I have decided to write the heart of my A to Z post in quatrains today. I am following an ABCB rhyme scheme
If you are joining from Poetry Friday, I want to mention two blogs participating in the A to Z challenge that are including poetry in all their posts. The first is Sue's Trifles where her most recent post was a poem using pararhymes. The other blog is the Versesmith, where the most recent post was about prompts and preludes.
If you are joining from A to Z blogging, I want to tell you about another April challenge and that is the 2024 Kiddy Lit Progressive Poem. On April 1st one poet started it off with a couplet and each subsequent poet has posted the earlier couplets and then added their own, For April 19th it is Reading to the Core's turn. Her submission is right here. I will be adding a couplet on the 28th of April.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. To enjoy more of Poetry Friday click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Poetry Friday. Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
I decided to do something a little different today in describing the holiday. Instead of using my own words I am going to use some of the text found on the Plan Your Epitaph Day webpage from Daysoftheyear.com It's not the entire text just some snippets
There comes a day in every person’s life when they have to face the inevitable,
. This day, Plan Your Own Epitaph Day, is the perfect day to set aside some time to figure out what you’re going to have to say about yourself before you’re gone.
Ludolph van Ceulen had the first 35 digits of Pi inscribed on his tombstone, as he was the first to calculate this delicious sounding number out to that many decimals.
Some of the activities you can do to celebrate this day, is go to graveyards and look for inspiration in the stones of those who have already passed.
this is one more way to collect Epitaphs that have already been written to help inspire you to write yours!
Another thing you can do to celebrate this pasttime is to have picnics in the graveyard with likeminded friends.
Together you can sit and brainstorm on what you’d like your final words to the world to be.
Plan your own Epitaph day is a day for reflection on our own mortality, and thinking forward to what kind of legacy we want to leave behind for those who come after us.
So take some time to think about where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and what you’d like to say to those who come after,
April is also National Poetry Month. I have decided to write a poem about today's holiday. Mainly because I didn't create much of my own content today.
The Spotify pla list for my A to Z challenge is now a week old and 6 songs long.
Well Week 1 is in the books. Feel free to catch up on any of my posts you may have missed. In your comments, you can let me know what words you might consider as an epitaph.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
March 10th is the official theme reveal for the 2024 iteration of the A to Z challenge. Last year I actually announced my theme for 2024 here a year early while announcing my theme for 2023. In that post I stated,
"The 2024 theme will be Narnian characters and creatures from A to Z. My working title is Narnia: From Aslan to Zardeenah."
Well it turns out, I lied. Lied is a strong word. I miscalculated. Almost every year for the last 35 years I have reread each book in the Chronicles of Narnia. Last year when I made the announcement, I had not yet started on my literary pilgrimage to Narnia and thought the idea of reading the books would help in making the alphabetical list of entries.
I ended up reading a sum total of zero Narnia books in 2023. While it's true that I could easily journey from Archenland to Zalindreh, my heart was not in it. I chose to abandon delay my Narnian sojourn for another time (Although I would prefer to do all my blogging in Narnia, as no time would pass while I was writing).
I then toyed with the idea of having no theme and simply blogging about something new from A to Z each day. I liked that idea quite a bit, but then it occurred to me, I would have nothing to say at the theme reveal. I then thought of having an overarching theme but leaving it wide enough to choose the individual topics the day they were due. That also seemed a little problematic as I often suffer more from topic block than it's cousin writer's block.
Finally I thought of a topic that would give me both flexibility and stability. I decided to blog about Holidays. However instead of A is for Arbor day, C is for Casmir Pulaski Day (It's A Chicago Thing), I will be focusing on lesser holidays, the kind you would find at sites like the National Day Calendar or What is Today Holiday's like National Take A Poet to Lunch day which takes place on January 6th each year, the holiday that inspired this poem.
My process this year is each day of the challenge to post about a holiday that is taking place that day. Some holidays like April Fools day on the 1st would match very well for the letter of the day. Others will take a little pushing to make it fit the letter of the day. April 2nd for example is Children's Book day. If I choose that holiday, I would have a title like B is for Books for Children.
In addition to actual holidays, I am going to also create 5 new holidays as part of my list, including ways to celebrate these new festive occasions.
Recent A to Z Challenges
2023 A Month At The Movies
2022 Limericks, Homeruns, & Wordles (Oh My!)
2021 A to Z People who were alive in 1921
2020 State (& Other) Capitals
Each year on Spotify I make an A to Z playlist for the year. At the end of each post I will have a link to the song for that day .
I am very excited about this Holiday edition of the A to Z challenge. To learn more about The 2024 A to Z Theme Reveals click here, if you are ready to participate in said reveals click here, and finally if you are looking for a spreadsheet of who is already participating this year click here.
I wrote this earlier this month based on a prompt at my poetry group. I gave it to Amy on Valentine's day. Each time I read it I'm reminded of the work OF P.D. Eastman. This is probably because I think MY NEST IS BEST because of the bird I share it with.
Poetry Friday is being hosted this week by Tracey at Tangles & Tails
Today there was no school as there was a snow day. All the snow reminded me of an incident from 14 years ago when I was teaching a unit on poetry to my children when I was homeschooling them. The original post is found here.
Each of my children wrote a poem, but my 8 year old at the time son was originally a little reluctant to write his. Before producing the picture poem below, he recited something like Winter, winter I hate winter.
Later when I had some time to myself. I reflected on the incident and wrote a poem as if it was written by an 8 year old who did not want to write a poem.
It reminds me of something that P.D. Eastman of Go Dog Go, or The Best Nest might write.
I write this poem almost 14 years ago. The youngest of the three children I was home schooling at the time is a senior now in high school. I am working as a building substitute (a substitute teacher who works at the same building all year) at a middle school I think of this poem from time to time when I encounter reluctant writers or winter activities.
January 6, 2024 is Take A Poet to Lunch Day. It was started in 1995 making today the 20th annual celebration of this event created by Professor Arnold Adoff. This link gives some good ideas of how to celebrate poetry on this day. A few years back I found out about this day and wrote a poem to commemorate the occasion,
I turned 49 in the year 2013. I remember going with my wife and kids to the Cook County forest preserve in Elk Grove where there is actually, wait for it, a grove of elk. We were hanging out watching elk, climbing trees, and having all kind of birthday fun when an idea came to me. For the rest of the year, I would write a limerick each day and post it on Facebook for all to see.
Eventually the task got a little much for me and I did not write 365 limericks that year, but I wrote well over 200. While my limericks never quite went viral, I am sure a few of them made a number of my friends, family and acquaintances sick.
The year of limericks was a bit of a turning point for me in a few ways:
While I have dabbled in poetry along with other kinds of writing and studied poetry while obtaining a degree in English, I never considered myself more than an occasional poet. The limerick experimented jump started this part of my writing.
Facebook has become a curator of my limericks. Thanks to Facebook memories my limericks from 2013-2014 pop up on the anniversary of the day I wrote them. The November 7th 2013 popped up again today. It is about knock knock jokes.
Carol Varsalona of Beyond Literacy Link is hosting this months Spiritual Journey Thursday. I hosted last month and then went to Greece just a few days after that.
Carol's Theme this month is rejoicing in the Summer season. I technically was in Greece this spring as the official first day of Summer was June 21st this year and I left Greece on the 20th. However I am going to use some of my experiences from the trip in this reflection as the trip took place on my "summer" vacation.
Carol asked us to reflect on this Elanor Duse Quote:
"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the field has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive"
As I reflected on the quote, I was reminded of the opening verse of Psalm 19 ...
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1
I got to thinking why we don't always stop to smell the significance of God's creation. It reminded me of my flight to Athens. I had a window seat and it was a beautiful day out. There was lovely view after lovely view as we approached our destination. Most of the passengers were not looking out the window. Some were sleeping, others were reading. The majority were on their electronic devices are watching the screen in front of their seat.
The View Out My Window
God's glory in nature
Is always displayed
To see it, it helps
When I roll up the shade.
My second thought about creation also has to do with my trip to Greece. The above picture was taken on my first day in Greece at a place called the Areopagus or Mars Hill. The Apostle Paul visited Mars Hill and even gave a sermon there. You can read about in Acts 17: 16 -34. Essentially Paul is in Athens disturbed by all the idol worship in the city, he is reasoning in the synagogue and gets an opportunity at Mars Hill to explain the new teaching he was proclaiming. Paul uses the opportunity to talk about some of the things he has seen in Athens and to compliment the Athenians on some of their practices. He also talks about a statue he had seen that was to an "unknown" God and uses that as an opportunity to proclaim the God of creation and share the story of Jesus.
There is a tendency to celebrate nature in a natural way and not as the creation of a creator. Instead of talking about God many just deify nature itself referring to it as Mother Nature or Mother Earth but rejecting the biblical idea of a personal God who created it all. Instead of taking an antagonistic or combative approach to these differing world views, I think an approach like Paul used on Mars Hill is more suitable. People who find inner peace, and contentment, and wonder from nature should be commended even if they do not believe in the God who created that beauty. Like Paul believers should use that common bond, a spiritual regard, for nature as a starting point to talk about the God that the heavens declare the glory of.
Spiritual Journey Thursday is a gathering that takes place on the first Thursday of the month, Click here to see the rest of the July installment. I left for Greece on June 6th and returned on June 21st. Today I started daily posts about my trip exactly one month after the trip began. Please join me for those reflections.
I am also including this post at Poetry Friday for the brief poem inspired by this weeks theme and the picture I took from the airplane. Marcie Atkins is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday. Join in, by clicking here.
Last week I shared how in our poetry writers group we were asked to write two poems about the writing process:1 serious and the other humorous. I shared the serious one last week, and now the humorous attempt.
The Poet That Lives Inside of Me
There's a poet living inside of me
We sometimes don't agree
My life sometimes gets in the way
Don't write a thing from March to May
But the poet living inside of me
Is writing every day
He stores these poems somewhere
He doesn't say; I do not care
But when I need to write a poem
He lets me know they're there
The poet living inside of me
It seems we're in a fight
But rather than we disagree
We know that we're both right.
Poetry Friday is hosted this week at Salt City Verse. Join in, by clicking here.
I attend a poetry workshop on the first Monday of the month at my local library. Each month our facilitator gives us the opportunity to share a poem we have written, shares poems on the theme she has chosen for the month. and then gives us time to write a poem or two based on the theme, again giving us the opportunity to share those poems as well.
Last month the theme was the writing process and we were invited to write one serious poem and one humorous poem on any aspect of the writing process that we wanted to. Recently on Poetry Friday's when I have particpated I have included poems that were not of recent vintage. After returning to Poetry Friday last week after finishing the A to Z Challenge, I decided to at least for the time being, eschew the wayback machine, and share poems I have written this year.
Today, I am going to share the serious poem about my writing method, which is title simply, Questions and Answers on My Method.
Questions and Answers on My Method
Why do I write?
Cause I want to?
Cause I have to?
Cause I need to?
Why do I write?
I write because
Words are my life blood
They invade my sleep
They are my canvas
And my palette
How do I write?
Does it matter ...
Whether it's poem or prose?
fiction or non fiction?
Do I have a process?
Or am I just opening Pandora's box?
How do I write?
Sometimes ...
My poems write themselves
and then I sign my name
Sometimes ...
When I write,
I get an idea.
Then,
For 30 minutes:
I
Write
Erase
Repeat
Throwing spaghetti
On the wall
Until something sticks.
Why do I write?
Because I can.
How do I write?
By any means necessary.
Poetry Friday is being hosted by Robyn Hood Blackyou can get there by clicking here.
I'm in my late 50's. I was born in 1964, the last year of the Baby Boomers.
The year before I turned 50, I wanted to do something special to commemorate my last year in my 40's. On or about my 49th birthday I was with my family visiting the elks in Elk Grove Village. Elk Grove Village is a suburb of Chicago located near O'Hare airport, It is where I grew up and where my parents lived until very recently. There is a forest preserve in Elk Grove that extends into neighboring towns like Schaumburg. Ever since I was a kid there has been a herd of Elk maintained by the Forest Preserve in Elk Grove.
As my family watched the elk, an idea came to me. I could write a limerick, and post it on Facebook every day until I turned 50. I wasn't completely successful in my quest, but I do believe that I wrote and posted over 300 limericks over that time period. Why limericks? I never did figure that one out, but I think I owe a lot of the personal poetry renaissance I have been going through the last 15 months due to my year of limericks.
As my mid 50's turned into my late 50's I have been thinking how to celebrate the last part of my 6th decade. No "elks" moment has hit me and I'm not sure my FB friends want a year of haikus or anything like that.
A couple of months ago an idea came to me that instead of having some special activity, I could just be more purposely reflective during the time. I decided since my 50's were ending that I could perhaps extend the year to 500 days. So starting tomorrow I find myself in the last 500 days of my 50's.
Today is May 11th so that means that there are 20 full days left in the month. There are 30 days in June, 31 in July and August and 22 days before my birthday in September. That's 134 days before my birthday. There are usually 365 days in a year, but 2024 is a leap year so there are 366 days from September 23rd, 2023 and September 22nd 2024. Some may wonder why I don't count until September 23rd, my birthday. The answer, of course, is because that will be the first day of my 60's.
So, what do I plan to do with this time period that 1150% greater than Lent? First of all, give it up for Lent, it's a great religious observance, and it doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves. I'm not sure really. I think what I'll do is when I'm reflecting on my adventures in ageing, or perhaps doing something for the last time in my 50's I might blog about it here. But mostly I'll do what I encouraged my 11 year old future sister in law to do 8 years before I courted her sister, and that is cherish the time.
In the Bible we are encouraged to number our days. By delineating the last 500 days in my 50's I am inviting myself to live purposely. It is of course very possible that I publish this post and then regular life and my ADHD conspire that I never think about it again. This is part of the reason why I'm publish posting this on my blog and on Facebook so I do pay attention during these final days of my fifties.
Dear Facebook friends, this doesn't mean that there will be no more limericks. It just means I'm commemorating the end of this decade differently than I did the last. In fact, I think I feel a limerick coming on now:
Some of my fellow poets who contribute at Poetry Friday are working on a progressive poem for April's National Poetry Month. I signed up for today and then quickly forgot about it. Thanks for all the reminders on my J post for the A to Z Challenge.
Here is the poem so far with my line on the bottom,
Suddenly everything fell into place
like raindrops hitting soil and sinking in
When morning first poked me, I'd wished it away
my mind in the midst, muddled, confused
Was this a dream, or reality rousing my response?
The sun surged, urging me to join in it's rising.
Rising like a crystal ball reflecting on morning dew.
I jumped out of bed, ready to explore the day
My feet pull me outside and into the garden
Where lillies and bees weave ... but wait what's that?
A bevy of bunnies jart and dart and play in the clover.
A dog barks and flash, the bunderstorm is over.
That's my line and I'm sticking to it. Tomorrow, Irene Latham at Live Your Poem contributes the next line.
